A Study on Namekawa Michio's Reading Guidance Theory

Abstract

Children's reading activities become active today. Above all, school education plays a great role in children's reading activities. Reading guidance has always been performed as part of school education. Therefore, it is important that our future reading guidance is planned on the basis of the history of its past. This study examined Namekawa Michio's reading guidance theory, which led reading guidance after World War II. The purpose of the study was to clarify the characteristics of Namekawa's theory and to consider its significance and limitations. Two results were revealed. First, there were two elements -"life guidance about reading" and "life guidance by reading"- in Namekawa's theory. Second, there is a thought to gradually attach importance to "life guidance by reading" as well as "life guidance about reading". The significance of Namekawa's theory is that it showed the importance of reading guidance in bringing out the sentiment and intellect of a child. However, Namekawa's theory was limited by the fact that it was confined to an ideal of reading guidance.