This text provides an approach to dealing with literacy problems. The author combines her own scientific and clinical experience with a synthesis of modern research on reading, to show how different methods of teaching reading could successfully improve standards of literacy. The book examines the construction of writing systems and how they can be taught, along with research on writing programmes that work for everyone, including adults and children who cannot read a word. Focusing on the sounds of language, McGuinness proposes a reading scheme capable of teaching every child to read by logical steps.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Stephen Pinker famously advocates that language is instictive. McGuinness makes the equally important assertion that writing is not. Dyslexia is not pathological but adoption of the wrong strategy for reading and writing.
Written English is a system of associating sounds within a word (phonemes) with symbols (letters). As there are more sounds than letters then letter-to-sound teaching (phonics)is at the very least going to leave gaps. McGuinness examines this and other theories of teaching reading and writing and lays bare their failings both in their failed logic and lack of scientific foundation. She looks at the development of writing systems and the reasons that English writing took the form it has. Thus she explains the problem and how it bears on the solution. Then she presents research which convinces of the effectiveness of teaching reading in the right way.
This is one of those books that makes its point then allow you without invitation to skip to the back - to PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS (including diagnostic devices and where to get curriculum materials). If you take this course then return some time - there's some facinating reading which adds sense to the advised methods.
Teachers read this book. Parents read this book. There are far too many people who cannot.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
McGuinness offers the casual reader, as well as the professional, valuable insights into the nature of the acquisition of literacy, dispelling the anachronistic remainders of learning deficit theory (notably dyslexia), and proposing a structure of learning based upon the logic of the available and largely consistent English-language spelling patterns. The details of her analysis genuinely surpass those of the modern theorists whose views continue to hold sway in British education (Frith, Goodman, etc.), and can be used by reflective practitioners to give much-needed meaning to the word-level objectives stipulated by the National Literacy Strategy. The gulf between received curricular ideas and the mechanisms of learning is apparent after reading this book. A superb achievement, and invaluable reading.
By supersew
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Some children just seem to 'catch on' to reading, without too much trouble, no matter what teaching method is used. The difficulty is how to help the 10 - 15% of children who don't 'catch on' no matter what method is used. This book shows why some children don't just learn to read at once and how they can be helped.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential if you have anything to do with the teaching of reading
This book explains the research in a way ordinary teachers and parents can understand. It shows why it is crucial that we teach children (and anyone who can't read) to decode and... Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2011 by Mrs. E. A. Nonweiler
3.0 out of 5 stars
Curate's Egg?
Some teachers says that the book changed their lives. I'm not one of those. Put off, sometimes, by a rather know-it-all tone - "Until this moment you probably never knew this" -... Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2004 by Nicktomjoe
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