'Using context to determine the pronunciation or meaning of an ambiguous word is a completely different thing from using context to work out what an unknown word 'says'. Of course you have to use context in determining whether 'present' is intended to mean 'I am here', 'a gift', or, 'giving', but when SPers say "Do not use context for word identification" they are not referrring to identifying meaning. They are referring to the initial identification of an unknown letter string.'
The 'meaning of an ambiguous word' is the same thing as what the word 'says' surely? Or are you referring to the 'inner voice' used in silent reading when you use the term 'says'?
Letter strings can be pronounced differently depending on meaning. 'Present' is one example where the emphasis tells you whether you are dealing with a noun or a verb, and the meaning of the word is vastly different depending on whether it is a noun or a verb. The role of prosody and context is more important than any initial identification process. In order to decide whether the word 'present' is a noun or a verb, context is used by fluent readers to speed up the process; there is no need to go through an initial identification of the word.
'If guessing and context has been taught you'll get a reader who guesses and depends on context. Which is not how skilled readers read.'
I disagree. Skilled readers, no matter how they have been taught, use a variety of methods to decode a text, including guessing and depending on context. Your assertion that phonics skills are the only way to read even for skilled readers, is contradicted by the recent strides in eye movement research and also by research into working memory.
'Perhaps if she'd put up
'xx xxx xxx xxxx xx xxxxx, xx xxx xxx xxxxx xx xxxxx'
Or
'xx xx x xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx, xxxx x xxxxxx xxx xx xxxxxxxxx xx x xxxx xxxxxxx, xxxx xx xx xxxx xx x xxxx'
You might have found it a bit more difficult. Two very well known opening sentences. Adult literature.'
-- Again, MaizieD, what does this suggest to you about the role of context? Working memory? Guessing?
You seem to contradict your assertions about context, etc.
'The 'once upon a time' bit was easy but I gave up on the rest because it was too much bother to work it out. Just as my 'struggling readers' have done for 6 years at primary school. That 20% that few people in the debate are really concerned about.'
And as for that scathing judgement on people who think SP is a case of the Emperor's New Clothes -- not so.
It's just that a few people here don't see SP as the panacea for the societal and domestic ills and maybe even the neurobiological problems those 20% of children may have on their plates when they enter a school system that operates as a giant shape sorter turning out, year after year, a product that is the result more of a self fulfilling prophecy than of a system whose aim is to coax out the best from everyone. Those who are successful emerge with their belief in their own superiority unshaken and those who are not have their own negative view of themselves reinforced. It's no coincidence that those who fail in school come overwhelmingly from the bottom rung of the socio economic ladder and no coincidence that among this group it is boys who fail most dismally.
How do you account for the disproportionate failure rate of boys?