systematic phonics vs synthetic phonics

The difference, of course, is that I didn't make claims about what your book said based on my non-reading of it. The reason for the claim that analytic phonics was better was it supposedly was showing students a process more like the one that they would actually use to read, and it wasn’t messed up by all those extra vowel sounds that synthetic phonics was plagued by (it is impossible to pronounce most consonants without adding a vowel, hence the added “uh”s above for the /b/ and /t/ sounds). The take away: Make sure young children receive daily, explicit, Unlike broad-based meta-analytic comparisons, there was strict control of the new printed words used to teach all of the groups compared in our studies, so issues of pace of print exposure between studies do not arise. Systematic, not synthetic. adding vowel sounds to individual consonant phonemes. And since 2012, a PSC was introduced in order to encourage better teaching of systematic phonics and to assess how well children decode regular words and pseudowords. I work hard, tutoring now as Joyce does, to eradicate reinforced habits caused by the addition of a vowel at the beginning of some consonants. I also used Zoophonics as my "letter-embedded picture mnemonics" (See Ehri (2014) Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight words reading, spelling memory, and vocabulary learning in Scientific Studies of Reading), so I sometimes referred to the Zoophonic names, in this case Ollie and Yancy. As Diane McGuinness pointed out in Early Reading Instruction: What Science Really Tells Us About How To Teach Reading, we need much better descriptors for the different types of phonics and she explains why the attempt in the NRP to specify variations among phonics programs is unsatisfactory (p.129-131). He studies reading and writing across all ages and abilities. A neuropsychologist shows how outmoded methods for teaching reading have resulted in plummeting literacy levels and offers a new program, based on careful research, that teaches any child--including those with attention deficits--to read ... See: https://cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristol.ac.uk/dist/b/403/files/2017/10/Beyond-Phonics-The-Case-for-Teaching-Children-the-Logic-of-the-English-Spelling-System.pdf For more on these points, I recommend, "Testing a Nested skills Model of the Relations Among Invented Spelling, Accurate Spelling, and Word Reading, from Kindergarten to Grade 1" by Monique Sénéchal published in Early Child Development and Care, 2017, and "Rethinking Sight Words" by Katherine Pace Miles in this month's The Reading Teacher. Sloppy logic. But then others cite the summary statement, and then strong conclusions become the conventional wisdom. I'm on the Alphabetics committee of the National Reading Panel. Writing samples from real kids pre-K–3, Why Some Kids Struggle Don’t get me wrong. Surely the outcome of the evidence-based meta-analysis of research of the NRP (2000) , clearly determined that a systematic phonic approach was necessary for beginner readers, and put this old chestnut to bed. Indeed, Camilli’s reanalyzes of the NRP (2000) report showed that systematic phonics is better than a no phonics control condition. Johnston, R. and Watson, J. . It’s in its 6th edition and is widely used by reading teachers. I think the quote provided by Stephen Parker provides a nice illustration of how the meta-analyses are taken to support stronger conclusions that warranted. The Complete Phonic Handbook is the essential reference for teachers or general readers who want to improve their spelling and reading. In two important but largely ignored papers, Camilli et al. 2. "For children who come to school with little letter name knowledge, embedded picture mnemonics are valuable for teaching letter-sound associations and providing instruction that enables children to incorporate this knowledge into segmenting, blending, and remembering how to read words from memory. I taught my analytic phonics lessons, following all the steps I had been taught and my kids — well some of my kids — did fine. 1) No sight words (except high-frequency words with rare spelings) This 4. 7. "…findings provided solid support for the conclusion that systematic phonics instruction makes a more significant contribution to children’s growth in reading than do alternative programs providing unsystematic or no phonics instruction [bold added]" (NRP, 2000, p. 2-132). By contrast, my kindergarteners learned the word play as /p/ /l/ /ay/, which is why one of my students went on to write the word "make" as "mayk", a phonetic spelling that was perfectly fine until she learned the other pictures for /ae/. As children attempt to use written language for communication, they will discover naturally what they need to know about letter-sound relationships and how letters function in reading and writing.” (2-102) Clearly it does not. same pattern of results that we’d eventually conclude that synthetic phonics is The “reading wars” was about whether systematic phonics is better than whole language, and the research community overwhelmingly take the NRP (2000) and many subsequent meta-analyses as providing evidence in support of systematic phonics. HOWEVER, most is not all. It is important for this knowledge to become useful for transitioning into reading and spelling rather than sitting as isolated knowledge. We review the 38 existing experimental studies on teaching phonics in grades K-12. What did we find out about synthetic phonics versus analytic phonics? This third edition focuses on helping the preservice teacher become an "Effective and Influential Reading Teacher," one whom students remember years later as a special teacher and person. It fails point 2) above, because most of the instruction is not explicit, but rather relies on “discovery.” And it totally ignores point 3). more effective for older readers without any reading problems, for example, phonics It is widely held as the best approach to reading instruction for children. For all their value, meta-analyses like the NRP report do have limitations and often cannot provide nuanced information, so we should be careful in the conclusions we draw from them. I'm not supporting whole language, I'm just pointing out that none of the meta-analyses used to support systematic phonics have shown that systematic phonics is better than whole language. Report of the National Reading Panel : hearing before a subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate; One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session; special heÅ April 13, 2000; Washington, DC. Found insideWith a balance of research and practice, this book allows trainees to develop and in-depth understanding of what works in phonics teaching, and why. might need it.). In the United Kingdom, the term "systematic phonics" is "generally understood as synthetic phonics" according to the reading review which was conducted in 2006. Thank you!! They then rapidly learnt more letter sounds and continued to use the strategy. I am a literacy professor and I love this blog for my preservice teachers. Why I wonder is there so much blinkered and entrenched resistance to using this proven systematic synthetic phonics approach to teaching beginner readers? It worked fine, usually, but there were kids who struggled to use words as analogies and to recognize the larger spelling units. K-3 professional development course, Looking at Writing But for the moment, the focus of my question was not about our different preferences. The big take-away from my years of experience with this: If kids are having trouble learning something, simplify it. We followed the board’s trusted programme and reinforced it, adding onset and rhyme and spelling patterns right up to P7. By contrast, analytic approaches focus attention on larger spelling generalizations (like rimes: ab, ad, ag, ack, am, an) and word analogies (if game is pronounced with a long a then came must be pronounced with a long a). Find the best apps for building literacy skills. Briefly, I’ll summarize two key reasons why the current evidence does not support phonics. There There have been lots of reading recommendations in these posts, which I'll pursue. Synthetic Phonics. The book includes chapters on: - How children learn to read and how phonics helps - The role of early phonics teaching - Classroom approaches to phonics teaching - Involving parents and carers - Speaking and phonological awareness - ... However, while I would definitely start with synthetic (or I would insert some synthetic instruction into my analytic program as needed), at some point kids should be analyzing the similarities and differences in words (and this analysis should consider both phonemic and morphological features and should address the pronunciation, spelling, and meaning implications of these patterns). This is a far cry from the standard claim that the evidence for systematic phonics is overwhelming. It is up to the teacher to recognize these weaknesses and support the framework with good teaching methods. (NPR, 2000, p. I can still see my biggest struggler writing a story about a new toy and asking me what /oy/ looks like because he knew that letters are pictures of sounds, but he just didn't know the picture for /oy/. My free phonics book can be found at parkerphonics (dot com). I really appreciate that you were able to confirm with the author of the text that there was not direct research evidence one way or the other. these kids, working with each of the individual letters was simpler to Lord protect us from those who aim to explain what we said. To reiterate Dr Shanaghan, the solution has to be a mixture of both synthetic and analytical. Teacher question: I’ve taught literacy and literacy courses in every grade from K-graduate school. I think explicit teaching trumps the synthetic vs. analytic conundrum. If that is correct, the logical assumption is that this is presented as a research based recommendation - not to teach letter names. Lessons should move on to include the advanced spelling code (the 136 remaining common spellings). Thanks, Dr. Shanahan! The Rose Report did conclude that synthetic phonics was best, but provided no analysis of research results supporting that particular claim... it was just a claim with no evidence. English-speaking government inquiries all concluded that your phonics teaching should be explicit and systematic – known as ‘synthetic phonics’ approach. You cite your own anecdotal experience to show why you find this helpful. Journal of learning disabilities, 49(1), 77-96. I feel that with some students, analytic phonics causes them to guess words. Since then it has happened numerous times, like it did this approaches. What it means is that there are no instructional studies whatsoever (not even 1) that support your recommendations for what teachers should teach. Harriet and Pete- The sole purpose of the ‘named’ Rose Report (2006), of a type not used in the US, was to provide the answer to this seeming conundrum. For many children (most children) a synthetic phonics program can and will work. “Phonics instruction, taught early, proved much more effective than phonics instruction introduced after first grade… Phonics instruction produces the biggest impact on growth in reading when it begins in kindergarten or 1st grade, before children have learned to read independently. “The synthetic phonics method as implemented in our studies involved, right from the start of school, children learning a small number of letter sounds and using that knowledge right away to sound and blend the letters to find out how to pronounce unfamiliar words. I'm not trying to explain what the Panel said; I'm reporting what the Panel said in no uncertain terms. (2006) failed to observe a significant benefit of systematic compared to non-systematic phonics (as practiced in whole language for example). Read more. They must first discover phonemes, then map letters into sounds, and then estabish a second lexical reading route. . The National Reading Panel condemned Whole Language and endorsed “systematic” phonics. Children learn that t says “t” (not Tuh! Pinpoint the problem a struggling reader is having and how to help, Reading Interventions with a long a). Synthetic phonics works better when it includes explicit teaching in blending, including engaging kids in the kinds of exercises one finds in Words their Way, morphological teaching, or other more analytic approaches. But here is a quote from Ehri et al. What did the National Reading Panel conclude about synthetic and analytic phonics instruction? It's like how reading/writing are reciprocal. "I used to walk to school with my nose buried in a book." This is an essential guide to teaching primary English, with a focus on systematic synthetic phonics. Stephen (correctly) quotes the NPR report: effect size difference—harder to learn, but it can avoid some of those blending The boys taught by the synthetic phonics method had better word reading than the girls in their classes, and their spelling and reading comprehension was as good. gives a sense that it is a research-based practice, but I didn't know of any research on this question. “catch”). He was inducted to the Reading Hall of Fame in 2007, and is a former first-grade teacher. (2006) meta-analysis not that of the National Reading Panel (Ehri, et al., 2001) found evidence for a difference in effect size across the two methods. But should that phonics be analytic or synthetic? have reduced effect sizes in the studies we examined. In the United Kingdom this approach is known as synthetic phonics. Programs should be designed to use systematically taught synthetic phonics as the main approach with analytic phonics possible as needed. Timothy, you ask "Show me where" the NRP condemns Whole Language. Teachers should be allowed to use analytic phonics for those students who need them. Themed Booklists However, many schools are still teaching ‘analytic’ phonics. . run counter to current government policy that systematic synthetic phonics be taught first, fast and only; yet many teachers did not appear to appreciate there was a conflict. You might consider reading that literature. (You might not have taught letter names, Harriet, but don't be surprised to find that many/most of the kids' parents did.) And yes, I am admin for the closed Facebook group Dyslexia NI Helps Kids Read - UK USA World. So, I know that b makes /b/, and a makes /?/ and t makes /t/… so it is buh-?-tuh … buh-?-tuh… /bat/. Phonics are essential to literacy and children’s ability to learn to read and write. Diane McGuinness details what she calls a "prototype" for "what a successful reading/spelling program should or should not contain" (p. 121), and I do follow these principles: He studies the teaching of reading and writing across all ages and abilities. A Facebook reading-support group 'DyslexiaNI' from Northern Ireland fumes that schools using Jolly Phonics are teaching the wrong sounds, for example ‘m’ as ‘em’, or ‘n’ as ‘en’. But don’t be fanatical about synthetic or analytic I knew nothing to refute any of those definitions or claims, so dutifully recorded it all in my notes. However, it should be noted that, in most instances, the Reading it, you’ll find that the first 2 years of instruction consist largely in “invented spelling,” “pretend reading,” memorization of sight words, and word-guessing. Primary teacher training in wholly inadequate. 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