Beginning Reading and WritingPerspectives on Instruction
PURPOSE
To help readers become familiar with critical concerns in the area and to identify whatwe knowand what we still need to find out about the job of ushering primary gradechildren into the community of readers and writers.
CONTENTIONS
A short historical look at the issues and controversies that have existed with respect toearly literacy instruction over the past 25 years.Three issues of continuing concern in early literacy•How to provide the best foundation for beginning literacy instruction•When to begin formal literacy instruction•The nature of beginning literacy instructionThe foundation for beginning literacy instruction•Learning to read and write begins very early•Children learn written language through active engagement with their world•A much broader range of knowledge, dispositions, and strategies is involved•A variety of paths to conventional reading and writingWhen to begin formal literacy instruction•During the first three-quarters of the twentieth century, first grade –age 6- wasgenerally accepted as the year to begin teaching reading.•In 1980, most kindergartens were providing reading instruction to 5 years old.The Nature of Beginning Literacy InstructionHow to teach beginning reading is the flash point of all the contentions related to earlyliteracy instruction
CONLUSIONS FROM RESEARCH
1.An emergent literacy approachprovides the foundation2.Comprehension instruction is a core feature3.A multifaceted word study program is essential4.Writing-integrated and separated- is central5.Reading fluency must be developed6.Children need to practice by reading connected text7.The early literacy program is conceptualized as developmental.
CONTINUING CHALLENGES
The how of phonemic Awareness Instruction
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