Causal connections in beginning reading: the importance of rhyme

Abstract

Profound misunderstandings of the implications of rhyme and analogy research (sometimes called`new phonics') for classroom teaching still appear regularly in the reading literature. It has been argued that`rhyme and analogy' researchers do not believe in teaching children grapheme-phoneme correspondences (Chew, 1997). Rhyme and analogy has also been branded as`analytic phonics', which is argued to be inferior to`synthetic' phonics (Watson and Johnston, 1999). Such misconceptions are confusing the debate over how best to teach`phonics', following the publication of the National Literacy Framework (DfEE, 1998). For example, some authors are suggesting that teachers should replace an emphasis on phonological awareness and onset-rime with a teaching programme based on`synthetic' phonics Watson and Johnston, 1999). This paper discusses the implications of Goswami and Bryant's (1990) theory about important causal connections in reading for classroom teaching, and reviews more recent`rhyme and analogy' research within this framework. New research on the nature of the English spelling system and the representation of linguistic knowledge is also discussed. The importance of taking a balanced approach to phonics instruction and teaching children correspondences between letters and phonemes and letter sequences and rimes 1 is emphasised.

Visual phonology: The effects of orthographic consistency on different auditory word recognition tasks

“…However, having identical rime phonology leaves the possibility open that stimulus groups differed in terms of phonotactic complexity or consistency of the word onset (initial phoneme or phoneme cluster). We therefore calculated initial phone frequency and transitional probabilities for the onset phonemes (see, e.g., Vitevitch & Luce, 1998, 1999. In addition, we verified whether the onsets of our items differed in terms of pronunciation and spelling consistency (type counts).…”

Using Nursery Rhymes to Foster Phonological and Musical Processing Skills in Kindergarteners

“…Other studies have confirmed the precedence of syllable awareness in French (Bruck, Genesee & Caravolas, 1997;Courcy, Béland & Pitchford, 2000;Ecalle & Magnan, 2002Lefebvre, Girard, Desrosiers, Trudeau, & Sutton, 2008). It would seem, in French, rhyme units are not as noticeable as in English for preschoolers (Goswami, 1999). This developmental difference has to be taken into account when planning phonological awareness activities for French kindergarteners.…”

The influence of reading unit size on the development of Stroop interference in early word decoding

“…Clue word procedures examine the influence of phonological rime primes (e.g., pain-rain) compared to other types of primes that share beginning spelling sequences on children's decoding of upcoming words. In general, but not always (Bowey, Vaughan, & Hansen, 1998;Wood, 2002), children are better able to decode upcoming words that carry matching rimes than when they do not (Goswami, 1993(Goswami, , 1999. Training studies have been carried out that teach children to segment words explicitly into onsets and rimes and examining the ease with which these versus other combinations of words units are taught (Bruck & Treiman, 1992).…”

“…One possibility is that most of the children in that study were past the phase of using word analogies in decoding. According to Goswami (1993Goswami ( , 1999, rime use represents an early phase of word decoding, and largely disappears by second grade. If this is correct, then studying individual differences in decoding in first grade may capture children for whom rimes are more available in word decoding.…”