Module 3: Reading Reflection

Do you agree with Marilyn Adams (1990, p. 108) who argued that rather than relying on context, “Skillful readers of English thoroughly process the individual letters of words in their texts?” Why or why not?

I have to disagree with this quote based on what I have recently learned about learning to read.  The Weaver text has proved to me, through several examples/activities, that I am not looking at every letter in a word to determine the word.  For instance, when I read “The Boat in the Basement” on p. 88 I did not realize basement was spelled incorrectly until I went back to look for errors.  I also didn’t realize what I believed was the word “through” was actually spelled as “though.”  Based on the context of what I was reading “through” made sense, so without hesitation I continued to read.  I only took the time to look at the letters in each word when I knew there were several mistakes in the passage.    

I am starting to have some mixed feelings about phonics after all this reading.  It seems as though the text is almost discouraging phonics lessons.  Having experience in a classroom with no formal phonics lessons and now, more recently, being in a classroom that teaches with scripted phonics lessons, I have to say I am in favor of teaching the phonics lessons.  I actually really enjoy these lessons.  However, I cannot quote all the phonics rules I teach, and I don’t expect my students to.  I believe the phonics lessons serve as an important building block in a child’s understanding/learning of language, but I don’t think the phonics lessons alone teach a child to read.  I think the exposure to the phonics lessons/rules is what’s beneficial for the students.  They don’t necessarily have to be able to memorize or recite the rules to understand phonics and start applying it in their reading.  I believe just being familiar with some of the reasons why words are spelled the way they are benefits emergent readers.  I understand and also emphasize to my students that the rules don’t always apply and in English there are always exceptions.  I’ve always heard, “English is the hardest language to learn,” and all the rules and exceptions are a major reason why.  I like having the phonics lessons incorporated into my daily schedule, and I feel as though my students really benefit from the lessons.  However, I often feel like the phonics lessons impact their writing/spelling more than their reading.  Either way I feel as though it serves a purpose with young children and beginning readers.  They don’t have to remember and apply the phonics rules while reading throughout their entire life, because once you become an efficient reader you really on words less and context more.         

In conclusion, I actually think quite the opposite of the quote from Adams.  To me it seems as though emergent readers look at and process individual letters within words more so than skillful readers.  Skillful readers are reading to gain meaning while emergent readers are still trying to recognize and pronounce words correctly as they read.  A skillful reader would usually stop to look at the letters and patterns within a word only if the word is unfamiliar or if the context doesn’t make sense.