What About Phonics?

Murray State University

“Why Johnny Can’t Read” • In 1955 Rudolph Flesch said “Teach the child what each letter stands for and he can read.” Lots of people still say this today.

Do you think this is true?

A Strategies Approach Good readers use a variety of strategies to figure out unfamiliar words. They: – Think about what would make sense – Think about what would sound right – Look at what it starts with and think about what makes sense – Look at parts of the word they know – Read on to the end of the sentence – Reread – Skip it

Don’t we ever say, “Sound it out?” • NO! • WHY NOT?

• The English language is not a strictly phonetic language. Many, many words do not follow rules and cannot be “sounded out.” • There are consistencies, but NOT when you try to “sound it out” letter by letter from left to right.

An Experiment in word perception.

• QLH WCGMZ PGTXW NBFJMSV • BAX GORPLE CHURK FRENTLY • ANGRY GROW TAXES BOY UGLY • SILLY WINDOWS HIT THE BOX • FUNNY CLOWNS MAKE ME LAUGH

Does reading proceed from left to right?

hat hate bit bite cut cute mop moping

Can you decode these words?

• philomight • chailosophous • whibelitious • chiricean

What did you do to decode these words? Did you sound them out, one letter at a time, from left to right?

“A person who attempts to scan left to right, letter by letter, pronouncing as he goes, could not correctly read most English words.” - Venezky, The Structure of English Orthography

Is English a Phonetic System?

• • In a strictly phonetic system, each sound is represented by one consistent symbol, and each symbol always represents that sound.

A

always says /a/; /a/ is only represented by

a

.

Is English a Phonetic System?

• What sound does “o” make?

• pot • so • one • women • now

Is English a Phonetic System?

• What sound does “t” make?

• Top • nation • think • nature

Do phonics rules work?

• move, love, stove • break, bread, freak

Does this rule work?

• • “When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking.” • YES - nail, bead, pie, boat • NO - said, head, chief, build • % usefulness: 45

Does this rule work?

• “When a word ends in vowel+consonant+e, the e is silent and other vowel is long.” • YES - cake, late, bone, June • NO - have, come, move, bare • % usefulness - 63

Does this rule work?

• Two ee’s together make a long e sound.

• YES - fee, see, feeling, wheel • % - 98

Does this rule work?

• The combination oa makes a long o sound.

• YES - boat, coal, toast • % - 97

How would you pronounce these?

• Phrank • Chright • Pholightly • geroymality • repantenable

Implications for instruction: • Systematic, intensive phonics (

following a phonics program which emphasizes phonics rules taught in isolation)

teaches children that English is a phonetic system. They expect “sounding out” to work.

Implications for instruction: • Children need to know that phonics rules don’t always work but may give you an approximation.

Implications for instruction: • Children need to have other strategies for figuring out words –

What makes sense? Reading on, re-reading, looking at the picture

–

Chunking - Do any parts of this work look like other words I know?

Implications for instruction: • Children need to be taught phonics in context, so they can see how to use phonics in tandem with other cues.

Implications for instruction: • Children need to be shown the consistencies: –consonants are more consistent than vowels; –blends and digraphs are quite consistent;

Implications for instruction: • Children need to be shown the consistencies: –Spelling patterns (

rimes

) are very consistent: -ake, -all

Implications for instruction: • Suggested teaching order: – 1. Phonemic awareness – rhymes, what word starts the same as… – 2. Single consonants - b, d, f… – 3. Consonant blends and digraphs th, sh, ch… – 4. Vowels: spelling patterns (rimes) – 5. Vowels: digraphs (oy, oi, ow, etc.)

Implications for instruction: • Teach spelling patterns (rimes) –all, ball, fall, wall, tall, small –sail, snail, hail, tail –way, say, day, play, bay –light, fight, sight, slight, –ride, hide, tide, pride, slide

Video: Using onsets and rimes • As you watch, write down ideas that you can use in your classroom.

To sum up: Recent research has shown that • most readers figure out unfamiliar words by analogy – they think of words they know with similar “chunks” in them.

• children have trouble hearing individual sounds within words but can readily hear and identify “chunks” of words.

• most phonics “rules” do not work much of the time, but “chunks” of letters are much more consistent!

So, phonics instruction should focus on helping children identify these “chunks”.

• Onsets are the letter(s) before the vowel.

Consonants: c, d, f, g, h, j, … Blends and digraphs: th, sh, ch br, tr, str, … • Rimes are the vowel and letters after the vowel (in one-syllable words). -ake -ame –ike -ain -ing -ack -an at, etc.