Assignment 12 Lesson 8 q2
Phonics and Whole Language
Do you think the phonics versus whole language debate in the learning to read process is relevant when thinking about students reading from the computer screen?
When I was in college, I took a reading methods course from a professor who strongly believed that the only approach to learning to read was the whole language method. He studied classroom reading instruction to support his hypothesis that whole language was indeed the best method, and then wrote a textbook. Because he thought whole language was better than phonics, he didn't spend much time discussing the phonics approach. At the conclusion of the course, I felt that I needed to start teaching using the whole language approach because I had a narrow, uninformed view of the two methods.
Phonics is a code-emphasis method that emphasized learning the correspondence between sounds. This method stresses acquisition of basic sound-letter relationships and the rules for sounding out words. Whole language, on the other hand, is a meaning-emphasis method that favors meaning over decoding in beginning reading. (Bruning, 255-256) Simply stated, supporters of the whole language approach think children's literature, writing activities, and communication activities can be used across the curriculum to teach reading; backers of phonics instruction insist that a direct, sequential mode of teaching enables students to master reading in an organized way. (Cromwell)Fortunately, most current models of reading and authorities on reading instruction stake out a middle ground between the methods, arguing that both are essential to learning to read. (Bruning, 256) Balanced instruction combines the best elements from phonics instruction and the whole-language approach. That is, children are explicitly taught the relationship between letters and sounds in a systematic fashion, but they are being read to and reading interesting stories and writing at the same time. (Diegmueller)
In recent years the computer has been introduced in the classroom as a method of instrucion. It is important to remember that the computer is a tool for learning, not the tool. Primary teachers will continue to be the most important factor in teaching children to read. Therefore, the debate between whole language and phonics will probably continue for many years.
As noted by classmate Jennifer Haberkorn, a first grade teacher, computer instruction is effective for a wide variety of reading skill and concept areas. She points out that it is important that teachers match their use of computers with what is known about the reading/writing process. Guidelines for Computer-Assisted Reading Instruction, an article by Marjorie Sims, gives guidelines to use as a checklist to help teachers integrate computers into reading/writing instruction.
Computer instruction in reading should:
Following her guidelines, computers can serve to help all students become
literate.
References:
Websites:
ASCD. Major Trends in Language Arts Instruction.
Cromwell, Sharon. Whole Language and Phonics: Can They Work Together? Education World, 1997.
Diegmueller, Karen. The Best of Both Worlds. Education Week. March 20, 1996
Holdren, John. Not "either/or" but "both/and": Phonics and Whole Language. Common Knowledge, Volume 8, No. 3, Summer 1995
Simic, Marjorie R. Guidelines for Computer-Assisted Reading Instruction.
Weaver, Constance, Lorraine Gillmeister-Krause and Grace Vento-Zogby. On phonics in whole language classrooms. From Creating Support for Effective Literacy Education: Workshop Materials and Handouts.
Weaver, Constance. Phonics in Whole Language Classrooms. ERIC Digest.
Books:
Bruning, Roger, Gregory Schraw and Royce Ronning. Cognitive Psychology and Instruction.
Reutzel, D. Ray and Robert B. Cooter. Teaching Children to Read: From Basals to Books.
Personal Experiences:
Texas Christian University. Teaching Reading class taught by Robert Cooter
and Sutton Flynt. June 1995, London.