Australia
In December 2005 the Department of Education, Science and Training of the Australian Government published a report entitled a National Inquiry into the Teaching of Reading. The report recommends direct and systematic instruction in phonics as the foundation of early reading instruction. Some of the findings and recommendations are:
- Among the successful schools visited, there were a number of key similarities. Three of those similarities are:
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- 1) a belief that each child can learn to read and write regardless of background;
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- 2) an early, systematic, and "explicit" (i.e. specific and clear) teaching of phonics;
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- 3) the phonics instruction was followed by "direct teaching".
- Students learn best from an approach that includes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. (Executive Summary)
- A whole-language approach, "on its own, is not in the best interests of children, particularly those experiencing reading difficulties". (Pg. 12)
- Where there is unsystematic or no phonics instruction, children do not perform as well in such areas as reading accuracy, fluency, writing, spelling and comprehension. (Pg. 12)
- A recommendation that teachers provide "systematic, direct and explicit phonics instruction".(Pg. 14)
Read more about this topic: Synthetic Phonics, History
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