Decoding not reading

SIR – There is a real danger in focusing exclusively on phonics when teaching children to read (Comment, September 27). In the Clackmannanshire study which Nick Gibb quotes, the gains in word reading were not repeated for reading comprehension.

In conducting research on reading comprehension, I have encountered schools where children are practising reading non-words in preparation for the phonics test. This is teaching children that the important thing about reading is sounding out the words, not thinking about meaning.

At the school where I work, pupils are taught the strategies that expert readers use – predicting, clarifying, questioning and summarising. Articles like the one by Nick Gibb perpetuate the belief that once children can decode, they can read. Dr Frances Hampson-jones

Windsor, Berkshire

SIR – The return of phonics to the curriculum is a joy beyond price.

When I graduated in 1958, phonics was in place in the classroom but was being questioned by trendies who wanted “faster” reading results. Ten years or so later, the “look and guess” method was introduced, where words not previously committed to memory were guessed at. Then followed many years of “dyslexic” children who, once introduced to phonics, became fluent and capable readers.

My aim now is for “look and guess” to be removed permanently from schools, for phonics to be mandatory, and for all children to read by Year 2. Robyn Dalby-stockwell

Ely, Cambridgeshire