Do you agree with Marilyn Adams (1990, p. 108) who argued that rather than relying on context, "Skillful readers of English thoroughly process the individual letters of words in their texts?" Why or why not?
I do not agree with Marilyn Adam's statement. As we read, we do not look at each individual word that is written in the sentence. Moreover, as we read we do not look at each individual letter in the words. Like page 101 states, often our phonics rules do not apply to each and every word. English is language of exceptions. Therefore, if we looked at each individual letter in the words like Adams suggests we would be bogged down and overwhelmed. Taking time to do this would take away from the meaning of the text, which is why students are reading in the first place.
In addition, as I learned from the activities on page 92, we do not need every letter in every word to determine what the word is. As we gain more experience with reading we begin to find letter patterns in words. These patterns let us predetermine what a word is coming. One of my favorite things the book pointed out in Chapter 5 is on page 97, "Without ever having been told, we know what is possible in English, and what is not".
Lastly, Marilyn Adams is wrong to note that we should not rely on context. I believe that context is one of the most important resources students have while reading. They can use what they know from it and what they gain from it to help them when they are struggling. They are able to take clues from it to determine what they are not sure of.
Weaver, C. (2002). Reading Process & Practice. (3rd Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
I am in agreement with you about the importance of context. I have observed my students many times use context in order to comprehend text. It is amazing how they can be struggling one second, but revert to their context, and fully understand the next second.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you as well. I think it would be pointless to sound out every letter in the word. That would be too confusing in a text and while they are sounding out the word the student would most likely forget what the entire sentence is about. I think we should our student to read for meaning and use the context to help identify a word.
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