No 1 May 2025
In this movie, Prof Joseph Wright talks with J.R.R. Tolkien. He comments: “Language is never nonsense. Language is meaning. History. Layer upon layer upon layer. And a word without meaning is -- what? Merely a sound.”
The amazing lines from the story come from Professor Joseph Wright (31.10.1855_-27.02.1930), Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford.
Prof Wright’s reflections are a powerful reminder that words are more than simple sounds or abstract symbols— they carry personal, historical, and cultural significance.
His ideas resonate with the process of early literacy, emphasizing that language learning is not just about decoding but about connecting words to a rich world of meaning.
Why Do Children Struggle to Learn to Read Effectively?
Far too often, the teaching fails them. The assumption that children will learn simply because we teach them fails them.
Professor Wright’s insights into language reveal that words have “deep roots”— layers of meaning and connections that require careful exploration. Yet, how do we approach teaching our most vulnerable students?
Too often, instruction is reduced to rote repetition: “Say this word,” “Repeat this word,” until the child either grasps it or doesn’t.
When a child struggles to read, the blame frequently falls on them rather than on the inadequate teaching methods that failed to nurture their understanding.
To truly support all learners, especially those who face the greatest challenges, we must rethink how reading is taught and ensure our methods honor the complexities of language and cognition.
Have you watched this movie?
What are your thoughts?
Did you make connections with literacy learning?
Add a comment, share, and like.
Connect with me at: Lois@LoisLetchford.com
Transcript from the movie Tolkien:
Professor Wright: A child points and is taught a word. Tree. Later, he learns to distinguish this tree from all the others. He learns its particular name. He plays under the tree. He dances around it. Stands beneath its branches, for shade or shelter. He kisses under it, sleeps under it, he weds under it. He marches past it on his way to war, and limps past it on his journey home. A king is said to have hidden in this tree. A spirit may dwell within its bark. Its distinctive leaves are carved onto the tombs and monuments of his landlords. Its wood might have built the galleons that saved his ancestors from invasion. And all this, the general and the specific, the national and the personal, all this, he knows, and feels, and summons somehow, however faintly, with the utterance of a single sound. 'Oak.' Saxon word. Proto-Germanic. Cognates in Old Norse. 'Eik.' Language is never nonsense. Language is meaning. History. Layer upon layer upon layer. And a word without meaning is -- what? Merely a sound.
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