The Role of Assent in the Teaching of Reading

Abstract

It is assumed that intensive, regular and frequent exposure in the one‐to‐one Reading Recovery set‐up is still sufficiently unencumbered by the psychology of failure to facilitate successful intervention and hence success in overcoming reading problems. Indeed, Clay (1979) maintains that preventing the effect of failure to learn to read beyond the first year at school, necessitates early intervention between 5:8 and 6:3 years and puts into question a similarly intensive programme beyond that age.

Whilst acknowledging this important factor, the paper makes a case for addressing awareness of failure, expressed as resistance to learning, with a pedagogy of ‘creative maladjustment’. This would preclude individual tuition in favour of group tuition. The case study material draws on the author's experiences as a trainee for Reading Recovery during 1995/96.

Key Words:

• early reading failure
• resistance
• Reading Recovery
• desire
• pedagogy
• creative maladjustment