There are four main methods of teaching children to read (phonics, look and say, language experience approach, context support), the most popular of which is currently phonics. This method is said to be the most effective in teaching young children to read for the first time, though methods are constantly evolving and approaches do not necessarily have to be employed exclusively. Throughout much of the twentieth century, "look and say" was the method of choice, with children memorizing specific whole words through rote memorisation. This proved to be a fairly poor approach when it came to actually teaching children HOW to read, and so if a child who learnt this way were to come across an unfamiliar word, they may well have found it difficult to pronounce and understand it.
Phonics (or synthetic phonics), as the name implies, involves breaking words down into their individual phonemes in order to sound them out (cat = c-a-t). Teachers/parents begin with simple, single-letter sounds and later move onto the more complex sounds (ou, oi, ea) and then the sounds become even more complex (eigh, ough, etc.). For this method to be effective, it's important that the child has already learned the alphabet, but is ready to use the sounds differently ("c" said "see" in the alphabet song, but "k" in the word cat). It is also important that while learning, children memorize skills, words and sounds on a semantic level - this is done by conveying meaning and telling the child what words mean so that the child does not become disconnected. Without semantics, it is easy for the child to see each word as a croup of sounds that needn't be pulled together, as they have no meaning anyway. Attaching meaning adds purpose and increases the memory trace.
The phonics method has however been criticised, largely for ignoring the fact that the English language is often phonetically irregular, and so when "sounding out" the child may come into some difficulty with particular words. ("GH" can be pronounced in eight different ways - so it's not so clear cut.) David Crystal has said that only around 400 words in English are pronounced irregularly, but he pointed out that among these were some of the most commonly used. Perhaps unfortunately for children learning to read, though, it seems the phonics method is here to stay (at least for now), as it has been hole-heartedly backed by the government.
An opinion shared by many, including the BBC, is that the teaching of such an important skill should "encompass a balance of teaching strategies including a systematic approach to
phonics and other word reading strategies, and a significant emphasis on
children experiencing a wide range of texts, including moving image and digital
- all available to read from the very beginning."
Children should engage with what they are reading if they are to learn effectively - reading schemes are helpful for this, as they tailor texts and topics to specific age groups. Louisa Combs, marketing executive for Collins Big Cat, explained "For example, Key Stage 1 books are written with a mix of high-frequency and decodable words to develop a range of reading strategies, while Key Stage 2 books cover a wide range of genres and subjects, linking to the curriculum." Children should also be reinforced for their achievements, rather than punished for their mistakes. They should be given time to get to grips with materials and explore context cues, including pictures, graphemes and the way that their teachers or parents interact with them and the text. It's also been suggested that reading will better develop if children are aware of the behaviour being modelled by see adults reading and enjoying the experience.
Bibliography:
http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101
http://www.teachingtreasures.com.au/homeschool/reading-methods/reading-methods.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19812961
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/reading/conditioninfo/pages/teach.aspx
http://www.howtospell.co.uk/spelling-tip-number-2
http://www.theschoolrun.com/school-reading-schemes-explained
