Proceedings of the - British Association for Applied Linguistics

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The Impact of Applied Linguistics: Proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting of BAAL University of the West of England environment, young children learn the basic concepts of how books operate whilst listening to a wide range of stories and rhymes support the development of listening skills. If these are approached holistically then there becomes a natural symbiosis of the underpinning prerequisites that will lead to emergent literacy skills. It is imperative that teachers are mindful that the process of learning to read is more complex than the mere acquisition of a subset of task analysis type skills. Current literacy policies seem to be regardless of the raft of pedagogy which underpins our knowledge of children’s reading and allow only cursory acknowledgement of children’s Readiness to Learn. Having moved forward from the highly prescriptive nature of the Literacy Hour, the introduction of the synthetic phonics approach has merely served to continue the phonics debate. Vygotsky’s (1934) metaphor of the analysis of water is apt here. Whilst we can reduce the components of water to the elements of Hydrogen and Oxygen, individually these do not give an indication of the true nature of water. In considering the diametrically opposed recommendations of the Tickell Review and the Rose Report it is imperative to explore the politicisation of literacy policies. The government, driven by employers demanding higher levels of literacy skills in school leavers, has invested much cultural capital in the raising of standards. However, who should be the gatekeepers of pedagogy in informing government initiated reviews? In a press release from the National Union of Teachers on 22 nd November 2010, Christine Blower stated: ‘It is this government’s obsession with synthetic phonics that appears to be driving this latest announcement ... if children who don’t do well in the tests just getting more of the same type of phonics teaching will not be of use to them’ Who, in fact, are the expert witnesses that government funded review committees? Within Higher Education the agenda driving Research Informed Teaching and the pressures to engage in Research that has impact, would suggest that academics in the field of pedagogy are in the best position to advise on policies. This is not, however, always reflected in the panel members of governmental reviews. There is a need to be sceptical when advisers themselves may have a vested commercial interest in the outcomes of any recommendations. There has indeed been an explosion of 80
81 Phonics or fun? Helen Horton new materials as publishers have leapt on the band wagon of the latest initiative. In summary, according to Hannah Richardson (2011) BBC news education reporter: The test-run of a new primary school reading check suggests two-thirds of pupils are likely to fail it when it is introduced in England next year. If this statistic proves to be true, this only serves to question not only purpose and process in the teaching of reading but also appropriate forms of assessment. A pragmatic and creative approach is needed in order to fire children’s enthusiasm for reading. References Rose Report (2009). Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum: Final Report gov.uk Tickell Review (2006). The Early Years: Foundation for life, health & learning gov.uk Lev Vygotsky ([1934] 1962). Trans. E. Hanfmann & G. Vakar, Language and Thought. MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass, USA.
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Proceedings of the - British Association for Applied Linguistics

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