In a recent study at Stanford University, literate adults were taught how to read in a new alphabet of letter characters. Half were taught using a letter-to-sound matching method (phonics), and the other half were taught using whole word sight-memorisation, over a period of weeks. They were then asked to read words from this new alphabet while under a brain scan.
Their scientific conclusions?
“Overall, relative to approaches that promote memorization of the spelling patterns of entire words, sublexical phonics-based strategies yield superior reading acquisition outcomes according to behavioral cognitive psychology meta-analyses and systematic investigations of curriculum effects.”
Translation: phonics wins the day. The left hemisphere letter-to-sound matching process that we exercise in the Easyread program is totally crucial to sustainable reading development in children.
See the full article here: http://www.medicaldaily.com/getting-hooked-phonics-activates-parts-brain-used-skilled-readers-336034
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Sarah Forrest is a Programme Manager for the Easyread System, an online course for struggling readers and spellers. Easyread uses this letter-to-sound matching approach through the Trainertext Method. To find out more, visit http://oxfordlearningsolutions.com/parent-6-year-old/
