Once again the press reminds us that many students lack literacy skills appropriate for their age.

The statistics indicate one student in ten in secondary school is functionally illiterate.

Why is this so? Why are we letting kids down? It is time to look at the teaching not the child.

I am a teacher with thirty plus years experience and know first hand the effect poor literacy skills has on the learning and more importantly the self esteem of many students.

I have not met one child who does not want to learn to read, but I have worked with hundreds who find the task difficult and frustrating. Why?

My view is there is not one approach to teaching reading and writing that is best for everybody.

Many learn to read and write easily. However there is one basic skill that is needed for proficient reading and writing and I believe it must be taught thoroughly before beginning formal reading and writing instruction.

Modern research tells us that one of the basic skills necessary for proficient reading is –

The ability to hear the individual sounds that make up words – called phoneme awareness.

Marie Clay, the developer of Reading Recovery, a successful intervention program for students in grade one says, “And it is clear that becoming aware of phonemes is essential for becoming good at word recognition”

Children who are developing as successful readers are able to do that but many “children find it extraordinarily difficult to separate out the sounds of the language they are hearing or speaking.”

We learn the sounds of our native tongue when we are too young to be conscious observers of what we do. We are biologically programmed for language.

Reading and writing are skills that need to be taught. They are not caught.

Many children do not have parents who read to and with them – a great determinant of future reading and writing success.

The reason why so many children fail is not because they are somehow deficient but because students are not taught explicitly the basic principles of our alphabetic writing system.

A reader needs to know the sounds of spoken language. Many students need training to hear these sounds, many more than those who receive speech therapy.

It is the sounds in words that the letters represent. Individual letters, letter pairs and sometimes three or four letters in a row stand for only one sound in a word.

Children need this pointed out. I have, time and time again, noticed that struggling students had little phonemic awareness or understanding of the way sounds are represented by letters in written English.

As a literacy support teacher in a Technical School in the early eighties, I realized the students at risk all had no idea how words were decoded.

I presented a basic program of phonics. I taught that when we speak we make sounds.

In English there are forty four sounds used to make up the words we speak.

We learn these sounds as babies when we are too young to be conscious observers of what we do or think.

We are programmed for language.

But reading and writing are skills.

Skilled behaviors have degrees of competence. Skilled behaviors need practice to develop. “Early, systematic, explicit phonics instruction is an essential part, but only part, of a balanced, comprehensive reading program,” maintains John J. Pikulski, International Reading Association President.

I agree but must emphasize phonics is a strategy but not the strategy.

Teachers are not trained to teach phonics effectively.

As Paul Jennings states, “Phonics is dynamite and must be handled with care’’

We need dynamite and phonics!

Phonics can be stimulating for a student to learn. I propose that we check the phonemic awareness of teachers and students and give some phonics instruction to any student whose literacy skills are underdeveloped.

It would go a long way to alleviating a serious problem in our education system.

One of my technical students said angrily, “Is that all that was wrong?” His words still echo in me.

Mem Fox in her book ‘Reading Magic’ defines reading as :

‘The magic of print, the magic of language, and the magic of general knowledge.’

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone experienced this?

If you would like information about phonics (letter sound relationships) I have written an eBook outlining a systematic approach. This book outlines step by step the phonics knowledge your child needs to understand and provides downloadable activities that make learning fun.

Please go to www.superlearner.com.au to find out more.

I welcome any queries and questions you may have. 

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Tags: hooked on phonics, learn to read, phonics, phonics for kids, reading phonics

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Posted in phonics by Marilyn Martyn No Comments Yet