by Barbara Ehrentreu

Created on: September 03, 2009   Last Updated: September 05, 2009

Assess whole language vs phonics in teaching reading

How does someone learn to read? Why do some children come to school knowing the basics of reading while others are totally unprepared to learn how to read? Will using a program such as "Hooked on Phonics" prepare your child for learning to read? Will that be enough?

Every year teachers must work with children who come to school without the basics of reading readiness. These children not only don't know how to hold a book, but they don't know that the shapes and lines they see on the page match the sounds of words they already know. Most of these same children cannot identify the key elements of a story that is read to them. Many do not have the ability to understand the vocabulary in the story. They are as lost as if you had put a blindfold on them and asked them to walk from one end of the classroom to the other.

What can be done to help these children? The National Reading Panel's findings from assessments done from 1997-1999 were that phonics worked well in kindergarten and first grade to teach reading to children, but by second grade through sixth grade this approach didn't work as well. This makes sense, since the kindergarten child is busy learning the sounds of the alphabet and putting them together to find words. The first grader is able to identify letters and match sounds to them as well as attempting to sound out words combining sounds of letters. As first graders learn to use word patterns and identify more digraphs they add to their own vocabulary and start trying to sound out more and more complicated words. Phonics teaching is a partner in this growth as the children become more fluent in familiar patterns. In addition, learning phonics makes it easier to begin to write, since they can use invented spelling. As the children learn more letter combinations their spelling improves. Certainly phonics plays a very important role in teaching reading in kindergarten and first grade.

But if children learn only phonics during this time they are missing out on very important aspects of reading. Learning phonics without understanding the other aspects of reading is like eating flavorless vegetables. They need to learn the reason why people read. Just learning how to sound out words slows down the reading process. There needs to be a balanced whole language approach.

Reading needs to be taught in a progression so that the student understands and appreciates all of the aspects of this process. The reason

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