Literacy

Television nowadays often blends the ingredients of different genres into one programme, notably documentary (fact) and drama (fiction). Research in Britain confirms that children have difficulty in separating ‘fact’ from ‘opinion’ in such programmes. Faction cannot be dis-invented, so teachers have a job on their hands. 

Some textbooks are dreadfully dull. Researchers tried out the same facts written by different authors and discovered that the way in which the facts are written makes a big difference to how much is remembered.

Some titles have colons in them, some don’t. Is there something in this? Do colons point to better articles? Better research? Is this a subject worth studying? Shock! Horror! Pomposity probes pomposity! 

There are a small number of children who can sound out every word and make it all sound sensible, but who understand very little of what they have ‘read’. Theoretical conclusions and help for teachers.

A letter to the editor of the Times Educational Supplement. Donnelly makes a point in the debate about ‘real books’ and ‘phonics’ in a dramatic way.

New Zealanders, self-satisfied, pat themselves on the back for their excellent teaching of reading. One of the long-time reading gurus, Frank Smith, has written this thoughtful, if opinionated, account of how continued success can be achieved.

In the South Pacific new approaches to the teaching of English are overdue. Here is one, tried in Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Kiribati, using books not specifically designed for 2nd-language learners. Its impact and success are described.

140 reading books, developed in his 'spare' time by a reading advisor, use peer tutoring to boost slow readers. Here the resource is explained, and the research that revealed its power.

This is a review of the work of Peter Freebody in this field. It is a stimulating look at classroom practice, assessment of literacy, and mis-matches of policy and method.

'The English cannot spell because they have nothing to spell it with but an old foreign alphabet of which only the consonants - and not all of them - have any agreed speech value.' So said George Bernard Shaw. How right he is, and how it can be turned to advantage by teachers, is revealed.