there is not a consensus within the educational community of the existence, definition, or extent of a literacy problem, and on appropriate methods of solving the problem. This lack of unity leads to a fragmentation of efforts at resolution, precluding the focused approach necessary to address effectively the systemic dilemma of illiteracy (p. 1).
Unfortunately, the presence of this battle does nothing for the children left behind. While educators argue over which method of instruction to use, children continue their education in a .
Phonics and Whole Language Instruction.
system that may fail them. A solution recently gaining popularity throughout the educational community, and one in which this paper supports, is to combine the best methods of each philosophy and to apply the resulting combination to address the needs of every child. This solution not only answers the educational needs of each student, but eliminates the in-fighting in the world of academia, and hopefully, increases the time spent on researching new and more effective methods of instruction. .
Phonics: Its Beginnings, Philosophy, Problems, and Attributes.
Phonics and its Beginnings.
Phonics began its history during the 7th Century. The first instructors of English reading were priests who taught children to read by first introducing the alphabet, then the syllables that form words, and finally, the Primer, or Prayerbook (Davis, 1973, cited in Hempenstall). Because reading was restricted to primarily religious education, very few people were actually allowed to read. This restriction continued until the 16th Century when the invention of the printing press brought the opportunity to most households (Hempenstall, 1997). The phonic technique ruled supreme in the United States through the Mid-19th Century when in 1828, Samuel Worcester, an early proponent of whole language, entered into the picture (Adams, 1990, cited in Hempenstall).
