The Big Troubles Phonics Method Has Created for Our Children and the Society

As a reading and writing coach, I had a recent experience with some promising learners who were taught with phonics methods.

From afar off, you could hear them thunder:

"Letter a sounds |a|.

Letter b sounds |b|.

Letter c sounds |k|."

and it went in that sequence to the letter z.

It was an engaging moment. The learners could tell most of the sounds and blend them. I acknowledged the effort of the teachers and learners because it was a step towards literacy.

However, there was a missing piece that could lead to a more significant problem, which is a consequence of an incomplete or ineffective reading program.

Where the Problem with Phonics Starts

Most of the children may learn to connect or blend sounds. But can they tell the meaning of the words they read? Mostly, no.?

These learners would not be able to relate the concepts of the word with their natural lives. Often, this process alone leads to slower acquisition of reading skills than it should be.

It would often take longer for learners to read and write perfectly with the phonics methods alone.?

Yet the fad in most reading intervention program and curriculum is the over-reliance on phonics methods.

To ascertain the prevalence of synthetic phonics, The Guardian makes it known that:

"A survey of 2,200 teachers found synthetic phonics was their main focus for teaching reading. All but one of the 936 comments from the survey were negative about the screening test, while one teacher described having to "live and breathe phonics," and another appealed for "reflection on the mass of skills involved in reading rather than solely focusing on phonics."

Phonics Is Rampant, Yet Illiteracy Still Prevails

With all the clout about phonics, today, more than a billion people cannot read and write—773 million adults lack literacy skills, while 7 out of 10 'school' children in the least developed countries cannot read and write.?

?

Not to sound too sanctimonious, I was a victim of the bandwagon hoisting of phonics jingoism until I saw its flaws.?

I learned that phonics is good only to the extent to which it is needed.?

To be sincere and objective, these are three credits I can give to phonics:

1. The Phonics foundation is essential for beginner readers.
2. Phonics identifies language as a build-up of smaller units, which is almost true but only partially accurate (I will explain what I mean subsequently).
3. Phonics chronologically introduces language skills according to their natural order: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Now, The 5 Big Problems of Phonics

As much as phonics programs are essential, they come with consequences that every teacher and school administrator cannot overlook.

These are five of the several big troubles our children and society suffer when we depend on phonics methods alone:

1. It stifles students' comprehension abilities. A child may learn to read |k| |a| |t| |kat| or "The cat is on a mat" but doesn't know what a cat or a mat means or looks like. For the more advanced learners, sentences like:

"It is better to err on the side of caution" would only be read without meaning or understanding. This affects their comprehension of newspaper articles, stories, audiobooks, and other reading resources.?

2. Dyslexic children are made to believe they're 'special' (even if we mean the irony of it). Much reliance on just phonics is what makes struggling readers struggle.?

Solely improving and increasing phonics approaches will not improve the reading skills of a dyslexic. Therefore, they need help because phonics must include practical, tangible, and individualized procedures that make learning easy, comprehensive, and whole.

3. Special children begin to lose confidence in their abilities, the school system, and the future when they discover it's taking them longer to learn what takes others less time or when the reading process does not align with their natural tendencies.

4. Phonics makes children hate reading (and school) because it's boring learning to do something again and again when there is no practical meaning or context attached to it.

And what's the consequence, high rate of school dropouts, poor academic performance, depression, inferiority complex, career failure, social menacing, and many other avoidable effects of incomplete or less effective reading programs.?

5. We waste our time and the children's time. What should take a child less than three months to read may take 12 months or longer, whereas we could have saved ourselves and the learners three-quarters of time and effort with effective reading and writing programs.

Then what should we do?

Should we give up on phonics? And try something else? Here is what I suggest for school administrators, teachers, and curriculum planners:

1. The Phonics method is great; I still use it, too. But as the literacy expert, Professor @Jon Reyhner of Northern Arizona University asserted, we should only depend on phonics with a balanced approach.
2. From the onset, learners should start learning how to decode the meaning of words.
3. Once blending is mastered, simple sentences and stories should be introduced and evaluated through comprehension questions immediately.

There is a better way to teach children and adults reading and writing. It is higher than phonics because it is a balanced approach.

At first, when I discovered this method, I felt like an alchemist who had found a miraculous invention that could transform world literacy.?

Through practice, research, observation, and iteration of the balanced model, which I have tried and seen work countless times, I discovered that phonics programs are incomplete without the inclusion of context, meaning, multisensory appeal, and many other factors that connote the wholesomeness of a language.

Phonics will only be effective when learners of English are also taught using a personalized, all-round, and balanced approach.

To have a comprehensive step-by-step guide on how I teach children how to read and read in less than three months, then get my soon-to-be released book, Easy Reading, Easy Writing.

• It inventively incorporates three proven approaches to teaching reading and writing.

• In just four simple units and 40 lessons, you'll see what to do, how to do it, and what not to do to make your child love reading and start reading quickly.

• The methods work for kids, youth, and adults.

• You don't have to be a qualified teacher to follow the guide. They are simple and easy to understand.

• The method in the book has been used to build a literacy center from its foundation. As a reading and writing interventionist in schools, I have used it to increase the literacy rate of learners by about 90%. So, it's worth your trial.

• Easy Reading, Easy Writing is a trilogy. The other two series and workbooks will be out soon.?

• Kindly indicate your interest in getting the book so you will be informed when it's out.?

If you want to join me and other educators who are working hard to see immediate improvements in children's reading and writing skills and change in our communities, kindly indicate your interest below so I can let you know when the book is out.?

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Remember,

"Every child can read and write if we find out what works for each of them, not just what works for all."

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