Customer Reviews

Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers

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Professors and teachers who are responsible for the instruction of pre- and inservice teachers will appreciate this excellent core text in the language foundations of reading. The author's unique background in reading science, teaching, and assessment have equipped her to provide the reader with knowledge of the language processes essential to teaching reading and spelling. Exercises are provided throughout the book and at the end of chapters that may be used to practice application of the concepts taught in the text. Professors with prior training in introductory level linguistics will be more comfortable with this text than those who do not have prior background in phonetics, phonology, grammar, morphology, and language as it relates to the teaching of reading and writing.Highly motivated teachers can use the text for self-teaching, however they would benefit from doing so in a small group of like-minded colleagues who can support each other as they work their way through the text.

I bought this book a few years ago after attending the International Dyslexia Association Conference and seeing Louisa Moats speak. She gave the audience of Denver teachers the "language survey" to see what we all knew about language. I stumbled on quite a few of the questions and thought "why would this be important?" but knew in my heart that the reason I was asking was because I didn't know the answer.

This book is a wealth of information and I too think it should be required text in reading courses and it is in California. But, I have realized that although I am exceedingly passionate about the knowledge it can give to all teachers K-12, it can be a difficult read. I realized this when I gave it to some colleagues I and they told me it was dense at times, hard to read and hard to digest without someone to talk about it with who understood the concepts, even though they whole heartedly wanted to gain the knowledge.

Regardless of where you are at as a learner, this book has something to offer you if you want to learn more about the language essentials behind reading instruction that all of us should know, but may not have been taught. This book even deserves to be used in a book study professional development group, college class or for the reader who wants to learn more about language and it's impacts on reading.

...well, at least it's not near as bad as we have been lead to believe the last few decades, no thanks to the "Whole Language," or in my opinion, the "Half Language," and it's proponents (i.e. Hillary?). It's sad that this book, which in all honesty, just simply lays out the basics of English language structure is so fascinating and "new" to most teachers in public education, especially of K-3. It is now becoming all but required reading for most grad programs and school districts smart and motivated enough to implement Reading First grants. However, Moats has only scratched the surface of education with her work; Keep going!

I was lucky enough to take a two week intensive course with the author when she still offered those classes in Vermont. This book is excellent if used as a textbook for a class on language esssentials that teachers of reading need, but can also be used alone. Anyone who teaches reading/writing at any level must really know what this book contains!A necessary resource for all who are involved with language instruction of any kind.

I have used this book as a required text in my training as an Educational Therapist. I have found it a fascinating book, with a wealth of information. This book gives the educator, especially a teacher of struggling readers or a curriculum developer who desires to create a logical, developmentally-based language curriculum, many tools for identifying patterns in English and making sense of the English language which has been falsely branded as "random."

I have only one complaint about this book. It is subtitled "Language Essentials for Teachers," and yet the author uses the phonetic symbols of linguists rather than those commonly used in language texts, reading or phonics curricula, or the dictionary. This could be amended by a simple chart in the back of the book, or by the author using more commonly-recognized symbols. But the absence of such makes the book much less useful. Someone not trained in linguistics will not recognize the symbols used, and therefore not know what speech sounds are being represented.

I am a primary teacher and I found this book enjoyable and easy to read, yet packed with interesting and relevant information. Highly recommended as a beginning text on the phonetics, phonology, morphology and orthography of the English language.

This informative and scholarly text provides necessary background for students of the English language. It is esential information for anyone who would like to teach reading. Speech to Print presents the structure of the English language in a readable and knowledgeable format. The content in Speech to Print is a must for any teacher of reading.

The second updated edition of SPEECH TO PRINT: LANGUAGE ESSENTIALS FOR TEACHERS provides a winning survey for elementary educators. It's developed by expert Louisa Cook Moats and helps teachers understand written and spoken English and how kids learn to read: scientific research on reading and comprehension accompany exercises teachers can use to reinforce their ideas.

This book was brand new just like the ad said and was delivered 2 days after I bought it, I was expecting a week.I would buy from again and highly recommend.

I found this to be an excellent resource helping me to understand principles for teaching reading to my students.