The Place of Phonics in Teaching Children to Read
Teaching a child to read involves a dual approach of visual work and phonic work proceeding in parallel lines. Each must be given the same emphasis.
From the beginning a child must realise reading is about getting meaning and ideas. The child must be reading for content.
Meaning begins with a word, then a phrase and then a sentence.
Reading is the conveying of ideas and not sounds. Every printed word must convey an idea.
Ideally the preliminary stages of reading must begin with visual work and practice in quick visualisation. When a child has ample practice in visualisation, knows the shapes of numerous words accurately through word matching activities, letter sound relationships can be presented.
Once a child becomes familiar with the look of words he or she will need the phonic props for tackling a new word.
It is absolutely essential that words are sounded out accurately and quickly so the idea contained in the sentence is not lost.
A phonic approach to learning to read does not mechanise the subject matter if the vocabulary related to the child’s development is used in written texts. Introducing words that are not in the child’s vocabulary makes understanding what is read difficult.
Sounds can be introduced in a definite order taking into consideration:
- Ease of pronunciation
- Frequency of sound occurring in reading matter
- A Child’s power of imitation.
When phonic exercises are carefully graded and arranged accompanied by games learning to read can be an enjoyable process.
How We Read.
In the process of reading the eye makes a series of jumps, accompanied by pauses. It is during the pauses that perception and comprehension takes place. Nothing is perceived and understood while the eyes are moving.
So in the beginning of learning to read 2 tasks must be considered and developed.
- Establishing an easy and rhythmic eye movement
- Increasing the span of perception
As a reader gains experience there are fewer pauses in each line and so focussing on the ideas in the text is possible.
Short lessons at frequent intervals are more beneficial than long periods with longer intervals.
Frequent repetitions of sounds will help a child remember them. Phonic games are of infinitely more value than drills because children will come back to them again and again and so never tire of repetition.
No matter what method of teaching reading is adopted a sound phonic training is essential if the young reader is to acquire a sense of power and independence in working out new words.
Phonics for Kids is a necessary part of learning to read.
An in depth account of the importance of phonics can be found in the ebook ‘A Guide to Reading and Writing English’ that can be downloaded without charge from www.phonicsforkids.net
No related posts.
