Should We Force Children to Read?

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Learning to read and write as a child is an experience that all can relate to. The average child learns to read and write at the early ages of three and four. Developing literacy at an early age is crucial to academic development as well as to performance in life. Early development can be just what a child needs to stimulate their minds, which in turn is assisting in the evolution of their future. The early and latter stages of development in a child’s literacy journey are the makings for their reading and writing skills. It also plays part in their analysis of obstacles as well as their developed or problematic literacy future. A child

children learning to read and write, as well as being an important predictor of reading in

I strongly believe when some people grow up they lose interest in reading books, you can see the many people that don’t like reading in our schools, because most of us are on our phones and reading articles. I mainly read on my phone and I enjoy that more because the articles are short and to the point quicker. Phones have changed on how much I value actual books.

Competence and confidence in literacy, including competence in the three major areas, reading, writing, speaking and listening, are essential for progress in all areas of the curriculum. To broaden and enhance children’s literacy skills, opportunities need to be given by providing them with a wide range of different contexts in which to use and practice there skills. With reference to the aims of the Primary Framework for Literacy ‘To support and

Reading is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information which is essential in being a productive member of society. If and when a student missed an opportunity to learn the skills necessary for reading, it’s has a profound impact on their lives. As educators we realize that teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction. We are also aware that children, who are struggling with reading must receive

Since literacy evolves with changes in cultural communicative practices and technological developments, so too do definitions of what literacy is. There is some agreement on what literacy involves, and most definitions include reading, writing, speaking and listening, and sometimes viewing or visual literacy. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia [EYLF] (DEEWR, 2009, p.38) defines literacy as “a students’ capacity to access, manage, interpret and reflect on written texts in order to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate effectively in society”. But why is literacy so important? Research shows that people with good literacy skills are more likely to have greater self-esteem, improved health, better jobs and higher wages than those with poor literacy skills. They are more able to take advantage of the opportunities that life may offer them. In order to acquire and share an important text, teachers need to consider a number of variables relating to students’, as according to Larson and Marsh in Making Literacy Real (2014) “literacy is grounded in social, cultural, historical and political practices”. In addition to appropriate literature, the NRP (National Reading Panel, 2000) noted that phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension are crucial for effective reading instruction. The recommendations were that all students be explicitly and systematically taught these five key components.

These students are placed into remedial courses in order to help them catch up with their peers. I am also aware that there are other factors that can influence an individual’s ability to learn such as behavior issues, parental involvement, low-income families, certain minority groups, and English language learners. These individual’s may never be accepted by society because of their limited abilities in reading and writing. As a result, their future college education and careers may not exist because they will become anti-social due to learning disabilities. My reason for studying Literacy is to find out why students are not reading on the proper grade levels. Lenses on Reading was an excellent read to begin to identify with why students struggle with literacy and what theories and models can better help the students reach their full

In primary schools, literacy is taught through things such as Phonics. In 2012, The Department for Education (DfE) introduced a phonics screening check for pupils at the end of year 1. The check asks pupils to read 40 words, of which 20 are pseudo-words. This allows teachers to identify which pupils have a genuine grasp of decoding and which pupils are in need of further support. “Since 2012, the proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard has increased from 58% to 74% in 2014”. Literacy enables children at a young age to understand how the alphabet works and concentrates on speaking and listening skills, phonological awareness and oral blending and segmenting. Additional activities that can be done to help with literacy are drama, guided reading, peer work and talking in groups. Children with good literacy skills are abler to take advantage of the opportunities that they may come across as they would be literate in a subject area. A child should have good word recognition and language comprehension in order to be successfully literate. Furthermore, Literacy skills can be developed outside of the school environment. DfE found that “research has shown that children’s motivation and achievement improve when their parents or carers are involved in their education”.

“The more you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go” –Dr. Seuss. Dr.Seuss could not be any more right. It is often said that once you find the right book, you could go anywhere. Literacy is one of the most important things that a child could ever learn. In order to succeed in society today, one must be able to read, write, speak and even listen. There has been great debate over the different approaches when it comes to teaching children how to read. This essay will go more in depth on both approaches, how the writer learned how to read, how the writer will teach their students how to read.

The challenge that many students face upon entering first grade in a low social-economic status area is low literacy skills. The students represented in this developmental paper come from low income families whose parents were poorly educated, many illiterate. As a result, students would rarely read to at home, either due to the lack of literature in the home or the parents were non-readers and unable to read to or read with their child.

Why poor children are more likely to become poor readers: the early years by Jennifer Buckingham*, Robyn Beaman and Kevin Wheldall. In this literature, they discuss low socio-economic disadvantage and poor early literacy. “Children from disadvantaged families are less likely to have experiences that encourage the development of fundamental skills for reading acquisition, specifically phonological awareness, vocabulary and oral language.” “The relationship between socio-economic disadvantage and poor reading ability is one of the most enduring problems in education. Socio-economic disadvantage is a relative concept referring to low socio-economic status, which is usually defined by income, occupation, education, or any combination of these. (Beaman, Buckingham, and Wheldall 428). This analytical proves and evaluates elements in this journal such as its claim, empirical data and its mention of opposing sides to state its effectiveness in relaying the message.

Children’s learning and development is influenced by their interaction with adults and other children, the physical environment and the philosophy and resources in the service, (McLachlan, Nicholson, Fielding-Barnsley, Mercer, & Ohi, 2013). Literacy-rich environments, need to create optimal conditions for children’s personal expressions of meaning: “What do I know? What am I thinking? What am I curious about?”. Children should walk into their learning environment and be enticed to explore the elements of reading, writing, listening and speaking, (McLachlan, Nicholson, Fielding-Barnsley, Mercer, & Ohi, 2013). Children need access to interesting books and materials – both in print and online. When students are provided with well-designed classroom libraries, they interact more with books, spend more time reading (or trying to read), exhibit more positive attitudes toward reading, and exhibit higher levels of reading achievement, (McLachlan, Nicholson, Fielding-Barnsley, Mercer, & Ohi, 2013). If children are not provided with access to interesting books that they want to read and can read with success, they will never reach their full literacy potential (Gambrell, Malloy, & Mazzoni,

“There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book.” Frank Serafini. Literacy is a very important skill in this modern world. No matter where we go, if we cannot read or write the language it can make things very difficult. Since the very day that we were all born, it was instilled upon us to learn to read and write our native tongue. If we do not have the skills necessary to do this, how will we ever learn and grow? Learning to read and write is a life-long pursuit in which the goal can never completely be achieved.

Reading is a skill often taken for granted but it is essential in order to progress in life. For a child being able to read well helps them learn new things, give ideas and enables use of imagination. National literacy trust (2015) suggests that children’s early language skills can have a major impact on a child’s development of literacy skills. Five-year olds with poor language and literacy have a higher risk of underachieving at age seven and beyond. Reading skills encourage more opportunities in life and it can affect a child’s wellbeing if they do not achieve this effectively (Finnegan,2015).