Reading and Spelling with a Whole Word Approach
There is an article that is making the e-mail circuit that tries to prove a point that we all read with a whole word approach. It reads as follows:
“ Can you raed tihs?
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch
at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a
wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in
the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but
the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling
was ipmorantt!
if you can raed tihs forwrad it.”
Interestingly, it ends with a sentence, translated as; I always thought that spelling was important. Is this Cambridge University study proving that children learn to read because our minds read the word as a whole instead of letter by letter? Since the emphasis now in teaching reading appears to be leaning toward a whole word approach, has this finding by Cambridge University been interpreted and utilized appropriately?
It appears that someone is failing to tell us that this misspelled material can only be read by people who are already good readers, not children who are just learning to read! The reason for that is because good readers have already learned these words, making it easier for their minds to use context and visual closure to read the misspelled passage. They are failing to tell you that if you were to give this to a first, second, or even most third graders to read, they would be totally frustrated! They simply cannot figure out these words by relying on the first and last letter of the word and rearrange the other letters in their minds because their experience with words is too minimal.
While a whole word knowledge is essential for reading, when we teach using a whole word approach only, we shortchange our students. No one can be a good reader or speller without a good command of phonics, syllabication and its application. No one can be a good reader without a good command of various comprehension skills.
If you think about the way a good reader figures out the scrambled words above, it is obvious that while they rely upon their whole word knowledge, they also relying on their knowledge of single letter, phonics and syllabication awareness to figure out these words. Thus, they are able to rearrange the letters in their minds.
Research has determined that 75% of the words in our English language can be spelled phonetically. While we also rely upon our visual recall, in order to be good spellers we must have a good command of phonics, syllabication in order to spell words easily. Unless a person has a photographic memory, it is impossible to picture all words in a whole word format fashion in order to read and spell them.
To meet the needs of all students, educators must use an approach that includes the development of a whole word reading, and a good understanding of phonics, syllabication, and comprehension skills. All children, learning disabled (dyslexic) and those who are not, learn best by means of an eclectic approach.
For more information on an the right approach to the teaching of reading read:
Learning Disabilities: There is a Cure by Addie Cusimano.
Addie Cusimano is an educational therapist who has been active in the field of education for more than thirty-five years. She worked as a classroom teacher and reading specialist for New York State public schools and was director, diagnostician, clinician and teacher for a learning center in upstate New York for seventeen years. Her educational experience has involved concentrated work in remedial, developmental and enrichment areas for preschool through college level students.
Ms. Cusimano has designed and published a teaching program for the development of visual memory of words, entitled Achieve: A Visual Memory Program, which has proven to be highly successful in the development of this essential learning skill. Her book, Learning Disabilities: There is a Cure, based on her findings and research on the development of learning skills, has been recognized internationally. In addition, she has written an instructional workbook for teachers entitled, Auditory Sequential Memory Instructional Workbook that is designed to help students develop auditory sequential memory of numbers, letters and words. Ms. Cusimano was named to Marquis Who’s Who in American Education 1994-2006.
Her materials can be previewed and purchased at www.achievepublications.com as well as numerous bookstores, educational catalogs and websites.
