EDUCATION REPORT - Learning to Read

EDUCATION REPORT
–
April 25, 2002: Learning¹ to Read

By Jerilyn Watson

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

One of the most important issues in American education is how to teach children to read. Currently², American
public and private schools use a number of methods. The majority of these methods depend on a system called
phonics. The phonics system links letters with their spoken sounds.

Phonics helps children understand which letters are used in words, and the reason they
are used. In phonics, children learn to write the letters that represent the sounds they
hear.

Many American students learn the sounds of letters before learning to read. They learn
the sounds of letters alone. They also learn the sounds of letters used together. When
children see words they do not know, they speak the sounds of the letters. Then they put
the sounds together.

For example, a child learns to recognize the sound of the letter
“
c.
”
Then she learns
the sounds of the two letters “a”
and “t”
used together. Using phonics, she can join these sounds to form the
word “cat.
”
This method is called “sounding it out.
”

In another method of teaching³ phonics, children learn to recognize the whole word first. They look at the word
“cat.
”
They write the word a number of times. They do this until they remember the word. Schools often present
this recognition⁴ method during the teaching of reading, not before. Then the children learn to study words for
their sounds. They can understand why some letters are used in a word instead of other letters.

Experts say phonics makes it possible to say the sounds of many words a child does not recognize by sight.
However, in the English language, the sound of a letter is not always the same. For this reason, many teachers
add other methods to phonics to teach reading.

Two years ago, a committee studied many reading methods. The report of this National Reading Panel⁵ urged that
teachers use phonics programs to teach children to read. Earlier this year, President Bush signed a new education
law. It includes a program called “Reading First”
to increase the reading skills of American children. The

program is based on the committee’s report about using phonics.

Some educators disagree. They say other programs also are effective. They fear that phonics programs will take
the place of other teaching methods.

This VOA Special Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson.

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1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

3 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

4 recognition   

n.承认，认可，认出，认识

参考例句：

• The place has changed beyond recognition.这地方变得认不出来了。
• A sudden smile of recognition flashed across his face.他脸上掠过一丝笑意，表示认识对方。

5 panel   

n.面，板，专门小组，控制板，仪表盘

参考例句：

• The unusual control panel on the walls caught our attention.墙上不同寻常的控制板引起了我们的注意。
• The panel of judges included several well-known writers.评判小组中包括几位知名作家。