Could you clarify the policy on promoting commercial products? I notice that
the writer of this letter is also the producer of the product being
promoted.

Thanks, 

Elsa Auerbach

On 12/20/05 7:12 AM, "John Nissen" <jn at cloudworld.co.uk> wrote:


> 

> Hello Kathy,

> 

> I am interested to hear of your new ESOL lab school in Oregon, and so the

> application of synthetic phonics for ESL needs to be discussed.  I have just

> subscribed to the English Language list (on ESL/ESOL) so as to allow people

> on that list to join in the discussion.

> 

> Looking up research on the synthetic phonics for children with English as a

> second or other language, I found a marvellous paper, called "The End of

> Illiteracy", full of useful information:

> http://www.cps.org.uk/pdf/pub/52.pdf

> 

> In this paper, Jolly Phonics is often quoted, as one of the first programmes

> to support synthetic phonics.

> 

> Some schools that have been studied have significant proportions of ESL

> pupils.  For example, there was research at the University of Toronto:

> -------

> K. Sumbler and D. Willows (1996) "Phonological Awareness and Alphabetic

> Coding Instruction within Balanced Senior Kindergartens", Paper presented at

> the National Reading Conference, S. C.; December, 1996

> 

> 

> 

> In this study, kindergarten pupils from eight suburban Toronto primary

> schools (N=281) were divided into ten experimental (Jolly Phonics) and ten

> control groups. The Jolly Phonics group (N=151) had 33% of ESL pupils, and

> the controls (N=130) 18%.  The post-test results near the end of senior

> kindergarten showed the Jolly Phonics pupils with a very substantial

> advantage on every measure. On the WRAT-3 reading test, their average score

> was 107.5, compared to 101.3 for the controls. The advantage on the WRAT-3

> Spelling test was 104.8 to 98.1.  The data were also analysed to determine

> what happened to pupils who were adjudged "at-risk" from low pre-test scores

> in letter-naming. Post-test scores showed that between 1/4 and 2/3

> (depending upon the measure) of the Jolly Phonics at-risk pupils were

> performing at acceptable levels; by contrast, "...the distribution of

> control at-risk children changed little"

> 

> -------

> 

> I believe that good results can be obtained also with adult ESL learners.

> In fact synthetic phonics appears to be wholly inclusive, covering people

> with dyslexia and ethnic minorities, from children to adults, in whatever

> context.  Does anybody have any evidence to the contrary?

> 

> Cheers from Chiswick,

> 

> John

> 

> John Nissen

> Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk

> maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.

> Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:

> http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm

> Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202

> Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk

> 

> 

> 

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: "K Olson" <kolson2 at columbus.rr.com>

> To: "'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>; "'The

> Technology and Literacy Discussion List'" <technology at nifl.gov>

> Cc: <familyliteracy at dev.nifl.gov>; "'Debbie Hepplewhite'"

> <debbie at syntheticphonics.com>

> Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 6:02 PM

> Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] [Technology] New Issue of "Focus on Basics"

> 

> 

>> John,

>> 

>> The lack of research on evidence-based adult education is a major reason

>> why

>> the ESOL lab school in Oregon was established. It provides documentation

>> through video and audio for teachers/researchers to observe what happens

>> in the classroom and which particular teaching approaches are more

>> successful.

>> This issue of Focus on Basics describes some of the research that has been

>> carried on to date. It is my hope that we will someday (soon, I hope!)

>> have research which shows or at least hints at which reading methods

>> produce the best results.  Having said that, though, I am well aware that

>> the answer is not so simple as our students come with varying degrees of

>> reading abilities

>> in their native languages and thus are not starting out from the same

>> minimal reading abilities that entering school children are. In addition,

>> while primary teachers have their students for six or more hours a day,

>> adult education teachers do not. We have no way to determine whether our

>> students actually learned their reading outside of class, through

>> self-study, from their children, etc. In other words, there are so many

>> variables to control for that it does make scientifically-based research

>> very, very difficult.

>> 

>> Kathy Olson

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> -----Original Message-----

>> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov

>> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]

>> On Behalf Of John Nissen

>> Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 5:52 PM

>> To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List

>> Cc: familyliteracy at dev.nifl.gov; Debbie Hepplewhite;

>> focusonbasics at nifl.gov

>> Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] [Technology] New Issue of "Focus on Basics"

>> 

>> 

>> Hello all,

>> 

>> I am trying to find out how one should teach literacy skills to adults. It

>> has been suggested on several lists to visit the NCSALL web site, and look

>> at research.

>> 

>> So I looked at the site and found the EBAEP model (draft for comment),

>> http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/ebaep_model_monograph.pdf

>> which is about Evidence-Based Adult Education, to find out what evidence

>> there was to support particular approaches to literacy, such as

>> systematic/synthetic phonics versus whole language.  There was almost

>> nothing there.  Worse, the teachers are expected to evaluate the research

>> themselves, to decide how best to teach!  But no sources were given as to

>> where there is good evidence for one method or another.

>> 

>> In particular I looked at pages 77-78, the section 27 on "Instructional

>> approaches".  Quoting from this:

>> "Teachers need to understand why to use a particular technique, not

>> just how to use it; they need the underlying foundational theory of

>> teaching and learning that will allow them to integrate new thinking

>> with new actions."

>> 

>> Now I know for children about the foundational theory, and evidence in

>> practice, that systematic phonics works.  On the other hand, there is no

>> scientific theory, or evidence, that the whole language approach works -

>> because it doesn't.  See Scientific American, March 2002.  (And mixing

>> methods doesn't work either.)

>> 

>> The March 2002 Scientific American put it well: "Because the controversy

>> [between phonics and whole-language] is enmeshed in the philosophical

>> differences between traditional and progressive approaches. The

>> progressives challenge the results of laboratory tests and classroom

>> studies on the basis

>> of a broad philosophical scepticism about the value of such research." In

>> other words, they are willing to ignore solid research that contradicts

>> their beloved theories, theories that keep kids from reading.

>> 

>> So I am trying to find if anybody has used systematic/synthetic phonics on

>> adults, because if it works on children I see no reason why it should not

>> work on adults, given suitable initial teaching material (so as not to

>> appear "childish").  The phonics approach must:

>> 

>> 1.   establish that the alphabetic principle is fully understood by the

>> student;

>> 2.   work on phonemic awareness, so that all 44 phonemes can be recognised

>> within words;

>> 3.  make sure common letter-sound (grapheme-phoneme) correspondences

>> are known;

>> 4.  work on the basic skill of segmentation (for spelling);

>> 5.  work on the basic skill of blending (for decoding and reading).

>> 

>> After a basic reading skill level has been reached, with simple reading

>> material:

>> 

>> 6.  add vocabulary to allow comprehension of increasingly advanced reading

>> material.

>> 

>> It seems to me, as a scientist by training, that the above approach is

>> sound.  The evidence of the Clackmannanshire study, shows that the

>> approach

>> works for everybody, including 'dyslexics' and childen with special needs.

>> In this study of 300 children in a deprived area of Scotland there were no

>> non-readers after synthetic phonics had been introduced!

>> 

>> Anyway, the UK government is now convinced, and is going to adopt

>> synthetic phonics for schools.  See

>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4485062.stm.

>> Should we adopt it for adults?

>> 

>> Cheers from Chiswick,

>> 

>> John

>> 

>> 

>> John Nissen

>> Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk

>> maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.

>> Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:

>> http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm

>> Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202

>> Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> ----- Original Message -----

>> From: "Mariann Fedele" <mariannf at lacnyc.org>

>> To: "The Technology and Literacy Discussion List" <technology at nifl.gov>

>> Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 9:04 PM

>> Subject: [Technology] New Issue of "Focus on Basics"

>> 

>> 

>> Hello All,

>> The following message is from Barb Garner.

>> Best,

>> Mariann

>> 

>> ***************

>> The newest issue of "Focus on Basics" is now on NCSALL's web site,

>> http://www.ncsall.net. It's on ESOL and features research from NCSALL's

>> ESOL Lab School.

>> 

>> ----------------------------------------------------

>> National Institute for Literacy

>> Focus on Basics mailing list

>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov

>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics

>> 

>> 

>> ----------------------------------------------------

>> National Institute for Literacy

>> Focus on Basics mailing list

>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov

>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics

>> 

> 

> 

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