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Children taught synthetic phonics can see their reading improve in just two weeks
Last updated at 10:52am on 05.09.07
Phonics could help primary school children struggling to read in just two weeks
Children who struggle with reading can make dramatic progress in just a fortnight when they are given traditional lessons, a report reveals today.
The study by a think-tank showed that primary school pupils increased their reading ages by nearly two years in as many weeks when they were given intensive "synthetic phonics" lessons.
The back-to-basics method involves teaching the letter sounds of English and how to blend them together to work out unfamiliar words.
Civitas, which carried out the study, said phonics had the potential to end the "apartheid" between the educational haves and have-nots.
It said thousands of children had been consigned to the educational scrapheap by the failed reading schemes promoted in schools over the past decade.
Synthetic phonics was not made compulsory in schools until last September, despite evidence from Scotland that it can transform literacy standards.
For the research, Civitas held a summer "supplementary school" with the help of charitable donations. Its pupils were 15 children between six and eight, all from disadvantaged areas.
Many had already fallen behind in their reading.
The youngsters were given intensive lessons in synthetic phonics for a fortnight using a course designed by literacy authority Irina Tyk.
After two weeks of whole-class tuition, as opposed to onetoone, the average improvement in reading age was one year and nine months.
The report said: "The progress made by the pupils was so striking that the project has decided to make the course textbook, Irina Tyk's The Butterfly Book, available for the first time in a commercial format."
Synthetic phonics was eclipsed during the Sixties and Seventies
by theories which required pupils to memorise whole words.
The Government did put some synthetic phonics into its flagship literacy hour but critics claim that for years it was mixed with less effective methods.
In a dramatic climbdown, ministers last year put a legal duty on schools to use synthetic phonics "fast and first" when teaching four and five-year-olds.
The Civitas report said the technique should also be used with older children who are slow readers.
Anastasia de Waal, head of family and education at Civitas, said: "Teaching children to read via synthetic phonics can bridge the gap between those from disadvantaged and advantaged homes like no other method."
Her report goes on to say: "Weak reading lies at the heart of the educational apartheid between the advantaged and the disadvantaged, and of England's low social mobility.
"The inability to read properly is the single greatest handicap to progress in school and adult life.
"Poor achievement, related poor behaviour in secondary schools and the vast increase in the number of young people not in education, employment or training connect directly to poor literacy teaching at primary school level."
Children who shun junk food in favour of fruit, vegetables and oily fish do 11 per cent better in exams, a study claims.
The survey of more than 10,000 children found unhealthy diets were linked with poor performance as well as bad behaviour.
The research was carried out by Patrick Holford, visiting professor of mental health and nutrition at Teesside University and funded by the organic food firm Organix.
Professor Holford, who is also director of the Food for the Brain Foundation, said: "The brain is 60 per cent fat.
"Children who eat good fats, from raw nuts, seeds and oily fish, double their chances of high performance."
Reader views (8)
Synthetic Phonics has not always been an integral part of reading programmes. Teachers have been ill advised by the very expensive Literacy Strategy and its mumbo jumbo! I am a teacher of 14 years and have been teaching synthetic phonics for the last three years PROPERLY (fast and first) with the right schemes and resources. I am utterly convinced of its effectiveness.
- A Roberts, Cheltenham, UK
This page about Synthetic Phonics really helped me with my school project. Thank you so much. I am so going to get an A+.
- Scott, Olympia, Washington
You are quite right, Mr Roll. Very little of it is down to genetics.
Children who struggle with reading are usually labelled as 'low ability'. Teach them to read and you suddenly find that most of them are every bit as able as their peers.
- M. Downie, Crook, UK
The case for synthetic phonics is perhaps a little over-stated. The evidence for its effectiveness is very limited, and there is some doubt about the independence of the researchers. Phonics has always been an integral part of reading programmes, and the "synthetic phonics" scheme seems to be based on the very expensive introduction of material. Perhaps the government should take advice from a wider range of the teaching profession, and not rely simply on skillful lobbyists.
- Léo Burton, Trédarzec, France
It is all to do with teaching methods, you are quite right - but extremely bright children can fail abysmally if taught by the eclectic approach favoured by the Education Institutes. This failure has almost nothing to do with how much children are read to, whether they come from literature-rich homes etc. Private tutors take on many such children. It is one of those cruel myths perpetuated by the upper echelons of the educational establishment who don't want to demean themselves by teaching the alphabetic code and wish, instead, to enhance their careers. Basic reading requires basic 'instruction' and that has been out of fashion for 40 years or more.
Reading automatically leads to fluency and frees the brain for comprehension.
And 'wolves in sheep's clothing'!
- G.Carter, Oxford, England
Special educators in the USA use phonics heavily to remediate learning disability deficits, with excellent results; seeing this article about bringing it in fully into the classroom, anywhere, is great news! However, there are some things for which care must be taken: 1) all teachers must have intensive training and take that training seriously; 2) observed gains with highly motivated experts performing in controlled circumstances must not be taken as the expected outcome across all environments and school populations; 3) decoding, fluency, and comprehension are very different things, and individual teachers must be allowed some flexibility in choosing emphasis of skills and techniques to accomodate their particular classroom group's needs, rather than being locked completely into a timeline and script. If these things are taken into consideration, the program will have a good chance of success.
- Michelle, Deming, NM, USA
The work done by Civitas is excellent - my one caveat is that there will be around 1%-3% of children, including those with cognitive difficulties, who require much additional help with a genuine synthetic or linquistic phonics programme (and beware of the sheep in wolves clothing!).
The government has only recently produced its own synthetic phonics programme and many schools will only start to teach children to use the alphabetic code this September.
There are still many 'advisers' putting a 'whole language' slant on the instruction, Early Years advisers dissipating the instruction, and the greatest scandal of all, Institutes of Education refusing to teach student teachers in a logical straightforward way that allows all children to access reading skills.
The Reading Recovery intervention is a grotesquely expensive folly; entirely 'whole language' with phonics bolted on. The government and the DCSF must decide whether vigorously to adopt synthetic phonics, or allow Reading Recovery and other 'multi-strategy' programmes to conduct business as usual.
- G.Carter, Oxford, England
Yes, it's all to do with teaching methods, eating habits and what colour socks children wear absolutely none of it is down to genetics with some children being gifted whilst others are quite frankly not very bright. When will they start teaching children according to their abilities rather than dumbing down for the less intelligent kids?
- Terry Roll, London
