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 ApproachGood 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.