BASAL READING APPROACH

It is a core reading program that is used to teach children to read.

It is usually a grade-levelled series of textbooks produced by an educational publisher which focus on teaching reading either by a code-emphasis approach or a meaning-emphasis approach.

It is very dependent on books and instructional materials, in terms of its presentation.

Code emphasis approach

Relies heavily on phonemic awareness and decoding and word attack skills

Meaning-emphasis program

Tends to stress the concept of "reading for understanding" and the accompanying workbooks have questions about the stories read, vocabulary lessons and lessons encouraging students to write about what they have read.

History

Materials and Content of Basal

Reader

Materials Content and Skills Type of texts

Level 1 (1 book)

Auditory and visual

discrimination skills

Finding main idea

Determining cause and effect

Following direction

Level 2 (2 books)

Word recognition: 2 syllable

words, contraction, derivatives

Understanding the sequence

Literary forms (poetry)

Level 3 (2 books)

Identifying new words with different

vowel sound letters

Understanding sequence

Finding main ideas with more

development

Interpreting pronunciation symbols and

other devices

Narratives, poems,

legends, plays

Level 4 (1 book)

Word recognition: with focus on the

structural elements

Making inferences: anticipating a point of

view from the title of a selection

Relating details to topic sentence

Dictionary skills: determining primary

and secondary stress, locating

information in encyclopedia, interpreting

graphs and tables

Fictional pieces,

popular science,

social studies

Level 5 (1 book)

Word recognition skills identifying

structural elements in the forms of

suffixes

Reading between lines

Interpreting the author intent, mood,

and descriptive language

Biography, fictions,

science, social studies

Level 6 (1 book)

Evaluating material: distinguishing

between fact and opinion

Skimming

Dictionary skills: selecting the right

meaning to match particular situations;

understanding synonyms and antonyms;

using bibliography

Information, fiction, play,

essay, poetry

Advantages1. Well organized, each skill is presented in

a sequential order.

2. Good scope and sequence; skills are taught continuously throughout all of the grades.

3. Teacher's manual is full of ideas to be used.

4. Readers are colorful, well illustrated, and contain a variety of literature appropriate for each age.

Advantages

5. Includes systematic instruction in word recognition, comprehension, and some study skills with a gradual introduction of each new skill.

6. A big help to a beginning teacher.

7. Some contain criterion-referenced tests to check skill mastery.

Advantages

8. Some have an IRI for placement.

9. Stories attempt to be multi-ethnic and non-stereotyping of women.

Limitations 1. Readability. The stories often vary

widely in grade level within a reader.

2. Teachers have a tendency to regard the guide as The Source instead of as a guide.

3. Recreational reading for pleasure is often neglected.

Limitations4. Pacing of introduction of new skills is

too rapid for some and too slow for others.

5. Students tend to be placed into readers which are too difficult or too easy for them.

6. Stories are sometimes dull.

7. Teachers tend to use the basal as the entire reading.

Limitations8. Not personalized.

9. Not individualized enough.

10. The language in the beginning readers doesn't always match that of the child.

11. Stories at the beginning levels may be dull and unnatural in language patterns.