Although the neuroimaging evidence indicates code-based instruction is appropriate for beginning readers the concern remains that SSP will not benefit children's reading stemming from the perceived irregularity of English spelling ( Kessler et al. 2003),
Kessler (2009) suggests that after learning to read, most children learn complex spelling patterns implicitly through exposure to print - but only once a high level of fluency has been attained. Code-based reading instruction contributes to these learning processes in many ways:
1. Establishes the alphabetic principle that provides a reason to attend to the letters in words (Ehri, 1992).
2.Children use letter-sound mappings as a self-teaching mechanism to bootstrap recognition of unfamiliar words and consolidate lexical representations of familiar words (Ehri, 2002).
3.ERP, MEG and eye movement data from skilled readers suggest automatic phonological processes operate on advanced word form information to facilitate lexical access (Ashby, 2010).
In other words, once the orthography-to-phonology connections become automatised they improve parafoveal processing which reduces word recognition time.
Thus, code-based approaches help build the reading fluency needed for children to read widely enough that they can implicitly learn the morphological patterns that govern much of English spelling (Rayner et al.,2010).
