Two Page Reaction Paper

Two Page Reaction Paper

The timing and teaching of word families by Johnston F. R.

The basic aim of this article was to provide initial guidelines for the teachers so that they can do effective planning and pacing of word family instructions. The best thing about this developmental perspective is that there are no fixed or set rules to teach children. Students are taught on the basis of their invented spelling to identify what they already know and what they are prepared to learn (Invernizzi etal, 1994). After analyzing what children already know, teachers can progress towards teaching of phonics as per the required needs and experience of the children. Children are made to work with familiar words to understand the rime and then use the entire chunk to read and spell other words after blending of different onsets. In this process there is reinforcement of both reading and spelling as students are taught through word families. Children have the opportunity to learn through hands on approach by exploring word through active participation in discussion, searching, sorting, reading and writing (Cunningham & Cunningham, 1992; Fresch & Wheaton, 1997; Gunning, 1995). The only issue with this approach is identifying the right timing for teaching this to children. Timing has been regarded as one of the most important element in this approach and depends on the effective and well informed judgment of the teacher. For resolving this issue it has been suggested that the children's invented spelling is the best clue and idea that will help the teacher in making the right decision

The evidence that proves the efficiency of the breaking the word into onset and rime (p-ot) rather than breaking it into individual phonics such as (p-o-t) or from some other place like (po-t). Authors and research proves that the main reason behind the effectiveness of teaching students through rime and onset is the fact that the children have the ability to learn rhyming words easily. It was further suggested by the author that rime and onset also enhance the word recognition and spelling skills of children. Rimes can improve the reading and spelling of words as they are the basic units for reading such as familiar word park can be used to read the work shark which is known as using analogy. For this reason the timing of instruction is very important and it has been suggested that well time instruction in teaching word families can help children improve and solidify their understanding, remove confusion and move to the next level that is efficient understanding.

It has been suggested throughout the essay that breaking the word into rime and onset is an effective way of teaching students and this is how teachers can make use of phonics in the beginning level. It is extremely important to teach the children in rhyming manner and introduce one family of word at a time as including the concept of vowels and consonants will be way too difficult for the children at the initial ...