Return-Path: <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h3J2LjU15377; Fri, 18 Apr 2003 22:21:45 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 22:21:45 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <20030419021941.15290.qmail@web14308.mail.yahoo.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: tom zurinskas <tzurinskas@yahoo.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:1517] Boys need the right kind of phonics X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Status: O Content-Length: 10004 Lines: 227 "Accelerating Reading and Spelling with Synthetic Phonics: A Five Year Follow Up" By Rhona S. Johnston (University of Hull) and Joyce E. Watson (University of St. Andrews) 18 April 2003 >From "insight" - My summary using extracts of text from http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/ins4-00.asp Summary Three training programmes were carried out for 16 weeks, starting soon after entry to Primary 1. For 20 minutes a day, children were taught either 1) by a synthetic phonics programme, or 2) by an analytic phonics programme modelled on the methods commonly used in Scotland, or 3) by an analytic phonics plus phonological awareness training programme. After a training period of 16 weeks, the synthetic phonics taught children were reading and spelling seven months above chronological age, and were a similar amount ahead of the children taught by the two analytic phonics programmes. The National Reading Panel in the United States found, in a review of the literature, that gains from experimental programmes diminish in subsequent years (National Reading Panel, 2000). It was important to carry out a long term follow up. Children taught by our synthetic phonics programme significantly retain their reading, spelling and comprehension skills above chronological age. The advantage for boys that emerged in Primary 3 was entirely unexpected; keeping parity with the girls would in itself have been a very good outcome. This superiority has now been maintained over three successive years. Measurement Word reading and spelling were measured at the end of these programmes using the British Ability Scales Word Reading Test (Elliott et al, 1977), a measure of single word reading, and the Schonell Spelling Test (1952). At the end of the initial programme, all of the children who had been taught by the two analytic phonics programmes then carried out the synthetic phonics programme, which they completed by the end of Primary 1. The children's progress in reading and spelling has been monitored every year since then; from Primary 2 onwards we have additionally measured reading comprehension using the Primary Reading Test (France, 1981). Phonics versions Analytic phonics is well known in Scotland, where it has formed part of the early years reading programme for many years. Teaching starts at the whole word level, and then involves showing children patterns in the English spelling system. It is generally taught in parallel with, or some time after, graded reading books. Synthetic phonics teaches letter sounds very rapidly and children are explicitly shown how to blend the sounds together to pronounce unfamiliar words. Synthetic phonics is used in Germany and Austria and is generally taught before children are introduced to books or reading. In our version of synthetic phonics children use magnetic letters to build up words and to help them understand how letter sounds can be blended together to pronounce the words. In order to read a word, the appropriate magnetic letters are set out; the children then blend the letter sounds together, smoothly co-articulating them, whilst pushing the letters together. The approach is also used for learning to spell (and to reinforce blending for reading). The children listen to a spoken word, select the letters for the sounds, and then push the letters together, sounding and blending them to pronounce the word. Consonant blends are not explicitly taught at all as they can be read by blending, although digraphs (i. e. a phoneme represented by two letters, such as 'sh', 'th', 'ai', 'oa') are taught. A typical lesson using our scheme would be as follows. The children will have been taught the sounds for the letters’t’, 'a', and 'p'. A child at the front of the class is asked to select these letters from the teacher's large magnetic board, and to place them in a row below the other letters of the alphabet. The class then give the sounds of the letters,’t’, 'a', 'p', and then blend the sounds together to pronounce the word 'tap', whilst the letters are pushed together. To practise spelling the teacher might hold up a picture of a word. The children pick out the letters for the sounds that they hear in the word, and place them together on their own magnetic boards. They will then sound and blend, pushing the letters together. Results at the end of Primary 2 At the end of Primary 2, the 264 children available for testing who had been taught by the synthetic phonics method (either early or late on in Primary 1) were reading and spelling on average eleven months ahead of chronological age (see Figure 1). The children did not differ in reading skills according to whether they learnt the synthetic phonics method early or late in Primary 1, but the early synthetic phonics taught children were better spellers. There were no differences between girls and boys at this age. A major advantage of synthetic phonics is its early implementation, which means that children can decode unfamiliar words when they are introduced to text. Results at the end of Primary 3 - Gender differences It is a common finding in many countries that girls learn to read better than boys, and that boys are over-represented in dyslexic samples. In a previous study of 228 children taught by the analytic phonics approach in Scotland, by the end of Primary 3 the boys were, on average, reading three months behind the girls, and spelling was around four months behind (Watson, 1998). In Primary 3 contrary to our expectations, the boys had not fallen behind the girls in word reading and spelling. In fact they were a significant eight months ahead of the girls in word reading (see Figure 2). The boys had a slight, but not statistically significant, advantage in spelling and reading comprehension. However, the boys' reading comprehension was five months ahead of chronological age, yet boys had been five months behind in Primary 3 when taught by the analytic phonics method (Watson, 1998). Our synthetic phonics trained boys were 9. 6 months ahead of analytic boys for reading comprehension. Primary 4 and 5 children taught by our synthetic phonics programme significantly retain their reading, spelling and comprehension skills above chronological age. we found that in both Primary 4 and 5 these same boys were a significant seven months ahead of the girls in word reading ability (see Figures 3 and 4). At Primary 5, the girls had a mean word reading age of 11.6 years, and the boys of 12. 2 years. Spelling and comprehension scores were also significantly above chronological age but did not differ significantly between boys and girls. Thus the benefits of the synthetic phonics training lasted for at least four years after the end of the programme. For word reading skill the effects increased in magnitude, from a seven month advantage in Primary 1 to a 26 month advantage in Primary 5, over what would be expected for chronological age. Reading irregular words One concern about such a method is that it might only be effective with regularly spelt words, and that it might prove to be a handicap in reading irregular words, such as 'once' and 'said'. However, at the end of the programme in Primary 1 we examined the synthetic phonics taught children's ability to read irregular words, and found it to be significantly better than that of the two analytic phonics trained groups. Furthermore, at that stage the synthetic phonics trained children were the only ones that were able to read words by analogy. For example, on being told the pronunciation of the unknown word 'ring', these children would then be able to read the unknown words 'sing' and 'king', whereas the analytic phonics taught children would not. Discussion and Conclusions We have found that the beneficial effects of our synthetic phonics programme are long lasting; for word reading the gains increased in magnitude from a seven month advantage over chronological age in Primary 1 to a 26 month advantage in Primary 5. The reason for this continued increase is likely to be that, in learning to sound and blend, children are given a procedure that they can apply for themselves whenever they meet an unfamiliar word; that is, they have a method for decoding unfamiliar words when they meet them in text. The proportion of children who had moderate reading problems was found to be increasing but was still only 7% at the end of Primary 5, and of these only one child had severe reading problems at that stage (0.4% of the sample). The advantage for boys that emerged in Primary 3 was entirely unexpected; keeping parity with the girls would in itself have been a very good outcome. This superiority has now been maintained over three successive years. The children are currently being followed through Primary 6 and 7, so that we can determine whether boys keep their advantage to the end of their primary schooling. It is not clear whether all synthetic phonics programmes will be so effective for boys, but it is evident that the methods used in our study gave them long lasting benefits. “Insight” is a publication of the Research, Economic and Corporate Strategy (RECS) Unit, one of four units in the Information, Analysis and Communication Division, which is responsible for providing analytical services within the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED). Copies of Insight and our other publications can also be downloaded from our website: www. scotland. gov. uk/insight / Insight 4 Accelerating Reading and Spelling with Synthetic Phonics: A Five Year Follow Up Copyright © March 2003, Scottish Executive Education Department ISSN 1478-6788 (Print) ISSN 1478-6796 (Online) ===== Read all about truespel at truespel.com. Convert text to truespel USA accent by copy/pasting it at: http://www.foreignword.com/dictionary/truespel/transpel.htm __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo http://search.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Mar 11 2004 - 12:16:46 EST