Today I
am sharing my reflections on the value of reading for our children, tomorrow
citizens and policy makers, as the debate on raising standards in reading by implementing
the teaching of phonics from an early age is still very much on the agenda in
English primary education.
I always feel uncomfortable when politicians (and
everybody who woos them in order to share a bit of their power) invariably ride the tiger of failing
educational standards. I am not saying that making sure that education keeps up
with the challenges of modern society it is not one of the most important
duties of each government across history, but I am ,alas, sceptical of
directives imposed ‘top down’ on schools, as I always was when in service. This time, what is plaguing teachers in KS1
is what the government calls The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. Allow me to quote from the
DFES website:[i]
‘Teaching phonics in schools has the
potential to help all children, particularly those from disadvantaged
backgrounds, become confident readers.’
The DES is also adamant that :
‘Evidence from around the world shows that a systematic approach to the
teaching of phonics gives children the best start in their reading. We
recommend that some schools might like to consider their approach to teaching
phonics, and make sure they are setting suitable high expectations for pupils’
progress in Year 1’.
Allow me now
to quote from : ‘Mother
Tongue’ by Bill Bryson, 1990 (Penguin Books, 1991 ; ISBN 0-140-24305-X), which I consider an interesting and easily
readable analysis of the English language suitable for everybody interested in
the topic and not necessarily up to academic reading.
Bryson
lists the following sounds in different words:
/c/ in bloc/ race/church
/s/
in house/houses/mission
or ‘g’ in garage and gauge
And
even more importantly for our discussion here:
‘ why we put a /r’ when we say
colonel that is not there? (page 113).
Now, let’s have a look
at the phonic screening teachers are expected to use. I downloaded a copy of the test
and I summarize it here for you.[ii]
The words in the test cover 40 spelling patterns of English words against 200
different ways identified by Bryson to spell the 40 sounds of the English
language. There are ‘pseudo words’ as the DFE calls them that refers to a
drawing of an imaginary creature because the children need to be able to read
sounds out of context but also need to refer them to something concrete:
‘The pseudo-words provide the purest assessment of phonic
decoding because they will be new
to all children, and so there will be no unintended bias
based on visual memory of words
or vocabulary knowledge. The pseudo-words will be presented
with a picture prompt (a
picture of an imaginary creature) and children will be asked
to name the type of creature.
This approach makes it clear to children that they are
reading a pseudo-word, which they
should
not expect to be able to match to their existing vocabulary.’[iii]
I am confused and left with a feeling
of déjà vu.... I must refer to my studies in linguistics before I delve more
into the debate whether we can correctly define the English language phonetic.
Also, the full analysis of the screening test goes beyond the scope of this
blog.
Nonetheless, I would like to receive your
comments as speakers of English (even more importantly if English is not your
first language) about the effectiveness of approaching the teaching and
learning of English using a phonetic strategy, given the origin of the language
and of its written representation of sounds.
I
would also encourage parents to speak with their child’s teacher and ask proof
of what the school is doing: please ask to see the test after they marked it and
to explain the reasoning behind it. I fear that yet more undue stress is going
to be put on already worried parents and
children, who are continuously haunted by the possibility that they may be ‘falling
behind’ or be ‘failed’ by incompetent teachers and ‘’bad ‘ schools: please use
your best judgement, for the sake your children and the future of our society.
Thank
You
[ii] Please have a firsthand
look for yourself visiting http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/assessment/keystage1/a00200415/phonics
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