Smuggling Language into the Teaching of Reading by Arthur W. Heilman; Elizabeth AnnHolmesReview by: A. Sterl ArtleyThe Reading Teacher, Vol. 26, No. 5 (Feb., 1973), p. 512Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20193273 .

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CRITICALLY SPEAKING

Professional

reading

Smuggling Language into the Teaching of Reading, by Ar

thur W. Heilman and Elizabeth Ann Holmes. Paperback, 109

pages, $2.50, copyright 1972. Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1300 Alum Creek Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43216.

Reviewed by A. Sterl Artley, University of Missouri?Co

lumbia.

It is unfortunate that a book so replete with suggestions for

enlivening a reading lesson should be given the title Smug

gling Language into the Teaching of Reading, since it car

ries the connotation that the contents are a bit undercover, not quite cricket. Perhaps a better title would have been

Reading Can Be Exciting. In the introduction to the 109 page paperback the authors

reiterate what many of us have been saying for a long time

?that for a great number of children there is seldom any

fun, pleasure, or even sense associated with reading. All

the life, utility, and enjoyment are sacrificed for skill train

ing?decoding, "sounding out", isolated word drill, and an

swering trivial factual questions over content read. The end

result, in the words of the authors, is ". . . since instruction

is skill oriented, children often perceive reading as being mechanistic rather than as a meaning-making process." Children fail to see reading as an extension of the language

background they bring with them to school. Being duly drilled and skilled, they stand chances of becoming skillful nonreaders, turned off by the whole process.

In chapters dealing with such topics as intonation and

meaning, vocabulary expansion, inferential reading, figura tive language, malapropisms, context, writing and drama

tization, and study activities, the authors provide more than

100 pages of activities, games, exercises and puzzles de

signed to help the reader understand that reading is only one dimension of language. Call it smuggling if you will, but a teacher who engages in it can be indicted only for

showing children that reading is more than skills and drills.

This column is offered to aid readers in keeping abreast of new instructional and

professional materials as they become available. Materials reviewed or listed are in

no way advocated or endorsed by RT or the IRA. Opinions expressed are those of

the reviewers whose names appear with their reviews.

512 The Reading Teacher February 1973

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