Next, the phonics vs. whole word really only matters for beginners learning to say words. Phonics won't help you learning that a bat, cat and rat are different and what they mean, even though you can pronounce them.
I read Flesch a few years ago. He’s amazing. So many students have been harmed by whole word.
I never knew what it was called - but I guess it was phonics. When I was 18 I went to a Norwegian language camp in Norway. They started us off in the mornings just reciting sentences in Norwegian. They did not explain to us what the words meant. (Some of the teachers gave us “hints”.)
The afternoon was spent learning the alphabet. After a few days of learning the alphabet they told us to write down the sentences that we had been speaking (and memorized). We all thought - WHAT!? They returned our papers with the parts wrong underlined in red - and fix it and return it. After a few times we got it right. It was pretty amazing to see how well we did with such a seemingly impossible task.
Later on we were told what the words actually meant, and then learned new words to expand our vocabulary.
After the language camp I was hiking in the mountains of Norway and was ordering some stuff from a mountain hut. All in Norwegian. I got stumped though when the gal asked me what brand of candy bar I wanted. I told her, in Norwegian, that I didn’t know what the brands were - and did she know English. (She was a 16-year old kid and of course knew english). She looked at me and said “You’re Norwegian and speak better english?” I said, “No - I’m an American and speak a little Norwegian!” (My Minnesota accent helped with the dialect too I think!)
It’s true that phonics won’t help kids distinguish between a rat and a cat, but this student is an ESL student as well as a student learning to read English. Usually, I teach my students to speak English before teaching them to read. This past school year was different though because of circumstances beyond my control. I was forced to “push in” to regular classrooms this year, and I witnessed absolute abuse of this student (and others) by her whole language teacher. That is the reason why I taught her to read phonetically. As an ESL teacher though, I make sure she can first read the words, then I show her the meanings through the use of pictures, and then I have her use them in written sentences. So it’s actually become a reading/ESL lesson.
I think you’re right about Spanish. I know just enough to cause trouble but have had several Hispanics comment on my good pronunciation. I was surprised.
Back to phonics. In kindergarten our talkative DD memorized the little books they were supposed to read and teacher never guessed what was going on. First and second grade were disastrous. In 3rd grade, her 60-something teacher said she used a different approach and emphasized phonics. We also agreed DD needed to be tested for dyslexia, which she does have.
She is now a voracious reader. Her reading tutors in school have all emphasized phonics and it has helped her immensely.
The boys, however, learned to read all right with the school’s blended approach. But they both had older teachers who supplemented with phonics.