Teaching Phonics - Back to the basics!
With so many different methods that teachers could choose for beginning reading instruction for their students; why then is the main method of choice the teaching phonics first approach? There are many written feedback on the subject of teaching phonics to children, found from all types of education providers. Research gathered from Christian educators, home-schooling parents, professors, and curriculum providers all have shared their individual beliefs on reading instruction. Here is some of the information I found when asking the question, “Why does teaching phonics to a child work better than other methods?”
The intensive, teaching phonics first approach is chosen the most often because of its success rate with beginning readers learning basic reading skills.
A teaching phonics approach will create a dependence on drill and rote memorization which is more compatible with the ‘back to basics’ movement in conservative schools. Teaching phonics vs. other methods is considered to be more ‘traditional’ and in line with family values. The reason behind this is that most instruction include the words of great Americans like George Washington, Noah Webster, (author of the Blue Book Speller), and preacher William McGuffey; author of the McGuffey Eclectic Readers.
The original Christian curriculum publishers used teaching phonics in their reading instruction. If schools chose any published Christian curriculum, they had no other alternative to use.
At one point in history; John Dewey, originator and promoter of what he called, ‘progressive education’, developed the look-say reading method which was made popular through the Dick and Jane readers used in the 50’s and 60’s. (The look-say method received negative attention from those who suggested that this method was used as a deliberate attempt by socialists to lower literacy rates in America. An illiterate society would become dependent on a socialistic government, making a takeover easier.)
Many educators are unfamiliar with any other way to teach reading. If it works, why abandon something that works with something not tested?
Conservatives frequently point to failures in public education, especially in the area of reading. Thus, there seems to be little debate among Christian educators.
In the book titled; Teach a Child to Read with Children’s Books, it is recommended a more balanced approach to literacy be used. The author states that although there is an importance on teaching phonics, but there is also a need for children to spend lots of time reading good children’s literature. This is called, ‘balanced literacy’. This approach was created to help resolve the questions about the early role of teaching phonics in early reading instruction. Although many pubic educators still debate this issue, for all the reasons stated, teaching phonics is still the first choice.