Is there a phonics phobic near you? Five types of 'phonicsphobia'

[Debbie_Hepplewhite]

Mike Lloyd-Jones raises the issue of 'phonicsphobia' - a notion originally introduced by Dr Joyce Morris:

http://www.phonicsblog.co.uk/#/blog/456 ... 27/3865474

Five types of 'phonicsphobia'

It’s nearly twenty years since Dr Joyce Morris coined the term ‘phonicsphobia’ to characterise the irrational, emotional recoil from the idea of teaching phonics.

In the time that has passed, despite all the attempts to improve the understanding of phonics (not to mention despite all the money that has been spent), the condition of ‘phonicsphobia’ seems, if anything, more infectious than ever. It’s certainly more evident. Any survey of anti-phonics argument on the internet will take you on a gloomy inspection tour of ‘phonicsphobia’ suffering - a sort of virtual outpatients department where every symptom of ‘phonicsphobia’, every tic and spasm, is explicitly on view.

In a book out next year I argue that ‘phonicsphobia’ is actually a manifestation of a much darker and deeper problem than just a reaction against teaching phonics. But that idea needs to wait for another time. For now I want to stay at the surface level of ‘phonicsphobia’ and, in a lighter vein than my recent postings here, suggest that its aetiology is murkily rooted in a range of initial conditions and that ‘phonics-phobia’ has at least five types.

I, and others, have spent thousands of hours (over many years) addressing misunderstandings about 'phonics' - either inadvertent misunderstandings or deliberately mischievous - via letters and literature before the internet and now via the internet and various forums!

Sadly, it seems that this is a role that may always be necessary - but it has to be done!