Phonics Phacts.

Without a doubt, phonics has been the most researched topic in reading education. It seems quite appropriate, therefore, for the author, a chief proponent of the whole language movement, to address the topic. Phonics has caused heated discussions among teachers, parents, politicians and researchers since the 1950s. Goodman writes: "My intention in writing this book is not to attack the phonics-phirst pholks (or is it fonics first folks?), but simply to help teachers and parents understand better the whole topic of phonics so they feel more comfortable evaluating the conflicting views that they are presented with."

Chapter 1 begins with Goodman's personal observations after years of research and an explanation of how phonics fits into the context of his "own understanding of how the reading process works, how reading is learned, and how teaching best supports that learning." Chapter 2 includes definitions related to phonics (graphophonics, phonemes, phonetics, phonics, phonology), non-alphabetical writing systems and alphabetic written language.

In the next three chapters, Goodman conducts an in-depth study of phonology, orthography and phonics. He hypothesizes that if each letter in English were to consistently represent a single phoneme, the spellings of each dialect group would be unique. Intonation helps the speaker to use many more complex constructions in oral language.

Chapter 4 reviews the history of writing alphabets, English spelling and the flaw in the "Reform English (American) Spelling Movement." Goodman argues that reforming spelling would result in more problems than solutions. In Chapter 5, the book addresses the question: What is the use of phonics? Goodman states, "All readers can and do use phonics within the complex process of making sense of print as they read and saying what they want to say as they write." In fact, the heart of his argument is that "children equip themselves best for reading and writing by building a personal understanding of the phonics of their own forms of English, rules for relating their own phonology to print."

The remaining chapters are of greater interest to teachers and researchers. Goodman elaborates on his theory about phonics, learning and the reading process. He reviews the roots of literacy and what enables readers to make sense of our complex written language even without phonics.

Like this reviewer, some readers may agree with Goodman that children need to make sense out of written language and that some learn how with or without direct phonic instruction. Concerns remain, however, because we know that a large number of students do not learn to read for a variety of reasons. Why not admit that two flawed beliefs are prevalent in the United States? "Phonics first" does not automatically enable all students to read for comprehension, nor is there one way to teach reading to all students. Also, this reviewer wishes that Goodman had examined the pendulum swings within reading education and had discussed how educators in the 1970s separated the language arts, making reading a "separate subject." Finally, Goodman should complement this useful volume with a book describing in detail how "whole language" teachers are developing readers and writers in the classrooms.

Reviewed by Mary Ann Dzama, Graduate School of Education, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA