Tells Us That Phonics

Instruction is the Best Way

to Develop Good Readers
Many poor readers received phonics instruction. Why are they still poor
readers - The author responds.
The focus here is not to diminish the importance of phonology, but to
examine new neurological research on the brain’s auditory processing
system and its implication for phonics and reading.”
— Matthew Glavach

CLOVERDALE, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, October 21, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ --

The science of reading tells us that the phonological pathway develops more rapidly in
beginning readers and phonics instruction is the best way to develop this pathway. Poor
readers have more difficulty decoding words because their phonics skills are poor, so they
rely more on guessing words while reading. This begs the question: Why have some
children who received phonics instruction not responded? Is there something deeper
involved with poor readers that the science of reading is missing?

The focus here is not to diminish the importance of phonology, but to examine new
neurological research on the brain’s auditory processing system and its implication for
phonics and reading. The author’s search for interventions for children who have not
responded to phonics led to the role of prosody, the melody of language, and its
importance to phonics and reading.

The author found a way to include prosody to improve phonics instruction. It was through
songs. While prosody in songs helps with fluency, meaning, and interest, the addition of
songs includes even greater advantages, especially for children from challenging learning
environments.

Neuroscientists who have been studying sound, the auditory processing system, tell
something extraordinary; listening to and singing music has the potential to positively
benefit all aspects of a child’s development including reading.

Children, especially children from challenging environments, have been found to have
underdeveloped or delayed language development and poor auditory discrimination for
sounds. Distinguishing sounds is fundamental to learning to read. The rhythm in songs is
slower than in speech and there is more separation of sounds This helps children develop
the sounds for letters and improves auditory discrimination for sounds. The melody of
songs can help with developing meaning and fluent reading skills and the words in songs
help in the development of language. The brain processes words differently when they are
sung.