Reading Wars: Can't we all just get along?

This Summary Document from Kim Marshall and the Marshall Memo

Daniel Willingham on the Reading Wars: Can’t We All Just Get Along?

            In this online article, Daniel Willingham (University of Virginia) responds to an article by Emily Hanford in the October 28 th New York Times https://nyti.ms/2ELv9VD taking one side in the perennial debate between phonics and “whole language.” Willingham invites us to look at six statements about learning to read:

1)   The vast majority of children first learn to read by decoding sounds.

2)   A very small percentage of children teach themselves to decode with very minimal input from adults; more can do so with a little support.

3)   The speed with which most children learn to decode will be slower if they receive haphazard instruction in phonics; most need systematic phonics instruction.

4)   Phonics instruction is not a literacy program. “The lifeblood of a literacy program is real language,” says Willingham, “as experienced in read-alouds, children’s literature, opportunities to speak, listen, and write. Children also need to see teachers and parents take joy in literacy.”

5)   Systematic phonics instruction might seem boring, but studies have shown that it doesn’t harm children’s motivation to read.

6)   That said, phonics instruction can be overdone, and teachers need to make sure to emphasize the real-literature and affective dimensions of literacy.

“I think all of the six statements above are true,” says Willingham. Zealots in the phonics/ whole language war embrace only the odd- or the even-numbered items, but “they are ignoring abundant research and have above-average capacity to kid themselves.” Many others agree that all the statements are true, but they want to emphasize the ones they’re passionate about.

“The larger point,” Willingham concludes, “is that the conflict is a waste of time and I suspect most people know it. There’s plenty of other work to be done.”

“Just How Polarized Are We About Reading Instruction?” by Daniel Willingham, October 29, 2018, http://www.danielwillingham.com/daniel-willingham-science-and-education-blog; Willingham can be reached at willingham@virginia.edu.