Collaborative+group+8

Hi everyone in group 8 I believe that the object of the task is to write two statements supporting and disagreeing with Kohn in his article The schools our children deserve. 1. Whole language Is the process of supporting students in their literacy development by immersing them in all kinds of different authentic texts (Cambourne, 1989). Kohn in his article, supports the theory that "Whole language teachers insist that reading is about meaning". For a child to understand the what they are reading it should be done in an authentic situation. Allowing children with the opportunity to explore and develop a deeper meaning and understanding from their reading. A whole language approach supports the learning needs of all students. Those students with Dyslexia who have difficulty with phonological processing respond better to a balanced approach to teaching reading and literacy skills (Winch et al., 2009).

2. Code based approach

The english language is made up of phomes (sound units), for a child to accomplish the task of becoming an established reader they must understand the process involved in code breaking. Teaching phonics is the only way children can understand the english language. In the code based approach students are given readers that deal specifically with symbol-sound relationship in sequenced lessons. A teacher can control the type of text that students are exposed to, ensuring they have acomplete genre learning experience. This type of well rounded approach to literacy learning is the only wat to support the learning needs of our students.

These are my thoughts. In one of the other groups they have discussed keeping the task simple with 1-2 references. That idea sounds good to me. Carol

Hi Carol, and group 8, sorry I haven't been in touch I was on my honeymoon so I didn't get a chance to do anything, I hope my post is ok and we can use some of it. Thanks Elaine

Kohn Whole Language · Develops ‘meaning’ and enhances communication skills · Encourages independent learning; write before you can spell · Maximises motivation, encourages creativity and a love of reading · Represents a balanced approach to literacy; including decoding skills · Gives students a chance to take responsibility for their own learning Traditional · Develops phonemic awareness, allowing children to ‘decode’ a letter or pairs of letters · Understanding of sound-symbol relationships · Phonics allows children to enhance their alphabetic language (ESH488 - literacy text book)Chapter 1- has some interesting and useful facts on whole language and phonic awareness that could help the arguments. (“Phonics alone is not sufficient to teach a child to read effectively.”) The chapter expresses the need for a balance between both whole language and the traditional approach to phonics.