Amy's Comments: Week one (Au)

Kathryn Au (p. 119-132)

Dr. Au did influential research with Hawaiian children. As a teacher, she found the students did not seem to benefit from phonics instruction (word identification). She did research showing that an analytic (decoding by analogy) approach was better than a synthetic approach (letter by letter sounding out), but that children showed little interest in either approach.

Her method of instruction focused more on strategies for promoting comprehension and “talk story” discussions.

In her article, Au gives 10 steps to help you improve literacy instruction in your school. These suggestions came from beginning teachers in low-income schools.