Hi Steve and the list
You make an important point about "meaning." Not every teacher, I am sad to say, cares much about comprehension. So it's great that we are even talking about it.

I am not exactly what you mean when you say "there is nothing wrong with the overall meaning being unclear." I think you mean that learners and teachers benefit from understanding that there is no single correct interpretation of a text. (There are, of course, valid and not-so-valid interpretations.) Also, when we read, we may not be clear about the meaning of the text until we have finished it. I may need to talk to others about or ask questions about what certain words, statements, or references mean. Is MY interpretation of YOU on-target? :) 


--- On Fri, 9/26/08, Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com> wrote:


> From: Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com>

> Subject: Re: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2545] Re: The "Decoding" of words, sentences, and paragraphs

> To: bcarmel at rocketmail.com, "The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List" <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>

> Date: Friday, September 26, 2008, 4:58 PM

> I am not sure if this refers to native speakers learning to

> read their own

> language, or non-native speakers learning to read another

> language. If it is

> the latter, then I think it is normal for a learner to

> focus on decoding

> individual words. By decoding individual words, the learner

> gets some idea

> of the overall meaning, but still an unclear idea. There is

> nothing wrong

> with the overall meaning being unclear, and I believe it is

> important to

> convince the learner that this fuzziness of meaning is

> absolutely normal and

> OK. The language will only become clearer over time. In the

> meanwhile it is

> important to keep listening and reading and learning words.

> In my

> experience, the learner's time is best spent on

> acquiring more exposure to

> the language, rather than trying to fully understand what

> he or she is

> reading or listening to, or for that matter trying to

> produce the language

> with any accuracy.

> 

> I believe that insofar as immigrant language learners as

> concerned, greater

> benefit would be achieved if a large number of  immigrants

> were assigned a

> personal tutor with whom he or she met infrequently, either

> face to face, or

> by phone or computer. This language coach could then

> provide advice and

> encouragement and guidance. The present

> instruction-intensive format does

> not take advantage of the potential energies and learning

> efficiencies that

> would accrue from a more learner-centred approach. And if

> the learner is not

> interested in learning, chances are that he or she is not

> learning very much

> in class either.

> 

> Steve

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 7:38 AM, Bruce C

> <bcarmel at rocketmail.com> wrote:

> 

> > Hello List:

> > I believe that decoding is an extremely important

> component of reading, but

> > it is not the only component. Understanding

> conventions of print and

> > different genres, using and having background

> knowledge, being able to

> > relate text to self/text to the world/text to other

> texts, using context to

> > inform decoding, and being able to make predictions

> are among the many other

> > skills needed to be a good reader.

> >

> > I did some in-depth interviews with beginning readers

> and found "decoding"

> > was all they cared about. Comprehension was not the

> goal for them. Decoding

> > was the goal. I believe many beginning readers would

> feel satisfied and

> > successful if they accurately decoded each word of a

> text yet did not

> > comprehend its meaning.

> >

> > This is sadly reinforced by many teachers who teach as

> if they believe the

> > same thing.

> >

> > From Bruce Carmel

> > Turning Point

> > Brooklyn NY

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> <http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development>

> >

> 

> 

> 

> -- 

> Steve Kaufmann

> www.lingq.com

> 1-604-922-8514