Are our children learning to read through phonics?
In 2017, fourth grade students took an exam by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for reading. Thirty-two percent of students in the US were unable to read at a proficient level. According to an article by School Leaders Now, over half of all children do not spend enough time practicing reading, reading less than 15 minutes a day. These findings are alarming. A child’s ability to read proficiently at the end of the third grade predicts his or her future success. How big is this impact? If your child cannot read by the end of the sixth grade, there is an 82 percent chance he or she will not graduate high school. This is true for any child, regardless of class, gender or socioeconomic background.
These children go to school every day and yet they still return home unable to read. Why? Teachers are not trained to teach phonics. In fact, many universities that accredit teachers actively dismiss phonics altogether. As a result, future teachers spend little to no time learning how to teach early students how to read. So, while children may go to school every day, they are not receiving the type of training needed to become successful readers.
The Classroom Is Not Enough for Your Child’s Reading Success
What happens inside the classroom that our children do not learn the tools to read? Many teachers are given the option to pick a style that best fits them when it comes to teaching reading skills. But since they are not knowledgeable in phonics, they opt for more familiar solutions. Combine that with insufficient resources, shrinking budgets, time constraints and other tasks the school district gives and teachers simply do not have the tools themselves to learn about reading science. In fact, teachers are just as much stuck in the system as the children in their care.
The average teacher for early readers spends time reading books aloud to their students, sounding out whole words. They push books upon their students and hope that with enough exposure, these children pick up the ability to read. While this may work to a degree, statistics and studies have repeatedly shown low success rates. This current model only yields a 40 percent success rate with over half of all early readers unable to perform at a proficient level.
The Problem with the Whole Language Approach
Throwing literature at children and hoping that exposure will teach them how to read is a risky idea. While exposure does teach them vocabulary and new sight words, overall it is an ineffective approach to teaching children how to read. This particular approach is called whole language.
Whole language teachers believe that reading is a natural process, much like speaking. However, our brains are not wired to read as they are to speak. This is simply because of biology. Reading and writing are relatively new to human history, and we don’t have the skills or the wiring to complete those tasks without explicit training. So, while students as young as four or five years old may arrive to class able to speak in whole sentences, they have no idea what letters or sounds make up the words they speak.
The main problem with the whole language approach is that it teaches children to recognize and read whole words instead of sounding out letters through phonics. As a result, children must be exposed to every word in the dictionary to know how to pronounce them when they read. If children don’t recognize a word, then teachers encourage them to guess based on context or pictures.
Compare that to phonics, which teaches children how to connect individual letters with their corresponding sounds. With this method, children are able to pronounce any word they may come across while reading.
Phonics Prepares Children for Long-Term Success
Decades of tests have measured and marked the most efficient method to teaching a child how to read. Reading science supports phonics. This method teaches children how to read by recognizing and linking letters to their sounds. It is hard work for both the teacher and the student. In fact, many supporters of whole language argue that teaching phonics is a waste of time because students are not as engaged.
However, that is untrue. Students who practice phonics often feel more confident as early readers, excited to practice phonics and learn to read. In many classrooms where teachers incorporate phonics lessons, they see success rates nearly double by the end of the year.
Supporters of phonics stick to a regimented system of instruction. Teachers clearly explain the value of a letter and its relationship to its sound. While that might seem simple, so many teachers resist teaching phonics. They assume that with enough exposure, the students will discover the correlation by themselves.
Phonics is the most efficient method to teaching children how to read. It teaches skills that serve them well all throughout their educational career. However, it is important to recognize that just because children learn to pronounce words does not mean that they understand what they read. A successful phonics curriculum encourages not only phonics practice but reading aloud together. This helps expand children’s vocabulary and reading comprehension.
Phonics Is Best Way to Prepare Your Child for Reading Success
The best way to prepare your child for reading success is to practice phonics. To do this, learn more about reading science and the phonics system. This does not have to be difficult at all. At Professor Pup’s Academy, we have a simple method to keeping children engaged while learning preparatory reading skills. Our programs are easy for teachers and parents to use and we provide immediate access to phonics instruction – no research or training required.
Professor Pup’s Phoneme Farm is an interactive app that introduces pre-k children to phonemes, the building blocks for reading success. With the help of songs, games, and a friendly cast of characters, your child learns these skills easily.
For kindergarteners and first graders who are just beginning to read, we recommend Pup’s Quest for Phonics. This app follows Pup and his friends on new adventures. Each adventure guides children through activities that build phonemic awareness to reading fluency.
We strive to deliver exceptional material for your child’s reading success. Our phonics curriculum for early literacy is backed by science and research, tested and approved by teachers, parents and children alike.
The ability to read is a significant marker of future success. Prepare your child for a lifetime of achievement by providing them the tools to read. Visit the Home Edition page for more information on our excellent programs built just for home.