Using phonics to raise adult literacy levels Thursday, April 7, 2011 - 10:40

There is growing evidence that using phonics is helpful in initial literacy teaching for adults, according to a new book, Phonetics for Phonics - Underpinning Knowledge for Adult Literacy Practitioners, published by NIACE on Monday 11 April.

Written by Dr Maxine Burton, who has nearly 30 years experience as an adult literacy tutor, Phonetics for Phonics highlights how, in order to deliver phonics effectively and systematically in the classroom, training for practitioners is essential.

Dr Burton said:

"Most text-books on linguistics and phonetics, even those described as ‘basic', do not appear accessible to people with little previous linguistics knowledge and tend not to be mapped to teaching strategies and classroom practice. This book, supported by my Master's level study and research on linguistics, fills this gap in the market. While academically sound, it takes a user-friendly and practical approach to phonetics, and links it with adult literacy classroom practice."

"Although there is an abundance of text books on phonetics, many are dauntingly long and over-detailed, even those which purport to be ‘introductory'. This book is unique in that it is written specifically with the adult literacy practitioner, and the requirements of the Core Curriculum, in mind. It presupposes little prior phonetic knowledge and is illustrated with examples from adult literacy practice, to make it helpful both as an accessible reference book for the adult literacy practitioner and as a useful set text for teacher training courses and Continuous Professional Development."

Maxine Burton, currently a visiting research associate at the Institute of Education, London, is an experienced adult literacy practitioner and trainer, and linguistics teacher. From 2002 her main research has been into adult learners' reading, and she has worked on several projects for NRDC at the University of Sheffield. She is the author of two recent practitioner guides, Improving Reading: phonics and fluency (NRDC, 2008) and Developing adult teaching and learning: Reading (2007, NIACE)