How children learn to read:
Synthetic phonics is where you teach a child the sounds of
the letters they will be reading and then eventually you blend the sounds
together to form the word. It is a method of teaching young children how to
read. The children are taught the phonemes associated with the letters. It focusses
on decoding and the pronunciation of words only and it is based on the accuracy
of the reading instead of the speed that the children read it.
Children are taught in steps beginning with gaining a straightforward
understanding of pronunciation eg. The “k” in “cat”, once they have gained that
knowledge they then move on to the more complicated pronunciations eg. The “k”
in “school”.
Synthetic phonics focusses on the sounds made from the words
instead of the spelling of the words. Some may argue that not knowing how the
word is spelt then the child may not be able to read it they may only be able
to say it after an adult or a more advanced reader has modelled it for them. This
may suggest that synthetic phonics may not be the best way to teach children
how to read.
Reading schemes are used in primary schools to help children
develop their reading skills. There are ten different stages in the reading
schemes and children are categorised into these stages due to their own
individual ability. Each stage gets more complex as the child progresses
through the stages.
Some may question how practical reading schemes are as they
may cause children to become self-conscious of their own reading ability if
they are in the lower stages for a longer time period than their peers. This self-consciousness
may be a cause for the child to act out or refuse to progress in the reading
scheme, therefore not allowing their own ability to improve.
Children also associate words with images. If they are
reading a book that has a lot of pictures in it they can decipher what the
story is through the imagery instead of actually reading the words, therefore
not developing their reading skills. However when they start to associate specific
words with the images on the page they may begin to develop their reading
skills and start to read more books with less images and where they have to
focus more on the words written on the page and try to gain a deeper
understanding of what the words are, how to link them together to form a
sentence and what they mean.
Bibliography:
Good awareness of key issues. More terminology and explicit reerences to theories needed to be able to use this well in the exam.
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