|
THE PHONICS INSTITUTE
A Sampling of Reading Instruction Dos and Don’ts
__________________________________________________________________
Dos
1. Encourage the students to take on the responsibility of figuring
out the "sound values" of all letters in all written words they are
reading, developing the phonics habit.
2. By direct instruction, explicitly and systematically teach the
students the phonics rules for reading and writing including the 70
Orton phonograms, consonant clusters/blends, the Spalding phonograms,,
and the Spalding 28 rules of spelling.
3. Limit vocabulary in early lessons to letters, syllables, and
words for which the children have been taught the needed phonics
rules.
4. By direct instruction, teach blending, enunciation of successive
sounds, and syllabication.
5. Use lots of dictation and reading aloud with corrections.
_________________________________________________________ ___________________________
Don’ts
1. Encourage memorization of words (or even expressions, phrases,
or whole sentences, some whole language advocates will tell you) as
wholes without necessarily understanding the "sound values" of all the
letters in the words.
2. Encourage use of incomplete or imprecise visual cues to guess
the "identity" of words encountered in reading by using, for instance:
a. knowledge of the typical
sound of a word’s initial letter or letter blend; or some, but not all
of the letters or letter blends within;
b. familiarity (but not letter "sound value" knowledge) with a
word’s prefix.
c. familiarity with a little word within a longer word; or
d. familiarity with a word’s ending .
3. Encourage guessing the "identity" of an encountered word by
reference to its shape or the context where the word is found,
including pictures.
Whole language advocates typically recommend the "don’ts" listed
above, saying it’s o.k. to encourage these reading strategies.
"Phonics-first advocates, who want direct, explicit, extensive,
systematic teaching of phonics say about the "don’ts": "No, these
aren’t recommendable strategies. Teach them the phonics rules they
need to figure out all words they encounter with precision, on their
own. Go ahead and limit their early attempts at reading to letters,
syllables, and words they know the rules to - that includes some
common short, frequently-appearing words with highly specialized rules
(that may apply only to one or two words). This controlled exposure in
early serious reading lessons limits the need for guessing. Those
‘reading strategies’ listed above (the "don’ts") are really, in the
long run, crippling bad habits. Don’t let them get started. Be smart.
Pay attention to reading habits - that’s the key."
A:\PHONIC.BK\Dos.Don'ts.PInst.wpd
Click here for a
printer friendly version
|
