Mike Lloyd-Jones: The Phonics Blog

A useful place to find helpful blogs and websites with a wealth of information about reading.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Mike Lloyd-Jones: The Phonics Blog

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

It's good to see Mike Lloyd-Jones posting again on the 'resistance' to reading instruction via 'The Phonics Blog':

http://www.phonicsblog.co.uk
Clinging to the wreckage

In 1992 the National Foundation for Educational Research reported on the results of its investigation into What Teachers in Training Are Taught about Reading. The report particularly drew attention to the anti-phonics bias it had detected in its survey. For example, as part of their research the team analysed booklists provided to students by their institutions. Analysis of these lists showed that amongst the most commonly recommended texts there were “no books dealing in any detail with the complex relationships between the writing system (the orthography) and the sound system (the phonology) of English”.

Amongst other findings the report revealed that in 15% of the institutions, courses on early reading included no mention of phonics at all. In the remainder phonics was taught only as part of a repertoire of mixed methods including look and say and ‘language experience’. “The general impression,” the report noted, was that “eclecticism rules”.
Do read the full post, and I also highly recommend reading Mike's powerful little book, 'Phonics and the Resistance to Reading' which is currently no. 1 in Australia as its kindle version, see here:
The level of anti-phonics hysteria has intensified in the last few years. Myths, misunderstandings and downright falsehoods not only persist but proliferate. Phonics and the Resistance to Reading is a robust demolition of the arguments put up against phonics and an exposure of the damage and harm resulting from the longstanding muddle of teaching reading using ‘mixed methods’. The book exposes the dark side of phonics denial, its social costs and human consequences. It's available in paperback or as an e-book from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phonics-Resist ... to+reading
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Mike Lloyd-Jones: The Phonics Blog

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Teachers with access to the internet have no excuses with regard how best to teach reading - Mike Lloyd-Jones writes another blog post describing the scenario in many schools where teachers should nowadays know better.

Sadly, worryingly, I know of individual teachers who try to change the prevailing practice in multi-cueing, mixed methods schools but they find themselves up against intransigent senior managers - or prevailing 'official training' in the region or country, or entrenched intervention programme, still steeped in miscue analysis and multi-cueing guessing strategies for working out how to read new words. This scenario can be very hard to challenge by individual teachers but challenge it they should - the children's welfare must come first:

http://www.phonicsblog.co.uk
The knowledge deficit

It is generally recognised that for decades the training of teachers in the matter of how reading should be taught was concentrated mainly in the hands of people firmly rooted in the pre-scientific age. This historical background of incompetent training has of course helped to create in schools a dead weight of pedagogical inertia – an inability to come to terms with contemporary evidence about the teaching and learning of reading.
'Official guidance' based on multi-cueing and miscue analysis is exactly what Anne Glennie encounters as an obstacle to teachers being properly trained in her homeland of Scotland where, in great contrast, Anne trains teachers in both systematic synthetic phonics and enriching language and literature. In many cases officials undermine Anne's research-informed training.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Mike Lloyd-Jones: The Phonics Blog

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Please note that there is no longer access to Mike Lloyd-Jones original blog which is deeply disappointing as it included some excellent informative posts featuring the state of play of phonics provision - particularly in England's context.

Mike's book, however, is fortunately still available via Amazon - read the reviews:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phonics-Resist ... to+reading
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