Methods for Teaching children how to read
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Jack williams
Coming Soon.. By Jack williams
Published on Wednesday 28th 2009
Many parents are worried about their kids' reading progress and are
willing to do everything to further or speed up his reading ability. In
such a scenario, knowing what are the various teaching methods
practiced can be of real help to them.
Many parents are worried about their kids' reading progress and are willing to do everything to further or speed up his reading ability. In such a scenario, knowing what are the various teaching methods practiced can be of real help to them.
Child development experts speak of four methods that are effective in teaching reading. These methods are-phonics, look and say, the language experience approach, and the context support method. This article discusses the basics of the various reading methods.
Teaching Reading with Phonics
The use of phonics to teach reading. is perhaps the most common and easily recognized method used today. The phonics method begins with teaching the alphabet and the sound associated with each letter. At first, it focuses on short, two-letter, words and blends which are easy for the child to "sound out". After mastering two-letter words, children move on to three-letter words, then four-letter words, and so on.
The main criticism of teaching reading using phonics is that while this method enables children to manage words that can be read phonetically, but does little to prepare them for words that are not phonetically regular (such as vowels).
Look and Say Reading
With look and say reading, a child learns the whole word at once rather than as a series of letters or sounds. To teach whole words, the instructor may use flashcards and/or pictures to represent the word. The teacher might sound out the word for the child and ask the child to repeat the word rather than sound it out for himself/herself.
Look and say reading has been criticized as not giving children the tools they need to sound out words for themselves. In essence, the child is required to memorize words as opposed to really learning how the letters and sounds work together to form words. Some educators believe,believe that combining phonics with look and say reading is an ideal approach to reading.
The Language Experience Approach to Reading
The language experience approach to reading uses the child's own life experiences to teach words and reading. For instance, if a child draws a picture of his or her family, a teacher might ask the child who each person is in the drawing. As the child says such words as "mom", "dad", "my brother Rob", the teacher writes those words under each person in the picture. .
As the child gains a better understanding of words, teachers can talk about and write more complicated sentences.
Some educators recommend making a little book out of the child's drawings. This personalized book would then obviously be filled with pages that the child can automatically "read" since that child is the author of the book.
This is a powerful technique for helping children understand the connection between the pictures and words that appear on the pages of a book. Unfortunately, the method seems to be limited to teaching children only how to read words that represent physical objects that can be drawn or photographed.
The Context Support Method
The context support method uses the connection between pictures and words to attract and hold the attention of the reader. Some educators believe that holding a child's attention might be the single most important factor in learning to read.
Using Syllabics to Teach Vowel Sounds
One of the major criticisms of using phonetics to teach reading is that the method works better for the consonant sounds rather than the vowel sounds.
Syllabics teaches both consonant sounds and vowel sounds so that children can master them both properly. Through this method, children are first taught the consonant sounds and the main consonant blends. This is followed by teaching them how to tackle the sounds made by vowels. Syllabics uses what it calls "letter codes" to teach children how to read just about any word except those that do not follow general pronunciation rules and foreign words.
The bottom line is is that, no one method can be said to be the best for teaching reading to children. Most educators currently use a combination of methods to address the specific needs of a child. Choosing the program that is best for each child requires an understanding of the strength and weaknesses of each method.
Child development experts speak of four methods that are effective in teaching reading. These methods are-phonics, look and say, the language experience approach, and the context support method. This article discusses the basics of the various reading methods.
Teaching Reading with Phonics
The use of phonics to teach reading. is perhaps the most common and easily recognized method used today. The phonics method begins with teaching the alphabet and the sound associated with each letter. At first, it focuses on short, two-letter, words and blends which are easy for the child to "sound out". After mastering two-letter words, children move on to three-letter words, then four-letter words, and so on.
The main criticism of teaching reading using phonics is that while this method enables children to manage words that can be read phonetically, but does little to prepare them for words that are not phonetically regular (such as vowels).
Look and Say Reading
With look and say reading, a child learns the whole word at once rather than as a series of letters or sounds. To teach whole words, the instructor may use flashcards and/or pictures to represent the word. The teacher might sound out the word for the child and ask the child to repeat the word rather than sound it out for himself/herself.
Look and say reading has been criticized as not giving children the tools they need to sound out words for themselves. In essence, the child is required to memorize words as opposed to really learning how the letters and sounds work together to form words. Some educators believe,believe that combining phonics with look and say reading is an ideal approach to reading.
The Language Experience Approach to Reading
The language experience approach to reading uses the child's own life experiences to teach words and reading. For instance, if a child draws a picture of his or her family, a teacher might ask the child who each person is in the drawing. As the child says such words as "mom", "dad", "my brother Rob", the teacher writes those words under each person in the picture. .
As the child gains a better understanding of words, teachers can talk about and write more complicated sentences.
Some educators recommend making a little book out of the child's drawings. This personalized book would then obviously be filled with pages that the child can automatically "read" since that child is the author of the book.
This is a powerful technique for helping children understand the connection between the pictures and words that appear on the pages of a book. Unfortunately, the method seems to be limited to teaching children only how to read words that represent physical objects that can be drawn or photographed.
The Context Support Method
The context support method uses the connection between pictures and words to attract and hold the attention of the reader. Some educators believe that holding a child's attention might be the single most important factor in learning to read.
Using Syllabics to Teach Vowel Sounds
One of the major criticisms of using phonetics to teach reading is that the method works better for the consonant sounds rather than the vowel sounds.
Syllabics teaches both consonant sounds and vowel sounds so that children can master them both properly. Through this method, children are first taught the consonant sounds and the main consonant blends. This is followed by teaching them how to tackle the sounds made by vowels. Syllabics uses what it calls "letter codes" to teach children how to read just about any word except those that do not follow general pronunciation rules and foreign words.
The bottom line is is that, no one method can be said to be the best for teaching reading to children. Most educators currently use a combination of methods to address the specific needs of a child. Choosing the program that is best for each child requires an understanding of the strength and weaknesses of each method.