About Us
Reading and writing for success: Principles that underpin instruction
The New Zealand Reading Association's beliefs about instruction are based on the principle that all instruction is focused on encouraging students to be motivated and enthusiastic readers and writers. A love of, and belief in, the power of literacy and literature, and a commitment to professional development will help to ensure that all students and teachers become lifelong readers and writers.
We believe that our reading and writing programmes should be child-centred. We recognise that:
- reading begins with early childhood literacy experiences
- classroom programmes should reflect and build on students' cultural and language backgrounds and experiences
- teachers should know the students they teach
- teaching should be flexible and tailored to students' individual needs and experiences
- teachers should understand the reading and writing process and how children learn
We believe that reading and writing are best learned in a supportive environment. Conditions to achieve this are:
- students' current work will be valued and accessible
- sufficient high quality resources should be available for students to use independently and co-operatively
- teachers will encourage experimentation and risk taking in children's literacy learning
- teachers will value students and acknowledge their efforts
- teachers should model effective literacy strategies and encourage students to apply them
We believe that reading and writing for meaning are paramount. We recognise that
- students bring with them prior knowledge of language meanings, purposes, and structures
- learning to read and write are complex processes. Successful readers and writers will use a range of information sources to understrand text. This range will include using their experiences, knowledge of language and phonological knowledge to construct meaning.
- successful readers find and use information through a continual process of attending, searching, anticipating, checking, confirming and self-correcting
- succesful writers use sources of information to create meaning for a variety of purposes through planning, drafting, revising, editing, and presenting
We believe that the processes of reading and writing should not be separated. This recognises that:
- the processes are closely linked
- links need to be made explicit for students
- in reading, students are introduced to models of a range of texts that they may later use in their writing
- reading, discussing and thinking critically about texts will help students gain greater control of their own writing
We believe that the best approach to teaching reading is a combination and variety of approaches. There is no single best approach. Effective teachers use all of the following well-recognised approaches.
- Reading to and writing for students, allows teachers to foster enjoyment of reading and writing
- help develop an understanding of how the language of written texts is different from spoken language
- help develop an understanding of the patterns and structures of written language
- widen children's experiences of a range of texts
- provide models of a range of genre
- enrich children's oral and written vocabulary
- develop their own understanding of the challenges children face
Shared reading and writing allows teachers to
- model the reading and writing process
- support students' reading and writing of texts
- generate a sense of a reading and writing community
- provide opportunities to discuss print conventions and language styles
Guided reading and writing allows teachers to
- work with small groups of students with similar instructional needs
- observe and guide students as they process unfamiliar texts
- provide opportunities for students to develop and practise the range of reading and writing strategies necessary for independence
Independent reading and writing allows teachers to
- encourage a love of books
- provide time for students to practise literacy skills and enjoy reading
We believe that assessment of students' literacy learning is integral to the learning and teaching of literacy. We recognise that
- assessing students' reading and writing development involves collecting information about students' skills, attitudes, understandings and previous learning experiences
- each school should have its own policy on literacy assessment
- the teacher must have knowledge to make sufficient high quality assessment judgements
- assessments and teaching are closely and critically linked
- assessment is used for a range of purposes such as
- providing specific feedback to the students
- planning for future learning
- identifying how well students are meeting literacy outcomes
- grouping students according to needs
- selecting appropriate texts, approaches and strategies to be taught
- reporting achievement to parents/caregivers/whanau
- identifying progress over time
- evaluating the effectiveness of programmes
- assessment must always be manageable and puposeful