[senco-forum] Re Literacy

As Mary says - 'phonics is not a method of teaching reading - it IS the

At 12:00 03/01/2007 +0000, Eddie wrote:
>As Mary says - 'phonics is not a method of teaching reading - it IS the 
>writing and reading code'   Everyone who can read has mastered this code 
>and it is not possible to read unless this code is mastered. That surely, 
>is beyond question.

No it isn't -- this is one element of reading, which has at least three 
correspondences:

         -- sound <--> graphic symbol
         -- meaning <--> sound
         -- meaning <--> symbol/sign

Many readers without hearing or auditory processing ability do very well 
with the last element.

And of course it all depends on prior knowledge of what the world means, so 
teaching the first element without that knowledge is going nowhere.

All the best

Chris