"THE PHENOMENAL POWER OF THE HUMAN MIND. According to research at Cambridge University, it doesn't matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that the first and last letter be in the right place. The rest can be a total mess and you can still read it without problem. This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole."
The more I look at that, the more I think context also matters. An isolated word could have several possibilities, but in context it becomes clear which one is correct.
But, but, but ... phonics! What about phonics? Isn't phonics the one, true way to teach our kids to learn to read good? You just learn the sounds that different letters make in English (and the five million exceptions) and then you can puzzle out any word at all. The example from Cambridge looks suspiciously like the dreaded "look and say" method.
(Now if only "phonics" were more phonetical and "mnemonic" easier to remember.)
5 people have spouted off:
The more I look at that, the more I think context also matters. An isolated word could have several possibilities, but in context it becomes clear which one is correct.
But, but, but ... phonics! What about phonics? Isn't phonics the one, true way to teach our kids to learn to read good? You just learn the sounds that different letters make in English (and the five million exceptions) and then you can puzzle out any word at all. The example from Cambridge looks suspiciously like the dreaded "look and say" method.
(Now if only "phonics" were more phonetical and "mnemonic" easier to remember.)
Hukt awn fahnex wercked phore mee!
Spout off: