International Connections

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

International Connections

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

I decided to start a thread on 'International Connections' to illustrate how this push for research-informed reading instruction is an international concern - and those people who work to make a difference on a larger scale than their community are keeping an eye on events internationally, and using one another's work to try to improve reading instruction globally.

Let's start here with Bruce Dietrick-Price's piece in the 'American Thinker':

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles ... ag.twitter

Bruce flags up a piece in Malkin Dare's Canadian organisation, 'Society for Quality Education' about Dr Marlynne Grant's two studies conducted in England:
Now, a century after that first study, Malkin Dare, a Canadian expert, summed up the latest research from the UK:

There is no such thing as a silver bullet in education, but systematic phonics comes pretty close. Doubters ought to read this report by Dr. Marlynne Grant, an English educational psychologist. Dr. Grant is actually reporting on two studies. The first is a two-year study of…children who were taught to read using systematic phonics. At the end of two years, when they were just six years old, all 30 children were fluent readers who could read well above grade level….The second study is a larger longitudinal study following up on a much-earlier cohort of 700 disadvantaged children who had been taught to read using systematic phonics but then received no special treatment. At the end of grade 8, the group as a whole could read significantly above the national average and not one child had difficulties with literacy.
So let's take a visit to 'Society for Quality Education' where we can see the full piece and subsequent 'comments' which arise from an international readership here:

http://www.societyforqualityeducation.o ... gland-pity

Do look at the link immediately above, and imagine my surprise when one of my thread's on the Phonics International forum (and I'm based in England) is flagged up here as evidence for multi-cueing reading strategies persisting in England despite official government guidance warning against them - see here:

http://phonicsinternational.com/forum/v ... .php?t=636

As we have the advent of the internet - therefore information about research findings is readily available throughout the world - why is it that we still have universities and politicians still promoting 'whole language' multi-cueing reading practices?

The answer is largely because they are so entrenched - established - and how does one change this state of affairs.

And the very, very, very sad reality is that the window of opportunity for children to get going with their reading and spelling in a way that will last them for a lifetime is a small window - and the children themselves do not have 'time' to wait for the juggernaut of whole language multi-cueing to turn around.

How many children are currently being taught with fundamentally flawed and potentially damaging methods - and often unbeknown to their teachers and parents!

Anyway, this 'international' state of affairs is precisely why it is time, and right, that the International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction has been founded.

Not only is it an 'international' organisation - the aim is to represent the interests of all stakeholders in this issue of 'literacy' - ranging from the politicians and policy makers and shapers, to the researchers, to the practitioners (teachers and teacher-trainers) to the parents and grandparents of the children at the heart of the matter.

So, please join us and describe your perspective and experiences!

Meanwhile, it is clear that Dr Marlynne Grant's work is at the heart of the pieces above, so I'm going to add her study to the 'successful stories' forum! ;)

:)
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: International Connections

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Still featuring Dr Marlynne Grant's report of two studies, I focused on this report and compared it with two further reports to illustrate that England is a long way from providing the Synthetic Phonics Teaching Principles in full (that is, without multi-cueing reading strategies) despite the push from successive governments in England.

I wrote about this issue as an article for SENmagazine back in May 2014 and then continued with this theme flagging up the work of others (from international sources of course) in subsequent postings here:

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/for ... .php?t=655
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