Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1914-01-08
THREE METHODS OF
TEACHING READING.
school Superintendent Writes About
Teaching Children to Read.
lPolk County News.l-

In teaching reading there are Just
two ends to be sought: III to make
the learner automatic and quick in the
recognition of WORD and letter forms
and values; (2y to secure his interest
in the content, the spiritual element,
of the printed forms. Under the first
Is included the mechanics of reading
distinct and clear articulation and
correct pronunciation, as well as skill
in instant Interpretation of words and
letters. In the second is involved rhe
character-growth OF the learner, his
Introduction to an enjoyment Of truth,
goodness, beauty, as seen by others
and expressed by them in the worlds
literature.
Both these aims must be kept, stead
ily in view by the. primary teacher;
fol, although the. pupils ability to re
cognize, promptly and accurately,
printed n written words, is the maia
thing to secure at first, yet at the
BaHte time this recognition is greatly
facilitated by the feeling of interest
aroused by the content of the words.
Learning to read cannot, therefore, be
a purely mechanical process, even in
the first lesson; if it. were, then any.
arrangement of words would serve, in
the first exercises, without references
to the sense or nonsense expressed.
But it is becoming more and more
clear that from the very beginning the
words used to make a reading exer-
else for learners must express thought
OF interest to them. s.
The two ends of primary reading
the mechanical and the spiritual-rare
both reached by the method of en-
ablinE the child to convert his ear-vo.
cabulary into. IN eye-ypcabuiary-
that is the best method by which tho
learner may come to see in printed
and written words the same meanings
that these words carry when spoken.
When the pupil enters school at six
years of age, he already has a vocab-
ulary, which he understands and uses
freely, of from 800 to 1000 words-de-
pending on his home environment.
But these words re recognized only
through the ear, as they are spoken,
and they constitute. therefore, an ear
vocabulary. The first aim of the
teacher is to enable the child quickly
and accurately to get tine meaning of
these words through the eye. This
fundamental and essential aim seems
sometimes to be lost sight of, even
when the right ways of reaching it are
used.
The usual ways of teaching primary
reading are either synthetic or anaIy-
tic. 1t seems to me plain that time
spent in attempting to bring the pupil
into the new world of reading along
the synthetic road alone, must result
in great loss of time. But along this
road, almost all teachers are trying to
lead their pupils.
The synthetic method has two
forms,-one the old a, b, c, grind; the
other the phonic method. The latter
is the better OF the two, because it
teaches the sounds of the letters
their vocal values, and thus enables a
we'll drilled pupil to pronounce with
considerable readiness, as coon as he
sees them, written and printed words
which he has not before seen. The a,
b. C, method teaches only the names
of the letters, and leaves the learner
to get the, different sounds by any
lucky chance he can.
1t would be a waste of space to dis
euss the reaching of the alphabet as a
way of teaching reading, except as a
matter of pedagogical history, were it
not for the regretable fact that there
arr teachers in Polk county today who
do not attempt to use any other way.
Briefly the a, b. c, method begins
by teaching the child his letters and
after he learns them at sight, he is
drilled upon spelling combinations OF
them in syllables, as alb, alb; u-b, ub:
etc. When this sort of thing has gone
on for some time, the learner is sup
posed to be able to spell monosylla-
bics words, such as cat, rat bat and
the next step after that is t read.
No wonder that pitiful thousands
lave grown up without eger coming
into the rightfui heritage OF enjoyment
OF good reading, when they had to
travel toward it along so torturous
end torturing road.
The method is u~ninteresting be