IT HAS BEEN CALLED the PH factor and involves a family of words that are either educational jargon or crucial to the teaching of the English language, depending on whom you speak to.
Phonics, phonetics, phonology and a host of derivatives have to do with the sounds of spoken words and are at the centre of an international debate on language acquisition.
There is no better example of the PH dispute than in Britain where more traditional teaching methods underpinned the country's national literacy strategy until former education secretary Ruth Kelly made the teaching of phonics compulsory at primary school level in March this year.
Her move followed the publication of the report of an inquiry led by Jim Rose, a former Ofsted director, into why so many British children still failed to learn to read fluently after eight years.
Although phonics may be in the ascendancy in England right now, there are still arguments about the best way to teach reading, both there and elsewhere.
Phonics is popular as part of the early years of reading in Scotland and taught in Germany and Austria before children are introduced to books. It is also gaining ground in the US, with some states, such as Ohio, making its use compulsory at primary level, and others, such as Texas and California, funding research to judge its efficacy. There is also a groundswell against the prevailing 'child-centred' approach to early years education in France in favour of a simple-to-complex approach involving phonics.
In Hong Kong two native-speaking English teachers have no doubts about the importance of the PH factor. Even though they are dealing with the trickier business of teaching English as a second language, Neil Clarke and Janiece Moylan are so sure it plays a vital role they have written their own books to provide resources they claim to be missing here.
