Systematic Sythnthetic Phonics free essay sample

The National Literacy Strategy has been in place since 1998 and since this time there has been a significant increase in the teaching of phonics in literacy, and there have been substantial changes and improvements in the teaching. Although the teaching of phonics has been increased and an improvement has been seen, children were still failing to meet the standards expected in literacy, which means teachers needed to review and improve the way they teach phonics in the literacy hour. Here in the UK we live in a print dependent society, so it is important that, as far as is possible, all children become effective readers and writers, people who are both functionally literate and who enjoy engaging with print. In March 2006 the Secretary of State for Education for England, commissioned the Rose Report which recommended that synthetic phonics must be included in the early reading instruction (Styles. M, 2007). The Rose review provided a simple model of reading which basically states that skilled reading requires two processes: the reader recognises and understands the words on the page (word recognition and decoding) and the development of language comprehension ( that is written texts as well as spoken language are understood and interpreted). Both processes are required, but one without the other is not sufficient (Ofsted, Getting them reading early, 2011) There has always been a debate regarding the teaching of reading, relating to published schemes or a whole language approach, and it had been said that â€Å"understanding the particular demands made by a language like English is crucial for the successful early teaching of reading in English†. Joyce Morris (1984) believed that synthetic phonics was the only way to teach reading and described it as teaching students to convert letters into sounds to form recognisable words, compared to Analytic phonics which introduces children to whole words before teaching them to analyse these into their component part (Styles. M, 2007). Personal teaching practice has seen Jolly Phonics, Letters and Sounds and more recently Read, Write Inc (appendix 1) being used to teach and learn English, throughout Foundation stage and Key Stage 1. These schemes work alongside the principle that children will learn a new sound and then be able to blend sounds together to form a word, they are not literally reciting a word from memory. Whichever programme is delivered, it has been emphasised how importance it is to remain consistent, systematic and delivery being regular, else there is a high chance of the programme being floundered, which is referred to as â€Å"fidelity to the programme†. Through own teaching practice it has been seen where a child memorises words on sight within a book, or literally remembers the story from having it read to them, and then when they read it to a teacher they are believed to have read it fluently so are just given the next book, and before long the child is moved up the reading scheme without having any knowledge of reading at all, and this sometimes is not picked up for some time, and so has a detrimental effect on the child’s reading. Parents do not always have the knowledge to realise when their child is just reciting what they have heard, so foremost it is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure the children do have the strategies provided to them to allow them to read accurately, so therefore the Rose Review may help in preventing this from happening. Previous research into the teaching of reading and writing led to the findings that numerous children were not reaching the expected level 4 at age 11 in English, and the proportion stalled to 80%. It was said that the best primary schools in England teach children to read, however this could be argued when children are still starting Secondary School below National expectation. Research has found that children are taught to read when a school sets the foundations for a very rigorous and sequential approach to developing speaking and listening and teaching reading, writing and spelling through systematic phonics, and if schools focus on this objective, adopt a consistent approach and make every minute of every lesson count, then they can achieve high standards in reading (Ofsted, Report summary, reading by six, how the best schools do it, 2010). This obviously requires teachers to eliver a highly structured approach to teaching phonic knowledge and skills, which includes a fast pace, praise and reinforcement, perceptive responses, active participation by all children and evidence of progress, all of which personal teaching practice has witnessed daily (appendix 1). If teachers are going to prevent these statistics of failing children to read and write, then assessment needs to be top priority, as this enables pupils to be quickly identified if they are falli ng behind (Ofsted, Report summary, reading by six, how the best schools do it, 2010). The government’s white paper, the importance of teaching, in November 2010 stated its case for phonics. It said it would ensure all children have the chance to follow an enriching curriculum by getting them reading early, this means supporting the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics and introducing a simple reading check at age six to guarantee that children have mastered the basic skills of early reading and also ensure children are identified with learning difficulties, and this is now reflected in the new teacher standards, under the heading ‘Developing good subject and curriculum knowledge’. Teachers delivering early reading must now demonstrate a clear understanding of systematic synthetic phonics. It was also made clear that Ofsted would enhance its inspector’s expertise in assessing the teaching of reading, so that their judgements reflect appropriate expectations and recognise particular features of systematic synthetic phonics teaching. The reason being for this so that if reading and writing are not good at the end of year 2 and 6 then Inspectors have the sufficient knowledge to allow them to ask questions relating to the unsatisfactory progress children have made. The development of the new phonics screening test for six year olds means that inspectors are even more likely to encounter phonics. (Ofsted, Getting them reading early, 2011) The findings of the Rose Report has provided many discussions for schools, and have subsequently made schools review and improve their provisions, particularly the frequency and pace of their phonics sessions. Teachers have now begun to see the importance of teaching the phonemes and graphemes in a specific order, so are delivering the programmes through the correct structure, to enable the children to progress successfully. To allow this success to continue, it is important that all staff be allowed access to regular high quality training, which will be provided by the local authority. (Ofsted, Responding to the Rose Review: schools approaches to the systematic teaching of phonics, 2008). Another impact that the Rose Review has had on schools is the introduction of the year 1 phonics screening check, and this has been used in all mainstream schools in England since 2012, and the purpose of it is to identify pupils who need extra support and ensure that they receive help, children who do not reach the required standard in year 1 then retake the screening check in year 2, which inspectors will then follow up looking at data providing information about the impact of any interventions that the school has put in place and the speed in which children were able to catch up with their peers, the focus of the test is simply to ensure that children have mastered the basic skills of early reading. This obviously has put pressure on schools to make sure that the way they are delivering the systematic synthetic phonics is correct and that every member of staff responsible for it has been given sufficient training and guidance to enable them to achieve the results expected from the m, or be prepared to answer questions about why their pupils are underachieving. Schools which have already undertaken the screen check have already said that they found it helpful in identifying children who are struggling with phonic decoding, and need intervention and pinpointing particular aspects of phonics that numerous children are finding difficult. One area of the test which some schools had issues with was the inclusion of nonsense words, and through personal teaching practice it has been found that some higher ability children do struggle with the concept of nonsense words, because they understand it does not make sense, so refuse to sound it out, however these children must be taught to overcome this as it had been found that children need to have a strategy for working out words that they have not come across else once again you risk the chance that children are just remembering words on sight (Ofsted, Getting them reading early, 2011). Because of the screening check, teachers have to ensure that they make themselves very familiar with the relevant sections as only they are able to administer it, and it has to be administered correctly, and the materials have to be stored securely for the duration of the check week and until the last check has been administered, to ensure no child has an unfair advantage, once the check is complete it has to be reported to the local authority.. Research has been undertaken to address questions such as â€Å"does systematic phonics instruction help children learn to read more effectively than non-systematic phonics instruction or instruction teaching no phonics? †, and â€Å"are some types of phonics instruction more effective than others? †. It was concluded by the National Reading Panel that ‘specific systematic phonics programs are all significantly more effective than non-phonics programmes, however they do not appear to differ significantly from each other in their effectiveness although more evidence is needed to verify this. Rose wrote, ‘analytic phonics is good, but synthetic phonics is better’ (Wyse. D, 2008), for this statement to qualify then the amount of children leaving primary school at the age related level 4 should definitely start to improve and more so now since the introduction of the screening check, as this should prevent children slipping through the system. Since the Rose Report was introduced schools have emphasised that the impact of the systematic approach to teaching phonics had raised their expectations of how quickly and well children could learn to read and write, and subsequently schools have now been forced to look at other aspects of their practice, like the transition from the foundation stage to year 1, the use of tracking data, the grouping of children, and the teaching of writing (Ofsted, Responding to the Rose Review: schools approaches to the systematic teaching of phonics, 2008). It is clear from research that the majority of schools have welcomed the programmes clear structure and believe that it will assist planning and consistency. Evidence is showing that children are enjoying their phonics lessons, due to the fact that they can actually put letters and sounds together in a meaningful way, some schools have actually noticed an improvement in boys enjoyment at learning to read which could be a subsequent improvement in relation to current educational issues relating to the underachievement of boys in English, particularly writing. Personal teaching practice has shown that Read, Write Inc never gives a child a book that they cannot phonetically decode for themselves (as seen in appendix 1) so therefore children are never faced with the daunting worry that they are going to have to read something that they can’t, instead they are full of confidence and actually enjoy reading their books, which then in turn transmits into their writing. The Rose Review enforced a dramatic change in the content and method of teaching children to read. The National Literacy Strategy needed to change before even more children failed to meet the expected standard of Literacy, and were therefore being let down by professional teachers during the most important years of their life. Teaching and learning of reading are human processes, subject to the uncertainties, and unpredictability that comes with human kind. The ability to read is the key to educational achievement, without a basic foundation in literacy children cannot gain access to a rich and diverse curriculum. Poor literacy limits opportunities not only at school, but throughout life. By introducing systematic synthetic phonics throughout all the schools in England it can only be hoped that children are now receiving the delivery of Literacy at the expected level to enable them to become fluent independent readers with the capability to express themselves with words and writing. This way of teaching phonics is always going to come across some barriers, and of course there will be some children that cant process this level of education, but hopefully those children will be in the minority, and will quickly be identified through constant assessment and then through intervention will be able to have their misconceptions corrected and catch up with their peers. Bibliography Morris, J. (1984). Phonics 44 for initial literacy in English. Reading, 18. 1. Ofsted. (2008). Responding to the Rose Review: schools approaches to the systematic teaching of phonics. Retrieved February 12, 2013, from www. ofsted. gov. uk/resources/responding-rose-review-schools-approaches-systematic-teaching-of-phonics. Ofsted. (2010, November 14). Report summary, reading by six, how the best schools do it. Retrieved February 12, 2013, from www. ofsted. gov. uk/publications/100197. Ofsted. (2011). Getting them reading early. Retrieved february 12, 2013, from http://www. ofsted. gov. uk/resources/getting-them-reading-early. Styles. M, W. a. (2007). Synthetic phonics and the teaching of reading: the debate surrounding Englands Rose Report . Literacy, 35 42. Wyse, D. a. (2008). Synthetic phonics and the teaching of reading. British Educational Research journal, 34 (6), 691 710. Wyse. D, G. (2008). Synthetic phonics and the teaching of reading. British Educational research Journal,, 691 710. Appendix 1 An overview of one school’s approach to the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics St Thomas Primary School, Boston, Lincolnshire Read, Write Inc Read, write Inc is a rapid learn to read programme to enable children to read to learn for the rest of their lives. It was designed for children four years plus, for older children who need to catch up, and for children who are new to English. It works by teaching children 44 sounds and matching letters/letter groups, and teaches them to blend sounds to read words. Children read lots of specially written books, which only contain the phonemes which they have learnt, therefore a child is never presented with a book that they can’t actually read. Children are constantly praised throughout the teaching, and always work with a partner to allow them to be a teacher as well, and to learn to give praise back. This approach is relatively new to this school, and has been incorporated by all members of foundation stage and KS1 members of staff, through 2 days of Read, Write INC training. Phonic Lead observes and provides in house/1:1 training and coaching, or team teaching sessions. Some staff are required to have outside training as a top up, or support with their misconceptions. Children’s progress is tracked by assessing them every 6 weeks and then the phonics co-ordinator analyses the data to see if the children are making progress, and then the children are regrouped accordingly to what sounds they know, this prevents children working at the wrong level and having gaps in their knowledge, when this assessment takes place it also gives the Phonics lead the opportunity to identify any children that need intervention. Teachers have Phonic displays in KS1 which link sounds, and words that are continuously linked to all learning. Alphabet freezes to support recognition and formations. Teachers will have flash cards/ words in pocket/apron to show children throughout the day. In Reception and KS1 teachers encourage children to use phonics when reading and writing during carpet session, adult directed activities and independent work. Phonic Lead also delivers phonic training to parents at the beginning of the year, to support learning at home. EYFS lead ob serves children in preschools and