Phonics kills the joy of reading

[Alicenev]

I would like to see phonics lessons rolled back to once a week or in schools. Why is the joy of learning to read by sight denied to little minds? Remember’Peter and Jane...Words and pictures? …Isn’t the access to a great story / information sacred above all??! How is making weird noises with your tongue going to ignite ‘yes I want to do more of this!’ … I believe phonics is a skill that comes LATER . Not at yr1. …Let them have real books that have an actual ZING to them…Who cares if they do a lot of guessing getting and whole lot wrong.. All that’s important is that they begin a joyful quest into the world or literature!

Agree. I think phonics is shit. Niece learning by phonics and not enjoying reading at all for leaning or for pleasure. (I get that there are many competing screen-based attractions now but still, feeling disappointed on her behalf as think reading can be such a great, self-soothing way to spend time independently and develop imagination and knowledge)

Middle class privilege.

I remember the Roger red hat and co. series. However, I taught myself the phonics system when DC1 was a toddler as she was vocal early and showed an interest in reading (long story she had mobility issues at first so focused on bossing us about). I found it really helpful for her and then used it with DC2. They were reading in foundation.
Once past the reading steps all other books are accessible and mine loved the library throughout primary years.
(NB My DC didn't like maths, arty things, music and even loved picture books so reading was their choice).

I think the answer is to go back in time…Find books from yesteryear like “Meg and Mog” . I just tell my daughter at home “Let’s just read the book…”

I agree, but I don't know if that's because I am old 😀
I was a precocious reader & it has always been a huge part of my life.
However I didn't become a parent til I was 37 & my kids have learnt what I call Fucking Phonics (which word begins with an F)
I have watched them "sounding out" and missing context & humour etc in stories.
This I know has left them with the concept that reading is a chore, only done for (school)work and it hurts me, but I haven't been able to change their minds.
Audiobooks have been a saviour for the imaginative point, but their spelling & grammar has lost out and it is becoming more apparent now they are in yrs 8 & 10.
It's the one part of their schooling I would change given the chance, go old school.

100% disagree.
I have no idea how a child can learn to read with the look say methods - how to make sense of letters without any understanding.
Phonics is the foundation of word construction and for most children the quickest way to learn to read and to unlock a whole world of fun.

www.mmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/story/phonics-isnt-working-childrens-reading-improve-they-need-learn-love

Well we all managed it in the olden days,
My Grandma left school at 14yrs old in 1940 & read voraciously until she died at 98yrs old.

Thanks for this.
I have read other articles with a similar context, but have always thought that I was reading into my own bias.

Off to research for myself.

My kids all enjoyed doing phonics with me and having phonics lessons at school. They all learnt to read quickly and enjoy reading still as teenagers and young adults. I suppose it’s like anything, some like it, others don’t.

My uncle was taught to read by sight/memory and said he really struggled with that. He was told he wasn’t trying, was stupid etc, but in truth he just struggled to remember. He avoided reading as an adult.

He was amazed watching my children spell out longer words using phonics and said he thinks he’d have benefitted from that.

Well we all managed it in the olden days

Not all, only some.

The teaching of phonics wasn’t introduced on a whim. It was introduced to address failures in the (non) teaching of reading.

It’s reasonable to debate whether we have the balance right. It’s not reasonable to say “Look at me with my superior reading skills, everyone should be like me and my children, we picked it up without any teaching whatsoever, clever us”.

as a grandmother i listened to my grandchildren read or at least tried to...
there was always a tricky word and i had to ask them to spell it out. invariably i got some weird phonetic "spelling" which was of zero help in me knowing what the word was without ripping the book out of their hand, me asking was that spelled with an i or an e, was that a g or a j it was brutal and a total kill joy.
grateful they are past this stage.

i certainly don’t think phonics should be eliminated completely. They are handy (my 4 yr old is very actually very adept!) . My main bias comes from drawing on my experience in schools in my twenties… I found so many kids could ‘sound out’ the text… but when i asked them what was going on in the story all I got was a blank face looking back at me… they couldn’t tell me anything… no emotion…no facts ☹️

Im a oldie when I have my
Great grand children one aged 6 she had to do some practice after 10 mins I thought my god i cant listern to this any longer so I leave that up to parents to practice with her 😁

Really? Loads of children still learn by sight reading, even now. It’s very interesting to watch a sight reading child once they get to a certain point, as they clearly have a sort of “internal” idea of phonics once they have learned enough words, even though they’ve never specifically been taught the sounds.

Personally I think phonics is overrated, but only if the child has access to enough books and enough help to read them. They can get cracking reading independently quicker I think. Phonics still very useful for spelling, but that can also be taught after reading.

When I trained, reading spotlights were taught. One was Phonics, one was word recognition, another was grammar / syntax and another was context. The idea was that we taught children to use all those strategies so they could apply them together to make sense of what they were reading. Applying more spotlights = shining more light on the words on the page.

Different children get on better with different methods - it was suggested that ds would do better by a sort of reverse Phonics approach - recognising whole words on sight, then deconstructing them to identify letter sounds. He actually got on brilliantly with standard Phonics as it happens, but ed psych was very clear that Phonics isn't for everyone.

There is definitely a place for Phonics but I do think there is an over-emphasis on synthetic Phonics- blame the Y1 Phonics screening for that.

There is currently a huge push in schools on encouraging children to read for pleasure, and schools have always treasured storytime at the end of the day, so they aren't just being given Phonics, Phonics, Phonics.

I think there’s a place for phonics, but it’s a bit dull for kids to do daily lessons on letter sounds and blending if they can already read before starting school.

oh yes everyone was so literate back in the old days!!
phonics teaches everyone to read. Naturally reading inclined children don’t need it, but if you’re a school and you don’t use phonics then you’re choosing to leave children behind. my children are good readers but i wouldn't them to a school that doesnt teach reading well anyway as that's what a good school does.

Yes exactly. I was a self taught reader
before starting school- you don’t see me out there campaigning to get rid of teaching reading in schools!

I think different children learn by different methods. My ds learned with phonics, he would sound out words automatically from about three and a half. He treated it like a code (which it is) and broke words down into pieces. He'd read anything, books, cartoons, the back of the cornflakes box.

At 17, he still reads for pleasure, his room is stacked with books.

It's important to remember that although you, as mum, don't enjoy phonics and find it frustrating, your child may prefer it because it gives them access and makes them feel more in control, rather than trying to guess.

At home, I'd let each child take their own approach, as long as it keeps them interested.

Inky the Mouse is my pet...

It was the reading books that were so boring, no way would they have inspired a love of reading.

Yeah the US tried that. You know what really kills the joy of reading? Not being able to read. Structured phonics is being brought back. Some kids simply do not learn without it. There was a very interesting podcast called 'Sold A Story' about it.

It would be a squeeze to teach 44 sounds in one lesson a week. Phonics is learned through exposure and repetition. We teach it three times a day at my school 🙈

Phonics is a fantastic gateway to reading.

The vast majority of the children I teach in my area have no story books at home and parents who, for a variety of reasons and barriers, do not read with them. Whilst I do hugely hugely hugely agree that we need to focus on a literature-rich approach with stories and fairytales rather than becoming TOO phonics obsessed (which we are right now), I really do not know how the majority of children I teach would learn to read without phonics.