Question

Teaching children to read well from the start is the most important task of elementary schools. But relying on educators to approach this task correctly can be a great mistake. Many schools continue to employ instructional methods that have been proven ineffective. The staying power of the "looksay" or " wholeword" method of teaching beginning reading is perhaps the most flagrant example of this failure to instruct effectively.

The wholeword approach to reading stresses the meaning of words over the meaning of let?ters,thinking over decoding,developing a sight vocabulary of familiar words over developing the ability to unlock the pronunciation of unfamiliar words. It fits in with the selfdirected, "learning how to learn" activities recommended by advocates (倡導(dǎo)者) of "open" classrooms and with the concept that children have to be developmentally ready to begin reading. Before 1963,no major publisher put out anything but these "Run-Spot-Run" readers.

However,in 1955,Rudolf Resch touched off what has been called "the great debate" in beginning reading. In his bestseller Why Johnny Cant Read,Flesch indicted (控訴) the nation's public schools for miseducating students by using the looksay method. He said―and more scholarly studies by Jeane Chall and Rovert Dykstra later confirmed―that another approach to beginning reading,founded on phonics (語音學(xué)) ，is far superior.

Systematic phonics first teaches children to associate letters and letter combinations with sounds;it then teaches them how to blend these sounds together to make words. Rather than building up a relatively limited vocabulary of memorized words,it imparts a code by which the pronunciations of the vast majority of the most common words in the English language can be learned. Phonics does not devalue the importance of thinking about the meaning of words and sentences;it simply recognizes that decoding is the logical and necessary first step.

(   ) 1. What does the underlined phrase " touchedoff" most probably mean?

   A. Moved off. B. Set off. C. Took off. D. Droped off.

(   ) 2. The author accuses the "looksay" reading approach because         .

   A. it overlooks decoding

   B. some experts agree with him

   C. it devalues the useful phonics method

   D. many schools still use this method

(   ) 3. The difference between the looksay method and the phonics method is         .

   A. looksay is only logical and natural

   B. phonics is merely effective and reasonable

   C. looksay is easier to teach and reliable

   D. phonics gives readers access to far more words

(   ) 4. According to the passage,the better way of teaching children reading is         .

   A. "looksay" or "wholeword" method

   B. systematic phonics approach

   C. " learning how to learn" activities

   D. "Run-Spot-Run" method

Answer 1

BADB

作者認為，語音教學(xué)法通過發(fā)音、聯(lián)想、構(gòu)詞等形式，教授學(xué)生們?nèi)绾伍喿x學(xué)習(xí)，而不是不加理解地死記硬背數(shù)量眾多的英語詞匯。

1. B猜測詞義題。本題要求利用上下文猜測短語的意思。此處touch off是"引起"的意思。 set off與它同義。 move off離去，出發(fā)，走掉;take off起飛，脫掉，取消；drop off減弱，減少，掉落。

2. A細節(jié)理解題。由第一段的最后一句"looksay"或"wholeword"可知閱讀教學(xué)方法是失敗的。第二段分析了這種方法失敗的原因,是因為它”stresses the meaning of words over the meaning of letters,thinking over deco?ding..."

3. D理解判斷題。三、四段有答案出處。

4. B判斷題。文章在最后一段談到了phonics method的特點和好處，這種方法能使學(xué)習(xí)者獲得更大的詞匯量。