Of the approaches to beginning reading I have outlined, the phonics approach because it is based on matching word particles (letters to their possible sounds) is the only approach that isn't a natural language activity for the learner. Whether one uses a 'synthetic' approach of building word particles into words or an 'analytic' approach where whole words are broken down into their component sounds and spellings, these activities are unnatural to the child who has been used to dealing with much larger language units in his everyday communication activities. Fortunately for the beginning reader, few advocates of a method that is basically a phonics approach want to (or are even able to) omit the necessary interaction between the learner and the teacher that occurs in meaningful language units. Most teachers use an eclectic approach to beginning reading that provides the learner with experiences of matching phonemes with graphemes, developing a personal sight-word vocabulary, watching his oral utterances being written, and other language-based activities that eventually encourage the learner to become an independent and fluent reader. There is no doubt that all readers have to acquire some skill in handling the phonemic/graphemic system of the language they are reading; however, they must also be provided with the other cues to meaning that larger language units can give them. As Frank Smith points out in his Understanding Reading, the only way to distinguish the pronunciation of /sh/ in bishop and mishap is to be able to read the word in the first place:

Phonics: quo vadis? Any suggestions for teaching anything comes from long standing experience in and out of the classroom. And experience has taught us that some approaches can help some students sometimes in some aspects of reading. If we keep in mind that our goal in reading instruction is meaning and the bigger the language unit we work with the potentially more meaningful the activity will be, then our eclecticism will be careful, informed and helpful. The best that we can expect from the phonics aspect of our reading program is that it can provide clues to the names and sounds of letters and their configurations that might help the reader when he or she can't deal with these smaller word particles as part of a larger, meaningful language context. However, it is an unfortunate reader who must 'mediate' every word he reads.

The chief disadvantage of phonics is simply that it is not a language arts goal in itself; it is only a means towards our goal which is literacy.

Professor Bowers gave a presentation on this topic to the south central Ontario Group of The Movement in March, 1979. A useful booklet was prepared on the same theme and has many practical aids and hints. Ed.

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