The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1894-12-14
METHODS OF PRIMARY READING.
III.-THE PH0NIO METHOD.
BY william Noetling.

This method did not take its rise
among us, but was brought here from
some of the countries of the old world !
whose languages are nearly free from
the anomalies and inconsistencies
which burden English orthography.
In Germany and some others of the
countries across the Atlantic, this
method was in some form or other,
and to some extent, employed nearly
a century ago. 1t must not however
be assumed that this method, in the
spelling form, is that of the Germans.
Such an assumption would be'ittle
their knowledge of psychology. Dies
terweg, in Praktischer Lehrgang, pub
lished In 1880, speaks of word and of
thought reading, laying special stress
upon the latter. He says pupil
should not be permitted to read
sentence unless he knows what all its
words mean and he attributes poor
reading to the failure of teachers to
insist upon this. He emphasizes the
importance of daily word repetition
to make word recognition automatic.
Failing to make the recognition of
words automatic is common fault
of teachers at the present day.
The phonic method, or what is call.
ed by that name, instead of having
had fixed form, or mode of use has
had nearly as many as it has had differ
ent advocates. Some commenced by
teaching the short vowel sounds, then
combined these with consonants to
form words. Thus with the short
sound Of a they combined {, making
at then prehxed in succession M, f
p, c, s, &c. making mat, tat, rat, CIT,
sat. &c. This was followed by com
parison of hard and soft c, in cat, CIT,
copSe, cold, can, with cedar, cell,
cjnder, cider, &c. Fixed initial and
terminal combinations, such as bl, Sc
br, cl, 50, sne, and Id, u, 10, Up, III, IN,
were taught as unit
Others, to supply the deficiency in
characters to represent all the sounds,
changed the forms of some of the
letters, a, for example, to represent
certain sounds, or introduced new
characters TO complete the necessary
number This phonetic system, as it
! was termed, seemed to be quite a
success, and by those who saw only
with their eyes and heard only with
a their ears, not with their minds, was
declared to be the long -looked-f for
but, alas like all artificial systems,
it was doomed to comparatively
short life. 1t was true that pupils
3 learned to pronounce by it quite
: rapidly as long as they used the pho
4 netic characters, but when given exer.
/ cises in the common a alphabet, and
failing to meet the accustomed add
ed letters, were helpless. Besides,
the method did not teach reading
: but only pronunciation. This method
. was advocated by DR.. Alfred Hol-
, brook of Lebanon, Ohio, in The
r Normal Methods Of Teaching, pub
lished in 1860.
To relieve the dryness and mono
tony of the so called pure phonlc
y method, few teachers here and there,
struck by what they considered hap
py thought, introduced as aids to the
memory of some of the sounds, the
i noises of animals. That of the sheep
was made to help the sound of a in
. area; that of geese, sh that of the
, COW, 40; that of the dog, r; &c.
But these auxiliaries met with little
: favor among the body Of teachers /;
e the more intelligent declared the help
S nonsense, and system that needed
! such assistance, unphilosophical and
S unpedagogical. This happy thought,
like numerous others before it, was
y soon doomed to the same fate.
TO BE CONTINUED.