LOOK-SAY METHOD IN READING
Definition of look-say
method
The look-see (or say) reading method is also called
psycholinguistics (looking at and recognizing the whole word). It is a
whole-language approach developed by psychologists. What it does is teach students
to learn through rote memorization, and deprives them of the tools used in the
Phonics system. Because of this kids become poorer readers as they are forced
to “learn to read”. (Joseph William, 2010 : 1)
The look and say teaching method, also known as the whole word
method, was invented in the 1830s and soon became a popular method for teaching
reading. By the 1930s and 1940s there was a very strong focus on teaching
children to read by this method. In the 1950s, however, it was fiercely criticized
in favor of phonics-based teaching.(Stephanie, 2009 : 1)
The look and say method teaches students to read words as whole
units, rather than breaking the word down into individual letters or groups of
letters. Children are repeatedly told the word name while being shown the
printed word, perhaps accompanied by a picture or within a meaningful context.
Eventually children learn to ‘sight read’ the word, recognizing it
through pattern recognition without any conscious attempt to break the word
down into its parts. Over time children build up a larger and larger vocabulary
of whole words which they can recognize. (Stephanie, 2009 : 2)
The
method of teaching reading prescribed by Frank Smith(1:183-184),, who contends
that to “ensure that phonics skills are learned and used” is one of the “12
easy ways to make learning to read difficult” obviously is the approach that
has long been used by look-say reading teachers. Although Smith offers a
lengthy, complex and intricate theory as to how children recognize words, which
he calls the “feature-analytic alternative” to both the whole-word view of
teaching reading and to phonics instruction, the teaching method he recommends
is purely look-say. To teach reading, Smith (4:225). maintains, “All the teacher can do is providing
the raw material, the written word, and its ‘name’’. This is a precise and
accurate description of what has traditionally been called the look-say method.
In traditional look-say methodology, the child is shown a word, is told its
name, and then is instructed to say the word’s name. This procedure is then
carried on or continued until the child can read supposedly by sight a large
number of words.
Based
on definition above researcher can conclude that Look-Say method is effective
in improving students reading comprehension because Phonics involves learning
the sounds of letters. Students decode words by sounding them out or
recognizing the word by sight. Phonics teaches students to associate certain
spellings with certain sounds. Once children learn these sound-spelling
relationships, they can come up with the pronunciation of words. The theory is
that students need to become proficient at decoding words to quickly and
accurately read them.
