Contrasting Views

• Old view
       Start with skills, interest will follow.
• New view
       Start with interest, skills will follow.
• Balanced view
       Start with interest, follow with skills.

“Between the Lions: Public Television Promotes Early Literacy”
by Dorothy S. Strickland and Linda K. Rath (Reading Online, August 2000)

The kindergartners who watched Between the Lions [a television series designed to teach children aged 4 to 7 the values of and purposes for literacy, along with the skills they need to become literate] significantly outperformed their nonviewing peers on key tasks known to predict later fluent reading: word knowledge, concepts of print, phonemic awareness, and letter-sound knowledge. Moreover, the shows were found to be enormously appealing and popular among viewers and their teachers.

“Comparing the Effectiveness of Two Oral Reading Practices: Round-Robin Reading and the Shared Book Experience”
by J. Lloyd Eldredge, D. Ray Reutzel, and Paul M. Hollingsworth (Journal of Literacy Research, June 1996; abstract or full-text PDF file)

This study compared the effectiveness of two oral reading practices on second graders' reading growth: shared book reading and round-robin reading. The results indicated that the Shared Book Experience was superior to round-robin reading in reducing young children's oral reading errors, improving their reading fluency, increasing their vocabulary acquisition, and improving their reading comprehension. (from the abstract)

“Connecting a Computer Center to Themes, Literature, and Kindergartners' Literacy Needs”
by Linda D. Labbo and Linda Sprague, with M. Kristiina Montero and George Font (Reading Online, July 2000)

Over the course of the school year, we discovered that a classroom computer center can fit beautifully into the ebb and flow of kindergarten life when the teacher finds ways to use the technology to support children's literacy needs and to enhance the thematic units and literature-based activities occurring in the classroom. It became apparent that a thorough working knowledge of software content and features was necessary if rich computer-related activities were to be designed. Linda Sprague [the classroom teacher] came to believe that she needed to become as familiar with the software as she is with some of her favorite children's literature. While it is undoubtedly time consuming to preview and try out all aspects of the available software, the results for children are certainly worth the effort.

“Explicit Instruction at the Point of Use”
by Debra P. Price (Language Arts, September 1998; full-text PDF)

This article is a response to those critics who suggest that direct, explicit instruction in “basic skills” is incompatible with a literature-based teaching philosophy. It serves to further the premise forwarded by researchers seeking to underscore the importance of ownership, control, and meta-awareness in young children's developing knowledge of print.... I invite you to inspect the teaching and learning that is happening in one first-grade literature-based classroom. I challenge you to examine the explicit nature of this instruction and hope the description is helpful to teachers considering teaching skills explicitly in the context of literature.

“Fluency Oriented Reading Instruction”
by Steven A. Stahl (CIERA Summer Institute, August 2000; slide presentation in PDF format)

The most important thing we can do to improve children's reading achievement is to have them read as much connected text at their instructional level as possible.

“Improving the Reading Achievement of America's Children: 10 Research-Based Principles”
(CIERA, 1998)

Primary-level instruction supports successful reading acquisition is consistent, well-designed, and focused. Teachers lead lessons where children receive systematic word recognition instruction on common, consistent letter-sound relationships and important but often unpredictable high-frequency words, such as the and what. Teachers ensure that children become adept at monitoring the accuracy of their reading as well their understanding of texts through instruction in strategies such as predicting, inferencing, clarifying misunderstandings, and summarizing. Instructional activities that promote growth in word recognition and comprehension include repeated reading of text, guided reading and writing, strategy lessons, reading aloud with feedback, and conversations about texts children have read.

“Learning to Read Words: Linguistic Units & Strategies”
by Connie Juel and Cecilia Minden-Cupp (CIERA Report 1-008, 1999; PDF summary or full-text file)

The question of which, and how many, word-recognition strategies should be taught to first-grade children has long perplexed practitioners. Furthermore, this question has rarely been explored within the context of real classrooms, where factors like the size and character of instructional groups, the types of materials used, and the form of the interaction itself can influence the effectiveness of strategies. In this study, Juel and Minden-Cupp analyze word recognition instruction in four first-grade classrooms to begin to identify the instructional practices that best foster learning to read words for particular profiles of children. (from the summary)

“Literature Circles/Club de Lecture”
by Maureen Baron (Reading Online, August 2000)

Literature Circles/Club de Lecture is a project designed to provide learning contexts that will address the computer technology and literacy needs of innercity students within the framework of Quebec's curriculum reform. Literature circles are an instructional strategy whereby students can share the reading experience and its associated applications: learning of content, acquisition of language and literacy skills, and development of social relationships and interactions. For this project, second-grade students (aged approximately 7 years) wrote book reviews, created book covers, and prepared audio texts for publication on the Literature Circles/Club de Lecture Web pages.

“Making a Difference Means Making It Different: Honoring Children's Rights to Excellent Reading Instruction”
(a position statement of the International Reading Association, March 2000; summary or full-text PDF file)

Schools in the United States face enormous challenges in teaching children to read and write. Meeting these challenges in the 21st century will require a fundamental change in how policy makers, parents, and school professionals look at improving schools. The International Reading Association declares that it is time to build reading programs on a set of comprehensive principles that honor children's rights to excellent reading instruction. (from the summary)

“Non-Narrative as a Catalyst for Literacy Development”
by Linda J. Caswell and Nell K. Duke (Language Arts, February 1998; PDF format)

As literacy instructors and supervisors in the Harvard Literacy Laboratory, we also have tended to focus our early literacy instruction on primarily narrative forms of discourse. Our recent experience with two particular students, however, piqued our interest and prompted us to re-examine the practice.... These two students were motivated to read and write specifically non-narrative texts and, in fact, found a “way in” to the world of literacy through non-narrative texts that they had not found through narrative forms of discourse.

“Our Children's Future: Changing the Focus of Literacy and Literacy Instruction”
by Donald J. Leu, Jr. (The Reading Teacher, February 2000; “reprinted” in ROL's Electronic Classroom)

As important as [our] focus on the book has been, we must quickly expand this vision if we hope to prepare children for the futures they deserve. The technologies of literacy are rapidly changing. Today, children need to be prepared for much more than book literacies. The rapid appearance in many of our classrooms of networked information and communication technology (ICT), such as the Internet, requires us to fundamentally redefine our understanding of the literacy curriculum.

“Overview of Choices Booklists”
(International Reading Association Web site, updated annually)

Children's Choices [linked as a PDF file from the overview page], which is cosponsored by the Children's Book Council..., includes brief reviews of approximately 100 titles, each of which has been recommended by children themselves. Teachers' Choices [also linked as a PDF file]...identifies approximately 30 books rated as outstanding for curriculum use by teams of teacher reviewers.

“Schoolwide Literacy Days”
by Darlene D. Polder (excerpted from The Reading Teacher, February 2000)

For the past 3 years, our school has been having schoolwide literacy days. The goal of these activities is to make reading fun and purposeful, while developing a sense of community (through shared experiences). All of the activities involve reading, collaboration, and some kind of action. The activities are planned by a literacy committee, which works hard to make sure activities are easy to implement and involve very little work for the teachers. We've had so much fun and success with these projects that we'd like to share them with other educators.

“Social Constructivism and the School Literacy Learning of Students of Diverse Backgrounds”
by Kathryn H. Au (Journal of Literacy Research, June 1998; abstract or full-text PDF file)

This theoretical review builds on the idea that social constructivism offers implications for reshaping schooling in ways that may correct the gap between the literacy achievement of students of diverse backgrounds and that of mainstream students. A diverse social constructivist perspective may encourage literacy educators to progress from a mainstream orientation toward a serious consideration of the significance of students' ethnicity, primary language, and social class to literacy learning. (from the abstract)

“Student-Generated Rubrics: Bringing Students into the Assessment Process”
by Mary Jo Skillings and Robbin Ferrell (excerpted from The Reading Teacher, March 2000)

Robbin [a second-grade teacher] explained it this way, “The first rubrics I used were extremely structured and were used both to teach and to assess if the students understood the concepts I wanted them to learn. It was important for me to make sure that my students had both the experiences and the information they needed to be successful with an assignment.... I wanted them to have choices and to have a broader vision of what they could do to satisfy the requirements of the lesson. I have students who are able to achieve higher levels of performance when they are able to express themselves through more involved expressive modes, such as telling another student who then writes the version down.”

“Text Matters in Learning to Read”
by Elfrieda H. Hiebert (CIERA report 1-001, 1998; also available in PDF summary or full text)

Many, varied opportunities to interact with numerous selections of high-quality literature are critical to reading development. But should high-quality literature be the sole material in which children apply their reading knowledge at the earliest stages of reading?... From a task perspective, consistent reading of particular types of texts can be likened to a diet where children eat particular food groups but not others.... Through experiences with particular texts, children may be acquiring some nutrients (or skills) and not others. This article addresses the diets provided to beginning readers by different instructional texts.... [T]he three sections of the paper deal with (a) the texts we had, (b) the texts we have, and (c) the texts we need.

“Transitions to the Conventional: An Examination of a First Grader's Composing Process
by Lawrence R. Sipe (Journal of Literacy Research, September 1998; abstract or full-text PDF file)

A first grader's spontaneous utterances and actions while composing were audiotaped and observed for one school year. Data included both journal writing (self-sponsored) and writing assigned by the teacher. Seven shifts in composing process were identified, relating to his (a) use of resources, (b) focus and sharing, (c) revision process, (d) utilizing a stock of known words, (e) verbalizing while composing, (f) acquisition and application of case knowledge, and (g) control of spatial organization and serial order. Four factors that influenced these shifts were also identified: the pull of conventional forms, the social nature of composing, the importance of topic choice, and the role of the teacher. (from the abstract)

“Using Multiple Methods of Beginning Reading Instruction”
(a position statement of the International Reading Association, April 1999; summary or full-text PDF file)

The International Reading Association states that there is no single method or single combination of methods that can successfully teach all children to read. Therefore, teachers must be familiar with a wide range of methods for teaching reading and a strong knowledge of the children in their care so they can create the appropriate balance of methods needed for each child. (from the summary)

“Wired Writers: Canada's Writers in Electronic Residence Program”
by Larry Miller (Reading Online, July 2000)

[The Writers in Electronic Residence program, or WIER, uses] Internet technologies, specifically computer conferencing, to bring professional writers into the classroom to share their expertise with students at all grade levels, from elementary through high school, across Canada. Students post original compositions, poems, short stories, and other forms of writing, which are read and commented on by highly regarded professional writers. Moreover, students post their commentaries on the works of other students. The advice given is used to revise the pieces, which, in turn, fosters writing growth. In this way, the program serves as a catalyst for learning, usually in existing, face-to-face classroom contexts.

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Citation: Dalton, B. (2000, October). Spotlight on early literacy instruction: Twenty online articles. Reading Online, 4(4). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/editorial/edit_index.asp?HREF=/editorial/october2000/index.html

Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted October 2000
© 2000 International Reading Association, Inc.   ISSN 1096-1232