Posted on 04/20/2017 8:16:19 AM PDT by JimSEA
Research published today in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General has shown that learning to read by sounding out words (a teaching method known as phonics) has a dramatic impact on the accuracy of reading aloud and comprehension.
There has been intense debate concerning how children should be taught to read. Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London and the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit tested whether learning to read by sounding out words is more effective than focusing on whole-word meanings. In order to assess the effectiveness of using phonics the researchers trained adults to read in a new language, printed in unfamiliar symbols, and then measured their learning with reading tests and brain scans.
Professor Kathy Rastle, from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway said, "The results were striking; people who had focused on the meanings of the new words were much less accurate in reading aloud and comprehension than those who had used phonics, and our MRI scans revealed that their brains had to work harder to decipher what they were reading."
English-speaking countries should replicate UK use of phonics
In England, the provision of systematic phonics instruction is a legal requirement in state-funded primary schools. The impact of phonics is measured through a screening check administered to children in Year 1. The results of this screening check have shown year-on-year gains in the percentage of children reaching an expected standard -- from 58% in 2012 to 81% in 2016.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
In other news, scientists discover, after exhausting their $500k grant, that water is wet.
The English, she is a strange and difficult language.
Apparent rhymes on paper do not rhyme nearly so well when spoken allowed (or aloud).
Kewl
I bought my kids educational PC games including those that had phonics in them. My daughter was reading at the third grade third trimester level when she entered kindergarden.
And even though we had them in public schools. They went to magnet schools in Middle and High school, and my daughter scored a 35 on the ACT. My son a 34.
I bought my kids educational PC games including those that had phonics in them. My daughter was reading at the third grade third trimester level when she entered kindergarden.
And even though we had them in public schools. They went to magnet schools in Middle and High school, and my daughter scored a 35 on the ACT. My son a 34.
After teaching in the publics and homeschooling our son, I now tutor 1:1. I cannot tell you the number of kids who are forced to learn 1000 SIGHT words in Kinder and 1st grade. It totally destroys whatever paltry exposure to phonics they do have. I love it that phonics is legally mandated in the UK. Many teachers hate it! (Stealth Tutor here).
This is one (among many) reasons that it is simply insane to create national “standards” for education.
I was fortunate enough to go to elementary school in the early/mid 1970s. Though I’m not sure I ever heard the word “phonics” until much later, I recall teachers reminding me over and over again to “sound it out” when I came to a word I didn’t recognize. Just a few years later, pretty much the whole educational establishment moved to what they called the “whole language” method, which emphasized memorization over the ability to sound out words. It’s taken years to gradually move back to what they now call “phonics” as the primary method for teaching reading, one school and one state at a time.
50 states and thousands of individual school districts means innovation, experimentation, and competition. Nationwide standards means one size fits all and everyone is required to follow the “consensus” of the educational establishment.
This is one (among many) reasons that it is simply insane to create national “standards” for education.
I was fortunate enough to go to elementary school in the early/mid 1970s. Though I’m not sure I ever heard the word “phonics” until much later, I recall teachers reminding me over and over again to “sound it out” when I came to a word I didn’t recognize. Just a few years later, pretty much the whole educational establishment moved to what they called the “whole language” method, which emphasized memorization over the ability to sound out words. It’s taken years to gradually move back to what they now call “phonics” as the primary method for teaching reading, one school and one state at a time.
50 states and thousands of individual school districts means innovation, experimentation, and competition. Nationwide standards means one size fits all and everyone is required to follow the “consensus” of the educational establishment.
Great. Those PC games can be a big help. Endless Reader apps were particularly well done and fun as well.
Well duh. 5000 years of language instruction was right.
Good luck correcting your kid’s spelling for the rest of his/her life. Phonics is certainly the easiest (laziest) teaching method for teachers.
“Read between the lions” was a great TV show emphasizing phonics too.
Sounding out words is best way to teach reading, study suggests
Really!!/s I find it Amazing we are having some of these discussions, Why doesn’t the Leftist Education Establishment believe in Real Science when it comes to learning?? Maybe they don’t have a consensus yet.
Duh! Old news. For some reason, the public school teaching monopoly keeps trying to find a different way. Why?
Start reading when the kid is 9 months or looks at pictures..
Everynight at bedtime...start pictures.. then one word pictures and progress..
Kid will be reading by three or four years
“For some reason, the public school teaching monopoly keeps trying to find a different way. Why?”
Teaching using Phonics is more work for the teacher. That’s why. When you work 9 and 1/2 months a year you need to find ways to make life easier.
Sight words are for stupid people who wish to raise other stupid people just like they do in most government schools commonly misrepresented by the name “public schools” which should more accurately called “government indoctrination camps”.
The push for “free college”, which should actually be called “college that other people pay for”, is due to the fact that some who attend K-12 in “government schools” have escaped without the indoctrination taking a full hold in their lives so the “educators” need another couple years to finish the job.
I hope phonics is actually taking hold again in education.
MAGA
I must reply to this, my wife had phonics instruction in school and now she is a total useless reader. She has to sound out all the words to any book she is reading. (so she doesn’t read very many books) I on the other hand had been taught to know what the word was when I saw it and know what the word meant.
I believe phonics is a (as you said) a lazy way of teaching and if my wife is any example, she just doesn’t read at all any more.
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