Some teachers, when learning to read, use the principle of “psycholinguistic guessing”. Like this school teacher who one day asked her CP class to decipher the phrase “the rabbit is under the tree”. One of the students jumps in and responds: “The rabbit is under the tree” after carefully observing the illustration representing the scene. The answer, although approximate, is validated. After all, the path taken to achieve the result does not matter, the teacher suggests. Isn’t the important thing that the child understands the meaning of the sentence? The anecdote, relayed by psychology doctor Odile Espinoza, dates from 2006. “It is likely that today we would not be satisfied with this answer and we would ask the student to go further by refocusing their attention on the identification of letters and syllables. However, this culture of ‘approximately’ encouraged by the use of certain principles from the global method continues”, laments this specialist who co-signed the work Learning to read in 36 questions (Odile Jacob), to be published on February 21.
“It is still incredible that we are still here despite all the recent scientific advances, both in the field of cognitive psychology and neuroscience,” adds his co-author Anne-Marie Bruno, former inspector of National Education. . The eternal debate which opposes the supporters of the syllabic method alone (based on the way in which letters combine to form words and sounds) to those who do not hesitate to resort, in parallel, to principles inspired by global method (like that which consists of mentally photographing words) is indeed still present. Clearly, a majority of teachers today opt for a mixed method. And, in the field, certain “recipes”, which go against what numerous research studies demonstrate, continue to apply. Even though France continues to be singled out for its poor academic results: in 2021, 47% of students, at the start of CE1, did not reach the threshold of 50 words per minute which is the expected objective in end of CP. This rate rises to 60% in schools with disadvantaged populations. And nearly 1 in 4 young people aged 16 to 25 are either a poor reader, have serious reading difficulties, or are illiterate.
Certain levers necessary to reverse the trend have now been scientifically demonstrated: helping children enrich their vocabulary from kindergarten; have them read aloud; combine this activity with writing practice; emphasize the correspondence between (visual) graphemes and (auditory) phonemes from the start of CP… “We are not genetically programmed for learning to read. Initially, this work will lead to broad cerebral activations and all centers of attention will be mobilized”, explains Odile Espinoza for whom the emphasis must necessarily be placed on repetition. Conversely, certain principles drawn from the global method can give the illusion of ease. This is why many teachers continue to have students memorize certain “tool words” in the hope of making the learning process smoother. “Research shows that this is false, says Stanislas Dehaene, president of the Scientific Council of National Education (CSEN). We now know that, when you disorient the child’s attention by telling him that he must do pay attention to the overall form of the word, you are not working the right brain circuits.” In addition, the number of different orthographic forms that the memory is capable of absorbing is necessarily limited and risks generating a form of discouragement.
“Some teachers tinker”
In recent years, the CSEN, created in 2018 at the instigation of the then minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, has multiplied guides and memos intended for school teachers in order to inform them of good practices to adopt. But much remains to be done. In October 2022, the scientific body published a warning note, noting that many teachers are helpless, in particular because they do not necessarily have solid textbooks, entirely based on the syllabic method, on which to rely. As a result, some tinker “by picking ineffective or even counterproductive exercises here and there. But also texts and sometimes entire paragraphs to be learned by heart at the start of learning”, worries Stanislas Dehaene. The new CSEN work that he directed, Science and school: together to learn better (Odile Jacob) to be published in March, devotes a chapter to this question, entitled “Learning to read: from decoding to comprehension”.
This text debunks the argument, often put forward by some of its detractors, that decoding, considered a purely mechanical activity, would prevent students from understanding what they read. “In the 1970s, some even likened it to assembly line work which makes workers slaves. This imagination has left its traces,” regrets Anne-Marie Bruno, who protests against this idea that the global method would be “left” and the syllabic “right”. This ideological clash has come to pollute thinking about learning to read. “Certain teaching unions are still in this position today, just like certain trainers who have difficulty questioning their practices and integrating new data,” regrets the one who pleads for reasoned educational choices based on observed effectiveness.
Jérôme Deauvieau, professor of sociology at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and member of the CSEN, is preparing to publish a survey which should cause a lot of noise. This large-scale study was carried out in 2021 among 9,000 first grade teachers (i.e. 20% of the workforce) and 130,000 students. Thanks to an agreement signed with Depp, the statistical service of the Ministry of National Education, the researcher was able to measure the effectiveness of the methods and manuals used by these school teachers by cross-referencing these practices with the students’ results in the assessments. of CP, mid-CP and beginning of CE1. “We came to the conclusion that only 5% of the teachers surveyed use strictly syllabic textbooks. Three quarters of them use mixed textbooks mixing syllabic practices and others sometimes of ideo-visual inspiration”, he reveals. Above all, his survey demonstrates that users of syllabic textbooks, who also adopt this practice in class, obtain better results in speed and reading comprehension among their students.
Another important lesson: the effect observed is even more obvious in schools which welcome students with academic difficulties and from disadvantaged backgrounds. “My doctoral student Paul Gioia, who carried out the investigation with me, went to see what was happening in families. Unsurprisingly, parents, in wealthier social classes, do not hesitate to make their children work at home. home to help them understand the alphabetical principle and help them to make up for any delays”, explains Jérôme Deauvieau for whom the inequalities play out precisely there. France is not the only country to face these questions. Recently, the town hall of New York, where 70% of black and Hispanic students cannot read properly, sounded the alarm and opted for radical measures. Since the start of the September 2023 school year, textbooks based on the ideo-visual method have been prohibited and teachers have no other choice but to opt for one of the three labeled syllabic works. Gabriel Attal, as part of his “Shock of Knowledge” plan, in turn, recently announced his wish to opt for certification. A salutary measure for Stanislas Dehaene who also insists on the importance of teacher training: “Staff receive little or no courses devoted to the science of reading, which nevertheless appears to be fundamental.”
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