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• ' WINNIPEG Ffi.EE. PRESS,- FRIDAY, 'MAY : S.: 135S..LobbyOne of America's staunclieslto a group of -teachers,, parentssupporters of the phonics” system.. of reading called Thursday in Winnipeg for a-return to -“literature and the ABC method of reading Instruction.Dr. Charles Waleutt, professor ■of English at ..Queen's College, New. York, said that controlled-voeabulary readers,' used in connection with the sight system, are “inexpressibly tedibusY’He charged that publishing firms with large amounts of money tied •up in these monotonous texts were helping to prolong the sigbt-read-i n g method in. United States schools- by ' “political - lobbying.” ,Ir. Waleutt, who' was speaking■ * 4-and school trustees at itulvey school, said that childrenstart outby confusing language with thewritten word*' The written- word, he said, is only: a grouping of symbols ■ to. represent sounds oE the language./ . : /One - criticism toE ;the phonic^ •system,is that children read very well' but -do. not- understand-what they .are-readings “This is a language difficulty — not a reading difficulty,” he said, ./- .Dr.. : WalcUtt- said t.h.at huge amounts . of money -are1' being wasted in • the United States on remedial reading- instruction. He told of a friend who was spending $90 .a month' at/one -clinic so that his three children. ; could ’.get through high • sclfool.NO GRAMMARHe. claimed, thatmany college freshmen, 'products.- of the • ‘ look and say” system,; have no idea of how to write a.correct English sentence. If you put; these same freshmen- to reading, the classics aloud *the - improvement; was remarkable. Yet try to. pound rules of grammari into them and it all went in one'ear and.oiit.lhe other.Although the phonics system is taught in most schools today in addition to sight reading, the danger, he said/lies in- the changeover -from sight to phonics. Without a superbly-equipped teacher in this transition, period, Lhe child could become confused and suddenly become a- non-reader.SMALL VOCABULARY' Dr, -Waicutt also claimed . that there are inadequacies of vocabulary. He had seen one Grade 6 class reading a book which contained only -3,000 different words, while most of them would actually know more, than 30,000 words'.He was asked by one parent if it would confuse. her child to be taught to read phonetically before parting in school.• He replied: /‘If I had a child about. to start s.chool ‘I'd teachhim. to, read at home and Ird starthim off with letter blocks to teach him the alphabet.1'esier4cVhtfQ
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