Reading as a Second Language

Readings:
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Ch. 1 Expanding Out Paradigm of Reading by Johnson/Keier
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Ch. 2 How Reading Works by Johnson/Keier
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Ch. 3 Vygotsky Takes a Seat in our Classrooms by Johnson/Keier

This week's reading focused a lot on thinking about reading as a complex process. For people like us, who have been reading for many years, it seems like such a simple, natural process.  However, for children just learning how to read, it is a difficult task.  We forget how many steps are truly involved in decoding words and interpreting their meaning.

Reading is almost like learn a whole new language.  Essentially it is, since children are still figuring out English and how the language works when we teach them in schools.  But talking is very different from writing/reading.  Many people who grew up in bilingual homes claim that they can speak their second language (i.e. Spanish) very well, but due to the lack of technical instruction in school, have poor reading/writing/grammar skills in that language.  English though, which may not have been their first language, is what they have more technical skill in, since that is what was taught in schools.  So if you look at reading in this way, it really is it's own separate entity from speaking.

Therefore, in order to remember what it was like to learn to read, it would be helpful for teachers to learn a new language.  The best option would be one with a totally different system of written language, like Russian or Chinese.  This would be an excellent exercise, even if only for a day at a professional development workshop, to get teachers back in the head space of their students who are just learning to read.  Everyone has already taken a foreign language in school, and therefore remembers whether they thought it was easy or hard.  If it was easy for you, it was likely that reading and writing was easy for you.  If you were the type of person who struggled with a foreign language, it is likely that you might have struggled with reading as well.

Another important thing to consider is Vgotsky's Sone of Proximal Development.  This learning theory is perfect to relate to reading instruction.  It emphasizes focusing on only what children are ready to learn. Often times we expect an entire class to be on around the same level, but some students end up struggling or being bored.  Te ZPD focues on finding the appropriate level of instruction.  This fits n nicely with the idea of "good fit" books and leveled reading.  Vygotsky's theories compliment our current reading practices nicely.

If we were to ignore the ZPD, it would be like placing a student who has never spoken Russian in a 400 level college class, where the professor speaks no English to the class.  This panicky feeling would be similar to that of a student being forced to read a book that is not the correct level for them.  Vygotsky's theory just reminds us how important it is to provide proper instruction to each child.  This way, nobody is allowed to fall through the cracks.