[ Previous | Home | Next ]


Phonics

Ask most First Grade children what to do when they come to an unknown word and they will tell you that they sound it out. Ask most parents what advice they give to youngsters who approach an unknown word, they well say the same thing. So children begin: /t/.../h/.../o/.../u/.../g/.../h/.../t/." It is doubtful that a child can use the advice, "sound it out" in sounding out thought, or in other words like "what," "which," or "who."

What actually occurs is that when a reader comes to an unfamiliar word, the brain searches through its cognitive stores for similar words. Through analogy the reader attempts a possible pronunciation which is tried and cross checked for meaning. Cunningham and Allington illustrate this point by having the adult reader notice his or her ability to pronounce these made up words:

dritespowbame
Because of the readers ability to compare and contrast with the words write, how or snow, and came, the made up words were possible to either "read" or generate possibilities for correct pronunciation.

As a reading teacher, this comparison intrigued me and I started noticing what I did when I came to an unfamiliar word. I contemplated words found in my kitchen cabinet:

propylene glycolacetaminophenmethoxycinnamate
I certainly did not sound out each letter individually, but divided the words into smaller chunks that resembled words I already knew.

Research also indicates that the brain is a pattern detector and not a rule applier ( Cunningham, 1995, p.182). Phonics instruction needs to be taught in a manner comparable to the way the brain naturally works. Activities that help children see relationships between words and which demand active involvement are appropriate forms of phonics instruction. Phonics instruction that is connected to real reading and writing, as in learning through a morning message board, will be more easily remembered and more likely to be applied later.

[Previous| Home| Next]