Phonics Phacts

This book is a response to the trend to emphasize phonics in teaching reading. In general, the phonics- based approach is to use the sounds most commonly associated with groups of letters, or as was done when I was in school, to sound it out. This approach has received a lot of high level political support and is a response to the perceived national failure to adequately teach reading. Like all prospective changes that promise a solution to problems in education and where politicians get involved, reverting back to phonics must be viewed with suspicion. My area of expertise is in mathematics, so my opinions are those of someone who was educated and who has children in the public schools. Goodman starts out with a demonstration of the basic sounds made in spoken English, as he defines and explains phonemes. When reading this section, I found myself making the sounds and noting the performance of all my mouthparts when making the sounds. He then goes on to explain how incredibly efficient humans are in learning language. It is clear that it is a natural skill for humans, we are amazing at pulling the meaning out of a statement, even when there are major grammatical and spelling errors. This sets the stage for what is his major point, which is a powerful one. Using the phonics method glosses over the fact that in English, there are many different sounds associated with the same letter group. Examples such as "gh", "c", the silent `k" in "know" and "knife" and ambiguous cases such as "father" rather than "fat-her." If the phonics approach is used to read these words, the students will be saying "k-nife", "k-now", "mot-her", "fat-her" and "brot-her." Goodman's arguments for the approach to be used in teaching reading is to use phonics, but not to make that the sole tactic. My memory for events back into my early childhood is excellent and I remember when I was learning to read. When I began school, we were taught how to read by sounding out the words. I had a very difficult time with this, because of all the special cases. In trying to sound out the words, I lost track of the meaning and could not keep track of all the contextual differences. Even though I was privately reading at a high level in first grade, these problems led to me being placed in a very low-level reading group. Statements were made to my parents that there was a possibility that I may have some form of reading disorder. Fortunately, when I started second grade, I was re-tested and the teacher discovered that I was a very fast and efficient reader. I was immediately jumped up to the highest reading group and all through the remainder of my public education, I generally outscored everyone else in my class on tests of reading comprehension. Therefore, my personal experience is that phonics based reading education is a failure and should only be a part of the overall strategy. I was impressed with this book, both as a statement against phonics based reading education and a stat

Would you ever believe that reading a book about phonics could be fun? Well, here it is. This book is packed with all sorts of interesting facts (phacts) and activities which help the reader understand the role of phonics. Yes, after reading this one, order ON READING and read that one as well!

In this book, Ken Goodman explains phonics and phonology in a straight forward and conversational manner. The book grows out of 35 years of observing and researching readers and writers. Goodman describes the role of the phonics in meaning construction. Goodman explains how young children develop these understandings through reading and writing, and how the miscues (mistakes) children make reveal these understandings. For language lovers, there are many interesting "phacts" about how written language works. An enlightened book, well researched and documented. Every reading teacher should read it. A great alternative for states requiring courses in Phonics. Read it. Then buy On Reading. Goodman is an inspiration to us all.

This is a useful little book for teachers. It helped me understand the relationship between phonics and phonology. With this understanding I now have a clearer picture of what and how to teach phonics and its place in reading instruction. I am appalled that the Toronto reviewer took this forum to attack Goodman rather than discuss the book and information in it. There would be many who might disagree with some of Goodman's ideas, however until one reads this book how can one know. I found it gave me useful background information and ideas. I dont have to agree with everything in it.