This research built on and supports earlier work by Cunningham, Perry, Stanovich, and Stanovich (2004) and explored teacher’s knowledge and perception of knowledge about phonics, phonological awareness, and syllabication.  Teachers in this study overestimated their knowledge of phonemic awareness, phonetic principles, and specific terminology.  Teachers overall knowledge in the areas investigated revealed a weak knowledge base.  An interesting finding was that 48% of the participants felt that phonics was the most important skill required for effective reading; however they had not mastered the terminology or the phonetic principles to adequately instruct children in these skills.
Click here to read this research by Al-Hazza, Fleener, and Hager published in The Reading Matrix, 2008