CHAPTER V


 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS



 There are five widely used approaches to teaching reading to
adults. These are the basal adult reader approach, the individualized
reading approach, the experience approach, the programmed instruction
approach and the packaged program approach. A good program may incor-
porate all of these approaches, but each will be described separately.

 The Basal Reader Approach using series designed for children is
not psychologically acceptable to most adults. Basal readers for
children present vocabulary and skills in an orderly and related way.
Workbooks which reinforce vocabulary and other skills generally accom-
pany the series. Research strongly supports the use of this approach
with children. Little real research on any approach to adult reading
has been completed. Adult texts have been developed that incorporate
many of the strong points of the basal series for children. Unfor-
tunately, at the date of this writing, many of the adult texts are com-
paratively weak. Their writers attempt to teach too much in too little
space. Instruction is designed for a pace far too fast for most
learners. Several adult texts for the same grade level should there-
fore be used. They should be supplemented by other instructional tech-
niques including programmed instruction, the experience approach, and
the individualized reading approach.

 The experience approach may be used to supplement a textbook
approach. Usually, the teacher encourages the student to tell stories
or anecdotes individually or as a group. The students make up a story
or jointly relate a common experience. The teacher then aids them in
selecting words and in structuring the story. He teaches them the
printed form of the words, has them read the story from the board or
from a large chart, and finally has the stories typed up and bound. In
many cases, the students themselves do this typing. There are many
other techniques that can be used with this approach. The best source
is probably Learning to Read Through Experience (Appleton-Century-
Crofts). The methods suggested for use with children may be utilized
for adults, if modified.

 Individualized Reading may be used as the core of the program or
as a supplement to the textbook program. This approach calls for a
large classroom library with books of known readability. The teacher
who aids the pupil in selecting books that he wants to read (the
teacher steers him to books on his independent level) is available to
help him with words that give him difficulty, and has regular confer-
ences with him to diagnose weaknesses and maintain strengths. The
approach is more appropriate near the end of stage one and in the later
stages than during initial reading instruction. There is an abundance


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