Table Of ContentReading Instruction
and
Phonics
(2nd edition)
R-K
Royce-Kotran Publishing
Boston
Reading Instruction
and
Phonics
Theory and Practice
for Teachers
(2nd edition)
Stephen Parker
Second edition copyright © 2019 by Stephen Parker
First edition copyright © 2018 by Stephen Parker
Royce-Kotran Publishing
55 Westchester Road
Boston, MA 02130
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form for commercial purposes without
written permission from the publisher. This book may be reproduced by reading
teachers for use in their own classrooms, by parents for use with their own children,
and by speech-language pathologists in their work with reading-impaired children.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Last digit is the edition number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
ISBN 978-0-9994585-3-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019904995
Table of Contents
Foreword: Professor Pamela Snow, PhD ..................................................................... 9
Foreword: First Edition ............................................................................................. 13
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 15
Table 1: Sounds of American English ........................................................................ 20
Theory
Chapter 1: The Alphabetic Code ................................................................................ 23
Chapter 2: A Glossary for the Reading Teacher ......................................................... 34
Chapter 3: The Simple View of Reading .................................................................... 45
Chapter 4: A Brief History of Reading Instruction ...................................................... 51
Chapter 5: Synthetic Phonics versus Balanced Literacy ............................................ 69
Chapter 6: This Book’s Program ................................................................................ 80
Practice
Stage 1: Sounds of A, E, I, O, U, M, N, S; Reading Begins ......................................... 91
Stage 2: Sounds of D, G, P, T; Consonant Blends .................................................... 101
Stage 3: Sounds of B, F, C/K; Spelling Begins ......................................................... 110
Stage 4: Sound of L ................................................................................................. 113
Stage 5: Sound of R ................................................................................................. 115
Stage 6: Sounds of H, J, Qu, V, W, X, Y, Z .............................................................. 117
Stage 7: Sounds of CH, SH, TH; Forming the Plural ................................................ 125
Stage 8: Reading Sentences (Part I) ......................................................................... 133
Stage 9: Sounds of NG, NK; Multi-Syllable Words ................................................... 146
Stage 10: Long Vowel Sounds ................................................................................. 152
Stage 11: Reading Sentences (Part II) ...................................................................... 159
Stage 12: More Vowel Sounds ................................................................................. 173
Stage 13: Words Ending in Long Vowel Sounds; Y as a Vowel ................................. 187
Stage 14: Reading Sentences (Part III) ..................................................................... 196
Stage 15: Unusual Spellings; Open and Closed Syllables ........................................ 212
Stage 16: Soft C, Soft G, Contractions ..................................................................... 221
Stage 17: Independent Reading ............................................................................... 230
Appendices
A: Supplement to Stage 1 .................................................................... 241
B: Supplement to Stage 2 .................................................................... 242
C: Supplement to Stage 3 .................................................................... 244
D: Supplement to Stage 4 .................................................................... 246
E: Supplement to Stage 5 .................................................................... 247
F: Supplement to Stage 6 .................................................................... 248
G: Supplement to Stage 7 .................................................................... 250
H: Supplement to Stage 9 .................................................................... 252
J: Supplement to Stage 10 .................................................................. 255
K: Supplement to Stage 10 .................................................................. 257
L: Supplement to Stage 12 .................................................................. 260
M: Supplement to Stage 13 ................................................................. 264
N: Supplement to Stage 15 .................................................................. 269
O: Supplement to Stage 16 .................................................................. 273
P: The Code: Sounds to Letters ........................................................... 278
Q: The Code: Letters to Sounds ........................................................... 280
R: Consonant Blends .......................................................................... 284
S: The Tricky 50 .................................................................................. 285
T: Supplement to Stage 17 .................................................................. 286
U: The 100 Most Frequent Words ........................................................ 291
W: Dick and Jane ................................................................................ 292
Y: Over 400 Rimes .............................................................................. 294
Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 297
9
Foreword to the Second Edition
I f you have read my Foreword to the first edition of Stephen Parker’s Reading
Instruction and Phonics, you will know that I first became aware of Stephen and his
writings in early 2018, when I received an email out of the blue from him, telling me
about some books on phonics instruction that he had written, and was making freely
available via the internet. Such is the ongoing confusion in the early reading instruction
space, that it’s not unusual for me to receive emails from a range of practitioners:
strangers wanting to share their (typically free) resources and spread the word about
ways of improving knowledge and practice in early years classrooms. However, I quickly
realised that Stephen’s email was distinctive, as the resource he was asking me to review
(the first edition of this text) was one I could see would have strong and immediate
appeal to teachers keen to change their knowledge and practice, in the interests of
stronger student outcomes.
In the less than two years since the first edition of this book was made available for
free download, Stephen has engaged actively with his readership via social media, email,
and closed language and literacy discussion groups. He has done so with openness and
curiosity, listening to criticisms of the first edition and engaging in debate about any
number of contested topics in early reading instruction.
This second edition is the result of these processes of listening and reflection. It
retains the key features that caught my attention the first time around, while
incorporating several improvements and additions. Notably, the book remains low on
academic jargon and high on valuable knowledge and practical skills for teachers keen
to change their classroom practise now. Stephen writes for his fellow teachers in ways
that are clear and logical with respect to classroom practice. He also deconstructs some
practises that have illegitimately gained icon-status in early years reading instruction.
Education unfortunately has a history of adopting practices ahead of the science
being in, and this is nowhere more evident than in early reading instruction. That
Stephen has placed the murky and contested history of reading instruction into the
hands of teachers is as significant a gift as the knowledge itself contained in this book
and his companion blogposts. Teachers need to know how we landed at this messy
impasse if they are to be at the forefront of the campaign to do better in classrooms
around the globe. To this end, in addition to the valuable history lesson, Stephen
explains the all-important Simple View of Reading in this edition and positions this as
