Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program
|
|
|
READING AND WRITING
Contrary to what many people think reading and writing are among the most complex neuropsychological tasks known to the human race. Almost every area of the mind and brain is involved when reading and writing. Reading is not a natural in-built function of the human race, even though the auditory-vocal language is. Although humans have probably been able to converse using spoken language for 100,000 years (and even whales and dolphins communicate using meaningful sounds), only some people have learned through teaching, to read and write during the past 9,000 years at the most, and large portions of humanity are still illiterate. Place a tiny baby in any conversational community and it will automatically and naturally absorb that language as its native tongue without any formal teaching. Of course, when I say reading and writing are unnatural I do not mean that human beings are incapable of learning to read and write--they obviously can. What I mean is that deliberate formal teaching is required for its acquisition, just like reading and writing music, or shorthand, or the Morse code! Unfortunately the term learning is loosely used for both natural developmental functions like walking and talking, as well as for unnatural skills such as driving, or reading and spelling, and all of the latter have to be taught through detailed instructions with specific materials. Please read the disability entry above. (See: learning, FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
RECALL MEMORY
Spelling is a case where recall memory is utilized because there is no printed word present as a stimulus to remembering it. When we spell we have to recall the correct sequence of graphemes and phonemes "out-of-the-blue," and because the orthography (sound to symbol correspondence) of the English language is sometimes irregular we may misspell words more often than we would like. For good spelling, the orthographic sequencing in thousands of words has to be memorized to the level we memorize our phone numbers. Note that, when spelling a word, the sequence of the graphemes is determined by the sequence of phonemes and not vice versa. This is true because you can spell orally using articulemes (or letter names). Letter names are never used in the Bannatyne Program but they may be taught in third grade for dictionary purposes. (See: spelling, association, chunking, sequencing, recognition memory. Also see: BANNATYNE PSYCHOLINGUISTICS)
RECATEGORIZATION OF WISC SUBTEST SCORES
(See: WISC in this Glossary, and RECATEGORIZATION OF WISC section)
RECOGNITION MEMORY
Recognition memory is a much simpler form of memory than recall memory. In the case of recognition memory the visual (optemes) stimulus of the printed word is present to the eyes and all you have to do is recognize the word as familiar. Reading depends almost entirely on recognition memory but this includes auditory-vocal sequencing because English is a phonetic language in which the sequences of symbols (optemes/graphemes) represent the basic auditory-vocal language composed of phonemes and articulemes. (See: recall memory, orthography, spelling. Also see: BANNATYNE PSYCHOLINGUISTICS)
REGULARIZATION OF ORTHOGRAPHY
(See: orthography, sequencing, links, association, spelling)
RETURN STROKES
When manuscript printing or writing cursively, it is a common practice to not lift the pen or pencil off the paper during the production of the entire letter. This practice causes the writer to retrace over some lines that have just been written and these retraced lines are called return strokes. Some people call them back-strokes. In the Bannatyne Program students may utilize return strokes if they wish, even though these types of strokes are not specifically taught. The actual return strokes (colored red) can be seen in the following graphemes in a hand-printed font:
ROOT WORDS
(See: core words)
SACCADIC MOVEMENTS
As the eyes move from left-to-right along a line of print they move in jerky movements stopping periodically to fixate and read. Thus the eyes only read when still, that is when they are fixated. The page is still, the eyes are still (fixated) and the words are still. When the eye moves along from letter to letter, word to word, or phrase to phrase it is not reading-per-se, even though we can say these saccadic eye movements must be trained and learned as a part of the total reading process. This is important to understand because research shows that, as speed reading improves, the time of fixation does not lessen anywhere near as much as the shortening of the time the saccadic movements take to locate the next (new) position of fixation -- and this is a skill that can be trained. Saccadic movement training is facilitated throughout the Bannatyne Program. (See: fixation, vision, vision training, oculomotor. Also see: EIGHTY-EIGHT TECHNIQUES)
SELF-PACING
Self-pacing means that any given student, or group, or class, will move through the Bannatyne Program at a sensible and comfortable pace or rate commensurate with their thorough and permanent assimilation of the content of the Program. Traditional programs which are locked into grade achievement levels will always cause approximately one third of the students to "fail" the grade, because of the statistical definition (the mean, standard deviation and bell-curve distribution) on which such achievement levels are inherently based. Because a class teacher uses a self-pacing program like the Bannatyne Program does not mean that students in a specific group cannot move along together -- they can if the grouping that is recommended in: WHO CAN USE THE PROGRAM (Learning Environments) is used in that class. (See: statistics)
SEQUENCING
In a phonetic language such as English the sounds (articulemes/phonemes) are sequentially and individually matched (linked) with their visual symbols from left to right on the page. A phonetic language is a sound-to-symbol sequential code in which the basic auditory-vocal language is symbolized on paper by letters representing the sounds. When a student has to learn to read, write and spell English, he or she has to acquire not only the sound-to-symbol linkages in the code itself, but also their sequential order in thousands of auditory-vocal and, by association, their visual-written words. Research shows that in a phonetic language the sequencing within words is fully dependent on the auditory-vocal sequencing of the word, not visual sequencing. The Bannatyne Program regularized almost all these sequential auditory/vocal to visual/written patterns by using dozens of specific memory methods and devices. (See: orthography, linkages, phonetic, recall, recognition, symbols, left to right. Also see: EIGHTY-EIGHT TECHNIQUES and BANNATYNE PSYCHOLINGUISTICS)
SHORT VOWELS
(See: vowels)
SIGHT WORDS
These are never used in the Bannatyne Program. Traditionally many teachers are trained to teach certain lists of small or irregular words for "sight" recognition. Research shows this is not what actually happens. Anyway, in the Bannatyne Program sight words are both unnecessary and obsolete because the orthography of English has been completely regularized in the Program. (See: sequencing, orthography)
SILENT LETTERS (SILENT GRAPHEMES)
In the English language there are many, many silent letters that occur in a wide range of words, and this (along with the highly irregular phoneme-to-grapheme vowel correspondence) causes students to be quite confused as to whether or not to articulate a given grapheme (letter). Here are a few samples of words with their fifteen different silent letters in bold type: does, two, what, business, guard, people, talk, know, lamb, island, listen, scene, gnat, column, psychology. In the Bannatyne Program the orthography of English is completely regularized in a variety of ways. For example, all silent letters are regularized by placing a tiny asterisk vertically above them so that students who are learning them have instant recognition that the letter is silent. After the individual words are well learned (and in some cases chunked) the asterisks are left off because the silent letters, being embedded in long-term memory, are no longer necessary. (See: chunking, orthography, color coding, vowels. When you purchase the Bannatyne Program the Grapheme Book lists the 15 common silent graphemes on page 16)
SINGLE TRACK METHODS
Single track methods are those that teach reading or spelling or writing or language by emphasizing only one technique such as sight methods, phonics methods, motor/kinesthetic methods, syllable recognition methods, etc. The Bannatyne Program uses every known useful method and technique (88 or more) in a fully integrated reading, writing, spelling and language program. Only those which are detrimental to the learning of reading, writing, spelling and grammar (such as sight methods) have been deliberately excluded. (See: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS, EIGHTY-EIGHT TECHNIQUES)
SKEWED DISTRIBUTION
(See: Statistics)
SLOW LEARNERS
This term is used in some educational circles to describe a characteristic of some students with IQs between 75 and 85 (sometimes extended to 70 and 90) who, although they can learn the regular elementary school curriculum, learn it at a slower pace than other students who have IQs above 85 (or 90). They usually require more thorough explanations and tinier learning steps. Of course, these "slow learners" can have Specific Learning Disability characteristics as well, but then we would change the educational label to Specific Learning Disability or some other Learning Disorder label if only because designated US Federal Funds are available for many kinds of "officially" diagnosed handicaps. (See: Specific Learning Disability, Mentally Handicapped)
SOUNDING OUT
In the Bannatyne Program teachers and students use the terms "articulate," or "link, split and blend" in place of "sound out," especially when individual articulemes/ phonemes are being referred to (e.g., Say: "Link, split and blend the word clock," or, "Articulate the vowel phoneme in clock"). The separate sounds (phonemes) in the word are always blended in a "left to right" sequence in order to identify that particular auditory word, and match it with its memorized auditory equivalent in the brain. If the blended word is slightly mispronounced then auditory closure may come into action to discover the correctly pronounced word. Because the Teacher Guides are extremely comprehensive and laid out Step-by-Step, the Teacher knows exactly what to say, and do, and what content to teach at every moment. (See: orthography, sequencing, blending, auditory closure, closure, left-to-right)
SPATIAL ABILITY
The cognitive ability to manipulate intelligently objects and their relationships in one, two or three dimensional space. Spatial ability is possessed by competent engineers, scientists, artists, dentists, surgeons, construction workers, etc. Einstein had excellent spatial ability. Not a few highly spatial students may find the acquisition of verbal skills difficult because spatial ability is a function of the right hemisphere, whereas verbal and language skills are usually found in the left hemisphere. Spatial people may be right hemisphere dominant even though their verbal functioning is still left hemisphere. The Bannatyne Program helps highly spatial students to cope more easily with learning reading, writing, spelling and language skills. (See: dyslexia, hemispheric dominance, also: STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS)
SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY (SLD)
This term has an official US Federal Special Education definition which states: "A disorder in one or more basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations; this includes perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia, but does NOT include learning problems resulting from visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, or from mental retardation." Obviously, this is a comprehensive catch-all definition covering dozens of diverse learning disorder characteristics, and while it is a very useful diagnostic label for obtaining US Federal Special Education funding it is too broad for sorting out the details of what those dozens of characteristics are. I have done this for you in the section on STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS. See also: learning, disability, slow learners, dyslexia)
SPEED READING
(See: fluency)
SPELLING
Spelling is an "out-of-the-blue" recall memory function inasmuch as the printed visual stimulus word is not there for identification. Writing and typing depend heavily on spelling recall memory, whereas reading depends on the easier process of word recognition when the printed stimulus is present. Spelling is also dependent on chunking memory through which we recall known syllables, prefixes, suffixes and core words. The spelling of every word used in the Bannatyne Program is thoroughly taught using multiple methods. (See: chunks, recall, recognition, and also: BANNATYNE PSYCHOLINGUISTICS)
The Bannatyne Reading Program uses over eighty-eight techniques and is based on the results of studies and research findings. The Bannatyne Reading Program is unlike any other reading programs currently available. This means you will find many features which are only in the Bannatyne Reading Program. In some Commonwealth countries the program may be referred to as: Bannatyne Programme, or Bannatyne Reading Programme.
Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program -- Copyright © 2003 Alexander Bannatyne, PhD
|
|
|