English Language A Level 15 theories of children's writing development Paul Heselton

[@Jackssaa]

legend paul

[@Sotarge]

you are brilliant Paul!

[@deepdish2234]

Would a look-and-say approach to word learning not be more appropraite than phonics for children, given language is just how we describe ourselves and the real world around us? Surely our understanding of words is paramount, then our pronunciation/relationship between the spoken word and written word can be refined afterwards? Or I could be completely missing the point. - AW

[@olivertaylor6333]

No, look-and-say approach to teaching English is the least effective over traditional phonics. Teaching a child phonics gives them the skills to look at a word and appropriately decode how to 1) pronounce and 2) spell the word. The look-and-say approach teaches English as a logographic language, which it isn't, so children who have been taught phonics his way are unable to decode the words, as they have been taught words as a whole, not the units building up the words (phonics teaches the units) Overall: look and say is the weaker approach, phonics is the best as it teaches kids how to decode. Got my a level eng lang exam tmr so that's why I know :)

[@deepdish2234]

@@olivertaylor6333 Thinking about it that way, you're absolutely right, didn't quite consider it properly! It's been almost 10 years since I did it haha (old student of Paul's) so I'm a little rusty! Good luck on your exam tomorrow man, hope you nail it!

[@rossjago2381]

how did you do@@olivertaylor6333

[@max-gg9qk]

@@olivertaylor6333 did it go well?

[@olivertaylor6333]

@@max-gg9qk yes I got an A in The A Level!!