Methods Matter
1 Reading in schools is mainly treated in one or other of two ways: (a) a skill or tool to be acquired to enable further learning or (b) a social practice — a worldview — to be applied throughout the educational experience from pre-K to college.
2 Phonics is the method by which the skill in (a) above is acquired. Whole-language and various other whole word practices — (b) above — do not “teach” as such but expect students to gain literacy by both memorizing lists of words and guessing others from the context of what they are reading. Whole-language is banned in Germany after being tried in the 80s and declared bad practice.
3 Direct Instruction is a general term for the explicit teaching of a skill-set using demonstrations of the material, rather than exploratory models such as inquiry-based learning. (Wikipedia) Phonics is the method described above and Whole-language is the second.
4 Why were we never told the value of these things for children? The public and parents have generally been kept ignorant of the Reading Wars that have raged within education systems for over 100 years. A split started in the early 1900s after John Dewey’s essay — The Primary Education Fetish — gained popularity when learning by “doing” (inquiry) started to supersede “drill” (direct instruction). Philosophic, political and corporate profit-making helped keep this contest internal.
5 Oh, we were? Yes, people did get a flavor of the division and the harms that children experienced. Illiteracy rates did not decrease satisfactorily and the sensational book — Why Johnny Can’t Read, 1955, Flesch — caused considerable debate. But, like water off a duck’s back, little of lasting importance transpired over the last century. The practice of teaching claims “professional autonomy” is a sacred trust and behind closed doors teachers choose their methods according to their inner lights. Currently, there is a mish mash of various styles and combinations of methods — no real standard practice as any other profession adheres to.
6 Didn’t know that! You DO know all that, Will Fitzhugh! And, much, much more, besides. Thanks for being provocative in trying to stimulate some shame and action in this neglected disservice to children. Hopefully others can bring us up to date on the state of Reading in our 21st C world. I do hear of a promising development that in England the Reading Reform Foundation (RRF) has reconstituted into IFERI — International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction and is promoting international use of the Year One Phonics Screening Check — http://www.iferi.org/resources-and-guidance/
[posted to Education Consumer Clearinghouse — Will Fitzhugh asks “innocent questions” ]