Can the Phono-Graphix Reading method make a dent in our literacy problem in South Africa?
IT is well known that illiteracy is one of the biggest problems facing South Africa. Statistics on how many adults and children are functionally illiterate are frighteningly high.
Being functionally illiterate means not being able to read the most basic of things, such as street names or more dangerously, labels on medicine bottles. Illiteracy means that one is totally dependant on literate people for information.
Could the Phono-Graphix (PG) Reading method make a dent in our literacy problem in South Africa?
Read for Africa claims it is an “efficient method that is easy to follow, has immediate results and is cost effective”. Read for Africa was set up earlier this year by Jenny Taylor to teach literacy using the PG method, which she brought from the United Kingdom. PG was originally developed in the United States in 1993 by Geoffrey and Carmen McGuinness after years of research in the field of reading failure. In this reading method, letters are seen as pictures of sound, and a sound picture can be represented by one or more than one letter. On the one hand, some sounds can be shown with more than one picture, while on the other hand, sound pictures can be used for more than one sound.
Using the PG method, the learner needs three skills. Firstly the learner must have the ability to segment, which means being able to separate the sounds in words. Secondly, the learner must be able to blend sounds into words, and thirdly there is the skill of phoneme manipulation, which is being able to manipulate sounds in words. The PG method is intended to teach the learner how to read and spell entire words simultaneously.
The PG method has been used to teach both children from five-years-old and non-reading adults to read. It has also been employed with great success teaching children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, to read.
The Read for Africa literature argues that the PG method is particularly suited to the South African context: it can be used for both children and adults as it is easy to understand and to teach; it has also been successfully used as a teaching method for second and third language English speakers; it has the benefit of teaching reading and spelling at the same time. The programme claims to be cost effective, based on statistics from the Read America clinic where there was a 98% success rate in 12 one-hour lessons conducted on a one-to-one basis, including learners with reading-related disabilities. This means that a prospective learner can bank on needing about 12 lessons and budget accordingly.
However, not all sessions are given on a one-to-one basis. Amanda Fallick of the Foundation School says that PG is being taught with individual learners and in groups at her school. Catherine Henderson at Sparrow Schools, where the PG method was piloted by Taylor, says that “it has taken longer as I can’t work one-to-one with each child, but in groups of four to five”. Henderson also goes on to say that learners “have experienced no problems in understanding what I want from them and enjoy finding the sound pictures and making words themselves”.
Another enthusiast for PG is Lena Woolf, an cccupational therapist, who has used this method on one of her remedial patients, a 15-year-old boy. Woolf likes PG’s holistic approach, and the way it teaches reading to become an automatic reflex, which for most people is the norm. She goes on to say that, “the beauty of it is that it’s started at a very basic level, and it’s graded until it is very advanced”.
Veronica Brill, a parent, says that her daughter Bianca (11) has various learning difficulties. She could not read or spell before working with Taylor and doing PG. She has really improved and can now read at a 6- or 7-year-old level.
Another parent whose 11-year-old boy benefited from PG, says the method is impressive and has improved her son’s self confidence enormously. She adds that it is important for people to remember that when a child doesn’t learn to read in the traditional way, there are other methods that can be tried.
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, September 19, 2000.
Jenny Taylor, Director of Read for Africa, is the first qualified PG Trainer in Africa, and gives courses on how to become a PG reading therapist. She also gives talks and presentations to groups of parents, teachers and therapists who are interested in this reading method. She can be contacted at (011) 482-2308