Having an 11 months little daughter, and knowing that soon it will be her
golden age, I begin to think how to teach Bahasa and English to her. Thank God a time ago I learned Applied
Linguistics and find some information about it. Hopefully this information I
about to share to you will be fruitful, especially for those who have the same
exciting experience like me.
There are several kinds of approaches that can be used in teaching
reading to young children:
Basal reading programs: The
characteristic is a large-scale system of preparatory texts, graded readers,
work books, tests, and other materials. The advantages are a) comprehensive; b)
graded; c) carefully planned; d) that children get to know the characters,
setting, etc. On the other hand, the disadvantages are a) expensive; b) it can
be used inflexibility; c) it does not promote an exploratory use of language
outside the scheme. (mmm.., sounds doesn’t work for me. What about you?)
Language experience programs: The
characteristic is integrating work in listening, speaking, reading and writing,
using a variety of materials and activities relating to the child’s own world.
The advantages are a) catering for individual differences; b) promoting
creativity, confidence, and meaningful activities. On the other hand, the
disadvantages are a) little grading of structure; b) difficult to evaluate
progress; c) little motivation to read outside the child’s immediate world.
(Good idea! I’ve done it to my daughter, and it works!)
Individualized programs: the
characteristics are a) that children select their own reading based on
interests and ability, and read at their own pace; b) that each child has its
own program, using checklists and charts, and discusses reading with the
teacher. The advantages are a) maintaining interest; b) fostering independence
and confidence; c) flexible; d) making
no public distinction between good and bad readers. On the other hand, the
disadvantages are a) difficult to organize book availability, record-keeping,
discussion time with teacher; b) no systematic development of skills. (worth to try...)
Each approach has its own
advantages and disadvantages; therefore, there is no ‘right way’ which approach
is suitable to teach reading for young children. It depends on the situation
and condition. Besides, a range of approaches should be available to suit the
needs of individual children. Some teachers believe that reading is essentially
the skill of decoding written symbols; for others, it is a means of discovering
the meaning ‘behind’ the symbols. In this deeper view, reading plays a
fundamental role in promoting children’s critical and imaginative thinking, and
thus their intellectual and emotional development.
There are two contemporary
preoccupations for teaching reading to young children. First, there is a focus
on the need to motivate children to read by providing materials and activities
that are interesting. Second, there is an emphasis on training the cognitive
skills that children need in order to read efficiently.
Children may be taught to read
according to the four-phase program developed by Steinberg. These phases are 1)
Word Familiarization; 2) Word Identification; 3) Phrase and Sentence
Identification; and 4) Paragraphs, Stories and Book Reading. Each phase
involves meaningful language and is ordered so that a preceding phase as a
prerequisite for the next phase. The
three phases I am about to apply are:
Phase 1: Word Familiarization
The purpose of this phase is to
introduce children with the shapes of written words and to have them become
aware that different spoken words of the language have different written
manifestations. At the beginning of the program of young children, the teacher
might introduce word cards to let the children experience printed materials. For
example: The teacher could label objects such as tables, chairs, blackboard,
window, door, pictures, plants, books, shelves, by making word cards,
laminating them, and hang them up round the classroom.
All
of these visual aids would attract children’s attention and help them make the
links between spoken and written forms.
Activities may be done with word
cards around the room, such as Room Object Pointing, and Word Card Sticking. In
Room Object Pointing, the child points to the written word and the object to
which it is attached. Pointing to written words brings the words to the child’s
attention and gives them importance. The children will realize that different
words are associated with different objects. In Word Card Sticking, the child
is given a word card and asked to place it on an object that is named. The
child will see again that different words go with different objects.
Phase 2: Word Identification
In this phase, the child learns
which particular written words are associated with which particular spoken
words or objects. Here the child must store a particular visual configuration
and remember what particular spoken word it represents. For example, when
seeing the written word ‘apple’ in isolation, the child is expected to be able
to point the object ‘apple’ (or its picture) or to say ‘apple’.
Once the child begins to learn
some written words, most of which will be nouns, then the other types of words
- verbs, and adjectives should be introduced. Function words such as
prepositions and articles should only be introduced in context through phrases
and sentences.
Phase 3: Phrase and Sentence Identification
In this phase, the purpose is
for the children to read the largest basic linguistic unit, the sentence. In
teaching phrases and sentences, it is not necessary that phrase teaching
precede sentence teaching. Rather, whichever unit is of interest for a
particular situation is what should be taught, e.g. ‘a big dog’, ‘Diana fell’.
Source: Cook, G. (2003). Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press.
