The beginnings of literacy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4810702 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Moira Mckenzie (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1977 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 315-324 |
| Publication date | 1977-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theory Into Practice (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0040-5841 • E-ISSN: 1527-2532 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00405847709542720 |
| OpenAlex | W2030800456 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 5 |
Moira McKenzie Centre for Language in Primary Education Teddington, England It is a salutary thought that, in general, the children who are least successful in school, in terms of becoming literate, are those who are most dependent on what the school offers in the way of instruction. Those who profit most seem to be those who have most going for them at home. They are taken out, and talked with, have stories read to them, own and share books as a pleasurable experience; they observe their parents read, and perhaps write and receive letters. Such background experiences nurture children's general knowledge as well as their understanding of books and written language. They appear to be the right contextual support for successful ventures into reading and writing and provide a foundation and a springboard for further learning. Yet outside pressures to do a better job for all children prompt teachers to undervalue these pre-requisites for reading and plunge into very highly structured pre-reading and reading programs which young children find difficult to make any sense of at all (NCTE, 1977). Such programs have little meaning for those children least experienced in literacy or the culture of the school. Even for more experienced children they have the effect of diverting attention away from, rather than directing it towards, the characteristics of written communication (Clark, 1976). For all children, an over-concern with teaching segments of language (sounds, letter-names) risks giving them a very narrow and restricted idea of what literacy is, and what it means to be literate. The mistaken notion is that one learns to read through knowing particular skills, not that the skills are learned through reading. (F. Smith 1975) The main issue in teaching reading today continues to be the same that has occupied the attention of educators and parents for more than a century: should children be taught to read from the wholeness of the task, or should they be taught decoding skills, essential sounds and letters first, leading to comprehension later? Today, new developments in theory and research in both linguistics and the reading process bring different perspectives to the debate. We know a great deal more now about how children learn
Learning to read · Linguistics · Literacy · Meaning (existential · Nature versus nurture · Pedagogy · Reading (process · Sociology · Education and Technology Integration · Educational Methods and Media Use · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,12 |
| Citation span | 1984 - 1989 (6) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |