Whole Language doesn't teach youngsters to sound out syllables and words as the traditional phonics method does.

FORBES: Fact And Comment

The compulsory phonics check assesses a child's ability to sound out or decode a series of words, some of which are made up, to test their reading skills.

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Bird's songs are full of eccentric words that sound like they've tumbled out of a Scrabble box - radiolarians, dermestids and plecostomus.

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