Talk:Learning to read/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Maclean25 (talk · contribs) 02:58, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Good article review (see Wikipedia:What is a good article? for criteria)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):

   1a. The prose is mostly quite decent, but there are many instances where it is too generalized or oddly specific. A list is provided below of issues. 1b. Insufficient introductory section. See WP:LEAD. Inappropriate list in "Methods of teaching reading".

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

   This is a broad level article and requires coverage of alternate languages. There is an inappropriate focus on English-speaking countries and alphabet-based writing systems.

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

   Backed by academic literature, no undue weight to fringe theories.

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars, etc.:

   Productive editing has been occurring.

6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

   No images are used. The GA criteria enables images to be added but doesn't require them.

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

   Comments:

   I understand this is part of a class project: Wikipedia:Canada Education Program/Courses/Psychology of Language9APSWI323. I'm not an expert in this subject but since I have a newborn now I should probably learn about this topic. I will make minor edits to the article as I see fit, but I will list major edits here for the editors to take care of. maclean (talk) 02:58, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

   • 1b. From WP:LEAD, the lead requires a "summary of its most important aspects" and "should be able to stand alone as a concise overview".
   • 1a. Questions about the writing:

   • In "Writing systems", An understanding of the writing system being employed in a text, and therefore understanding the spoken language associated with it, is critical to being able to read a text. - what specifically is meant by "an understanding"? This is touted as "critical" but the paragraph doesn't explain what the person is suppose to understand about the written and spoken language before they are able to learn to read.
   • In Acquiring language, As the child sits and listens and looking at the pictures, listening to ancient tales and new stories, they will slowly learn that all the different lines on each page make different letters and then these letters make words - Why is there an emphasis on sitting in this paragraph? The next paragraph indicates that it is the 'feeling loved' that is important, not the act of sitting.
   • In Acquiring language, If a child only receives a few tales and very few stories are told to them and little language is learned, the child will start to fall further and further behind before reading can actually even begin - what is the difference between tales and stories that is being made here? I don't follow the 'falling behind before the child starts', do you mean a learning disability?
   • In Acquiring language, This begins the ideal process of the beginning of what some researchers call emergent or early literacy - if you want to start a new paragraph, specifically say what 'This' refers to. 'some researchers'? so other researchers call it something else? Review the paragraph structure in this section. One paragraph = one idea. In this section I see two ideas (importance of exposure to information and importance of interaction with a caregiver).
   • In "Reading Development", avoid addressing the reader (ie. "our ancestors", "you can teach children...", "you will find these", "that you view what you read", "you have more", "you have experienced")
   • In "Novice Reader", To do this, the child must first figure out the Alphabetic principle that actually took our ancestors thousands of years to discover, but now a child has to figure this process out in only a few short years - globalize that "must first figure out the Alphabetic principle" (according the the Alphabetic principle this is only true for alphabetic writing systems).
   • In "Fluent, Comprehending Reader", These readers at this stage, they leave the surface layers of text to explore the wondrous terrain that lies beneath it. - not grammatically correct and too informal (wondrous terrain? just say what you mean).
   • In "Fluent, Comprehending Reader", There are two ways in which this stage can be aided by. They are: explicit instruction by a child's teacher in major content areas and the child's own desire to read - this should be one sentence
   • In "Fluent, Comprehending Reader", When children are able to engage in conversation with their teachers, this allows them to ask critical questions and to get at the heart of what they are reading - not grammatically correct.
   • In "Fluent, Comprehending Reader", are starting to become automatic which gives the reader time...with every newly won millisecond - I understand you are trying to make a point about the time it takes to read but it is not being presented here clearly.
   • The last sentence in "Reading difficulties" ends with a quotation mark, but I don't see where the quote begin: "an individual to developing dyslexia."

   • 3a & 3b. "Methods of teaching reading" seems to be exclusively focused on English-speaking countries.
   • 3a & 3b. "Reading difficulties" - is dyslexia the only reading difficulty? Why is the title plural?

Conclusion

I've put the review on hold until the end of your course; I will fail it if the above issues are not addressed. The above list is not exhaustive, but highlights the two biggest problems: insufficient comprehensiveness and prose quality for Good Article status. The major issue to work on is expanding the scope of the article to include learning to read languages other than alphabet-based writing systems. Wikipedia is a collaborative project so anyone in your class (including your instructor) should be able to help edit this article. maclean (talk) 00:16, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

• There has been some positive editing to the article but after 2 weeks, issues still remain. Due to the reasons noted above, this article does not meet the GA criteria. maclean (talk) 20:34, 4 December 2011 (UTC)