Phonics and Whole language methods

Phonics and Whole language methods

Phonics is a technique that teaches beginning readers to associate a particular sound with each letter of the alphabet or letter combination (Unger, 1996). Students receive explicit instruction in the mechanics of reading before they begin the actual process.

Once students know what sounds correspond with each letter or letter combination, they move on to sounding out words. The English language has only about forty-four sounds, so when students begin to read, they move along in strict order so that he or she only sees words whose letter sounds they have already learned (Flesch, 1983). An example from Rudolf Flesch‘s book Why Johnny Still Can‘t Read is that students would have learned the sounds of n, d, m, p, short a, and short I before trying to read the sentence: “Ann and Dan pin up the map,” (1983). Students continue learning to read in such a way, using basal (beginning) readers. The sentences get progressively harder as students learn more letter and letter combination sounds.

Phonics instruction also emphasizes the memorization of rules that help the student sound out words. Some of these rules include that of the “silent e” and double vowels. The “silent e” rule is used in words such as like, make, and use. In each of these words, the e does not make a sound, but it makes the preceding vowel “say its name.” In other words, the vowel preceding the e is long. The double vowel rule includes such letter combinations as oa, ai, ea, and ee. These pairs make the sound of the first letter (Wilber, 2002). Some students are taught a short poem to help them remember this rule: “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” Other rules that phonics instructors teach...

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Wilber, P. M. (2002, April). Phonics vs. whole language. Teach a child to read. Retrieved on October 23, 2002, from http://www.succeedtoread.com/phonics.html