TES talks to Kate Nation about phonics and language comprehension

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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TES talks to Kate Nation about phonics and language comprehension

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/br ... nation?amp
Tes talks to…Kate Nation

Kate Townshend

01st September 2017

The University of Oxford language expert tells Kate Townshend that schools need to get the right balance between phonics and comprehension skills so that children can thrive in reading

The idea that phonics is kids just barking at print is such a limited way of looking at things – good phonic knowledge opens the world,” proclaims Kate Nation, professor of experimental psychology at St John’s College, Oxford.

And with that sentence, a thousand arguments begin. For nothing in education is likely to stir up spirited debate as much as someone taking a view on phonics.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: TES talks to Kate Nation about phonics and language comprehension

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

I'm going to make a comment here about my first-hand observations in schools, watching video footage via the internet and my knowledge of the wider reading debate - I am actually gravely concerned about a commonly-held perception that phonics provision is bereft of, or separate from, language comprehension.

Vocabulary enrichment and language comprehension, ideally, should be interlinked with phonics provision as part of a content-rich 'Phonics Teaching and Learning Cycle'.

A good quality systematic phonics programme provides a 'body of work' to support the teaching and learning processes. Teachers need to be trained well enough to be able to evaluate the nature and quality of phonics programmes and provision.

Based on my bigger picture overview, however, I designed a graphic based on the Simple View of Reading diagram to illustrate that one teacher's (or school's) phonics provision does not necessarily look anything like another teacher's (or school's) provision.

In other words, phonics provision is not necessarily vocabulary and language-rich in all classes and schools. This is not a small issue.

See The Simple View of Schools' Phonics Provision:

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/Sim ... chools.pdf

I've also noted researchers, critics and the Education Endowment Foundation talking or writing about 'phonics' as if phonics provision does not include the features of vocabulary enrichment and language comprehension.

So now I keep pointing out that 'phonics' or 'phonics provision' is not a uniform thing. It varies.

Perhaps we should talk in terms of 'impoverished phonics provision' compared to 'language-rich phonics programmes'?

As always, the detail matters to ensure we're sharing a common understanding.
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