[NIFL-ESL:7987] Re: Second Thoughts on Phonemic Awareness?

From: Charles Jannuzi (jannuzi@edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp)
Date: Thu Sep 12 2002 - 19:57:59 EDT


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From: "Charles Jannuzi" <jannuzi@edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp>
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Subject: [NIFL-ESL:7987] Re:  Second Thoughts on Phonemic Awareness?
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John

I've read other stuff by some of the same articles.

A lot of the argument parts (that's right, even 'objective' researchers and
academics are making arguments) are needlessly tendentious and
mischaracterize whole language education.

As for the research, IT DOE NOT clearly support a combination of phonemic
awareness and phonics. There just isn't that much research about phonics in
the same sense that there is about phonemic awareness. They are just making
a connection to match their agenda. As for phonemic awareness, I agree it is
certainly fairly well delimited and results in a lot of reports (though some
of the differences in the conceptualization that holds across researchers
are quite inadvertently hilarious, a post-modernist field day in aporia).
The problem is, the concept(s) underlying the research is nonsense.

I've said it how many times, I'll say it again. Whole language offers the
most for the bilingual and ESL educator. Why? Because phonics can be
reconciled with WL and subsumed under the WL umbrella. Not vice versa.

As for the Bush administration, just as it did in Texas, it is going out to
get research to support its agenda. That isn't science.

Charle Jannuzi
Fukui, Japan



----- Original Message -----
$BAw?.<T(B : "John Nissen" <jn@tommy.demon.co.uk>
$B08@h(B : "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>
$BAw?.F|;~(B : Friday, September 13, 2002 6:26
$B7oL>(B : [NIFL-ESL:7983] Re: Second Thoughts on Phonemic Awareness?


> Hi Charles,
>
> Have you read the whole article?  It is very balanced, and not
> a propaganda sell for phonics fanatics.  What it is saying is
> that there needs to be SOME phonics (as defined very simply
> and clearly in the article) in the teaching.  Using a
> "whole language" approach to the exclusion of phonics can
> be disasterous.   "Phonics" boils down to a combination of
> (a) phonemic awareness (so you become aware of the structure of
> your own spoken words), and (b) the rules of translating sounds
> into graphemes and vice versa.  Actually it's common sense.
> But it's also backed up by some very convincing linguistic
> research.  And the article mentions some major US investigations
> to support their findings, so that "the Bush administration is
> now promoting the inclusion of phonics in reading programs
> nationwide".
>
> Cheers,
>
> John



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