The Right Tools for the Wrong Job: a response to Leach and Siddall on parental involvement in the teaching of reading with particular reference to Pause, Prompt and Praise tutoring

Abstract

Leach and Siddall (1990) present a comparison study of four methods of involving parents in the teaching of reading. It is argued here that one of the procedures they employed, ‘Pause, Prompt and Praise’, was used inappropriately with a group of children for whom it was not designed. Consequently, any conclusions drawn from this study about the relative effectiveness of ‘Pause, Prompt and Praise’ compared with the other procedures are unwarranted.