Do you consider language and reading the same thing?
Language is like playing an instrument... and reading is like learning music theory. Someone can teach you "twinkle, twinkle little star" some kids might go "oh abc has the same tune. I can play." Most will stop at 1 song.
You should listen to "sold a story." Learning a language is not the same as reading. You don't learn reading simply from exposure. It's not natural.... that's a myth. Like saying music theory is natural.
My cousin learned reading from exposure. She was in her high chair and read the back of the cereal box. She also played the piano like me....except with no lessons by hearing. She was almost as good as me...but I was better. I did music theory and could read classical music. It's taught and it's specific.
I think this has a lot to do with your goal.
When I homeschooled my kids they read one book a day, six days a week. Those were 5th grade level books, things like EB White. They read over 200 books that year. Some are simple books about history or biography. No Pulitzer prize winning books, but a much more depth than in a textbook or would be covered in a typical classroom. The next year they were reading 2-3 books a week but these were much bigger books, JHS and HS level. Over a three year period they read 400 books easy. Meanwhile you ask a student in the public school how many books they read completely on their own while in school and the answer I have always heard is less than 5. Generally 1-3. Not only so I have heard stories of kids graduating HS and being unable to read.
When you read a book you learn the story, you learn what the book is talking about, but you also see the critical thinking as they make their case and lay out their plan. You also learn vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar. You may not learn the terms but you develop an ear for what is right and what is not right. Granted it is important that some people who graduate HS know grammar from a technical point of view, but in my opinion not everyone.
In my experience, if Public school operated like this kids would read 600 books by the time they graduated from 12th grade. With my kids I let them choose half the books they read, so they could pursue interests they had. Imagine if there were 300 essential books every student was required to read in order to graduate HS. Granted there would be a lot of debate over those 300 books and there could be another list of 300 books that almost made the list that kids or parents could choose.
Now two of my kids came from Taiwan, they did not speak a word of English as they both started the 6th grade. So many of the books they read were "books on tape". They would read along as they listened to someone else read it. This allowed them to listen to many different accents and learn how to properly pronounce words. They both entered the Public HS in 9th grade and no one in the school ever knew that English was not their first language. So they learned to speak without an accent. Not only so but if they read the book they could watch the movie. So they were surrounded with a great deal of audio input as well as written input.
If you want to teach phonics I really don't care one way or the other. I didn't waste time with it with my kids and they had no problem. What I do take issue with is people thinking that because a kid can read and pronounce the words you have taught them to read. That is not how we teach basketball. That is not how you get to be a black belt. What I would like to see is Kids cannot graduate from Elementary school without reading 200 books first. You learn to read by reading.
Let me conclude with a little anecdotal story. My kids had been in the US for six months when they went to visit my brother. He was concerned because they didn't speak a word. I told him don't worry, they understand what you are saying, and that speaking was not my goal at that time. He was horrified. Three years later they both enter HS speaking and reading fluently. They both were Valedictorians of their two schools. My daughter went to a HS with 2,000 kids and my son went to a Science HS where he had to take a test to get in, only 1% of NYC students pass this test. Half the test is in English, so he didn't get in simply on his math skills. For four years no one at the school knew that English was not their first language. I know this because in her senior year the principal calls me. My daughter is going to be valedictorian but they have a big problem, she won't be given an advanced regents diploma because she never took a foreign language. I asked can she test out of this requirement? They said yes. I said give her the Chinese regents, she speaks Chinese fluently. They had no idea. Likewise my son's principal calls before he is to be valedictorian. She had talked to him privately, and she was Chinese. She told me how impressed she was with his Chinese saying he didn't speak with an accent like most Americans. She had no idea that English was his second language.
Like I said, Krashen's input hypothesis has been fully tested and vetted. In my opinion the public school in the US is a total and abject failure.
1
1
