How Children Think About Reading.

Abstract

research on young children's thinking indicates five important conclusions about teaching reading : 1. Children's thoughts about reading, their notions or conceptions of its purpose and nature, present the most fundamental and significant problems for the teacher of reading. 2. The young beginner's general ways of thinking are extremely different from those of adults. 3. The very different logic of young children causes two serious difficulties in teaching them to read and write. a. They have difficulty in understanding the purpose of the written form of their language. b. They cannot readily handle the abstract technical terms used by teachers in talking about written or spoken lan guage. 4. Teaching formal rules (e.g. of phonics or grammar) for their thinking is a] unnecessary and b] may cause long term read ing difficulties. 5. It is vitally important to provide rich and individually relevant language experiences and activities which a] orientate chil dren correctly to the real purposes of reading and writing, and b] enable children's natural thinking processes to generate understanding of the technical concepts of language.