Let's Read: A Linguistic Approach (Title Not in Series)

Let's Read is a simple and systematic way to teach basic reading. Developed by noted linguist Leonard Bloomfield, the book is based on the alphabetic spelling patterns of English. Bloomfield offered an antidote to the idea that English is a difficult language to learn to read by teaching the learner to decode the phonemic sound–letter correlations of the language in a sequential, logical progression of lessons based on its spelling patterns. The learner is first introduced to the most consistent (alphabetic) vocabulary and then to increasingly less alphabetic and less frequent spelling patterns within a vocabulary of about 5,000 words. The second edition of Let's Read brings Bloomfield's innovative program into the twenty-first century. Authors Cynthia A. Barnhart and Robert K. Barnhart have refined the original edition with new vocabulary and content based on feedback from longtime users. The new edition presents lengthy patterns in two lessons rather than one, adding more connected reading and new vocabulary, and introducing some sight words earlier in the sequence. Let's Read not only teaches users to read English based on spelling patterns but simultaneously reduces the emphasis on pronunciation to teach letter sounds, making it useful for bilingual and nonnative English speakers as well. Parents, reading teachers, tutors, as well as ESL teachers and adult literacy instructors will be interested in the second edition of Let's Read. Read more