Alphabetic Principle - Role of The Alphabetic Principle in Beginning Reading

Role of The Alphabetic Principle in Beginning Reading

See also: Phonics and Whole Language

Decades of research has resulted in converging evidence that learning the connection between the sounds of speech and print is a critical prerequisite to effective word identification. Understanding that there is a direct relationship between letters and sounds enables a reader to retrieve the pronunciation of an unknown word and associate it with a spoken word. Printed words in a child's vocabulary can be identified by sounding them out. Understanding the relationship of letters and sounds is also the foundation of learning to spell.

Two contrasting beliefs for teaching this aspect of beginning reading exist. Proponents of phonics argue that this relationship needs to be taught explicitly and learned to automaticity facilitate rapid word recognition upon which comprehension depends. Proponents of whole language approaches argue that reading should be taught holistically, and that children naturally intuit the relationship between letters and sounds. Focus on individual letters and sounds should be taught to be used only as a last resort, and that any phonics instruction given should be embedded within a holistic approach, that is to say, through mini-lessons in the context of authentic reading and writing tasks.

Read more about this topic:  Alphabetic Principle

Famous quotes containing the words role of the, role of, role, principle, beginning and/or reading:

    “The role of the writer is not simply to arrange Being according to his own lights; he must also serve as a medium to Being and remain open to its often unfathomable dictates. This is the only way the work can transcend its creator and radiate its meaning further than the author himself can see or perceive.”
    —Václav Havel (b. 1936)

    “To win by strategy is no less the role of a general than to win by arms.”
    —Julius Caesar [Gaius Julius Caesar] (100–44 B.C.)

    “The addition of a helpless, needy infant to a couple’s life limits freedom of movement, changes role expectancies, places physical demands on parents, and restricts spontaneity.”
    —Jerrold Lee Shapiro (20th century)

    “The principle of asceticism never was, nor ever can be, consistently pursued by any living creature. Let but one tenth part of the inhabitants of the earth pursue it consistently, and in a day’s time they will have turned it into a Hell.”
    —Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832)

    “The most striking fault in work by young or beginning novelists, submitted for criticism, is irrelevance—due either to infatuation or indecision. To direct such an author’s attention to the imperative of relevance is certainly the most useful—and possibly the only—help that can be given.”
    —Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)

    “To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry.”
    —Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962)