Reading instruction should move from known anchors to the unknown code
Connected to the main concept «uchitsya-legko.rf — reading instruction as deciphering the written code».
Instruction is built upon known anchors. If a child recognizes an object or a picture and knows its spoken name, this is already a confirmed pair. The spelling can be added to it, thereby revealing a new way of representing already known content.
The basic cycle may look like this:
- the child recognizes the image;
- hears the name and confirms they know it;
- sees the written word;
- compares it with other known pairs;
- notices repeating letters and parts;
- forms a hypothesis about the function of these elements;
- uses the discovered correspondence to decode a new word.
Unlike simply presenting a ready-made rule, here the child gets the opportunity to discover the code structure themselves from several known examples.
This approach requires the network of representations described in «The written word connects multiple representations of the same content» and a sufficient oral vocabulary: «Oral vocabulary is the recognition base in reading instruction».
As connections accumulate, the number of explicit anchors decreases — see «Prompts should gradually disappear as connections are mastered».
The key verification of the method is whether the child is able to use the mastered correspondences to read a word they have not seen in the system before. Simply memorizing shown words is not enough.
