In the preceding blog postings, I have tried to focus attention on what are fairly straightforward ideas:1) First, human beings invented speech and language.2) Later on, for a variety of practical reasons, writing was invented as a means of consistently and accurately recording speech/language.3) Various approaches to developing accurate writing systems were tried but the… Continue reading What is to be done?
As Usha Goswami made clear (see my post ‘Research on reading‘) written language is a representation of spoken language. In other words, written language was invented to stand for the sounds in speech. Wherever you go in the world, humans speak and listen. However, not all societies possess writing: they simply don’t have writing systems… Continue reading Written and spoken language
I don’t know whether you saw the recent Horizon programme, in which David Baddiel asked the question ‘Who Do You Want Your Child to Be’. A somewhat bemused Baddiel was seen asking Usha Goswami, a Cambridge professor, what reading is about and was amazed to learn that reading is much about the sounds of the… Continue reading Research on reading
According to the OECD (1997), more than 100 years of universal education in the UK has resulted in less than half of the UK adult population becoming literate: less than 50% of children grow up to become accurate and fluent readers. What’s more, only half of those who do learn to read can spell accurately… Continue reading Teaching reading and spelling: time to change course