The following extract from Andrew Johnson’s (AJ) book is
flawed.
"The Problems with Phonics-Only Reading ProgramsStudents who are struggling readers are often given programs that involve only direct instruction of phonics or other reading sub-skills (McCormick & Zutell, 2011). There are four problems with these types of phonics-only programs:"
My comment: The above is a sweeping
statement which will mislead many readers including teachers, students and
parents. It is highly irresponsible for a professor to make sweeping
statements which will mislead readers. Firstly, how many programmes teach only
direct phonics? More importantly, it is not phonics that is the culprit but the
teaching of phonemes by many teachers who do not know the letter sounds.