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PHONICS
RESEARCH FINDING:
Children get a better start in reading if they are taught phon-
ics. Learning phonics helps them to understand the relationship
between letters and sounds and to "break the code" that links the
words they hear with the words they see in print.
COMMENT:
Until the 1930's and 1940's, most American children learned to
read by the phonics method, which stresses the relationships
between spoken sounds and printed letters. Children learned the
letters of the alphabet and the sounds those letters represent.
For several decades thereafter, however, the "look-say" approach
to reading was dominant: children were taught to identify whole
words in the belief that they would make more rapid progress if
they identified whole words at a glance, as adults seem to.
Recent research indicates that, on the average, children who are
taught phonics get off to a better start in learning to read than
children who are not taught phonics.
Identifying words quickly and accurately is one of the corner-
stones of skilled reading. Phonics improves the ability of
children both to identify words and to sound out new ones.
Sounding out the letters in a word is like the first tentative
steps of a toddler: it helps children gain a secure verbal
footing and expand their vocabularies beyond the limits of basic
readers.
Because phonics is a reading tool, it is best taught in the
context of reading instruction, not as a separate subject to be
mastered. Good phonics strategies include teaching children the
sounds of letters in isolation and in words (s/i/t), and how to
blend the sounds together (s-s-i-i-t).
Phonics should be taught early but not over-used. If phonics
instruction extends for too many years, it can defeat the spirit
and excitement of learning to read. Phonics helps children
pronounce words approximately, a skill they can learn by the end
of second grade. In the meantime, children can learn to put
their new phonics skills to work by reading good stories and
poems.
Anderson, R. C., et al. (l985). Becoming a Nation of Readers:
The Report of the Commission on Reading. Urbana, IL: University
of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading.
Becker, W. C., and Gersten, R. (l982). "A Follow-up of Follow-
Through: The Later Effects of the Direct Instruction Model on
Children in Fifth and Sixth Grades." American Educational Re-
search Journal, Vol. l9, No. 1, pp. 75-92.
Chall, J. S. (l983). Learning to Read: The Great Debate (2nd
ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Perfetti, C. A., and Lesgold, A. M. (l979). "Coding and Compre-
hension in Skilled Reading and Implications for Reading Instruc-
tion." In L. B. Resnick and P. A. Weaver (Eds.), Theory and
Practice of Early Reading, Vol. 1, pp. 57-84. Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum Associates.
Smith, N. B. (l965). American Reading Instruction: Its Develop-
ment and Its Significance in Gaining a Perspective on Current
Practices in Reading. Newark, DE: International Reading Asso-
ciation.