synthetic phonics
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Synthetic phonics, also known as ''blended phonics'' or ''inductive phonics'', is a method of teaching
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
reading which first teaches the letter sounds and then builds up to blending these sounds together to achieve full pronunciation of whole words.


Overview

Synthetic phonics refers to a family of programs which aim to teach reading and writing through the following methods: * Teaching students the correspondence between ''written letters'' (
graphemes In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system. The word ''grapheme'' is derived and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other names of emic units. The study of graphemes is called ''graphemics' ...
) and ''speech sounds'' (
phonemes In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
). For example, the words ''me'' and ''pony'' have the same sound at the end, but use different letters. * Teaching students to read words by ''blending'': identifying the graphemes (letters) in the word, recalling the corresponding phonemes (sounds), and saying the phonemes together to form the sound of the whole word. * Teaching students to write words by ''segmenting'': identifying the phonemes of the word, recalling the corresponding graphemes, then writing the graphemes together to form the written word. Synthetic phonics programs have some or all of the following characteristics: * Teaching grapheme-phoneme (letters-sound) correspondence out of alphabetic order, following an order determined by perceived complexity (going from easiest to hardest to learn). * Teaching the reading and writing of words in order of increasing irregularity, in other words teaching words which follow typical grapheme-phoneme correspondence first (e.g. ''ape'' and ''cat''), and teaching words with idiosyncratic or unusual grapheme-phoneme correspondence later (e.g. ''eight'' and ''duck''). Synthetic phonics programs ''do not'' have the following characteristics: * Encouraging students to guess the meaning of words from contextual clues (see
whole language Whole language is a philosophy of reading and a discredited educational method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and ...
method). * Encouraging students to memorise the shape of words, to recall them by sight (see Look say method). * Teaching grapheme-phoneme correspondence on a "when needed" basis or as applied to particular groups of words, when these words arise in other forms of reading instruction (see ''embedded phonics'' in
Whole language Whole language is a philosophy of reading and a discredited educational method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and ...
).


Methodology

Synthetic
phonics Phonics is a method for teaching people how to Reading, read and write an alphabetic language (such as English alphabet, English, Arabic alphabet, Arabic or Russian alphabet, Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the so ...
teaches the
phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
s (sounds) associated with the
grapheme In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system. The word ''grapheme'' is derived and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other names of emic units. The study of graphemes is called ''graphemics' ...
s (letters) at the rate of about six sounds per week. The sounds are taught in isolation then blended together (i.e. synthesised), all-through-the-word. For example, learners might be taught a short vowel sound (e.g. ''a'' as in cat) in addition to some
consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
sounds (e.g. ''s, t, p''). Then the learners are taught words with these sounds (e.g. sat, pat, tap, at). They are taught to pronounce each phoneme in a word, then to blend the phonemes together to form the word (e.g. ''s - a - t; "sat"''). Sounds are taught in all positions of the words, but the emphasis is on all-through-the-word segmenting and blending from week one. It does not teach whole words as shapes ( initial sight vocabulary) prior to learning the alphabetic code. Synthetic phonics develops
phonemic awareness Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest mental units of sound that help to differentiate units of meaning ( morphemes). Separating the spoken w ...
along with the corresponding letter shapes. It involves the learners rehearsing the writing of letter shapes alongside learning the letter/s-sound correspondences preferably with the tripod pencil grip.
Dictation Dictation can refer to: *Dictation (exercise), when one person speaks while another person transcribes *'' Dictation: A Quartet'', a collection of short stories by Cynthia Ozick, published in 2008 * Digital dictation, the use of digital electronic ...
is a frequent teaching technique from letter level to word spelling, including
nonsense word A nonsense word, unlike a sememe, may have no definition. Nonsense words can be classified depending on their orthographic and phonetic similarity with (meaningful) words. If it can be pronounced according to a language's phonotactics, it is a ps ...
s (e.g. choy and feep) and eventually extending to
text Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including: **Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred **Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...
level. It does not teach letter names until the learners know their letter/s-sound correspondences thoroughly and how to blend for reading and segment for spelling. Often when letter names are introduced it is through singing an alphabet song. Synthetic phonics teaches phonics at the level of the individual phoneme from the outset; not
syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...
s and not
onset Onset may refer to: *Onset (audio), the beginning of a musical note or sound *Onset, Massachusetts Onset is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Wareham, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,573 at the 2010 census. Geog ...
and
rime Rime may refer to: *Rime ice, ice that forms when water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects, such as trees Rime is also an alternative spelling of "rhyme" as a noun: *Syllable rime, term used in the study of phonology in ling ...
. Synthetic phonics does not teach anything about reading as a meaning-focused process. It highlights decoding and pronunciation of words only. Teachers are to put accuracy before speed, because fluency (i.e. speed, accuracy, expression) and comprehension will come with time. Synthetic phonics involves the teaching of the transparent alphabet (e.g. ''c'' as in "cat") before progressing onto the opaque alphabet (e.g. ''ch'' as in "school"). In other words, learners are taught steps which are straightforward and 'work' before being taught the complications and variations of
pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...
and
spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...
of the full alphabetic code. It introduces irregular words and more tricky words (defined as words which cannot be pronounced phonically – English has a surprisingly large number of these, usually the commonest words of all such as 'to', 'of', etc.) slowly and systematically after a thorough introduction of the transparent alphabet code (learning the 44 letter/s-sound correspondences to
automaticity Automaticity is the ability to do things without occupying the mind with the low-level details required, allowing it to become an automatic response pattern or habit. It is usually the result of learning, repetition, and practice. Examples of tas ...
and how to blend for reading and segment for spelling). Phonics application still works at least in part in such words. Synthetic phonics involves a heavy emphasis on hearing the sounds all-through-the-word for spelling and not an emphasis on "look, cover, write, check". This latter, visual form of spelling plays a larger part with unusual spellings and spelling variations although a phonemic procedure is always emphasised in spelling generally. Teachers read a full range of literature with the learners and ensure that all learners have a full range of experience of activities associated with literacy such as
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,
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
,
poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
, but the learners are ''not'' expected to 'read' text which is beyond them, and the method does ''not'' involve guessing at words from context, picture and initial letter clues.


Typical programme

*learning letter sounds (as distinct from the letter names); :For example, mmm not em, sss not ess, fff not ef. The letter names can be taught later but should not be taught in the early stages. *learning the 40+ sounds and their corresponding letters/letter groups; :The English Alphabet Code 'Key': 40+ phonemes with their common 'sound pattern' representations. (This is based on the British pronunciation. The number and mixture of the 40+ phonemes will vary for other English speaking countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States). ::Vowels: ::*''a'' - mat ::*''a-e'' - ape, baby, rain, tray, they, eight ::*''air'' - square, bear ::*''ar'' - jar, far ::*''e'' - peg, bread ::*''ee'' - sweet, me, beach, key, pony ::*''eer'' - deer, hear ::*''er'' - computer, doctor ::*''i'' - pig, wanted ::*''i-e'' - kite, wild, light, pie ::*''o'' - orange, quality ::*''oa'' - oak, rope, bow, piano ::*''oi'' - coin, boy ::*''oo'' - (short) book, would, put ::*''oo'' - (long) moon, crew, blue, fruit, few ::*''ow'' - down, house ::*''or'' - fork, ball, sauce, law, ::*''u'' - plug, glove ::*''ur'' - burn, teacher, work, first ::*''u-e'' - tune, unicorn, hue ::*''uh'' - button, hidden ::Consonants: ::*''b'' - boy, rabbit ::*''c / k'' - cat, key, duck, school, quit ::*''ch'' - chip, watch, statue ::*''d'' - dog, ladder ::*''f'' - fish, coffee, photo, tough ::*''g'' - gate, egg, ghost ::*''h'' - hat, whole ::*''j'' - jet, giant, cage, bridge ::*''k-s'' - box ::*''l'' - lip, bell, sample ::*''m'' - man, hammer, comb ::*''n'' - nut, dinner, knee, gnat ::*''ng'' - ring, singer ::*''p'' - pan, happy ::*''r'' - rat, cherry, write ::*''s / c'' - sun, dress, house, city, mice ::*''sh'' - ship, mission, station, chef ::*''t'' - tap, letter, debt ::*''th'' - thrush ::*''th'' - that ::*''v'' - vet, sleeve ::*''w'' - wet, wheel, queen ::*''y'' - yes, new ::*''z'' - zip, fizz, sneeze, is, cheese ::*''g-z'' - exist ::*''zh'' - treasure *learning to read words using sound ''blending'' in which each individual sound is joined together to form a word (e.g. ''c'' - ''a'' - ''t''= cat).; *reading stories featuring the words the students have learned to sound out; *demonstration exercises to show they comprehend the stories;


Systematic phonics

Systematic phonics is not one specific method of teaching phonics; rather, it is a family of phonics instruction that includes methods such as synthetic phonics and analytic phonics. They are "systematic" because the letters, and the sounds they relate to, are taught in a specific sequence; as opposed to incidentally or on a 'when-needed' basis. In the United Kingdom, the term "systematic phonics" is "generally understood as synthetic phonics" according to the reading review which was conducted in 2006. Systematic phonics does ''not'' include methods such as ''embedded phonics'' and ''phonics mini lessons'' which are found in the ''Whole Language'' approach and the ''Balanced Literacy'' approach.


Analytic phonics

In
analytic phonics Analytic phonics (sometimes referred to as analytical phonics or implicit phonics) refers to a very common approach to the teaching of reading that starts at the word level, not at the sound (phoneme) level. It does not teach the blending of sou ...
(sometimes referred to as analytical phonics) practitioners do not teach learners to pronounce sounds "in isolation" as is the practice with Synthetic Phonics. Furthermore, consonant blends (separate, adjacent consonants) are taught as units (e.g., in the word 'shrouds' the shr would be taught as a unit). Some analytic phonics programs (referred to as analogy phonics ) teach learners to break-down words into their common components which are referred to as the "onset" and the "rime". In the word ''ship'', ''sh'' is the "onset" and ''ip'' is the "rime" (the part starting with the vowel). In other words, analytic phonics teaches the learner to say ''sh'' - ''ip'' (ship) and ''sh'' - ''op'' (shop), whereas synthetic phonics teaches the learner to say ''sh - i - p'' (ship) and ''sh - o - p'' (shop). In analytic phonics, learners are also taught to find the similarities among words (e.g. man, can, tan, fan, and ran), whereas synthetic phonics devotes most of its time to learning the letter/sound relationships (i.e. grapheme/phoneme).


Synthetic phonics

Synthetic phonics uses the concept of 'synthesising', which means 'putting together' or 'blending'. Simply put, the sounds prompted by the letters are synthesised (put together or blended) to pronounce the word.


Common terminology

Some common terminology used within this article includes: *''alphabetic code'' (in synthetic phonics): The relationship between sounds (phonemes) and the letter/s (graphemes) that represent them are referred to as a "code". For example, the sound ''ay'' can be represented in many ways ''(e.g. cake, may, they, eight, aid, break, etc.)''. See also:
Alphabetic principle According to the alphabetic principle, letters and combinations of letters are the symbols used to represent the speech sounds of a language based on systematic and predictable relationships between written letters, symbols, and spoken words. The ...
*''decoding skills'' (in phonics): Without the use of context, to pronounce and ''read'' words accurately by using the relationship between the letter(s) and the sounds they represent. (i.e. ''cat'' is ''k - a - t'', ''plough'' is ''p - l - ow'', and ''school'' is ''s - k - oo - l''. ''Encoding skills'' (i.e. ''spelling'') is the same process in reverse. *
Direct instruction Direct Instruction (DI) is a term for the explicit teaching of a skill-set using lectures or demonstrations of the material to students. A particular subset of direct instruction, denoted by capitalization as Direct Instruction, refers to a speci ...
(also known as ''Explicit Instruction'' ): A teaching style that is characterized by "carefully designed instruction" that usually includes a fast pace, small steps, demonstrations, active participation, coaching, immediate correction, and positive feedback. *intensive instruction: teaching or tutoring that include some of the following: more time; peer-assisted strategies; and instruction in small groups or one-on-one. * peer-assisted literacy strategies: learners work in pairs (taking turns as teacher and learner) to learn a ''structured sequence'' of literacy skills, such as phonemic awareness, phonics, sound blending, passage reading, and story retelling. *supportive instruction: teaching or tutoring that supports the student both emotionally and cognitively. This includes encouragement, immediate feedback, positive reinforcement, and
instructional scaffolding Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning ...
(i.e. clear structure, small steps, guiding with questions).


History

The teaching of reading and writing has varied over the years from
spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...
and
phonetic Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
methods to the fashions for
look-say Whole language is a philosophy of reading and a discredited educational method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and ...
and
whole language Whole language is a philosophy of reading and a discredited educational method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and ...
methods. In America in the eighteenth century,
Noah Webster Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
introduced spelling approaches with syllabaries and in England the use of
James Pitman Sir Isaac James Pitman (known as James), KBE (14 August 1901 – 1 September 1985) was a distinguished publisher, senior civil servant, prominent educationalist, and leading politician, whose lifetime pursuit was the study of etymology, o ...
's
Initial Teaching Alphabet The Initial Teaching Alphabet (I.T.A. or i.t.a.) is a variant of the Latin alphabet developed by Sir James Pitman (the grandson of Sir Isaac Pitman, inventor of a system of shorthand) in the early 1960s. It was not intended to be a strictly phonet ...
was popular in the 1960s. Recently phonic methods have been revived.


Australia

In December 2005 the Department of Education, Science and Training of the Australian Government published a report entitled a National Inquiry into the Teaching of Reading. The report recommends direct and systematic instruction in phonics as the foundation of early reading instruction. It is not clear if all of the findings of the report are reflected in the
Australian Curriculum The Australian Curriculum is a national curriculum for all primary and secondary schools in Australia under progressive development, review, and implementation. The curriculum is developed and reviewed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment ...
. The report was critiqued by Phillip Cormack, University of South Australia, who states that the key to success in a reading lesson is the relationship between the teacher, the child and the material to be read. Some of the findings of the report are: * Among the successful schools visited, there were a number of key similarities. Three of those similarities are: :# a belief that each child can learn to read and write regardless of background; :# an early, systematic, and "explicit" (i.e. specific and clear) teaching of phonics; :#the phonics instruction was followed by "direct teaching". * Students learn best from an approach that includes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. (Executive Summary) * A whole-language approach, "on its own, is not in the best interests of children, particularly those experiencing reading difficulties". (Pg. 12) * Where there is unsystematic or no phonics instruction, children do not perform as well in such areas as reading accuracy, fluency, writing, spelling and comprehension. (Pg. 12) * A recommendation that teachers provide "systematic, direct and explicit phonics instruction". (Pg. 14) Dr Jennifer Buckingham, Senior Research Fellow,
Centre for Independent Studies The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) is an Australian libertarian think tank founded in 1976 which specialises in public policy research. It is based in Sydney and focuses on classical liberal issues such as free markets and limited gover ...
, AU published a research brief in June 2018 explaining Systematic Synthetic Phonics and the evidence supporting it. As of October 5, 2018, The State
Government of Victoria The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive ...
, Australia, publishes a website containing a comprehensive Literacy Teaching Toolkit including Effective Reading Instruction, Phonics, and Sample Phonics Lessons. It contains elements of synthetic phonics, analytic phonics, and analogy phonics.


Canada

In Canada, public education is the responsibility of the Provincial and Territorial governments. There is no evidence that ''systematic phonics (including synthetic phonics)'' has been specifically adopted by any of these jurisdictions. On the one hand, the curriculum of all of the Canadian provinces include some of the following: phonics,
phonological awareness Phonological awareness is an individual's awareness of the phonological structure, or sound structure, of words. Phonological awareness is an important and reliable predictor of later reading ability and has, therefore, been the focus of much res ...
, segmenting and blending, decoding,
phonemic awareness Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest mental units of sound that help to differentiate units of meaning ( morphemes). Separating the spoken w ...
, graphophonic cues, and letter-sound relationships. On the other hand, some of the practices of whole language are evident, such as: "use language prediction skills to identify unknown words"; "using three cueing systems: meaning, structure, and visual"; "reading on, omitting words, rereading and making substitutions"; "predict on the basis of what makes sense"; and "a wide variety of sight words". Yet, systematic phonics and synthetic phonics received attention in the following publications: * In 2005 the Ministry of Education for the government of
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
published a report entitled ''Early Reading Strategy: The Report of the Expert Panel on Early Reading in Ontario and Early Math Strategy''. The report states "This Expert Panel supports the position of the
National Reading Panel The National Reading Panel (NRP) was a United States government body. Formed in 1997 at the request of Congress, it was a national panel with the stated aim of assessing the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read. ...
(2000) that phonics instruction should be integrated into a comprehensive and balanced reading program. Instruction in phonics and decoding should not be conceived of as a total reading program, but neither should it be neglected." Pg 104 * The Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network published a report entitled Foundations for Literacy: An evidence-based Toolkit for the Effective Reading and Writing Teacher. It is a practical toolkit helping teachers to a) understand research in order to keep informed, b) understand how children develop reading and writing skills, and c) understand how to use effective instruction techniques. It also includes explanations of phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, the
alphabetic principle According to the alphabetic principle, letters and combinations of letters are the symbols used to represent the speech sounds of a language based on systematic and predictable relationships between written letters, symbols, and spoken words. The ...
(including systematic phonics and synthetic phonics instruction). * In 2009, the Ministry of Education for the province of
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
posted a discussion paper on their Read Now website entitled ''Reading: Breaking Through the Barriers.'' The paper states that explicit and synthetic phonics needs to be taught directly in the classroom because it works "for all students but are particularly helpful for students at risk for reading difficulty". (Pg. 8) There appears to be no evidence, however, that systematic phonics (or synthetic phonics) is a part of the teaching pedagogy. * In 2010, The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat of Ontario, Canada, published a report entitled Capacity Building Series: Reading Fluency that offers practical strategies to teach reading comprehension. This includes Automaticity (the ability to automatically decode words), Phrasing (reading phrases not only words), and Expression (moving from a monotone delivery to a natural rise and fall in pitch, tone and rhythm). In the section about decoding it discusses the importance of Phonological Awareness (hearing words in sentences and individual sounds in words), Alphabetic Letter Knowledge (identifying, naming and writing letters), and the Alphabetic Principle (understanding that letters represent the sounds of spoke language). In the latter, in addition to other suggestions, it is emphasized that teaching should include instruction in segmenting and blending alongside the explicit teaching of letter sounds. * Dr. Robert Savage, formerly of
McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
and now at
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,
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, concludes that, with respect to remedial programs, we should not wait for children to fail before using phonics programs. He also recommends the teaching of such skills as segmenting and blending alongside the "explicit teaching" of letter sounds. He also says there is a need for more
randomized controlled trial A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical te ...
s in order to produce more definitive conclusions. In another report about effective early reading instruction and inclusion, Savage states that "a heavy and early structured approach to early reading intervention focused on mastering the use of the alphabetic principle to decode as a self-teaching mechanism is enough to allow many children to take off into reading without further focused support beyond good regular classroom teaching". * In 2011, Dr. Janette Pelletier, OISE, University of Toronto published a paper entitled Supporting Early Language and Literacy that outlines several key findings from early literacy research, including the importance of teaching
phonological awareness Phonological awareness is an individual's awareness of the phonological structure, or sound structure, of words. Phonological awareness is an important and reliable predictor of later reading ability and has, therefore, been the focus of much res ...
and the "knowledge of letter names and letter-sound correspondences" also known as decoding. In 2021, the province of New Brunswick introduced a new English Language Arts curriculum that includes phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension. Notably, the teaching of alphabetic skills based on the science of reading has replaced the use of various cueing systems and a variety of strategies to construct meaning from text. It is not yet clear whether the teaching practices will lean towards synthetic phonics, or analytic phonics, or a combination of the two. On January 27, 2022, the
Ontario Human Rights Commission The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) was established in the Canadian province of Ontario on March 29, 1961, to administer the Ontario Human Rights Code. The OHRC is an arm's length agency of government accountable to the legislature through ...
(OHRC) released a report on its public inquiry into the right to read. The OHRC's report deals with all students, not just those with learning disabilities. The inquiry found that Ontario is not fulfilling its obligations to meet students' right to read. The Minister of Education for Ontario responded to this report by saying the government is taking immediate action to improve student literacy and making longer-term reforms to modernize the way reading is taught and assessed in schools, with a focus on phonics. Their plan includes "revising the elementary Language curriculum and the Grade 9 English course with scientific, evidence-based approaches that emphasize direct, explicit and systematic instruction and removing references to unscientific discovery and inquiry-based learning, including the three-cueing system, by 2023." It remains to be seen whether Ontario's curriculum will lean towards synthetic phonics, analytic phonics, or a combination of both.


United Kingdom

A review of the teaching of early reading was undertaken by Sir Jim Rose at the request of the
Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Department ...
. While the report often uses the term "''Systematic'' Phonic work", it appears to support "''Synthetic'' Phonics" as evidenced in the Rose Review in 2006. In fact, the Department of Education, England uses the term "systematic synthetic phonics". The following is a summary of the report's observations and recommendations concerning phonics: #The skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing are used by (and are supported by) what it refers to as "high quality, systematic phonics". #Young children should receive sufficient pre-reading instruction so they are able to start systematic phonics work "by the age of five". #High quality phonics work should be taught as "the prime approach" to teaching reading, writing, and spelling. #Phonics instruction should form a part of "a broad and rich language curriculum". Note: critics of this report point out that the report does not explain what they mean by this, nor does it offer any details on how to achieve this within the framework of synthetic phonics' instruction.


Critics of the report

* In a report dated April 2007, professors Dominic Wyse and Morag Styles conclude that the evidence "supports" systematic phonics; however, the Rose Report's assertion that synthetic phonics should be the "preferred method" is "not supported by research evidence". This criticism is based on the way the research was conducted and how the results were interpreted. * In October 2011, The ''National Campaign for Real Nursery Education'' web site (U.K.) comments on the U.K. government's intent to impose a specific type of phonics teaching (i.e. systematic, synthetic phonics) in the nursery and reception years, and suggests that this decision was not supported by the "research evidence".


Developments following the Rose Report

* Following the adoption of the phonics approach in its schools, the
Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
, England provided a great deal of online support for teachers wishing to learn more about effective phonics teaching strategies. In 2010, the U.K. Office for Standards in Education (
Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...
) released a report entitled Reading by Six - How the best schools do it. It reported that twelve successful schools employed common methods of teaching reading using systematic phonics with features such as; having a clearly defined and incremental approach to the correspondence between the letters and the sounds; applying the blending of the sounds all through the word; and segmenting the phonemes (sounds) to spell the words. * In March 2011 the Department of Education, England released its White paper entitled "The Importance of Teaching". In the Executive Summary, item 12 of the curriculum section states their commitment to support "systematic synthetic phonics, as the best method for teaching reading." *As of 2013, all (local-authority-maintained) primary schools in England have a statutory requirement to teach synthetic phonics in years one and two. In addition, any pupil who is struggling to decode words properly by year three must "urgently" receive help through a "rigorous and systematic phonics programme". * In 2014 Ofsted updated their guidance for school inspectors to include practical tips on how schools should teach reading with systematic phonics, including "Getting them Reading Early". It describes "The simple view of reading" as the word recognition processes (recognizing the words on the page, free of context and using phonics) and the language recognition processes (understanding the meaning of the language). It also includes some videos to illustrate its principles. * The
Progress in International Reading Literacy Study The IEA's Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international study of reading (comprehension) achievement in fourth graders. It has been conducted every five years since 2001 by the International Association for the Evalu ...
(PIRLS 2016) report was released in December 2017. It reports on the reading abilities of students aged 9 and 10 in 50 countries, and shows that England has risen to Joint 8th place in 2016; its best since 2001. This confirms "that our approach is working", according to Minister Nick Gibb. PIRLS 2016 has a summary of England's Language/Reading Curriculum in the Fourth Grade that shows the increased emphasis on "phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words until automatic decoding has become embedded and reading is fluent". * In 2016 the London School of Economics published a paper that supports the teaching of synthetic phonics to disadvantaged children because it helps to close the literacy gap. * Some critics continue to raise concerns about how Systematic Synthetic Phonics is being taught and assessed, and whether it puts too much emphasis on decoding at the expense of other factors such as vocabulary and "learning to read". * In 2018, Ofsted, as part of its curriculum research has produced a YouTube video on Early Reading. It states "It is absolutely essential that every child master the phonic code as quickly as possible ... So, successful schools firstly teach phonics first, fast and furious." As of September, 2019, the Ofsted inspections will focus more on what is taught and how it is taught, and less on the test data. * While there has been concern expressed about the phonics screening test at the end of year one, some report that phonics is especially valuable for poor readers and those without English as a first language. In January 2019 Ofsted published a report entitled ''Education inspection framework: overview of research'' that further supports ''systematic synthetic phonics'' together with phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. * In January 2022, a report from
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
said that the current emphasis in English schools on synthetics phonics is not underpinned by the evidence. It says their analyses of the
PISA Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
data suggest that teaching reading in England has been less successful since the introduction of more emphasis on synthetic phonics, "although the correlations reported here require further research". In addition, statisticians from several universities question the validity of the PISA results. The report also says "although there remains no doubt that phonics teaching in general is one important component in the teaching of reading, the research certainly does not suggest the complete exclusion of whole language teaching". It recommends that the national curriculum policy be changed and that the focus of political control over curriculum, pedagogy and assessment should be reevaluated. The researchers were among 250 signatories to a letter to the education secretary calling on the government to allow for a wider range of approaches to teaching reading. A Department for Education spokesperson said "Since the introduction of the phonics screening check in 2012, the percentage of Year 1 pupils meeting the expected standard in reading has risen from 58% to 82%, with 92% of children achieving this standard by Year 2".


Scotland

Education Scotland Education Scotland ( gd, Foghlam Alba) is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, tasked with improving the quality of the country's education system. Origins The creation of the Agency was announced by Scottish Government Education a ...
found that explicit, systematic phonics programs, usually embedded in a rich literacy environment, give an additional four months progress over other programs such as whole language, and are particularly beneficial for young learners (aged 4–7). There is evidence, though less secure, that synthetic phonics programs may be more beneficial than
analytic phonics Analytic phonics (sometimes referred to as analytical phonics or implicit phonics) refers to a very common approach to the teaching of reading that starts at the word level, not at the sound (phoneme) level. It does not teach the blending of sou ...
programs; however it is more important to systematically teach to the children's needs. Synthetic phonics in Scotland has its roots in the Clackmannanshire Report, a seven-year study that was published in 2005. It compared analytic Phonics with synthetic Phonics and advantaged students with disadvantaged children. The report concluded that "the synthetic phonics programme led to children from lower socio-economic backgrounds performing at the same level as children from advantaged backgrounds for most of their time in primary school. It also led to boys performing better than or as well as girls." Critics of the report claim that the results were exaggerated and due to more than just synthetic phonics. A five-year follow-up of the study concluded that the beneficial effects were long-lasting, in fact the reading gains increased.


United States

The United States has a long history of debate concerning the various methods used to teach reading, including
phonics Phonics is a method for teaching people how to Reading, read and write an alphabetic language (such as English alphabet, English, Arabic alphabet, Arabic or Russian alphabet, Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the so ...
. In 1999, The
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development The ''Eunice Kennedy Shriver'' National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It supports and conducts research aime ...
(NICHD) appears to conclude that systematic phonics programs are "significantly more effective" than non-phonics programs. It also concludes that they found no significant difference between the different phonics approaches, while suggesting that more evidence may be required. The NICHD has come out in support of phonics instruction. The institute conducts and supports research on all stages of human development. The institute conducted a
meta-analysis A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies. Meta-analyses can be performed when there are multiple scientific studies addressing the same question, with each individual study reporting me ...
and, in 2000 it published a report entitled ''Report of the
National Reading Panel The National Reading Panel (NRP) was a United States government body. Formed in 1997 at the request of Congress, it was a national panel with the stated aim of assessing the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read. ...
: Teaching Children to Read''. Some ''findings and determinations'' of this report are: *Teaching
phonemic awareness Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest mental units of sound that help to differentiate units of meaning ( morphemes). Separating the spoken w ...
(PA) to children was "highly effective" with a variety of children under a variety of conditions. (Note: Phonemic Awareness is the ability to manipulate sounds (
phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
s) in spoken
syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...
s and words. Phonemes are the smallest units of sounds comprising spoken language. For example, the words ''go'' and ''she'' each consist of two sounds or phonemes, ''g-o'' (IPA ) and ''sh-e'' (IPA ), respectively. *Reading instruction that taught PA improved the children's reading ability significantly more than those that lacked this instruction. *PA helped normally achieving children to spell but was not effective in helping disabled readers to spell better. *"Systematic synthetic phonics" instruction had a positive and significant effect on helping disabled readers, low achieving students, and students with low socioeconomic status to read words more effectively than instruction methods that lacked this approach. *Systematic Phonics instruction improved the ability of good readers to spell. Poor readers experienced a small improvement in spelling. Other findings of this report are: * Guided Oral Reading (reading out loud and receiving systematic and explicit feedback from a teacher) "had a significant and positive impact on word recognition, fluency, and comprehension". * The value of Independent Silent Reading is unclear; however it is clear that it should not be the only type of reading instruction to develop fluency and other reading skills. * Vocabulary, both oral and print, should be taught directly and indirectly because it leads to gains in comprehension. * Teaching a combination of reading comprehension techniques is the most effective, however more research is needed to determine which techniques are the most effective. In 2014 the
California Department of Education The California Department of Education is an agency within the Government of California that oversees public education. The department oversees funding and testing, and holds local educational agencies accountable for student achievement. Its st ...
stated "Ensuring that children know how to decode regularly spelled one-syllable words by mid-first grade is crucial". It goes on to say that "Children need to be phonemically aware (especially able to segment and blend phonemes)". The skills of segmenting and blending phonemes are a central aspect of synthetic phonics. In grades two and three children receive explicit instruction in advanced phonic-analysis and reading multi-syllabic and more complex words. In 2015 the New York State Public School system began a process to revise its English Language Arts Learning Standards. The standards were revised in 2017 and call for teaching involving "reading or literacy experiences" as well as
phonemic awareness Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest mental units of sound that help to differentiate units of meaning ( morphemes). Separating the spoken w ...
from prekindergarten to grade 1 and phonics, word recognition, and word analysis skills in decoding words from grade 1 to grade 4. They will become effective at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. In 2015 the Ohio Legislature set minimum standards requiring the use of phonics as a technique in teaching reading. It includes guidelines for teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. The Ohio Department of Education has created a guidance manual for the year 2018–2019 that outlines the requirements for Researched-Based Reading Instruction. By 2019 the new curricula appears to be paying off. Edweek.org reported that one elementary school in Ohio found that "3rd grade test scores went from the worst in the district—44 percent proficient in 2016—to the best, 71 percent in 2019." They also say "Third grade reading proficiency districtwide moved from 53 percent in 2016 to 64 percent in 2019". In 2016 the What Works Clearinghouse and the
Institute of Education Sciences The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the independent, non-partisan statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. IES' stated mission is to provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice ...
, an independent and non-partisan arm of the
U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
, published an Educator's Practice Guide (with evidence) on Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade. It contains four recommendations to support reading: 1) Teach students academic language skills, including the use of inferential and narrative language, and vocabulary knowledge, 2) Develop awareness of the segments of sounds in speech and how they link to letters (phonemic awareness and phonics), 3) Teach students to decode words, analyze word parts, and write and recognize words (phonics and synthetic phonics), and 4) Ensure that each student reads connected text every day to support reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Some universities have created additional material based on this guide In 2018 The
Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...
published an article entitled ''Ending the Reading Wars: Reading Acquisition From Novice to Expert''. The purpose of the article is to fill the gap between the current research knowledge and the public understanding about how we learn to read, and to explain "why phonics instruction is so central to learning in a writing system such as English". It points out that if reading instruction relied only on the association between the printed word and meaning (as in Whole Language) it would require the memorization of thousands of individual words. Thus, "systematic phonics instruction should be viewed as a natural and logical consequence of the manner in which alphabetic writing systems represent spoken language". There is, however, still a debate as to which systematic phonics method is most effective, synthetic or analytic. The article also explains that despite the weight of evidence supporting systematic phonics, it has only been fully implemented in England. The United States does have
Common Core State Standards Initiative The Common Core State Standards Initiative, also known as simply Common Core, is an educational initiative from 2010 that details what K–12 students throughout the United States should know in English language arts and mathematics at the conc ...
that include recommendations for Print Concepts, Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Fluency; however not all states have adopted these standards. In 2018 the
Arkansas Department of Education Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
, Literacy Support Unit, published a report about their new initiative known as R.I.S.E., Reading Initiative for Student Excellence, that was the result of The Right to Read Act, passed in 2017. This was inspired because, as of 2015, less than half of their students were reading at grade level, placing them in the bottom third of States in relation to national reading assessments. The first goal of this initiative is to provide educators with the in-depth knowledge and skills of "the science of reading" and evidence-based instructional strategies. This includes a change of focus to research-based instruction on phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Specific requirements are that reading instruction be systematic and explicit, and include decoding techniques. Part of the instruction involves the use of a book and study guide entitled Essentials of Assessing, Preventing and Overcoming Reading Difficulties, by David Kilpatrick. In 2019 the
International Literacy Association The International Literacy Association (ILA), formerly the International Reading Association (IRA), is an international global advocacy and member professional organization that was created in 1956 to improve reading instruction, facilitate dialo ...
released a report entitled Meeting the Challenges of Early Literacy Phonics Instruction The report clearly supports the use of phonics instruction that is explicit and systematic, stating that "phonics instruction is helpful for all students, harmful for none, and crucial for some". It also offers an opinion on the ten most common causes of Phonics Instructional Failure, namely: inadequate time devoted to mastering a new phonics skill such as blending (4–6 weeks recommended); lack of application to real reading instruction; inappropriate reading material to practice the skills; too much teacher instruction, and too little reading by the student; lost time during instructional transitions; the teacher's attitude and knowledge of phonics instructional material; lessons that are not fast-paced and rigorous; lack of assessments over an extended period of time; waiting too long to transition to multi-syllable words; and over emphasis of phonics drills at the expense of other aspects such as vocabulary.


See also

*
Alphabetic principle According to the alphabetic principle, letters and combinations of letters are the symbols used to represent the speech sounds of a language based on systematic and predictable relationships between written letters, symbols, and spoken words. The ...
*
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
*
Auditory processing disorder Auditory processing disorder (APD), rarely known as King-Kopetzky syndrome or auditory disability with normal hearing (ADN), is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting the way the brain processes auditory information. Individuals with APD usually ...
*
British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
*
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
*
Reading for special needs Reading for special needs has become an area of interest as the understanding of reading has improved. Teaching children with special needs how to read was not historically pursued due to perspectives of a Reading Readiness model. This model assum ...
:''Note: This article uses British
Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent traditionally regarded as the Standard language, standard and most Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been ...
.''


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Reading Matters: Connecting Science and Education, Mark Seidenberg
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Synthetic Phonics Phonics Reading (process) Learning to read