Phonological awareness and phonics - Part 1

                                                               

The terms "phonemic awareness", “phonological awareness” and "phonics" are often used in the field of education. Some writers use them interchangeably, yet they mean different things and have different roles as children begin to read.  There seems to be quite a bit of confusion over the terms “phonological awareness”, “phonemic awareness” and “phonics”

The English language has 44 phonemes. Words are produced by stringing these sounds together. The ability to manipulate and distinguish these phonemes as they are used in words is called phonemic awareness. It is a natural skill developed in children through talking and listening to other speakers of their language.

Phonological Awareness Deficit is not the cause of dyslexics being unable to read fluently - A Myth Busted

                                                               

It is a fallacy to state that phonological awareness deficit is the main or even one of the causes of dyslexia as claimed by many researchers and Dyslexia Associations.

Let us clearly define what is not dyslexia.

 

Phonological Awareness – A discussion with Dr. Michael Paff

Is Phonological Awareness Deficit the cause of kids being unable to read?

Phonological awareness is the foundation for learning to read. Read more here.

It’s the ability to recognize and work with sounds in spoken language.

Who says dyslexic children are phonologically unaware? & Lesson 26

Many of the articles on dyslexia say that dyslexics are phonologically unaware. A little thought will clearly reveal that this statement cannot be true.

Union Reception - Neuroscience news - Part 2

 

Here is my email to Professor Taeko Wydell after reading the 5 research reports she forwarded to me. I hope she will respond soon.

Dear Professor Taeko Wydell,

Thank you very much for the 5 research reports you forwarded. I read them all and have a few comments which I hope you can clarify.

In a number of the reports, you have spoken about phonological awareness as the single most potent variable in literacy acquisition. 

Dyslexia is not a language based learning disability

                                                        

I'm afraid I have to disagree with what Rachna Varia says in her video. LINK

    This video shares what dyslexia is, what it's not, and what needs to be done!

    “Dyslexia is a language based learning disability that impacts phonological processing in reading…”

     “Phonological processing is the ability to see or hear a word, break it down to discrete sounds, and then associate each sound with letter/s that make up the word”.

Tweets by David Kearns on phonemic awareness

 

Yesterday, 15.12.2021 I read the following tweet by Devin Kearns @devin kearns

#phonemic awareness has been a hot topic b/c of debates about whether students need "advanced" PA and whether PA teaching should use letters. @DrNathanClemens led a group of us @emilyjsolari

 @burnsmk1 @FumikoHoeft @NancyNelsonFien @KimStMartin  to address these important topics.

as with all things, there are not totally clear answers, but ... data and theory do not appear to support the idea that advanced PA is necessary for the development of strong word-recognition skills nor that PA instruction should be entirely done without reference to print.

Authors on the paper are Hank Fien, @NCILiteracy director, and @UConnNeag doctoral fellow Melissa Stalega.

I then tweeted as follows:

How Dyslexia Became the Child’s Fault

 

Here is a comment by Tom Berend on Educhatter I wrote about. LINK

He said the following:

The students are not “learning disabled”. There is nothing wrong with the CHILD. There was a famous but horribly flawed experiment, ‘dowel tapping’ that created the dyslexia industry. It should be as infamous as the vaccine-causes-autism fraud.

And here is a link he shared and my comments:  

Do dyslexics have a phonological awareness deficit

                                                                   

I wrote the following article on 7th February 2011 and I am reposting it with the current date.

For a year I have written that phonological awareness deficit is not the cause of dyslexic children being unable to read. Recently I found an article on the net echoing what I have been saying. I believe there will be more such articles in the future. New generation of researchers will challenge the 30 over years old "Phonological awareness deficit" theory.

Ego or stupidity

 

The following email from James Chapman, in 2010, fortifies the saying by Charlie Munger that the Human mind is like the human egg.

One of my first emails disagreeing with a Phonological Awareness Deficit being the cause of dyslexia was to James Chapman. He and William E. Tunmer had jointly produced a paper stating that dyslexia is caused by Phonological Awareness Deficit.

This is a clear case of researchers who have written something and when evidence to the contrary is produced they refuse to accept it.

The Hype About Phonological Awareness: Clearing the Path to Real Reading

 

This morning I came across two tweets that highlight the ongoing confusion in literacy instruction.

 

Waveofthefuture (@Sustain_VA) wrote:

 

“Phonics can be a tool for the simplest words and should be used in the beginning. But English is not a phonetic language unfortunately so it’s a very limited tool. Don’t believe me? Try to read your own tweets using basic phonics as if you didn’t already know those words.”

 

And Robert Pondiscio (@rpondiscio) tweet:

Factors affecting Dyslexic people

In March this year I read an article in Steadyhealth.com. You may read the full article by clicking on the link below.

http://ic.steadyhealth.com/dyslexia_barriers_to_learning.html

I have copied a section from that article as shown below. I made 2 comments and have yet to receive any reply. I would be grateful if any of you can please give me your comments.

Dyslexia in China (Part 1)

 

I listened to an interesting Dialogue between Martin Bloomfield and Maggie Chiang, who translated the book The Dyslexic Advantage into Chinese. LINK

Maggie Chiang:

The Chinese language uses pictograms so dyslexia and symbols usually go hand in hand. A lot of the time these individuals might struggle in mathematics, chemistry, physics, or English.

Challenging the Phonological Awareness Deficit Theory of Dyslexia: Lessons from Teaching 80 Struggling Readers

 

In 2004, I began teaching a bright young child to read. Like many educators at the time, I turned to the internet for guidance and encountered countless articles claiming that the primary cause of dyslexia was a phonological awareness deficit. This idea—that children with dyslexia struggle mainly because they can't properly perceive or manipulate the sounds in spoken language—dominated the conversation. 

Preview of my forthcoming book

This is a little advertisement of my forthcoming book which will be available by end of next month.

I have been teaching dyslexic kids for the past 14 years on a one on one basis and have observed them and interviewed them over the years even after they had been weaned from my tuition.

                             

In 2010 I wrote to many universities, professors, government ministers and Dyslexia Associations saying why I don't agree with 'phonological awareness deficit' being the cause of dyslexia. At that time it was about 35 years since someone had said this and most professors just latched onto that theory without questioning.

Email to Hon Betsy DeVos- Secretary of Education of the US

Here is an email to Hon. Betsy DeVos the Secretary of education in the USA.

I wrote one email in May and another in June 2018 and received the same reply stating that it was being passed to the relevant officers and that was the end. 

How do we expect the reading standards to improve with such attitude from the Education Department?

Phonological awareness deficit (Re-visit)

 

Now, let us look at Timothy Shanahan's blog in 2015 – that is 5 years after my emails to all the experts who echoed what one guy told the world more than 35 years ago.

He said that phonological awareness deficit is the cause of dyslexia.

Core Deficit of Dyslexia - Dr. David Kilpatrick

Here are my comments on Dr. Kilpatrick’s video found here.

Dr. Kilpatrick:

If a child can speak

On 27.12.2019, I came across an excellent blog by Mark Anderson @ Manderson. The author had taken great pains to write the article. He has done extensive reading but is still groping in the dark as to why many children cannot read in English.

Unfortunately, he is looking for research reports and is unable to think for himself. He is not going to find any research reports telling him the wrong ways the letter sounds are taught. He has to wait for research students doing research based on what is in my blog.

Following are a few excerpts from his article with my comments as usual.

Dyslexia – Some questions and suggested answers

                                                  

Are there children who find it more difficult to learn to read than a majority of children?

The answer should be a resounding yes as there are research reports and newspaper reports stating that all over the world about 20% of children are illiterate in the English language when they leave school.

How many of the roughly 20% of children can become good readers after intervention?

Almost 90% of these children can be taught to read with intervention as recorded by many researchers.