Synthetic Phonics and Reading Programmes

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What is phonics?

Unlike some reading and writing systems (e.g. Chinese), English uses a system of writing that is based on an alphabet. Individual letters are put together to make words, and these words can be read – and meaning derived from them. So the word ‘cat’ is made up of the letters ‘c’, ‘a’ and ‘t’. Changing just one letter gives you a different word: ‘bat’.

The reader also knows (in most cases!) how to say the word out loud, because they know the ‘sound’ that each written letter makes. As readers, we learn to sound out the letters: you say the letters ‘c’, ‘a’ and ‘t’ quickly and you have c-a-t. Cat.

Phonics is the system for teaching both the letter shapes (the written ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc.) and the sounds that each letter makes (for example, ‘ah’ for ‘apple’).

What is synthetic phonics?

Synthetic phonics is so called because children learn the letters and sounds of each letter and, as they become confident in recognising each of the letters and their corresponding sounds, they can use this knowledge to synthesise, or build up, words.

The written form of a letter (e.g. a ‘g’ on the page) is called the grapheme. The sound that that letter makes (the ‘g’ sound in ‘goat’) is called the phoneme. Anybody who is learning to read must learn the graphemes, the phonemes and the correspondences between them. In other words, they need to know that the ‘a’ sound in ‘apple’ is represented by the letter ‘a’.

So far so good. But in fact English is a tricky language to learn. Much of it is predictable and regular, but parts of English don’t want to behave properly. (It’s largely a result of English absorbing parts of the languages of foreign invaders over the centuries – Romans, Vikings, the French, etc.)

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, but there are actually around 44 different phonemes, or distinct sounds, in spoken English. (A phoneme is defined technically as the smallest single unit of sound.) So, apart from anything else, written English needs to be able to represent these different letter sounds.

The sound ‘ai’ (as in ‘maid’) for example can also be written as ‘a_e’ (‘made’) or ‘ay’ (‘hay’) or ‘ey’ (‘fey’) and so on. And to add to the difficulty, just think about the written letters ‘ough’. How do you say, or sound out, those four letters? As in ‘thought’? ‘Through’? ‘Thorough’?

Why is synthetic phonics so popular?

Phonics has aways been taught to children as part of the business of learning to read, but it has always been just a part of a broader set of tools. But following a seven-year study in Scotland, it was found that children who had been taught using a systematic, structured synthetic phonics-based approach achieved better literacy scores than those who had been taught using more traditional methods.

As a result, in 2007 the UK Government made it compulsory for all children in English and Welsh primary schools to be taught using a structured synthetic phonics programme.

How is synthetic phonics taught?

Synthetic phonics is always taught stage by stage, with usually five or six different levels, or phases, that children move through. The various synthetic phonics programmes always start by introducing simple letters (e.g. ‘s’, ‘a’, ‘t’, ‘p’, ‘i’, ‘n’), so children learn the letters and their corresponding sounds.

Once they are confident, or ‘secure’, at a particular level, they move on to the next level. After learning a few sets of simple letters, the children then move on to build simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, such as ‘cat’, ‘tap’ and ‘pin’.

Further stages introduce more difficult sounds (such as ‘ch’ in ‘church’ and ‘sh’ in ‘ship’) and build more complex words (CCVC words, such as ‘bran’, and CCVCC words, such as ‘drink’).

Higher levels introduce more complex sounds , such as the sounds ‘ph’ in ‘alphabet’ and ‘ir’ in ‘bird’, and the different sounds for the letters ‘ou’ (‘you’, ‘could’, ‘group’, ‘mould’.)

Synthetic phonics programmes

The UK Government requires all English/Welsh schools to teach using a synthetic phonics programme, but they do not specify which programme should be used.

Ransom Publishing does not produce a synthetic phonics teaching programme. Rather, we have produced a structured reading programme, Ransom Reading Stars, a set of structured readers, to be used in support of a synthetic phonics teaching programme.

There is a large number of programmes available on the market; here are some of the best known:

  • Letters and Sounds (produced by the UK government and available free of charge). Ransom Reading Stars supports Letters and Sounds.
    You can download a copy of Letters and Sounds here. (NB it is a 214-page A4 document.)
  • Jolly Phonics (commercially available)
  • Read write Inc. (commercially available)
  • Phonics Bug (commercially available)
  • Letterland (commercially available)

All of these programmes work in a similar way, although some have more extensive support materials and additional pedagogical tools to support learners.

Ransom’s Reading Stars titles work very well alongside all of these teaching programmes.

Does synthetic phonics work?

It depends who you ask. Supporters are wildly in favour; critics see it as the worst thing that has happened in education in recent years.

There is little doubt that a sound, solid foundation in synthetic phonics helps children emormously in the early stages of their reading, particularly when they are reading regular, decodable texts. That is a huge benefit.

What are the shortcomings?

Three criticisms are often levelled at synthetic phonics-based teaching:

  1. It is said that children are learning to recognise the words on the page and to say them out loud, but that little attention is given to understanding the text that is being read. In other words, children are not being taught to develop their comprehension skills. Critics talk about children ‘barking at text’.
  2. Many children do respond well to the rigour of a synthetic phonics approach. There is some evidence for example that dyslexic children do not respond well to this approach, although this remains controversial. Certainly, synthetic phonics is not a magic bullet, and there are children for whom it does not really work, and who need additional approaches.
  3. Reading is never a process of just decoding words and letters on a page. When we read we use a variety of cues and clues to help us understand the text. Comprehension is a key element in this – based on what we have read so far, what might we expect the text to be saying next? We also use any accompanying illustrations, the title of the text (and other clues) to help us. In particular, all experienced readers have built up a sight vocabulary – words that they can recognise immediately and can read without having to sound out each letter. (Think of the words Tyrannosaurus Rex; many children can recognise and say these words, even though they cannot sound out the letters.) A good sight vocabulary is an essential prerequisite for a good reader, and developing skills to build it up are part of the process of learning to read. But it is something that synthetic phonics does not address.