Abstract
Teaching of reading and Psychology: An analysis of phonic "methods".- When planning the teaching of reading, teachers must decide among two basic procedures: the whole word and the phonic "methods". In this paper, we analyze the way the phonic "methods" are really being used at schools, as much as the unexpected results: Many children taught by these procedures not only do not learn to read fluently, but neither can they reach the assembled pronunciations by using the grapheme-phoneme (or syllabic group-syllable) correspondences; that it is the main claim of these "methods". From psychological grounds, namely from Information Processing point of view, these paradoxical results are attributed to the neglect of essential conditions in planning (and developing)(the teaching of reading). We conclude that phonic "methods" can be a very useful ones, if these conditions are included in real practice of teaching: at least in a writing system as transparent (regular) as Spanish is.
