Teaching reading – What are the different approaches?

What are the different approaches to reading?

A reading focus is a way to begin teaching beginners to read. In recent years, teachers have used various approaches to teaching reading, writing, and spelling. There are several ways to start teaching reading.

The analytical approach

This approach starts with whole words, usually nouns that can be easily illustrated and have meaning to the reader. The word is broken down into its component parts or analyzed.

In this way the reader can see the relationship between the written word, the reading of the word and their own language.

The eclectic approach

An eclectic approach to reading uses a combination of methods such as global, analytical, and synthetic to best suit the student and teacher.

The holistic approach

A comprehensive approach to reading provides the student with meaningful text to listen to, look at, and memorize at a glance. It assumes that a person learns better when reading begins with natural text.

The sight word approach

In a sight word approach, new words are learned by memorizing them with the help of illustrated clues.

The syllable approach

In the syllable approach, the syllable is the building block used to decode words. It is a synthetic approach to reading, which is a method that starts with the smallest part of sounds and builds them into syllables and words. This is called synthesizing them.

The synthetic approach to reading

The synthetic approach to reading builds words by learning smaller units of speech, such as letters, sounds, and syllables. It is often used in conjunction with other methods of teaching reading, such as the phonics or analytic approach.