Systematic Phonics/Why use systematic phonics

Systematic phonics is a toolbox designed to enable and empower a person to read. It is useful for children first learning to read, non-native speakers who are learning to read, and even the many native adult English speakers who have not yet learned to read.

With systematic phonics, a reader can break down any word, even the most difficult, into maneagable pieces called syllables. When a person can correctly divide a word, he can then pronounce each part and then the whole word.

Systematic phonics was developed decades ago by language experts as a way to decode the entire English language.

From a paper published by the National Institute of Health: "Findings provided solid support for the conclusion that systematic phonics instruction makes a bigger contribution to children’s growth in reading than alternative programs providing unsystematic or no phonics instruction."

Extensive studies support that the method is effective. However, systematic phonics has not been adopted by most educators, who tend to use "whole language" or "holistic learning" to teach kids to read. Proponents of systematic phonics claim that the failure of many students to read to level can be traced to the use of other, less systematic, teaching methods.

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Systematic phonics an be an important part of learning English as a Second Language.