Phonics International

Posted: **Sun May 29, 2016 10:31 am**

Well, well, well - I've popped up in an article on claims for 'speech rhythms' to complement, or as an alternative to, phonics provision.

I'll investigate this and have more to say later - but what I will say for now is that there is no magical 'other' code for the English language in print than the English alphabetic code with its very complex spelling and pronunciation system. ALL learners have to deal with it for reading and writing.

There are worries about duping people into the 'phonics doesn't work for everyone and there are other methods' mentality because this has grave dangers of moving people away from ensuring the highest quality phonics provision on the basis of individual differences and difficulties within the learner.

Sir Jim Rose dealt with this in his 2006 report when he pointed out that regardless of the individual, it is the SAME alphabetic code that needs to be taught for all.

https://theconversation.com/is-there-a- ... read-59780

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2016 6:43 pm**

This is one response that I received re asking for others' thoughts on 'reading rhythms' which is in line with my own thoughts:

I am sure that listening to the ‘sounds’ of language is very important for young children, and that it is good to encourage older students to read ‘with expression’.

But it seems to me that ‘reading with expression’ is somewhat similar to ‘reading for meaning’.

You can’t read for meaning if you can’t ‘read’ (or decode) the words on the page.

And you can’t ‘read with expression’ if you don’t understand the meaning of the words you are reading, and the overall ‘sense’ of what you are reading.

This requires an understanding of the more subtle uses of language to convey feeling and emotion by the particular words used and the way in which the text is structured.

This depends on having achieved skilled fluent reading and good vocabulary and context knowledge.

It is the end product of ‘systematic synthetic phonics provision with lots of reading practice with decodable material’.

I also fear that a focus on ‘reading rhythms’ could be another distraction from the primary purpose of establishing effective decoding skills, automatic word recognition and fluent reading skills.

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2016 6:55 pm**

Here is another response that I picked up via Twitter:

I really hope it's not the next big intervention distraction…

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2016 6:56 pm**

This is what I think:

So (cynically) this is looking like a collaborative approach of the Rising Stars Reading Planet producers promoting the reading rhythms research to enhance the series, and the authors of the reading rhythms research promoting the Rising Stars Reading Planet series to enhance their research.

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2016 6:58 pm**

This was another response:

In relation to speech rhythm, there is research occurring, but there’s a fair way to go before (and if) it’s ready for adding to evidence-based interventions.

All these responses have been from extremely knowledgeable people with regard to research on reading instruction.

Phonics International

Speech rhythms: the implications for reading instruction

Speech rhythms: the implications for reading instruction