My next question was one I didn't ask him, but I will ask all of you. How can you possibly learn to ready by simply memorizing words? I mean sure, I know we all had those flash cards with the letters C-A-T listed below the picture of the furry animal, but can this really be classified as "sight reading?" Isn't it more like associating the word with the animal, because at 2 or 3 we all knew what a cat was, we just didn't know that the letters C-A-T were the English language equivalent.
What makes the most sense, in teaching a child how to read, is phonetics. In fact, I was surprised to hear my Dad even mention memorizing as an option. What would happen if you effectively did memorize the meaning to every word you came across? That would be all well and fine until you came across a word that you didn't know: there would be no alternative way to figure out the meaning of something you hadn't seen before. The first instinct is for me is to sound out a word I don't know. When I was little I remember stuttering through a sentence, making sure to sound out the words aloud. Since I'm in college now this is much less noticeable because it happens within a fraction of a second, and internally. But it has never failed me. I might have mispronounced something when asked to read a passage aloud in grade school, but the teacher always corrected me right after I messed up, and then made me reread the word with the right pronunciation before I continued with the rest of the paragraph. I think the secret to fluid reading is also in the practice of learning to read phonetically. You may start out stumbling through a sentence in ten seconds but with the right amount of practice quick, fluid reading is bound to follow.
So do you think that phonetics is the most effective way to learn to read?
4 comments:
I don't know if I can answer the question about whether phonetics is the most effective way of learning to read. However, I do think that memorization and phonetics play equally important rules in this process. The way that you described reading in the third paragraph sounds like a pretty accurate description of the learning process. I think, as children, we did rely on memory to get us started with reading. But phonetics is important in building upon the basic skills that memory gives us. Then memory, again, keeps these skills in our minds. That's my opinion on the subject.
I don't remember learning to read, to me it just seems like a trait that I've always had (obviously I wasn't born literate). What I do remember is learning a second language, and it was filled with notecards at first. Notecards and memorization help the learner to associate objects with words. So yes, as children we knew what a Cat was, but we needed the association in order to know what word went with CAT. If we only learned by phonetics I don't think that we would ever understand reading/writing. I can say tons of words, but being able to say a word doesn't mean that one can use the word correctly. So phonetics helps us to learn the sound of words (and when we get older we can use phonetics to help build meaning based off root words), but we need that earlier memorization and notecards to actually create meaning and/or comprehension.
Meg I think you made a good point because when learning Spanish as a second language in high school, I remember using notecards and memorization techniques for vocabulary. This helped on tests, and I got by, but what Spanish I did take away from high school by that means of learning hardly prepared me for my Spanish college experience. Most of what I had tried to memorize was dumped into short term memory and ultimately lost once I reached college and I think the result of this was from the absence of significant speaking of Spanish in my high school courses. So while that memorization would have helped me on the tests, it really didn't work because I had to relearn everything anyway.
I adored my college Spanish professor, who instructed me in both Span 002 and Span 003. His techniques were firm in both writing and speaking Spanish. We would have multiple papers to write daily for class and speeches and projects that forced us to speak Spanish coherently and fluidly in conversation. I can definitely say this is where the bulk of my learning and growth took place in the language. Instead of constantly trying to associate and memorize connections between English meaning and Spanish words, I was in an environment where my mindset was forced to Spanish only, and I was constantly practicing phonetics in the form of both speaking and reading what I had written.
I think a lot of people who study abroad and use their second language skills would say the same thing of their environment. If I had the opportunity to do so as well I probably wouldn't be able to understand particular words but through phonetics and simply hearing other people speaking the language I could gather correct pronunciations and put together meanings within the context of what I did understand.
I am not saying that sight reading or memorization is totally wrong, because obviously someone who is entirely illiterate has to start with some form of memorization, as I did too when first learning both English and Spanish. What I am saying though is that strictly speaking I don't think memorization or sight reading ultimately served its purpose in helping me learn to read or write.
I agree with the point that Meg made about learning a second language. Memorization is a huge part of learning how to string sentences together and apply vocabulary terms in a second language. I think it would be a lot more difficult for someone to learn how to read or write if they just relied on phonetics though.
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