Literacy:

How does pleasure reading and synthetic phonics effect someone’s education?

Within this blog post I will be going over the realities of pleasure reading and the effects it can have on the students whether it be positive or negative and be relating all this to reliable sources with the thorough research I have untaken during this process. During education reading is sometimes perceived as more of a task rather than something done for pleasure. However the OECD (2002) reported that reading for enjoyment has been proven more important in a child’s education success than their family’s socio-economic status. As well as this the Reading Association has also pointed out the fact that reading has never been more crucial.

Research that has been done in 2012 by the Education Standards Research Team (ESARD) in the UK that goes to show that reading for pleasure has educational benefits as well as personal. Some of the positive effects that reading include are:

• reading attainment and writing ability
• text comprehension and grammar
• breadth of vocabulary
• positive reading attitudes
• self-confidence as a reader
• Pleasure in reading in later life.

• general knowledge
• understanding of other cultures
• community participation
• Insight into human nature and decision-making.

— UK Department of Education, Education Standards Research Team, 2012.

The positive effects that reading has on a student’s education as a whole is endless however above there are some of many of the benefits that reading for pleasure can bring. From personal experience in taking part in group reading activities and nomination within classroom activities, reading for pleasure helps tremendously and I can say personally it improves every aspect of your school life and gives you a feeling of achievement when being able to complete an activity successfully. However this can have a negative rebound on the students who dislike reading as research done Mcgrane et al. (2017) show that only 35% of ten year olds in England report that they like reading. This statistics is also on a decline as many students now see reading as outdated and boring and studies shown by  the OECD (2010) shows that children who read books regularly at the age of ten more than once a week at sixteen gain superior results in maths and spelling tests over the people who do not read regularly.

The correlation between reading and education as a whole is extremely positive and will inevitably bring the students more positive results throughout the entirety of their education from doing perhaps a basic spelling test in primary school to their GCSE period in high school reading aids each individual process. International research has been done and shows how frequent reading for enjoyment correlates with increases in reading achievement throughout education (Clark, 2011, Clark & Rumbold, 2006, Clark and Douglas 2011, PISA 2009). As well as improving results within education reading for pleasure can result in increasing key skills through a young student’s life such as empathy and social skills, which can benefit a student endlessly through not only education but a life time.

In 2014 the national curriculum for English emphasized reading for pleasure, the report further goes onto how it academically effects students that do so and how negative the effects can be for students who don’t read consistently. Academically reading for pleasure can improve language acquisition, vocabulary growth and most importantly in my opinion having the ability to understand information being taught in all other areas of learning. Some of the negative effects reading can have include lack of imagination and creativity along with lack of motivation (Ron Knight, 2018). These are seen as key assets to have when looking for a career when growing older which only emphasizes the need to read more.

As far as synthetic phonics go the benefits are crucial to the children of a young age as it doesn’t only teach the children the English language as a whole but simplifies the language down to only forty four sounds. Since 2012 when it was introduced it has been seen as an innovative and smart way to learn and read almost any word. This skill has been seen as a help line as such to further a young students education. The importance of synthetic phonics in teaching seems to be crucial, from the research I have undertaken shows that an experiment done by Johnston and Watson (2004) about the effects of the synthetic phonics concluded that with this approach taken the children during the test were a lot more able to read and spell much better than other children taught using alternative methods. During the research undertaken by Johnston and Watson (2004) they also discovered that synthetic phonics whilst being used in teaching resulted in students gaining up to two years higher than the average for their age.

If we look at phonics however from another perspective, this being the negative side students can often get easily confused when understanding words as over emphasis on the phonics leading to students being able to pronounce the words correctly but are then left in the dark when it comes to the actual meaning. An education professor Connie Juel (2002) explains how children during the study that she undertook could sound out words such as “pond” but in reality are clueless to the meaning behind the actual word or start guessing as to what it might mean which can leave a bad trait for the student’s future. Another negative effect that teaching synthetic phonics could have on a student is actually understanding text. For example children with a knowledge base good enough to read a piece of text may not actually be able to make sense of it. A study in 2003 by Marsha Riddle Buly et al. who does research for the Study of Teaching during her research she found that during tests that were undertook the students did well on spelling. However during the evaluation of the text she found that the students struggled to comprehend the questions as obviously phonics couldn’t further help to educate the children beyond the point of pronunciation.

To reflect on what has been said during the research and the entirety of writing this blog, a factor that has dawned upon me is that reading and learning to read is a crucial factor in every single child and students education regardless of age due to the fact and reality that once you have the potential to read and that skill has stuck the possibilities to improve and further gain more beneficial knowledge is endless. Along with this some of the facts and statistics I have found were astounding, such as this statistic from the DCMS (2018) where only 46% of young people aged sixteen to twenty four read and this statistic being on a rapid decline. In my opinion this is due to the modern traits in society where reading isn’t perceived as popular or trendy and this almost scares the younger generation from reading and not being prepared for their later life and further education where reading is essential to succeed. My point is proven in this evidence found by (Taylor, 2011) where “16-year-olds who choose to read books for pleasure outside school are more likely to secure managerial or professional jobs in later life”. In conclusion I believe that reading is a necessity in education and a key tool to be taught as well as the initial stage of learning the synthetic phonics along with this as proven by research life appears to become a lot more successful and with this tool more pathways are there to discover.

Reference List:

 Natlib.govt.nz. (2016). Reading for pleasure — a door to success. [online] Available at: https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/understanding-reading-engagement/reading-for-pleasure-a-door-to-success [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019].

 Worldcat.org. (2014). Growing independence : competent learners @14 (Book, 2006) [WorldCat.org]. [online] Available at: https://www.worldcat.org/title/growing-independence-competent-learners-14/oclc/166310544 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2019].

 Readingagency.org.uk. (2016). Reading facts | Reading Agency. [online] Available at: https://readingagency.org.uk/about/impact/002-reading-facts-1/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

 Readingagency.org.uk. (2017). Reading facts | Reading Agency. [online] Available at: https://readingagency.org.uk/about/impact/002-reading-facts-1/ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2019].

Oecd.org. (2009). [online] Available at: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/48852630.pdf [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019].

 Atkinson, P. (2016). Promoting Reading for Pleasure. [online] Ukla.org. Available at: https://ukla.org/resources/details/promoting-reading-for-pleasure [Accessed 8 Apr. 2019].

 Knight, R. (2018). Not Reading Has Consequences |. [online] Authorronknight.com. Available at: http://www.authorronknight.com/2018/05/not-reading-has-consequence/ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2019].

 Readwithphonics.com. (2013). What are the benefits of phonics? | ReadwithPhonics - Learn to Read with Phonics. [online] Available at: https://www.readwithphonics.com/what-are-the-benefits-of-phonics [Accessed 6 Apr. 2019].

Children-learning-reading-review.com. (2016). ✓Why Is Phonics So Important In Teaching Your Child How To Read - Why Is Phonics Important For Children - Is phonics important for reading - Benefits Of Teaching Phonics. [online] Available at: http://www.children-learning-reading-review.com/articles/why-is-phonics-so-important-in-teaching-kids-how-to-read/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

Harvard Graduate School of Education. (2002). Search Results | Harvard Graduate School of Education. [online] Available at: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/search [Accessed 6 Apr. 2019].

 Classroom.synonym.com. (2003). The Pros & Cons of Teaching Phonics | Synonym. [online] Available at: https://classroom.synonym.com/pros-cons-teaching-phonics-7985135.html [Accessed 8 Apr. 2019].

                                     

 Taylor (2011). Reading at 16 linked to better job prospects. [online] ScienceDaily. Available at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110504150539.htm [Accessed 9 Apr. 2019].