'Using picture clues and context are great for developing comprehension'

[Sleeperandthespindle]

This is the response I got to asking for decodable books from school for 4 year old in reception who is guessing from pictures when presented with Biff and Chip.

I don't agree. I can ignore the books sent home and give him others, I know, but he is clearly being taught to 'guess' in school.

The school are unlikely to change their mind, I realise, but older DC (in the same school) is struggling very greatly with literacy and the general approach seems unhelpful.

But Arkadia - you teach the "ch is usually ch" sound first, and then teach the alternative "but sometimes it is "k"". So a child will read s-ch-oo-l and think "hm, that isn't a word, lets try a different sound"...

Annandale, indeed. My point is that you have to remember those words by heart anyway because normally you don't read "Ch" as "k".

You don't. A well-taught Y1 child would try /ch/ /k/ /sh/ very quickly. In less time than it takes for you to read this post.

Boys you've definitely missed something ...research!

"We all teach common exception words and they aren't taught by decoding." yes they are ...

Aren't they likely to be reading song lyrics off a screen at assembly, including 'chorus'?

In general, though, I intensely dislike the idea that education is about deciding an amount of information that a child needs, rather than giving them the maximum skills and tools to explore on their own.

Quite, annandale.

"Using pictures to help work out what the word says is helpful." How does a picture help you work out the word dicraeosaurus ?

"Some tricky words are learnt by recognising them by sight not by decoding with phonics." Only if the teacher doesn't know how to teach reading.

"Like when we did "Ch", as in a "k" sound" Christopher? Chloe? Michael? Echo, school, anchor, orchid, stomach, orchestra, architect, Munich etc etc etc

"I do not know a single school that only has fully decodable books for their children to read" I know many schools who are following the national curriculum and providing only fully decodable books for pupils learning to read ...mine for one!

"I googled this a few weeks ago and found that non decodable "sight words" " they don't exist

I feel like I have entered the twighlight zone!!!!
I'm with boys here (who is getting an unfair grilling) who stated it is not about one approach.
Not. About. One. Approach.
Phonics is undeniably a powerful tool for children when faced with unfamiliar words. Years ago, children were taught to exclusively read by sight knowledge. Of course, they then faces difficulty when reading an unfamiliar word.
However, phonics is not the only way. As an adult, when you read, you don't sound out every word. Seriously. Fluent reading cannot happen if every word is sounded out. Meaning is lost, also if children have to stop and sound out every word in a sentence.
As an accomplished reader, you naturally read ahead, note punctuation etc that helps to inform your expression. Pictures also help this, if a characters face is angry you have an idea the upcoming speech will be in an angry tone and so on.
Sight knowledge is a crucial part of fluency and meaning.
As a teacher, senco, Dyslexia specialist and 'struggling learner' tutor, I am passionate about a multisensory approach to reading.
Yes, children need a broad knowledge of the sounds in our language (44) but also of the 128 different ways of spelling the 44 sounds!
It's complex stuff. Phonics alone is not enough. For example there are 9 different ways of spelling the 'u' sound. There are so many rules for where and why you use each one it's mind boggling. Our language has a 'deep orthography' meaning, how words are complied is complex.
In answer to the OP, yes pictures are an important part of learning to read. It's an important cue for a child embalking on the first steps to becoming an accomplished reader.
It's not simply 'guessing' if used effectively.
As, I believe, boys first stated, initial sounds, context, phonological awarenes, pictures, meaning....all form a toolkit for a reader to read a text with fluency.

That said, if a child ONLY 'guesses' then the difficulty lies in not having skills in the other reading strategies required. If a child is relying on pictures alone, of course this isn't correct. The text is too difficult and there is work to be done in phonics and sight knowledge to give 'word attack' skills.

Sorry, it's my bug bear and my passion! Reading is accessible to all if approached in the right way and children have skills they are lacking in developed!
(I am now off my soap box)

"As an adult, when you read, you don't sound out every word. Seriously." Seriously? The brain sounds out each word automatically in milliseconds ...it doesn't read words as wholes or use picture clues or any other form of guesswork.

Mrz
Where are you getting this from?!?
Completely and utterly incorrect.

Arkadia

Are you a teacher?

Northerners,, you are completely ignorant of latest brain research which contradicts you.

Ha ha ha

Sorry,
I'm amazed!!!!! I'm currently writing my dissertation for my MA so am well aware of the 'latest brain research'
Wow!
So much passionate misinformation!
Phonics is such a crucial part of reading. But so is sight knowledge. The brain is amazing and uses a number of ways to read words. Of course phonics and sounding out is needed for less familiar, more complex words. But so is a 'picture' of whole or parts of words.
Some children have a phonological defecite, others struggle visually. A range of approaches to reading is the only way to ensure children have every chance of become fluent, confident readers.

Apologies if tone has been brusque, I just cannot stand such Ill informed and blinkered views!

Goodnight!

Well, I don't sound words (I don't know how to do it) and neither does DD1. Still both of us can read fluently (until we got an unfamiliar word).
Lorum, God forbids :)

Where are you getting this from?!? Completely and utterly incorrect.

Mrz is getting it from current research into what goes on in the brain when adults read. We are not conscious of it but we are indeed sounding out and blending at high speed. Mrz is completely correct.

I note that you think phonics alone is not enough and mixed methods must be used. Again, you are clearly unaware of the research. The evidence is that using phonics alone results in 95%+ of children learning to read successfully with many studies showing success rates in excess of 99%. If you use mixed methods, even if one of those methods is phonics, the success rate drops to 80%.

But so is sight knowledge

Since you claim to know current brain research, if sight knowledge is so important please explain why most of the work when adults read is going on in the parieto-temporal and occipito-temporal regions of the left side of the brain rather than the visual centres on the right side of the brain. The parieto-temporal region is where we sound out and blend. The model of the word we build up in the occipito-temporal region gives us the meaning, correct pronunciation, etc.

But regardless of how you think adults read, please stop ignoring the clear evidence that phonics alone is by far the best way to teach reading. It is clear that mixing phonics with other methods results in fewer children learning to read.

I'm amazed a senco on a masters course is being daughter mixed methods. :(

Taught not daughter!!

The passion, northernlassie, comes from the strongest desire to see every child under my care - and, as Literacy lead at a one form entry school, I mean 210+, reading within 1-2 years of starting to read. And I mean every single one. And if I get tired of excuses from teachers on forums who are ignorant of statutory documents that are more than 12 years out of date or from posters who think they are up to date with current research but who are woefully incorrect, I make absolutely no apology.

That is my job. And I have no understanding or comprehension for any teacher that has incorrectly deciphered statutory documents for 12 years + and neglected or ignored research and let down children in their care. No excuses imo. Absolutely incensed that phonics teaching is blamed for shitty Y1 teaching as well - our Y1 teacher is excellent, but if she wasn't, as if it would be phonics' fault! Ffs. Bonkers logic.

I hate these threads because they make me feel like I'm going mad.

What is wrong with a combined approach to learning to read? I taught myself to read before starting school - as do many children - and I'm pretty sure that, although I must have used some decoding skills, I learnt to read by recognising words, context etc. I never struggled with new words and wasn't academically disadvantaged (quite the opposite: A* grades at school, degree from Oxford).

DS1 hasn't started school yet and he's taught himself to read, too, using a mixture of phonics and other cues. Why should I be worried that he's doing it 'wrong' if he's doing what works for him? He's engaged and enjoying reading stories, signs, labels etc: surely that's more important than using the 'correct' method exclusively?