Teaching young children to read using phonics is a fairly new method of teaching children to speak English. Many teachers and parents are now hooked on the phonics system for learning to read. Of course, as with any new teaching method, the phonetic system for learning to read is not without its critics.
Those people who are an authority on the English language know that the English language can have only 26 alphabets, but the pronunciation of a letter can vary depending on the context in which it is used. Therefore, instead of confusing a child and causing them to mispronounce words, phonics teaches them the correct pronunciation.
There are different approaches that have been taken in the phonics system to teach children to learn English. The two main approaches used are; synthetic phonetics and analytical phonetics. Synthetic phonics consists of teaching the child how to spell each word and then combining the sounds in it to form the word. In analytical phonics, children are not taught how to combine the sound of each alphabet, but rather are taught to combine a group of alphabets into one word to make the sound.
Analytical phonetics is further divided into two currents that are; analogy phonetics and embedded phonetics. Both methods are used by parents and teachers to teach children to read and pronounce English words.
In phonetic language teaching methods, children are taught to pronounce an alphabet and then the alphabet is used in simple words. From here, children are taken to an advanced level and taught to pronounce the alphabets into more complex words; and in the variety of how the sound of an alphabet changes sound in different words.
There are a number of phonetic language teaching methods available on the internet. You have to make a selective choice as each one tries to expose how good their system is. But before you get hooked and invest in any method of teaching phonics, it is best that you evaluate them for yourself. You can, with the help of audio and video introductions, evaluate each program. Don’t get sucked into the website’s advertising jargon, as this can be misleading.
The use of phonetics as a method of teaching English dates back to the eighties in the United States. The debate reached such a point that the United States Congress had to intervene and have an investigation carried out on the use of phonics as a teaching method. It was only after getting positive results from the research team that the government decided to allow its use as an approved English language teaching method.
Those who stick to the conventional method of teaching English through cognitive reading skills are fighting a losing battle against phonics teaching methods. The correct pronunciation of English words is quite difficult to understand and understand. But the phonics teaching method is helping children to understand and learn to use the different sounds that an alphabet can make in different words. Audiovisual aids are very helpful, as is the Internet in teaching children to read using the phonetic method.