From ABC to Ready to Read:
Perspectives on Reading in New Zealand
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This article is adapted from an article in J. Wright & J. King (Eds.), Set special 1997: Language and literacy. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Reprinted with permission. (E-mail: set@nzcer.org.nz)
Abstract
This article gives a brief survey of the history of reading in New Zealand to show how whole language methods emerged. The New Zealand experience up until the 1960s was very similar to that of North America. But after that there was a gradual change in teaching methods, where phonics was increasingly downplayed.
However, what happened in New Zealand has now happened on a wider scale in other countries as well, including Australia, Canada, England, and the United States, so the recent New Zealand experience will be useful for those who are currently being asked to teach whole language, and would like to know whether it has stood the test of time.
Contents
The article contains the following sections:
Author Information
Tom Nicholson (e-mail: t.nicholson@auckland.ac.nz) is an associate professor in the School of Education at The University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is coeditor of the forthcoming book Learning to Read: Theory and Research, edited by G.B. Thompson and T. Nicholson (to be published by Teachers College Press, New York, in November 1998).
Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted March 1998
© 1998-2000 International Reading Association, Inc. ISSN 1096-1232