When students do not grasp concepts we teach, we often reteach with a different presentation of the information or focus on a different modality of learning. F & F's presentation on phonology provided clear and concise information that proved cloudy for me in Finegan. It reinforced the idea that phonology is complex, and the great majority of young children acquire and master it in context without ever having formally learned it.
Chapter 3 reviewed many of the terms we studied in Finegan. F & F focused on how vowels (air passing freely through vocal tract and influenced by tongue and lips) and consonants (constricting air in various ways between lungs and lips) are formed. The charts in F & F helped me organize the various vowel and consonants sounds much better than Finegan. The information on why tongue twisters are difficult for people to say quickly was new information. Now I don't feel so bad when I can't do it well. The "Peggy Babcock" example had me laughing out loud as I attempted it.
Chapter 4 focused almost entirely on how phonology can influence the teaching of reading and a second language. Basically, F & F talked about the two main camps in the field of teaching reading--word recognition and sociopsycholinguistic. Phonemic awareness plays a larger role in the teaching of the word recognition view of reading; it is taught and drilled. In the sociopsycholinguistic view phonemic awareness is acquired through experiencing language. Focusing on learning through making meaning is the key. F & F traced the evolution of second language instruction, from the grammar translation method to the audiolingual method to the Natural Approach and sustained content language teaching. The focus in most of today's classrooms is using language to communicate. Teachers need to understand phonological differences (with allophones, dialects and the language itself) in language in order to better serve their second language learners.
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Very well put
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