There is much debate about whether babies should be taught to read by the rules of phonics or if they should be taught with the whole word method, also called sight-reading. The answer may surprise you.
Phonics Vs Whole Word Method
Should parents that want to teach their babies to read stick with phonics or should they begin with the whole word method? The answer is that there is no either or when it comes to learning to read. In order to learn to read well, we need to embrace a combination of both methods. Although much of the English language is read phonetically, there are many exceptions that cannot be read using phonics. This means that programs that claim to be strictly phonetic, can not in fact teach children to read the words that are exceptions except through sight-reading.
So how does this affect the way we teach our babies?
This depends a lot on the child’s age. For babies 3 months through 3 years old, the whole word method is the most effective choice for parents teaching their babies to read. By introducing babies to hundreds and thousands of words through site-reading, they are gaining a greater understanding of language and the phonetic patterns. This is a sort of immersion method to teaching reading. Babies are immersed in written language and allowed to make connections and associations between letters and their sound values on their own. Whenever we figure things out on our own it makes much more sense to us. This is true for babies as well.
Once a baby has been exposed to hundreds of words, it is an ideal time to begin to introduce words that follow specific phonetic rules. By this point in the reading program, babies are already able to identify many of the sounds in the language. This is evident when asking a baby to read a new word that they are unfamiliar with. Parents notice that even if the baby cannot read the word correctly, they are relying on phonics to make a close attempt to read the word. They will not confuse the beginning sound of the word to be something completely other than what it is. For example, let’s say that your baby can read the word banana and now you show your child the word bandage. Your baby will make an attempt to read it and get pretty close or will be able to read the word. It is extremely rare that a baby would say that the word bandage said something like garden.
By beginning a reading program using the whole word method babies are given the opportunity to be exposed to many words. This allows them to have a better understanding of language before the words are organized into phonetic patterns. When deciding to teach your baby to read, it is a combination of the two methods that make the best readers. 👪