For some time now, there have been various accounts of the differences between linguistic phonics and synthetic phonics. Some of the principal differences you can find here on SusanGodland’s excellent website dyslexics.org.uk, but the differences also extend far beyond those adumbrated by Susan into the detail of how linguistic phonics should be taught. And, of… Continue reading Linguistic phonics: a practical example
On a number of different occasions (here, here, with kind permission from Debbie Hepplewhite, and here) I’ve blogged about the introduction of nonsense words into the government’s ‘Phonics screening check’ and, I hope, have answered some of the objections made by (mostly) the whole language lobby. Well, the other day I noticed that the eagle-eyed… Continue reading Spelfabet’s sound sense on nonsense!
Susan Godsland’s eagle eye in detecting references to the teaching of reading has spotted one buried inside a podcast by Mark Henderson and published in theguardian online, which she’s posted as a new thread on the RRF here. The podcast, ‘The Geek Manifesto: why science matters’, is based on Henderson’s recently published book (2012) of… Continue reading Ballad of a thin-king man. We’re the geeks on this one!
Someone on the Reading Reform Foundation website recently asked what were the differences between linguistic and synthetic phonics. Although some people claim that the differences between linguistic phonics and synthetic phonics are minimal, I would contend that they are enormous and, furthermore, that these differences have profound consequences for teaching and learning. To begin with, the… Continue reading Linguistic versus synthetic phonics
When I went to see Nick Gibb eighteen months ago at the House of Commons, he indicated that, if the Conservatives won the next election, he and Michael Gove would do two things. The first would be to invite providers of phonics programmes to submit themselves to a revised [The last government introduced the idea.]… Continue reading The G-Men come good
In his recent call for children to read more books, the Education Secretary Michael Gove has questioned the dominance enjoyed by Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in many schools. I’m sure that a man of Michael Gove’s sophistication wasn’t for a moment suggesting that Steinbeck’s superbly constructed naturalistic novel Of Mice and Men doesn’t deserve a… Continue reading Why Of Mice and Men?
In his ‘Personal take on synthetic phonics’, Alexandre V. Borovik sheds some interesting light on how, as a child, he learned to read in Russian, which is written in Cyrillic script, an alphabet writing system. What most interested me about the article was how one day, as a young boy, Borovik, while ‘sitting in a… Continue reading Borovik backs phonics
The second myth on which Susan Godsland focuses is that ‘dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that can be readily diagnosed by an educated professional’.As she quite rightly points out, until recently it was standard practice among educational psychologists to use the ‘IQ/achievement discrepancy diagnosis’. As the descriptor suggests, it was thought that if a… Continue reading Six myths about dyslexia II
The November/December issue of SEN Magazine has given well deserved space to Susan Godsland’s article ‘Six myths about dyslexia’.Susan is well placed to write on the subject, ‘being the parent of a once struggling reader’ and she writes about how deeply she was affected by the ‘frustration and anxiety which results from having a “dyslexic”… Continue reading Six myths about dyslexia