Today’s episode argues against the universal imposition of phonics instruction, particularly for Gestalt Language Processors (GLPs), asserting that it is often presented as a necessary gatekeeper to literacy. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, contends that this analytic approach to language, focused on segmentation and drills, misunderstands GLPs’ natural pathways to literacy, which are characterised by holistic understanding, prosody, and narrative. Dr. Hoerricks traces the historical roots of phonics’ dominance to industrial demands and the capitalist need for measurable outputs, suggesting it serves institutional metrics more than the learner. Instead, she advocates for recognizing and celebrating diverse language acquisition routes, emphasising the joy and inherent coherence found in GLP learning, and challenging the notion that GLPs are “delayed” or “resistant.” Ultimately, she proposes that literacy should embrace a “constellations, not staircases” metaphor, allowing individuals to navigate language in ways authentic to their own cognitive processes.
Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/resistant-non-compliant-whole-the
Let me know what you think.
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