1. Phonics instruction is often considered to be one of the key instructional techniques in reading. With its objective of teaching early readers to establish the relationships between letters and sounds, phonics instruction is considered to be crucial to the development of early literacy skills. In fact, national organizations such as the National Reading Panel (2000) argue that successful readers must possess "phonic awareness skills and phonic skills" (qtd. in Heilman, Blair, & Rupley, 2002, p. 164).
An obvious reason why phonics instruction should be used in the classroom is that early readers will learn to establish correspondences between letters and sounds. Since the English language comprises a group of written letters that represent speech sounds, phonics instruction can be particularly useful in helping early readers to develop and expand their language capacity. When they are exposed to new and unfamiliar words, these early readers can then apply their knowledge of phonics, or the letter-sound relationships, to decode the words in their reading. The decoding of the written words that they have utilized in their speech can thus help them acquire new vocabulary. Coupled with the use of other strategies such as context clues, readers who possess phonemic awareness will have an invaluable tool to help them in developing their reading skills (Heilman et al., 2002, pp. 164-5).
However, phonics instruction may not be appropriate for all types of student populations at all times. Researcher has found that some students, specifically students with different types of disabilities, are not responsive to phonics instruction. More specifically, researchers have identified the following characteristics: a) language deficits related to developmental disabilities; b) attention deficits; as well as c) behavioral and conduct problems (Al Otaiba & Fuchs, 2002). This reason thus highlights the reality that not all learner...