Tweets between Nathaniel Swain and Luqman Michel
i. I teach my students to rote memorise Dolch Words which are frequently used words.
They are not memorized visually.
The following question was not responded to:
Did you read my post which explains clearly how I teach the Dolch words?
Now my question: Do you disagree with Dolch words being learned by Rote Memory?
ii. To another thread I responded that I teach Phonics first together with Dolch words to be memorized and to use context clues/cues when necessary.
Nathaniel responded with ‘Sound-letter’ pattern.
Now my finding is: Sound letter pattern is not taught correctly in most schools and that is the main problem with why kids disengage from learning to read.
My question now is: Does Nathaniel agree with my findings?
Note: Nathaniel’s profile says he is PhD in Education, Teaching and Learning Lead, Educator, SLP and Linguist.
iii. Additional question for Nathaniel: Since he is a speech language pathologist and a linguist, he may be able to answer exactly why my more than 70 students could read in Malay but not in English.
Here are the tweets between Nathaniel and me for item i. above
Nathaniel Swain @NathanielRSwain May 4
Come on ABC! If you’re going to create a word reading program, do one which aligns with the science of reading, and not memorising words as wholes.
Luqman Michel @luqmanmichel May 8 @NathanielRSwain
Teaching the most frequently use words does not amount to Whole word teaching.
I teach phonics and by teaching a few Dolch words I get my students to read from day one.
I am talking from experience and you are...
My note now: I am talking from experience and what is Nathaniel's basis?
Nathaniel Replying to @luqmanmichel
Do you teach them to look at the sound letter patterns within these words or just remember them as wholes, like pictures?
Luqman Michel @luqmanmichel May 8 Replying to @NathanielRSwain
Did you read my post which explains clearly how I teach the Dolch words?
Do read the following and then ask me any questions you may have on this issue.
https://dyslexiafriend.com/2020/05/how-to-memorise-dolch-words-most.html
Let us end the reading wars.
My note now: Did Nathaniel read my post or is he shooting from the hip?
Luqman Michel @luqmanmichel May 8 Replying to @NathanielRSwain
They memorise it by rote memory and not visual memory as suggested by @annecastles
These are simple words that comprise 70 % of words in kids books.
Any kid who speaks English knows the meaning of these words.
I have a few videos.
Nathaniel Swain @NathanielRSwain May 8
Thanks Anne! How would you sum up dual route theory in a nutshell as an alternative to MSV Three cueing ala Clay or Goodman ?
May 13 Luqman Michel to @NathanielRSwain
I am still waiting for a response.
Now I have a teacher in Australia teaching a grade 1 kid to memorise Dolch words and teach him simple phonics and he has begun to read.
Read more at https://dyslexiafriend.com/2020/05/grade-
Here are the tweets for my second item above.
Luqman Michel Replying to @NathanielRSwain @samjirwin
Since I teach my students phonics they will use all the 'tools' I have taught them.
Phonics, Dolch words, context cues/clues when there is no other way to read a word and a few other tricks.
Nathaniel Swain @NathanielRSwain May 8
Then why do we need it? Just remove the reference in the context of word recognition and id be happy. Children SHOULD use context. I’d even be happy if it emphasised sound-letter patterns first & then said: “if this doesn’t work, then they check using structure and context clues”
Note added now: I believe Nathaniel is responding to another tweet and did not address my tweet. The question from me now is: Is Nathaniel saying that I should not teach my students to use context clues? I have stated in my blog post and in my book published in 2018 that I teach context clues to be used as an additional ‘tool’ after having learned to read fluently using phonics and Dolch sight words by rote memory.
Comments