Research Substantiates Discover Intensive Phonics Methodology

By Linda Eversole

Recently a lovely educator shared with me an article written by Pat Wolfe for publication in Educational Leadership. It entertained the interesting fact that some of our current research substantiates the conclusions and practices proposed by educators as far back as the 30’s, including the work of Madeline Hunter, Alfred Whitehead, John Dewey and Barak Rosenshine, to name a few. She made the point that it is possible that the effective teaching strategies of 20 years ago are still relevant today and that we can now look to current cognitive and neuroscience research to help us understand why.

Ms. Wolfe noted three important items that I felt had relevance to the teaching of Discover Intensive Phonics:

First, as an example, she used Hunter’s work relating to the importance of an anticipatory set, a way of helping students attend to the relevant data of upcoming instruction. This emphasis on setting the stage for learning fits precisely with the research on the attentional mechanisms of the brain. “The only way to get information into the brain is through our senses. At any one moment, our sensory receptors (the eye, the ear, and so on) are simultaneously bombarded with an enormous amount of data. If we were able to pay conscious attention to all this sensory information, we would go mad! To keep us sane, our brain immediately starts sifting and sorting through all the sensory input and gets rid of irrelevant material.” You see, there is no such thing as a student who is not paying attention! Since the brain is always paying attention to something, it is just the fact that the student may not be focusing on what the teacher intends.

What relevance does this observation have to Discover Intensive Phonics?

1. Discover Intensive Phonics involves the students in such a way that they are focused on what they are learning. They are the ones spelling the word. They are the ones proving the sounds. Student attention is involved and directed. The brain is constantly searching through existing neural networks to find a way to make sense of incoming data. The direct instruction techniques employed in Discover Intensive Phonics establishes an anticipatory set which increases the possibility that the brain will search through the right networks and attend to the information that is relevant.

Next, Ms. Wolf again referred to Madeline Hunter and a phrase she often used, “Practice doesn’t make perfect; it makes permanent.” What an important caution with regard to allowing students to continue making the same mistake over and over again. If we practice something incorrectly, our neurons don’t know the difference and make the permanent connections incorrectly.

2. While students work with Discover Intensive Phonics at the chalkboard/whiteboard, teachers have the opportunity to observe every student’s work and can offer immediate feedback. Errors are contrasted with corrected work for reinforcement. A students’ spelling, handwriting, decoding and vocabulary are all obvious and observable. Discover Intensive Phonics offers the kind of practice that makes permanent and perfect!

Thirdly, Ms. Wolf emphasized that current research is increasing our understanding of the importance of prior knowledge and why it plays such a crucial role. Information, neuroscience research explains, is not stored in a specific location in the brain. Rather, it is stored in various locations — in the visual, auditory, and motor cortices — and is joined in circuits or networks of neurons. It appears that each time we recall an event or a previous experience, we literally reconstruct it by using the same circuit or circuits we used to store it. Therefore, the more modalities we use to store the information or experience, the more pathways we have available to access it!

3. Discover Intensive Phonics employs the audio, visual, kinesthetic and tactile modalities in the learning experience. The unique marking system employed throughout the course allows students to construct multiple pathways for remembering important encoding and decoding principles.

In conclusion, I would heartily agree that current research is certainly substantiating the conclusions and practices proposed by excellent educators from the past. Charlotte Lockhart, the author of Discover Intensive Phonics, employed scientific principles through her excellent teaching strategies that are currently coming to light through current neurological research. Research only continues to add more luster to an already illuminating phonics program.