LS5643 - Literacy and phonics

The Beginning
Without the right skills being literate is difficult and can affect daily life. The National Reading Panel in 2001 gave us the five pillars of reading: phonics, phonological awareness, comprehension, fluency and vocabulary. Phonics and phonemic awareness are my focus. A phoneme is a part used to create a word. There are forty-four in the English Language. One needs to understand the phonemes to decode and comprehend words.
When you are a baby you start to encounter language. Parents introduce words and concepts by speaking to the child. As the child grows their grasp of the language grows and they begin to speak on their own.

Phonics in Schools
A school library media specialist is in the right position to collaborate with teachers to find the best resources for children. They can also work on mini literacy lessons together. As students move through the grade levels their knowledge of phonics and phonemic awareness should grow with their ability to read, write and speak correctly. Some students do not move in a typical pattern and either excel quickly or lag behind their peers.

Phonics for Adults
Adult learners encounter many issues with phonics. They are either lagging behind in skills or coming from another language completely. Our class text case studies showed how being literate improved lives and self confidence. Public libraries and schools are trying to provide programs to help adults with literacy issues.

The Future of Phonics
The future is not clear as to what path phonics may take in our schools. We do know that it is a necessary part of learning to read. We just do not know how much emphasis will be placed on this concept over other methods of reading.

Conclusion
Phonics is very important to reading. Phonics and phonemic awareness are just two components in the reading process. We need to find a way to enrich children's lives before they are school age. The business world is recognizing that there is a gap and they are trying to help with grants and volunteers. It also depends on where you live in the United States as to how you pronounce certain words. In Texas we say "git" and mean "get". This can make it very confusing to learn English. We use phonics daily in our reading, writing and speaking even though we may be unaware we are using a skill taught so early in life. When everyone,parents, children, schools and community, work together to improve literacy then we improve our nation for generations to come in the future.