Sent to
the Guardian (UK) (Hat-tip Ray Wiggin)
The real reading
problem in England is that policy-makers in education have not read the
research on literacy development.
Results are very consistent: (1) Direct instruction in grammar and spelling
produces very limited results. (2) Nearly all of our knowledge of grammar and
spelling is acquired, absorbed, through extensive reading.
These studies have been appearing in scientific journals
regularly for over the last 100 years. Policy-makers are free to disagree with
the research, but not free to ignore it.
Stephen Krashen
Professor
Emeritus
University of
Southern California
Some sources:
Cook,
W. (1912) Should we teach spelling by rule? Journal of Educational Psychology
3, 316-325.
Cornman, O. (1902) Spelling in the
Elementary School. Boston: Ginn.
Elley,
W., I. Barham, H. Lamb, and M. Wyllie. (1976) The role of grammar in a
secondary school curriculum. Research in the Teaching of English 10, 5-21.
Hammill, D., S. Larson, and
G. McNutt. (1977). The effect of spelling instruction: A preliminary study.
Elementary School Journal 78, 67-72.
For more sources, please
see:
Krashen,
S. (2004) The Power of Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, and Westport:
Libraries Unlimited.
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