intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load · VAS blog · Word building

The Reading Achievement Challenge – the child’s view at the point of learning

Following on from two previous postings (here and here) on the subject of cognitive load in the domain of the teaching of phonics, here is a practical demonstration of the cognitive challenges a four-year-old child has to contend with in just one simple word building exercise. But first, why word building? Word building is our… Continue reading The Reading Achievement Challenge – the child’s view at the point of learning

Anthony Radice · Peter Daniels · The Traditional Teacher · The World's Writing Systems

The know-nothing world of the academic opposition to phonics

If you want to know why so many Australian (and English) academics are so strongly opposed to a Phonics Screening Check, which really is a fig leaf for their hostility to phonics teaching itself, it is that, at bottom, they don’t understand the relationship between the sounds of the language and the writing system itself.… Continue reading The know-nothing world of the academic opposition to phonics

Cambridge assessment · Debra Myhill · Rhea - super speller · Today programme

Of polydactyls

If you were listening to the last five minutes of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, you will have caught a short item on, allegedly, how pupils’ spelling has deteriorated. The item began by stating that new research from Cambridge Assessment is telling us that ‘we are making more spelling mistakes than our parents’.… Continue reading Of polydactyls