I am writing this letter in an effort to explain to the citizens of the state of Mississippi the problems we are experiencing with students not knowing how to read.
The written English language is based on the "Alphabetic Principle", that means that letters are used to represent speech sounds. In a perfect alphabet, only one letter represents only one speech sound, so the child can pronounce any written word by simply associating sounds with letters. However, the English alphabet is not perfect. Therefore, one letter can represent one speech sound; two or more letters can represent one speech sound; a silent final vowel can affect the sound of the medial vowel; and many words have letters that are not sounded at all. In essence, we have twenty-six letters representing some forty plus speech sounds. This has to be confusing to a student.
Many curriculum specialists and superintendents are not aware of the interconnection between letters and sounds in the English language. Thus, teachers are hired not having had this knowledge in their college curriculum. Many colleges do not insist that potential teachers take courses in phonics training. As a result, teachers do not have a repertoire of instructional strategies and materials available to teach students 'Grapheme-Phoneme correspondences'. In addition, teachers should have a clear understanding of terms associated with word recognition, such as, phonological and phonemic awareness, structural analysis, sight words or words that cannot be sounded out phonetically but must be recognized quickly, accurately, and effortlessly.
Until our school districts takes this approach to hiring curriculum people, our children will continue to suffer. Teachers were never instructed to teach phonological awareness first, then the more finer-grained phonemic awareness and finally make the transition into written language.
Phonics is the code that turns written language into spoken language and spoken language into written language. If a child is having difficulty linking sounds to letters and converting letters into sounds, then it is not the child's fault. He or she is the victim of faulty instruction.
Read by third grade is the new law. However, if students are not getting the proper instruction and not making progress in school, then parents should insist on an intelligent response from the teacher, the principal , the curriculum superintendent and the Board of Education in their district.
Retired Teacher and Professional Tutor