Bringing it all together

An effective teacher will draw on all three of these methods to help children learn to read. They usually do these by finding a story that:

  • will appeal to the children
  • has some repeated words and rhyming words
  • has words where they can use pictures (the look-and-say approach)
  • has a picture of what is happening in the story (the language experience approach).

Activity 4.6: Reflecting on your learning

Timing: (We recommend you spend about 30 minutes on this activity)

Spend some time browsing the ASb website [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] and find some stories that are suitable for supporting young readers. As you read the stories, think about which approach to reading you could use: letters and sounds, look-and-say, or the language experience approach. Do some stories lend themselves more to a particular approach? Share your ideas with a colleague.

This section of Teaching early reading in Africa has introduced you to three methods of teaching reading and given you a chance to try them out. You are encouraged not to restrict yourself to any one of these methods, but rather to combine them as required to support young readers. (In Section 5 you will see an example of how to use the methods together.)

It is important to remember that different children may respond better to one method than another:

  • Some may have a better visual memory than others.
  • Some may like analysing words into separate sounds and others may not.
  • Some may like to be given more specific instructions than others; they may not like the freedom that the language experience approach offers.

If certain children are struggling to learn to read, you might find that concentrating on one particular method might help them overcome their difficulties.

Figure 4.2 shows that to be a good reader, you need to have good word reading and good reading for meaning. Some children may understand more easily than others what they read, but may have difficulty sounding out words and working out what they are. Others may be able to work out and recognise words, but have difficulty in understanding what they have read.

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Figure 4.2: Word recognition and good comprehension
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This is a box divided evenly into quarters. There is an arrow on the right hand side, pointing from bottom to top, labelled ‘Reading for meaning’, and an arrow on the bottom, pointing leftwards, labelled ‘Word reading’.

The top left quarter is titled ‘A. Good word reading/good reading for meaning’. It then reads: ‘Use language experience method. Focus on interesting stories with more challenging text. Work on reading for meaning through speaking and listening skills. Provide opportunities to respond to reading through drama and questioning.’

The top right quarter is titled ‘B. Poor word reading/good reading for meaning’ It then reads: ‘Focus on reading for enjoyment and talking about stories. Provide opportunities to practise whole word reading. Needs help practising letter/sound correspondence and blending sounds together to build words.’

The bottom left quarter is titled ‘C. Good word reading/poor reading for meaning’. It then reads: ‘Use language experience method. Needs support with reading for meaning. Encouraging the child to talk about the story will be helpful. Use open questions to predict what will happen in the story.’

The bottom riight quarter is titled ‘D. Poor word reading/poor reading for meaning’. It then reads: ‘Use look and say method. Needs to develop listening comprehension by hearing stories read aloud and answering questions. Use stories with familiar patterns and repetition. Needs individual help to recognise simple words in books that match to pictures.’

Figure 4.2: Word recognition and good comprehension

You will spend more time on Figure 4.2 in Activities 4.7 and 4.8.

Activity 4.7: How to use the figure

Timing: (We recommend you spend about 30 minutes on this activity)

Talk about Figure 4.2 with a colleague or a friend. What does it tell you about how to help children with different strengths and weaknesses?

Discussion

The first quadrant (in the top left of the diagram) tells you about children who have good comprehension and good word recognition skills. These children do not need extra help, but you should give them some more difficult and challenging stories so that they can improve still further.

The second quadrant (in the top right of the diagram) tells you about children who have good comprehension and poor word-recognition skills. They understand quite easily but battle to work out what certain words say. You can support them by emphasising reading for pleasure by choosing stories that will motivate them. You can also provide extra help, by helping them to recognise the different sounds in a word.

The third quadrant (in the bottom left of the diagram) tells you about children who have poor comprehension but good word recognition skills. They can tell you what the words are but don’t know what the words and sentences mean. This can sometimes indicate other developmental problems which a teacher should monitor. They should benefit from writing and reading about their own lives and experiences. This will mean that what they read has meaning to them.

The fourth quadrant (in the bottom right of the diagram) tells you about children who have poor comprehension and poor word recognition skills. They are battling with all aspects of reading. They need texts that will motivate and enthuse them, and are related to their everyday lives. They will benefit from a lot of extra work with the look-and-say method.

Activity 4.8: Which method of word recognition and good comprehension should you use?

Timing: (We recommend you spend about 10 minutes on this activity)

Now answer the questions in this quiz.

Method 3: Language experience approach

Moving forward