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What is the most effective way to teach children how to read?
Government-controlled schooling has become a political endeavor, leading to curriculum changes that are often illogical and ineffective. The latest trend for schools is to focus on “sight words” only, which encourages guessing and skipping unknown words.
The whole?language approach gained traction several decades ago, especially in California and Massachusetts schools. As it turns out, it does not work when you ignore phonics in teaching reading.
The process of reading by pattern recognition alone is wrong. Even fluent readers use a form of sounding out to read words with which they are unfamiliar. So, chunking individual words and putting them back together is crucial, as this can help readers read difficult words more easily.
Experimental data have also challenged the whole-language approach. In a clever experiment, a team at Stanford invented a new script and attempted to teach it to undergraduates. The students who used the whole-word method did better at first, but as more words were added, they could not keep up; phonics facilitated reading all words with a smaller number of symbols.
Children without a strong phonics foundation will struggle with reading and spelling.
The use of phonics-based reading instruction is more successful than the whole-language approach. Some studies suggest that California’s adoption of this strategy was responsible for a steep decline in literacy levels among students in the 80s and 90s.
What is phonics method of reading
Like many parents you may be wondering what is phonics it is a simply technique to teach reading by associating letters with their sounds or phonemes. Phonics-based practice means your child understands individual letters’ sounds and how to blend them to read and form words. Starting with a foundation of learning letter sounds, with age-appropriate sight words and daily reading of books at the right reading level, are the keys to raising a fantastic child reader.
Using phonics for kids will teach them how to use sounds to blend letters into words. Teaching phonics educates children how to sound out words instead of memorizing them. As they advance, phonics readers are able sound out and blend complex letter combinations to read fluently.
Why is phonics important
When children learn to read with phonics, they learn the different sounds each letter or combination of letters makes. For example, the letter “b” makes the sound /b/ as in the word “bat”. When children learn to read with phonics, they are learning to decode words by breaking them down into their letter sounds. With practice, children can become proficient at reading unfamiliar words by recognizing the sounds they make. Reading phonics is a powerful tool for learning reading and spelling without getting stuck.
How important is phonics in teaching young children to read?
Advantages of phonics for kids
A phonics based approach has many advantages for children learning to read. To start with, it prevents them from getting stuck because they are able to sound out words they have actually never seen before. Phonics likewise helps children remember spellings promptly, that makes their writing and spelling a lot more precise. Additionally, phonics increases kids \’s vocabulary, and also it assists them to become a lot more independent readers. Research studies have actually revealed that phonics is one of the most effective method for training very early analysis abilities.
When used effectively, phonics can be a powerful tool for teaching children to read. Here are some of the primary benefits of using phonics in the classroom or at home:
How to teach phonics to kids
- Begin by teaching them letter sounds along with letter names
- Then focus on letter sound blends with two letter words
- Progress to letter sound blends of three letter words
- Then to much more complex letter sound mixes as they gain self-confidence.
- Add in sight words
- Daily reading of leveled reading books with help as need
Understanding just how to introduce phonics to your child can make a substantial distinction in how well the idea of reading “clicks” for your child. Phonics-based practice means your child understands individual letters’ sounds and how to blend them to read and form words. Starting with a foundation of learning letter sounds, with age-appropriate CVC words, sight words, read aloud and daily reading of books at the right reading level, are the keys to raising a fantastic child reader.
Phonics activities
Use flashcards, phonics games and phonics worksheets and phonics videos to make reading more enjoyable and interactive.
Final Thoughts
The phonics teaching methods is effective and can help anyone learn to read, write and spell for sure. It takes some time to install the basic understanding and requires repetition and plenty of support. Nonetheless, with consistency, the right resources and correct methods phonics is certain to unlock the power of phonics for reading proficiency. The payoff is definitely worth the journey of a phonics-based reading curriculum.
