https://blog.derby.ac.uk/2017/07/is-fas ... f-reading/
I contributed a reader's comment which may, or may not, be approved, so I copied and pasted it to this forum, see below:The University of Derby
Is the government’s fascination with phonics taking the pleasure out of reading?
The points made by the writer in this post sadly reflect misunderstanding about what government in England promotes, and why - and what the research findings of many decades have shown us about being a reader in the full sense and how best to provide reading instruction.
Cumulative, decodable texts which match the alphabetic code taught to date are used specifically when asking children to read independently. The books teachers share with children and read aloud to children should be all manner of wonderful children's literature and not designed on the basis of cumulative, decodable texts - why would they be? Children are not being asked to read them - the teacher or adult is doing the reading.
Learners and teachers are lucky nowadays that there are a handful of series of decodable texts for beginners to practise their own reading. Look and say, predictable and repetitive reading books were not, and are not, wonderful children's stories - and cumulative, decodable reading books are often engaging to children despite people who say otherwise.
Regarding literature; books are full of printed words new to children (not in their spoken language) so reading them technically is the equivalent of trying to decode pseudo or nonsense words. Regarding the Year One phonics check; printed words that children have not seen before are a recognised helpful form of assessment of children's alphabetic code knowledge and technical abilities to lift new words off the page.
It is an invaluable form of continuing professional development to appreciate that some teachers are far more effective at teaching children phonics - as this technical aspect of reading is so important in getting off to a good start to lifelong reading - and a good decoder is so much more likely to enjoy reading as it is not such a struggle to lift new words off the page in wider reading. Surely we want all children to be well-served by teachers who excel in early reading instruction - and who excel in reading children's literature aloud to children.