Phonics is essential to English learning. Do you agree? Phonics involves teaching children how to connect sounds with letters or groups of letters. It helps learners develop graphophonic strategies to decode and encode words, thus enhances learners' reading, listening and speaking skills. It appears to be an essential 'tool' to upgrade learners' English proficiency. However, as generally known by educators and even parents, only 70% of all English words follow the phonics rules and patterns, and the English language can be best decoded with the use of other methods, such as International Phonetic Symbols. Why do we still adopt phonics teaching and activities in daily English teaching? The argument has gone on for centuries and it has remained as one of the most controversial issues in children literacy.

It is believed that phonics teaching arrived on the scene as early as the reform of the Catholic Church. Martin Luther King Sr. launched his propaganda against the Church in the 16th Century. At that time, Latin was the 'sacred' language and no other language was allowed in any church of God. However, only educated people understood Latin, therefore, the vast majority of believers could not comprehend the messages taught in service or in the Bible. To help believers understand the words of God, Martin Luther started to translate the Latin Bible into English and printed the words of God on pamphlets and posters. Nevertheless, the job of teaching the Bible could not be done unless believers became literate. The teaching of English alphabets and combinations of them then became a must in the Church Reformation. After two hundred years of trialing and drilling, educators learnt their ways to teach the sounds of alphabets naturally, and principles were set and elaborated. However, they could not reach consensus on an organized and systematic approach of phonics teaching.

Phonics evolves naturally as nothing additional was created, such as symbols, to complicate its teaching. It blends perfectly in with the English language and goes hand in hand with the English reading principles. English spelling is based upon the alphabetic principle, the idea that letters represent sounds. For example, the word fat is composed of three letters, f, a, and t, each representing a phoneme, respectively, /f/, /a/, and /t/.

However, not every word can be decoded by phonics. Reading in English also requires understanding of additional patterns that go beyond the 'one letter - one sound' principle. For example, the word first is composed of five letters which represent only three sounds, /f/, /ε/, /s/ and /t/.

Even more complex principles can be found in the English language. For example, the grapheme ough represents /Λf/ as in enough, /ou/ as in though, /u/ as in through,as in cough, andin bough. To avoid confusion, teachers rarely teach the pattern for the letters ough. Because of such large body of complex and conflicting patterns, primary school children often learn a selection of consistent patterns only.

Despite the fact that complicated patterns exist in phonics teaching and only consistent rules are taught in schools, the vitality and practicality of phonics teaching should not be undermined. To primary school children, selected phonics rules and patterns are sufficient for them to decode the English language because of the limited words they are exposed to, especially in circumstances that English is being taught as a second language. Although other methods, such as International Phonetic Symbols, can decode every words of the English language, if they are to be used instead in introducing the language, children need to first master a set of new symbols before learning the language.

In 1980s, the debate polarized when the whole language approach arrived on the scene. Whole language instruction holds the principle that children learn to read when they have proper motivation, are given access to quality literature and many reading opportunities. It also emphasizes on understanding meaning of English words and using meaning clues to determine the pronunciation of unknown words. Debates on phonics? effectiveness in teaching English arose since more focus should be put on meaning rather than sound, as suggested in the approach. However, proven by experience and learning outcomes, the phonics rules and patterns do give a hand in helping children determine pronunciation of unknown words, which is another focus of the approach. And it is also believed that pupils, by learning the alphabetic code early through phonics, could spare their mental energy for word analysis and meaning, leading to stronger comprehension. This matches perfectly the goal of the whole language approach.

The debate continues even nowadays. However, more focuses are now on the different approaches of phonics teaching. Three of the common approaches are worthy of notice because of their frequent occurrence in nowadays phonics teaching.

Synthetic phonics involves investigating the sound of every single letter or combinations of letters of a word as individual sound and then blending those sounds together. For example, shout would be read by pronouncing the sounds for each single letter or combinations of letters '/∫/, au/, t/' and then blending those sounds orally to produce a spoken word, '/∫aut/' Synthetic phonics instruction requires that pupils identify the sound-symbol correspondences and blend their phonemes automatically.

Analogy phonics requires learners to identify the phonograms in a word. A phonogram, known in linguistics as a rime, is composed of the vowel and all the sounds that follow it. Teachers using the analogy method assist pupils in memorizing a bank of phonograms, such as -at or -am, thus enabling them to pronounce large amount of unknown words. This is one of the most common approaches adopted in Hong Kong primary schools.

Embedded phonics blends perfectly in with the traditional whole language phonics programmes and it shares the same rationales and methodology of phonics teaching in Hong Kong. Phonics is taught in context of literature using 'mini-lessons', in which phonics elements are emphasized.\

In Hong Kong, as suggested in the English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6), 2004, phonics teaching is part of the curriculum and it is regarded as a must in regular English teaching. It is suggested to be taught in regular lessons, with meaningful context and appropriate text types. To facilitate both teachers and learners, Modern Educational Research Society Ltd. has published a set of phonics materials for local schools. Our Phonics Smart package includes phonics materials suitable for young learners in kindergartens and primary schools. Following the guidelines given by the Curriculum Development Council, all the letter sounds are introduced in different text types, such as songs and rhymes and is further consolidated with actions, gestures, games or other activities. The package adopts mainly the synthetic phonics approach, teaching learners to investigate the sound of single letters or combination of letters in a systematic way. By doing so, learners become more confident and capable of pronouncing unfamiliar words or even unknown words. The lessons are short and well thought-out with clear teaching steps and presentation.

More details and characteristics of the product are listed below:
‧ Adopts task-based learning with clear pre-task, while-task and post-task stages.
‧ A core activity forms the centre of each lesson.
‧ A physical action is suggested in each lesson to strengthen learners?letter-sound relationship,
‧ A note on Letter/sound Awareness is included for teacher's own reference on the sound(s) to be taught.
‧ An Activity Bank is included at the end of each book to suggest various activities to enhance class participation and facilitate learners' memory.
‧ A Reading List
‧Teaching aids such as posters, CD-ROMs, audio CDs, picture flashcards and letter flashcards are also included.

Teachers will find the package easier to use and learners will love the package because of its beautiful illustrations and funful activities.

Phonics has come a long way to establish itself as one of the essential components in English Learning. Despite its controversy, phonics teaching is proven to be an effective way to teach English pronunciation, especially for younger learners, and with several hundred years of trialing and debates, appropriate approaches can be found and adopted to maximize its effectiveness. To look beyond the history of debates, more emphasizes and energy should be directed to investigating even better ways to teach phonics. Modern Educational Research Society, Ltd. will continue to work closely with teachers and educators to create up-to-date and useful materials for learners in Hong Kong.

Bill Schnarr (2004). The History of Phonics - The Oldest Argument in the World. Net Guides Publishing, Inc.

The Curriculum Development Council (2004) English Language Education Key Learning Area: English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6). The Education and Manpower Bureau HKSAR