THEUTIUlY OF PHONIC GENERALIZATIONSIN THE ----- …

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THE UTIUlY OF PHONIC

GENERALIZATIONINS THE

-----_PRIMARy

GRADES

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THEODORE CLYMER

The origins of this study go back to Ken- or the position and pronunciation of neth, an extraordinary elementary pupil. vowels.

Prior to my encounter with Kenneth I

Throughout these exercises. follow-

had completed a reading methods course ing the dicrum of my reading methods

in a small teachers college which pro- teacher, we were careful not to call the

vided a background in the principles of generalizations "rule~," for all our state-

teaching reading as well as a good in- ments had a number of exceptions. As

troduction to techniques. Among these techniques were procedures to develop phonic generalizations and also the list (not a list) of the most valuable general-

the class finally formulated a generalization regarding the relationships of letters, lener. position, and sounds, such defensive phrasing as "most of the time,"

izations to develop. (To those of you who "usually," and "often" appeared as pro-

might like copies of the liSt, I am sad to tective measures. We also spent timt

repon that somehow through the years it has been lost.)

listing some of the exceptions to our generalizations.

Difficulties with Kenneth began as

At this point Kenneth entered the

the class reviewed. phonic generaliza- discussion. While the class was busily

tions at the starr of the school year. Our engaged in developing the generaliza-

procedures were like those used in many tion, Kenneth had skimmed his diction-

classroom,; Groups of words were pre- ary, locating long lists of exceptions to

sented, and the class analyzed their like- the"generalization. In fact, he often lo-

nesses and differences with a view toward cated more exceRtions than I could list

deriving a generalization about relarion- applications. When I protested-some-

ships between certain leners and sounds what weakly-that the dictionary con-

From Th~ R~Qdi,jg T~Qch~r. Vol. ) 6, Janu- tained many unusual words, Kenneth ary 1963, PI'? 152-58. Reprinted With permis. continued his role as an educational

sion of the author and the International Reading scientist. He turned to the basic reader

Association.

This paper is an extension of a report given at a joint meetmg of the InternauonaJ Readmg Associauon and the :--:auonal Conlerence of Research in English. May 1961. Thomas Barrett,

word list in the back of his text and produced nearly similar results. Today, of course, Kenneth's behavior ~ould be rated as "gifted," "talented," or "crea-

Harrietu Anderson. Joan Hanson. and David tive"-although I remember discussing

Palmer provided 1n\'aJuable assistance In vanous phases of the study.

him in other terms as 1 sat in the teacher's lounge.

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research

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