Reading Research Points Out the Importance of Phonics

"Will you help me Miss? I still can't read." The look on the face of the teenager saying those words haunts me today.

In the early eighties, I volunteered to tutor secondary students with poor reading skills.

Thinking there would be only a few students, I decided to use a few of the vocabulary-controlled books available at the time. The subject matter suited teenagers, but the language was a grade three or four level. We could 'read' and discuss each book at school, and the student could take it home to read. The next week we would study another book. I believed the problem would be rectified in a few weeks, but it was not that simple.

Fifty plus students were functionally illiterate, and every student had the same difficulties. They had no understanding of phonics (letter sound relationships) and no word attack skills. Therefore, reading a text, even a simple one, was almost impossible.

I began teaching phonics systematically.

Our reading and writing system is an alphabetic one. Because the English alphabet is twenty-six letters and the sounds forty-four, one, two, three or four letters can be used to spell one sound. There are seventy common phonograms (letter combinations) and vowels, consonants and syllables to be taught.

Many students struggled to learn. Others became fluent readers once their basic phonics skills were in place. Trade teachers listened to the students read because they could see there was logic behind the process. With his newfound phonics knowledge overcoming his reading difficulties, one student stated angrily, "Is that all it was!" The students thought they were 'dumb'. No one questioned the fact that they were not taught how to read. Modern research indicates a systematic phonics method of teaching works very well with boys.

Teachers are usually fluent readers and forget the effort needed to learn to read. Many cannot understand why some people have a problem.

Unlike language ability, which is innate, reading is a skill and needs to be taught. Learning to read involves practice. I do not think reading is only about phonics? Phonics knowledge is fundamental to fluent reading.

I remember asking one of my students what happened to him in primary school. He said the teacher just told me to sit down and read.

Discovery learning was the philosophy at the time. Phonics programs, graded readers and grammatical exercises were out. Word memorizing was in. The better a reader gets at memorizing words, the more chance there is of developing a cognitive block to decoding words sound by sound.

Dr Seuss, whose incredibly popular books were written to supplement the whole word reading programs in schools, is quoted as saying, "I think killing phonics was one of the greatest causes of illiteracy in the country," He meant the USA.

Research studies over the past twenty-five years show that to learn an alphabetic writing system a person must be taught the sounds of his or her language and be trained to hear the order of these sounds in words. It is the sounds that the letters represent. When this learning is consolidated the next step is to teach systematically how these sounds can be spelled.

Learning to read is complex. It takes effort on the student's behalf and skilled teaching. Hopefully, the basic skills are established in early primary school.

The good news is it is never too late to learn.

Marilyn Martyn has helped many children learn to read. She has had wide experience as a teacher and children's librarian. She has published a book on phonics and developed a reading program for young children. To receive a FREE eBook, "How the English Alphabet System Works" and 10 free English lessons go now to http://www.phonicsforkids.net

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/reading-research-points-out-the-importance-of-phonics-308993

directv rashard lewis curacao curacao home run derby kourtney kardashian kourtney kardashian