64 THE PSYCHOLOGY AND TEACHING OF READING
word recognition. Certain points, however, should be
observed in the development of phonic analysis. With
many children there is the need to produce a certain
sensitivity to sounds in words before they can be expected
to associate sounds with corresponding letters. This they
do through extension of their meaning vocabulary, through
hearing many words and through repeated reading of the
words acquired in initial reading lessons. All children
should be helped with the intriguing game, " I Spy " :
" I spy with my little eye
Something whose name begins with b " (sounding
it phonetically).
Different letters can be exercised on different days.
This, together with increased experience of words, will
fit the, pupil at about mental age 6% to 7 years to be intro-
duced to the connection between certain sounds and their
printed symbols.
Slower and less intelligent pupils may need rhyming
exercises and help through picture-word-sound association.
Another important point is that phonics should always
be used in close relationship to the material being read. The
study of lists of unrelated phonic words is to be deprecated.
The best principle upon which to -proceed is to associate
the phonic work with the material the pupil is reading or
likely to read in the near future. This practice does not
aim at developing a hypothetical phonic ability, but at
providing a help for pupils to recognise the words they
are meeting day by day.1
Generally it is useful to approach phonic work in a play
spirit. The teacher may ask pupils to look at the first
letter of the word (e.g. t-all) and then at the remaining
1 In the " Happy Venture Readers," lists of common phonic families
are given at the end of the Second Book in the series, and these words
provide a direct preparation for reading the material in that book and
in the two succeeding books.