Learning to Read

How did you learn to read and write?What are the differences between learning speech and

learning to read and write?

Consider:• Are you taught formally to speak? Are we taught to read and

write?• Do children struggle more with speaking or reading and

writing?• What are the differences in the purposes of spoken and

written language?

Some differences between speech and writing• In normal circumstances when children learn to speak before five, they do

not need any formal teaching. This is clearly not the case with writing and reading.

• Many pupils fail to become literate. There is also no maturational barrier. Writing is not as natural as speech.

• Skilful adult readers read at twice the rate they speak.• Writing is not face to face, not co-operative, and is isolated. • Writing is used for different purposes, recording facts, ideas and

information, labelling.• The more demanding a text, the more re-reading is necessary. Writing

needs re-reading. Difficulties- 44 phonemes- 26 graphemes. • Punctuation can represent speech sounds.• Speech contains false starts, incomplete utterances, hesitations, repetitions,

rephrasing fillers and colloquialisms such as well and you know.• It takes a child some time to see writing as a different mode of

communication.

• There is a long standing and sometimes heated debate in educational circles about the best way of teaching reading.

• Most recently: a strong emphasis has been placed on the phonics-based approach in the ‘Literacy Hour’ introduced in English primary schools. This is versus the ‘whole word’ approach, also called the ‘look and say’ approach

Controversy …

Phonics history – when did you learn to read?• 1898 The phonics program devised by Nellie Dale becomes popular in the UK

and USA, following the development of phonics in the mid-nineteenth century • 1920s One-word flash cards become the rage • 1960s Janet and John reading books take centre stage • 1970s Frank Smith's books saying reading emerges naturally become influential • 1989 National English curriculum published, emphasising variety of approaches • 1992 Curriculum rewritten with more phonics • 1998 National Literacy Strategy emphasizes a structured approach to teaching

reading, with some phonics; half of all schools ignore phonics • 1999 The DfES publishes phonics materials for teachers • 2001 OFSTED finds that teaching of phonics is weak • 2004 A six-year study in a Gloucestershire primary school shows phonics

substantially boosts boys' achievements • 2005 A report on a seven-year synthetic phonics study in Scotland shows

success with all children, particularly boys and disadvantaged pupils. The Education Committee in the Commons asks for a widespread trial.

What is ‘phonics’?• There are two ‘types’ of ‘phonics’ –

‘synthetic’ and ‘analytic’• This approach generally starts before

children are introduced to formal reading or reading books.

• Don’t confuse the terminology – a phoneme is a unit of sound. Phonics is a method used to teach children to read.

Synthetic Phonics• Synthetic phonics involves the development of phonemic

awareness. The child learns 44 phonemes and their related graphemes.

• Child expected to recognise each grapheme then sound out each phoneme in a word, building up through blending the sounds together to pronounce the word. This approach works well with phonetically regular words.

• The sounds and their corresponding written symbols are taught in quick succession - up to five or six sounds per week.

• A multi-sensory approach is used where children see the symbol, listen to the sound, say the sound and accompany this by doing an action (Jolly Phonics is widely used).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6OFxIAMxzI

Analytic phonics• analysis of whole words to detect phonetic or orthographic

patterns, then splitting them into smaller parts to help with decoding, for example onset and rime.

• The rimes of words used to help children read and spell by analogy. For example, the right rime, once known, can be used to generate another 96 words. Helps children develop a large sight vocabulary for reading and spelling.

• Works well for those words that children cannot work out sound-by-sound, for example ‘might', 'through', ‘sake'. It is an effective way of helping children adopt the common sight words, for example when teaching the word 'could', children would be encouraged to recall and read the rhyming words that share the same written pattern - 'would', 'should'.

• Graded flash cards.• Graded readers.• Breaking down

individual words.

Phonics methods …

• Children learn to understand how written words are built and spelt.

• Enables them to decipher new unknown words.

Phonics advantages …

Phonics disadvantages

• Early written vocab may be limited to words with basic phoneme/grapheme correspondences

• English spelling system is extremely complex and full of irregularities.

• Children DO need to acquire understanding of phonics to achieve literacy.

• 1996: Essex schools study: children taught using phonics achieved reading ages 6/7 months ahead of children not in scheme.

Phonics research …

  Stage Age Key characteristics

0 Pre-reading and pseudo-reading

Up to 6Pretend reading, turning pages. Some letter recognition, especially letters in own name. Often predicting stories and words.

1 Initial reading and decoding

6-7 Reading simple texts containing high frequency lexis. Chall estimated about 600 words understood.

2 Confirmation and fluency

7-8 reading more quickly, accurately, paying more attention to meaning of words. How many written words understood? 3,000.

3 for learning 9-14 Reading for knowledge as motivation

4 Multiplicity and complexity

14-17 Responding critically to what they read and analysing texts.

5 Construction and reconstruction

18+ Reading selectively and forming opinions.

Chall’s Stages of Reading Development

Reading SchemeBy Wendy CopeHere is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun. Jane has a big doll. Peter has a ball. Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run! 

Here is Mummy. She has baked a bun. Here is the milkman. He has come to call. Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun.

Go Peter! Go Jane! Come, milkman, come! The milkman likes Mummy. She likes them all.Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run! 

Here are the curtains. They shut out the sun. Let us peep! On tiptoe Jane! You are small! Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun. 

I hear a car, Jane. The milkman looks glum. Here is Daddy in his car. Daddy is tall. Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run! 

Daddy looks very cross. Has he a gun? Up milkman! Up milkman! Over the wall! Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun. Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run!

•Repetition of sentence structure SVO•Repetition of key words•Use of a rhyme scheme•Key words placed at the end of the rhyme, so they can be guessed•Stereotyping of gender/family relationships•Based on everyday life/situations child is familiar with•Use of interrogatives to inject life•Sentences are mainly statements

Lesson 2:Writing for Children and the Oral Tradition

‘Look and Say’- emphasises word shapes and context by pictures

Phonics- emphasises sound-letter relationship.Features of spoken language that can be transferred to children’s books

•direct speech•people in face to face interaction.•Narration sounding like speech•Use of noises•Interactive text•Everyday content•Use of repetition (repetition, repetition, repetition……)

Children’s books often use features borrowed from oral traditions, e.g.

• Alliteration• Repeated epithet e.g. Little Red Riding Hood, Brown Bear• Balanced sentence – two ideas are placed side by side e.g. ‘Dennis didn’t

like the night-time, didn’t like to be alone.’• Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds• Repeated formulaic sentence- The duck said quack. The cow said moo.

The sheep said baa.• Rhythmic language• Additive structure- use of word “and”• Very simple sentences- often only one clause.• Children like stories about the ‘here and now’- e.g. about other children

and what they do.• Personification- stories about animals• proverbs or aphorism – a summary of some accepted wisdom e.g. ‘Never

talk to strangers’

• Spot books• Interactive- flaps with phatic language (social language

e.g. ‘Hello’) - teaching politeness.• No speech tags (e.g. said Spot’s mum) which is uncommon• Use of adjacency pairs- help with shared reading (Bruner

and LASS)

Analysis• The story opens with a directive, followed by a mild warning• There are no speech tags such as ‘said Spot’s Mum’ and this

continues throughout• There is a present-tense, immediate quality to the text• On the second page the text ‘Not in there’ respond to the picture in

order to fully understand the words – the language is context dependant and ‘there’ is deictic.

• The style and simple sentences are close to real speech• The snail’s greeting ‘hello’ uses phatic language• The voice of the text is omniscient and speaks with authority,

guiding the reader to discover what’s under the flaps – interactive. The question ‘What’s in the hutch, Spot?’ encourages the reader to guess before opening the flap

• The text teaches the reader turn-taking and question and answer adjacency pairing

Key Vocab• Phonics• Whole – word approach• Assonance• Additive structure• Personification• Proverbs• Context dependant• Phatic language• Adjacency pairing