Phonics

From Conservapedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Fox (Talk | contribs) at 13:15, May 12, 2008. It may differ significantly from current revision.

Jump to: navigation, search
Jolly Phonics is a British synthetic phonics method of teaching literacy, developed by Sue Lloyd and Sara Wernham, primary school teachers at Woods Loke School in Lowestoft, England.

Phonics consists of reading based on phonetic building blocks of language, rather than trying to memorize full words and reading based on recognition of words. Having learned the various English sounds (phonemes), then the letters they correspond to, children are then able to read many English words. The term may be used to describe two methods of teaching, "synthetic" and "analytic" phonics. Synthetic phonics is the most widespread and produces the best results; analytic phonics is commonly called "phoney phonics", relying as it does on beginning with whole words learnt by global shape ("initial sight vocabulary") and the building of a "keyword sight cocabulary."

Under phonics, once a child learns the basic and simple phonetic building blocks, the child can read any word and any book. Public schools have typically taught a "look and say" or word recognition approach to reading[1][2]which limits the child to reading only words that the child knows.

One reason homeschoolers perform better than public school students on tests[3] is because homeschoolers learn how to read with phonics in higher percentages than public school students do.[4]

Effectiveness

A study[5] conducted by the University of St Andrews' School of Psychology, involving 300 children divided into three groups receiving different methods of literacy education demonstrated:

  • the synthetic phonics group were reading and spelling 7 months ahead of chronological age
  • the synthetic phonics group were 7 months ahead in reading compared with the other two groups
  • the synthetic phonics groups were 8 months and 9 months respectively ahead in spelling compared with the other two groups
  • the synthetic phonics group had the best levels of rhyme and phoneme awareness

The British Jolly Phonics synthetic phonics method was found in independent studies to give children, after one year's tuition, an average reading age around 12 months ahead of chronological age. Their spelling age was found to be slightly further ahead, and boys typically did as well as girls. Synthetic phonics has a major and long-lasting effect on children's reading and spelling attainment, and gives children strategies for reading and writing that they wouldn't otherwise have had at the early stages using other methods.[6]

Five basic skills

The basic skills taught through phonics are:

  1. Learning the letter sounds
  2. Learning letter formation
  3. Blending
  4. Identifying sounds in words
  5. Spelling the "tricky" words

Learning the letter sounds

Synthetic phonics teaches the 42 main sounds used in the English language, and children are taught each letter by its sound rather than its name, eg a is called a as in ant not aim and n is called nn as in net. This is a deliberate process to assist the child in blending the sounds, and the names of the letters are taught later.

The sounds are usually broken down into 7 groups:

  1. s a t i p n
  2. c k e h r m d
  3. g o u l f b
  4. ai j oa ie ee or
  5. z w ng v oo oo
  6. y x ch sh th th
  7. qu ou oi ue er ar

The letters are not taught in an alphabetical order, and are grouped to reflect their use through the teaching process - the first group s a t i p n, for example, can be used to make more simple three-letter words than any other six letters. The two-letter sounds (digraphs) such as th and oo which can make two different sounds are presented in slightly different forms. The letters b and d are also taught at separate stages, as these are a common source of confusion for children. Sounds that can be written in more than one way are taught in their simplest form first, with alternative spellings being introduced later.

An example of a stage 1 phonics workbook

Learning letter formation

Emphasis is placed on the correct formation of letters, beginning with the correct grip of the pencil, and progressing through shape-formation and exercises to the actual writing of the letters.

Blending

Synthetic phonics uses blending - saying the individual sounds in a word and then running them together to say the word - rather than the "look-say" word recognition used by whole language teaching.

Identifying sounds in words

Children begin learning how to spell a word by listening for the sounds in that word.

Spelling "tricky" words

Some words in the English language use an irregular spelling which defies the blending process, such as said and one. Children are taught to recognise and remember these so-called "tricky" words.

External links

  • Jolly, Christopher. The Jolly Phonics story. "Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society" J28 2000/2 pp16-18. Online version at The Spelling Society. 12 May 2008.
  • Reading Reform Foundation - UK chapter of the organisation set up to tackle the high functional illiteracy rates among children and adults in the United Kingdom and in the English-speaking world. 12 May 2008.
  • Shadwell, Jo. Sound Sense: "How learning to love Synthetic Phonics could revolutionise teachers' working lives...to say nothing of the children's!" Article at syntheticphonics.com. 12 May 2008.

References

  1. "Whole language reading instruction (also known as "look-say" or "sight" reading) is the most widely used method of teaching reading in the U.S. and many other countries." Whole Language vs. Phonics
  2. "The education establishment prefers whole language, while most parents and some teachers prefer a phonetic approach." Whole-Language Boondoggle
  3. http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200410250.asp
  4. Most homeschool curricula are phonics-based. See, e.g., Saxon
  5. C-a-t spells success in early literacy. 25 February 1999. BBC News. 10 May 2008
  6. Sounds help pupils with reading. BBC news Channel. 11 February, 2005. 12 May 2008.