The History of Literacy instruction in Spanish and in English - Essay Example

The History of Literacy Instruction in Spanish and in English In Spanish-speaking countries in Central and Latin America, the constructivist approach has had an overwhelming positive influence on reading practice among students. The purposes of this paper are to determine what evidence for this is given in the chapter, as well as do a search on the Internet about contstructivismo (constructivism) and write a few comments about it. The constructivist approach has had a wide array of influences on reading practices.

A psycholinguistic view became apparent in the periodicals regarding literacy that were published by those holding a vested interest in the concept. At least one scholar, who is listed in the article, began to take on traditional concepts that had existed up until that time. In 1999, Goodman’s classic What’s Whole in Whole Language was written on the topic and, once translated into Spanish and Venezuela, came widely distributed among the region. The book was so popular that it was translated into English six years later.

According to the case study:In the 1980s publications about literacy in Spanish began to reflect an understanding of the psycholinguistic view. As early as 1984, Dubois began questioning traditional, word-based approaches of teaching reading in favor of taking a psycholinguistic view. In 1989, Goodman’s classic What’s Whole in Whole Language was translated into Spanish in Venezuela and widely distributed throughout Latin America. The demand for the book was so great that it generated a newer translation into Spanish only six years later.

When one scholar affiliated with the author moved to Mexico, the materials in the local schools were changed thanks to ideas and those of other constructivist educators. In fact, the first grade primer of the series tells one in the article that, “showed the drastic difference this text represented from the former government-approached text, Mi Libro Magido (My Magic Book), with its practice sheets that required students to repeat syllabus and practice penmanship. In the 1990’s the government started to take better control in controlling educational methods.

According to the case study the practice of phonics is more likely to be constructive when students are taught the different sounds of words and then are taught be blend them together. Other, more traditional approaches take longer and a lot of people are opposed to change, but administrators, scholars, and teachers really believe they have something here being able to teach the same thing easier and in a shorter period of time. This is the mark of phonics instruction that is well-designed, which is highly preferred over poorly designed phonics instructions that can cause students to struggle and fall behind.

In summary, “There is so much we know now, there are so many resources that we have access to, that it is often difficult to know where to start with our young emergent readers, writers, and spellers. We certainly know a lot more than the politicians and media . . . Teachers need to be assured that they are no longer simply doers; we are thinkers and researchers in our classrooms and schools. We are professionals—better trained than ever before.” According to Wikipedia, “Constructivist learning (constructivismo) is inspired by constructivist theories of learning that propose that learning is an active process wherein learners are actively constructing mental models and theories of the world around them.

Constructionism yolds that learning can happen most effectively when people are actively making things in the real world (Wikipedia, 2008).ReferencesTextbook?Constructionism (Learning Theory). (2008). Wikipedia. Retrieved February 22, 2008, from http://www.academia-research.com/writer/index.php?pg=ordp&e_id=206845.