Transcript What About Phonics? - Murray State University
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.