[ProfessionalDevelopment 2636] Enduring truths from the pasttsticht at znet.com tsticht at znet.comMon Nov 3 14:26:04 EST 2008
This is an overview of a speech I presented at the International Reading Association's national conference in Atlanta May 6, 2008. My presentation was part of a symposium celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the publication of Edmund Burke Hueys 1908 classic book: The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading (MIT Press, 1968 reprinting). I thought you might find the extracts from Hueys book from 100 years ago of interest. It is satisfying to find that, amidst all the controversies that swirl around the teaching of reading, there may be some enduring truths after all! Tom Sticht Paper Title: Huey's Thoughts on Oral Language in Relation to Reading: Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy Presenter: Tom Sticht, Member, Reading Hall of Fame and International Consultant in Adult Education. Overview: In his classic book on The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading (1908) Edmund Burke Huey includes, among others, a chapter on inner speech during reading, a second chapter on learning to read at home in which he emphasizes the role that parents play in leading children to reading, and a third chapter in which he comments on the need for schools to teach parents how to facilitate their children's learning at home. In this presentation I look at aspects of these three chapters, review research on the Oracy to Literacy Transfer Effect, the Intergenerational Transfer of Literacy, and discuss implications of Huey's ideas and the empirical research since his writing for what I call a Multiple Life Cycles education policy. My presentation is built around three extracts from chapters in Hueys book: Chapter VI The Inner Speech of Reading And the Mental and Physical Characteristics of Speech "The child comes to his first reader with his habits of spoken language fairly well formed, and these habits grow more deeply set with every year. His meanings inhere in this spoken language and belong but secondarily to the printed symbols. To read is, in effect, to translate writing into speech." (Huey, 1908/1968, pp. 122-123). Chapter XVI Learning to Read at Home "The secret of it all lies in the parent's reading aloud to and with the child. The ear and not the eye is the nearest gateway to the child-soul, if not indeed to the man-soul. Oral work is certain to displace much of the present written work in the school of the future, and least in the earlier years; and at home there is scarcely a more commendable and useful practice than that of reading much of good things aloud to the children." (p. 332 & 334) Chapter XV The Views of Representative Educators Concerning Early Reading "Where children have good homes, reading will thus be learned independently of school. Where parents have not the time or intelligence to assist in this way the school of the future will have as one of its important duties the instruction of parents in the means of assisting the child's natural learning in the home." (pp. 311-312) For a copy of my full paper contact me at email: tsticht at aznet.net
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