Four A·pproa·ches· to Tea·ching· Rea·ding·
There are four main a·pproa·ches· to the tea·ching· of ba·sic· rea·ding· skills:
The Pho·nics· A·pproach·
The Pho·nics· A·pproach· tea·ches· ma·ny· of the spe·lling· and pro·nun·ci·a·tion· rules, but tends to ig·nore· some of the more con·fu·sing· rules, and does not deal well with the rea·ding· of sy·lla·bles·. No·twith·stan·ding· its weak·ne·sses·, re·search· con·si·stent·ly· finds this a·pproach· is more suc·ce·ssful· in tea·ching· ba·sic· rea·ding· skills than the fo·llow·ing· a·pproa·ches·.
The Whole-Word· A·pproach·
The Whole-Word· A·pproach· tea·ches· peo·ple· to fo·cus· on re·mem·be·ring· the look of each word. This a·pproach· a·ssumes· that the En·glish· lan·guage· is so i·rre·gu·lar· that there is no point try·ing· to a·pply· rules. This a·pproach· be·came· po·pu·lar· in A·me·ri·ca· a·bout· a hun·dred· years a·go· and spread through the rest of the En·glish· spea·king· world af·ter· World War II .
The Whole-Lan·guage· A·pproach·
The Whole-Lan·guage· A·pproach· fo·cu·ses· hea·vi·ly· on mea·ning· and a·ssumes· that mo·ti·va·tion· is the key to ge·tting· peo·ple· to learn to read be·tter·. This a·pproach· was de·ve·loped· and be·came· po·pu·lar· in the 1970’s . Pro·po·nents· of this a·pproach· ar·gued· that the o·ther· two me·thods· were too bo·ring· be·cause· of the re·pe·ti·tion· in·volved· and that the key was to make rea·ding· more in·te·re·sting·. In its pu·rest· form, it was a·ssumed· that chil·dren· would learn to read na·tu·ra·lly· in the way they lear·ned· to talk by i·mmer·sing· them in in·te·re·sting· books and so no a·ttempt· was made to teach the me·cha·nics· of rea·ding· words.
The Be·tter·Tha·na·Book· En·hanced· Text© A·pproach·
On their own, none of the a·bove· three me·thods· have been suc·ce·ssful· in ob·tai·ning· high le·vels· of li·te·ra·cy· in En·glish-spea·king· coun·tries·. Chris Brooks de·ve·loped· Be·tter·Tha·na·Book· En·hanced· Text© to in·cor·po·rate· all three me·thods· of tea·ching· rea·ding· in·to· a sin·gle· a·pproach·, thus ca·pi·ta·li·sing· on the ad·van·ta·ges· of each a·pproach·.