Abstract
This timely volume focuses on the teaching of reading, the ‘great debate’, and ‘the reading wars’ which have been waged, for over a decade, initially between advocates of ‘real books’ and ‘phonics’ and, more recently, with advocates of ‘systematic synthetic phonics’. The Introduction provides an overview of these initiatives featuring ‘real books’, ‘phonics’ and ‘systematic synthetic phonics’ (p. ix) and examines the ‘wealth of research on the effective teaching of reading’ which indicates a ‘clear need for explicit teaching of phonics within a meaningful context of texts’ (p. ix) and highlights a ‘need for developing phonological awareness’ (p. ix). The remainder of the book is divided into two sections: the first provides ‘a detailed review of the key aspects of the alphabetic code’ underpinning effective teaching, and the second section looks at ‘effective pedagogy’ (p. ix) ranging from the early years onward.
The first section, ‘Subject knowledge for teachers’ (pp. 1–83), addresses such essential skills as ‘discriminating sounds and phonemes’ and such practical skills as decoding and encoding text, and the second section, ‘Effective pedagogy’ (pp. 85–195), engages with the debate concerning the appropriate ways of teaching phonics to young children. This section provides case studies and practical advice, supported by illustrations, for the implementation of phonics teaching both in the classroom and elsewhere, with some emphasis on the ‘home-school literacy interface’ (pp. 96 ff.).
The volume concludes that merely reading this book will not ensure that the reader would become a good teacher of reading (p. 196) but that careful consideration of the strategies described, the subject knowledge explained and also ‘the criteria for successful teaching and learning in the context of the excellent practice’ so often found in schools could contribute to the reader’s development as a teacher of reading (p. 196). The volume closes with a plea that the teaching of phonics skills should be ‘set within the “big picture” of language and reading comprehension: the ultimate goals of reading teaching’ (p. 197).