Teaching phonics K-12. Pros & Cons - Research Paper Example

Teaching Phonics K-12 Phonics has had its place in the reading world for a long time. By teaching how to sound out words according to the way they are spelled, they are able to translate those sounds into words they are already familiar with from their receptive language development. Their reading skills develop, and, they become faster, more confident and prolific readers. While this sounds like a reasonable theory, there is much discussion on both sides of the issue that bears discovery. Before beginning the discussion, the first order of business is to define terms so that it is clear just what phonics is.

Phonics is a system of letter-sound relationships that helps English language learners to decode, or breakdown what they see written into meaningful elements. It causes students to understand what they see by using a systematic approach for the alphabetic representations they see. (Helaine, 2011) There are actually several approaches to reading; one which occurs naturally as the student develops cognitively, with no direct instruction or focus required, and one in which synthetic phonics are taught in isolation.

Analytic phonics is where students naturally assimilate sounds from the whole words as they read; also known as the whole language approach or psycholinguistic approach. The other method is the synthetic phonics approach, where students are actually directly taught, in isolation, the correlation between sounds and letters that blend to comprise words. Research supports that students benefit more from a systematic approach to reading through phonics instruction; this is supported across socioeconomic levels as well.

Students benefit more from reading instruction that addresses and develops phonemic awareness and decoding skills, fluency in word recognition and text-related processing skills, as well as writing, vocabulary, and spelling skills. (Carnine, Silbert, Kame’enui, & Tarver, 2004) Research done by the National Reading Panel in 1997 supports that systematic phonics instruction is instrumental in helping students master the language skills needed for fluency and reading comprehension. The age evaluated in this study was from kindergarten through 6th grade.

The study revealed that students from low socioeconomic situations as well as those with learning disabilities benefitted most from synthetic phonics instruction. Students who experienced guided oral classroom reading with assistance improved their sight recognition of new words, as well as pronunciation, accuracy, fluency, and reading comprehension skills. (NICHD, 2006) Opponents of phonics teaching, such as Frank Smith, and Kenneth Goldman, cognitive psychologists, who prefer the psycholinguistic method or Whole Language approach, feel that students learn to read much as they learned to speak.

The premise of this theory is that each person has a uniquely and genetically inscripted learning style that dictates a natural order and preferences for processing information. In the Whole Language approach, students are thought to have certain ‘intelligences’ which drive them to take in information; they learn to read through context cues and pictures. Students are placed in a learning environment set up to immerse them in information; those that infer and analyze their surroundings will learn the natural order of events without direct instruction; however the research doesn’t bear that out.

(Groff, 1997) There is much emphasis on the Whole Language approach in education today. Many classrooms are set up to support natural learning environments. It’s innovative, exciting and a fresh approach to English language learning. There are pictures everywhere suggesting cues; the students are encouraged to invent spellings for words, and to guess at meanings, even to the point of reading and writing incorrectly. The students reinforce their incorrectness with every attempt at reading and guessing information.

This has produced a new form of quasi-illiteracy in actuality; creating problems for students with standardized assessments, as well as communication skills. Whole Language has also been the recipient of litigation; the results were so phenomenal that by 1995, thirteen states had passed legislation to abandon the Whole Language approach in favor of one again directly and systematically teaching phonics with reading comprehension skills. (Groff, 1997) In all actuality, neither a 100% phonics approach, nor a 100% Whole Language approach will meet the needs of the students today.

They are much more kinetically and visually driven than students of the past. Today’s students need an innovative approach to education, especially through technology driven media; however they also need the structure of phonics instruction, as our language is significantly structured. By giving students a balanced approach, they will be more successful in acquiring communication skills within their own language, as well as more motivated to work through the steps required for success in reading.

References Carnine, D.W., Silbert, J., Kame’enui, E.J., and Tarver, S.G. Direct Instruction Reading. Pearson Education, Inc. 2004, pp 140-141. Web. April 13, 2011. http://www.education.com/reference/article/phonics-instruction/ Groff, Patrick. The Rise and Fall of ‘Whole Language’ and the Return to Phonics. Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society,22, 1997,/2, pp11-15. Web. April 13, 2011. http://www.englishspellingsociety.org/journals/j22/wholelang.php Helaine, Andrea. The Importance of Teaching Phonics.

eHowFamily. April 20, 2010. Web. April 13, 2011. http://www.ehow.com/about_6365191_importance-teaching-phonics.html National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. National Reading Panel Reports Combination of Teaching Phonics, Word Sounds, Giving Feedback on Oral Reading Most Effective Way to Teach Reading. National Institute of Health, 9/1/2006. Web. April 13, 2011. http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/releases/nrp.cfm