Initial Thoughts

There is currently an ongoing debate in the United States as to what the best way to teach reading is. This debate involves whether there should be more of an emphasis on “phonics" or more of an emphasis on “whole language.”


The “phonics” approach emphasizes the pronunciation of words and the relationships between written letters and spoken words. Children who learn with a phonics approach first learn the sounds of each letter and then blend the different letters together to form words (Teaching Reading, n.d., para. 1). 


The “whole language” approach alternatively places emphasis on reading comprehension. Children are given a book to read and are taught to use critical thinking strategies and context clues to figure out the words that they are unfamiliar with (Teaching Reading, n.d., para. 1).


Although each strategy has strong proponents, to effectively teach reading, both the phonics and whole language approach should go hand in hand. There is no singular way to teach reading in the United States; both whole language and phonics have effective elements and some combination of both is probably the best way for a child to learn.


Teaching Reading: Whole Language and Phonics