Teaching to read: What are the different approaches?

What are the different approaches to reading?

A reading approach 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 begins 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, reading 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 better follow the student and the teacher.

The global approach

A comprehensive approach to reading gives the student meaningful text to hear, look at, and memorize with the naked eye. It assumes that a person learns best when reading begins with natural text.

The visual word approach

In a sight words approach, new words are learned by memorizing them with the help of visual cues.

The syllable focus

In the syllable approach, the syllable is the basic 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 turns 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 generally used in conjunction with other methods of teaching reading, such as the phonic or analytical approach.