Theories of Reading

Jeanne Chall's Stages of Reading Development is another interesting theory to explore. Professor Chall was a Harvard University professor and a noted reading expert. Professor Chall in her book, Stages of Reading Development establishes the following stages: pre-reading, initial reading and decoding (letter-sound relations), confirmation and fluency (advanced decoding skills), reading to learn the new (comprehension), multiple viewpoints (reading and understanding complex material) and construction and reconstruction (synthesize and create new knowledge).

Level I of Le Français Facile! takes your child through the pre-reading and initial reading and decoding stages. (See a chart that summaries Dr. Chall's stages with the levels of Le Français Facile! below) These three stages must be introduced in succession if future success is our goal. Children can memorize obscure lists of words, but will they truly understand the language and will they be able to attain higher decoding skills?

When I taught elementary French as a second language in the public school, we were given this very method of learning lists of words based on topics. For example, a child would learn all the vocabulary for "going to the doctor". (Those who are familiar with the Gouin Series might think that this type of instruction follows his methods, but it does not. Mr. Gouin methods were far more sophisticated. This is a discussion onto itself and can be better described in a future article.) The kids hated it. They found it boring and quickly forgot what I taught them. I decided there was a better way. I started teaching the basics of the language and saw kids start to enjoy the language more because they now understood it.

Dr. Chall's Stages of Development and the levels of Le Français Facile!

Le Français Facile!	Dr. Chall’s Stages
Level I	Letter-sound relations: pre-reading (yr. 1), initial reading and decoding (yrs. 2 &3)
Level II	Letter-sound relations: initial reading and decoding & starting advanced decoding skills Advanced decoding skills: confirmation and fluency (2 year program)
Level III	Comprehension: reading to learn the new Reading and understanding complex material: multiple viewpoints (2 year program)

Please read on...

note: this is part 6 of 7. Have you read part 1?

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