One of the most crucial skills necessary in the beginning stages of learning to read is basic word attack. Many of our students are highly structured learners who, time after time, utilize their powers of memory, when it is hoped by the teacher that they are applying learned rules. Therefore, the organized teaching of Phonics is essential in an Adult Reading Program which attempts to give skills for independent reading long after the course has terminated. This is not to suggest that Word Recognition or Sight Word Vocabulary are unimportant -- rather, it is felt that the most effective reading skills will be those which balance word recognition with phonetic analysis.
