Why synthetic phonics

Thirdly, although synthetic phonics enables most children to successfully master the skill of word recognition, it does not enable all children to do so. If it did, there would be no tail of under-achievement in reading.

Alternative approaches to phonics and reading may therefore be required for children who are still operating in the early stages of reading development at a later stage in their primary education.

Evidence suggests that no single method of teaching children to read is superior to any other Landerl, ; Walton et al. However, there is clear evidence that a systematic approach to phonics produces gains in word reading and spelling Torgerson et al.

Evidence suggests that as long as reading instruction is systematic, this leads to similar gains in word reading Landerl, ; Walton et al.

Based on the evidence cited in this paper, providers of initial teacher education should:. The documentation cited in this paper demonstrates that there is a clear policy agenda which is mandating the teaching of synthetic phonics both in schools and in initial teacher education provision in England. It is deeply worrying that despite the methodological weaknesses of the research into synthetic phonics, this approach is being heralded as the best approach for promoting early reading development.

It is also worrying that educational policy decisions in relation to phonics do not reflect research findings which demonstrate that there is no conclusive evidence that one approach to teaching phonics is better than another.

The mandate in the ITE inspection framework will penalize ITT providers which choose to introduce trainee teachers to other approaches to teaching early reading. However, the approach does not work for all children. If it did, there would not be a tail of underachievement in reading in England. SS summarized existing policy in relation to the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics.

JG summarised the policy context and research findings in relation to systematic synthetic phonics. SS addressed the implications of the research and edited the text. JG situated this policy within the current context and in doing so identified implications, recommendations, and conclusions. SS and JG edited and proofread. Both authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Brown, G. Units of analysis in nonword reading: evidence from children and adults. Child Psychol. Clark, M. Learning to be Literate. Birmingham: Glendale Education. Google Scholar. Synthetic Phonics and Literacy Learning. De Graaff, S. Benefits of systematic phonics instruction.

Department for Education London: DfE. Department for Education and Education Endowment Foundation Glazzard, J. Assessing reading development through systematic synthetic phonics. Goswami, U. Synthetic phonics and learning to read: a cross-language perspective. Non-word reading across orthographies: how flexible is the choice of reading units? Johnston, R. Accelerating the development of reading, spelling and phonemic awareness.

Landerl, K. Influences of orthographic consistency and reading instruction on the development of nonword reading skills. Office for Standards in Education a. The Education Inspection Framework. Manchester: Ofsted. Office for Standards in Education b.

Education Inspection Framework Overview of Research. Office for Standards in Education Price-Mohr, R. Gender differences in early reading strategies: a comparison of synthetic phonics only with a mixed approach to teaching reading to year-old children. Early Childh. Synthetic phonics and decodable instructional reading texts: how far do these support poor readers? Dyslexia 24, — A comparison of children aged years learning to read through instructional texts containing either a high or low proportion of phonically decodable words.

Rose, J. Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading. Seymour, P. Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. Solar, J. The politics of teaching reading. Look at all the words they could read with only these 8 sounds:. Educators: Start Exploring with a Teacher Account. Synthetic Phonics Research shows that to get every child reading and spelling we need to teach phonics with a systematic and explicit approach. Learning to read with our synthetic phonics games.

What Characterises a Synthetic Phonics Approach? The teaching reading and spelling with synthetic phonics will have the following characteristics: 1 A simple to complex logic The English language has 26 letters but 44 unique sounds, each with lots of different ways to spell them. First off, children are taught that each alphabet letter has its own unique sound.

For example: Once children have this concept, the logic is made a little harder. For example: The next layer of complexity is where you really start to see spelling improve. For example: 2 Decoding is the first strategy to read and it should happen quickly As soon as children have learned between alphabet sounds, they must start blending to read words. Children tackle each word with four steps: Click here to download this image as a poster for your classroom.

This takes a five step process: Click here to download this image as a poster for your classroom. Look at all the words they could read with only these 8 sounds: At a Glance, Synthetic Phonics Teaches Children: That spoken words are composed of sounds.

The 44 sounds of the English language. The program comprises highly structured, systematic and sequential skills-based lessons and activities that match an individual letter, or letter combination, with its appropriate sound. Children are taught to blend sounds all the way through a word in order to read it, as well as how to spell.

They learn this through a variety of fun and interactive games and activities. Reading Eggs introduces the technique of reading words from left to right and blending all the way through the word from the very first lesson. Reading Eggs teaches children how to hear individual phonemes and blend them all the way through to create a word.

Early lessons and activities help children to identify how many phonemes they can hear within a word. Other activities prompt them to listen to individual phonemes and to identify the initial, middle, and final sound within the word. See how Reading Eggs works with a free trial now. Toggle navigation.

Back to Articles Synthetic Phonics What is synthetic phonics? Free trial Synthetic phonics vs analytic phonics There are two main types of phonics: synthetic phonics and analytic phonics.