Page 34 - ELG1911 Nov Issue 467

El•Gazette 467.qxp_El•Gazette 467 23/10/2019 13:10 Page 34

COMMENT .

Point

of View

Misty
Adoniou

English language learners need

the whole linguistic picture

Anglophone countries have been struggling for years with the best way to

approach phonics, argues Misty Adoniou

nglophone countries have been
struggling for years with declining What's wrong with
achievement in reading and writing
Aas students move through primary
school and into high school.
In 2019 more than 25 per cent of Year 6 these words?
students in England failed to reached the
minimum requirements in the annual
national reading and writing assessments.
This means around 1 in 4 students in England GOV.UK
are leaving primary school ill-equipped to
cope with the literacy demands of high
school. Similar statistics are reported in
Australia and the United States.

...around 1 in 4
students in England
are leaving primary
school ill-equipped to

cope with the literacy
demands of high
school.

The US has decided the problem is that
students do not have the skills to comprehend
complex texts. So, they have developed a
more challenging curriculum (the Common
Core Standards) to raise expectations of what But why hasn’t this phonics ‘first, fast and know ‘ed’ is a suffix (morpheme) that marks
students should be able to read and write. furious’ approach worked? And are there the past, regardless of the ‘t’ sound
England has decided the problem is that lessons for those who teach English (phoneme) we hear on the end of the word.
students do not have the skills to decode basic language learners? We write ‘action’ not ‘acshun’, because we
texts. So, in 2011 they instituted a mandatory The first flaw in the English phonics know ‘ion’ is a suffix that makes nouns –
Phonics Screening Check for Year 1 students. solution to declining literacy achievement is regardless of the sounds we hear.
Students are prepared for the test through that English is not a phonetic language. English language learners need the whole
government-approved commercial, synthetic Whilst learning English letters and their linguistic picture of how words work when
phonics programs. Those who fail the test common corresponding sounds is necessary, learning to read and write – when the focus
receive more phonics instruction and re-take it isn’t sufficient to read and write in is purely on phonics, half the clues are
the test in Year 2. The rationale is, if we can English. missing. That’s an inefficient way to learn a
get the basics right, the rest will follow. Eight English is a morpho-phonemic language. language, and an unfair burden for English
years on, it is clear the rationale is flawed. We write ‘jumped’ not ‘jumt’ because we language learners.
34 November 2019