The Four-Pronged Approach in Reading Instruction

Development of the Four-Pronged Approach

It was first developed by Professor Basilisa Manhit of the College of Education,
University of the Philippines, Diliman, who said, “To teach is to love…to share something
precious, something we value and hold dear. It may be knowledge that broadens our
understanding of people and things. It may be a skill. It may be an attitude of mind that
nourishes our being.”
The four pronged approached is composed of four parts
1. Genuine Love for Reading
2. Critical and Creative Thinking
3. Grammar and Oral Language Development
4. Transfer Stage
GENUINE LOVE FOR READING
Goals:
- This prong aims to immerse the child in literature and develop a deep and lasting love for
reading.
- It is focused on the idea of letting students appreciate the story selection.
- It aims to trigger the schema of the learners.
- In the GLR stage, teacher establishes proper mind set, activates the students’ schemata,
introduced the theme and motivates them to read the passage.

How to develop Genuine Love for Reading

1. Finding a good interesting story/poem is the first step in this prong.
- It should be suitable to the age, interests, and vocabulary level of the children.
- The message of the story should be very clear to the teacher.
- The words, phrase, places and important details of the story which may hinder the
children’s understanding of the selection should be identified. Methods of clearing these
obstructions should be planned. Unlocking of difficulties may be made through a variety
of ways such as demonstration, concrete objects, drawings and other forms of
representation, verbal/context clues and games.
2. To develop a love for reading the child must also have a need desire to read or listen.
- The teacher must look for an incident in the story/poem which is familiar to the child.
- The teacher must look for an incident in the story/poem which is familiar to the child.
- From this, a question for motivation may be asked so the children may freely share
personal experiences and feelings about it. Linking these expressed thoughts and feelings
 to the story through a similarly phrased question is resolved differently or not. Thus the
children have a motive for listening to the story.
3. Pre reading activities

Prereading strategies allow students to think about what they already know about a given
topic and predict what they will read or hear. Before students read any text, teachers can
direct their attention to how a text is organized, teach unfamiliar vocabulary or other
concepts, search for the main idea, and provide students with a purpose for reading or
listening. Most importantly, teachers can use prereading strategies to increase students'
interest in a text. (Danny Brassell and Timothy Rasinski, Comprehension That Works.
Shell Education, 2008)

Genuine love for reading can be developed through

a. Story books
b. Poems
c. Trade books
d. Songs

“Children have never been a very good at listening to their elders, but they have never
failed to imitate them” -James Baldwin