{"id":61143,"date":"2022-01-20T03:01:41","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T08:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=61143"},"modified":"2022-01-20T03:01:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T08:01:41","slug":"phonics-teaching-in-england-needs-to-change-our-new-research-points-to-a-better-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/phonics-teaching-in-england-needs-to-change-our-new-research-points-to-a-better-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"Phonics teaching in England needs to change \u2013 our new research points to a better approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nArguments about the best way to teach children to read can be intense \u2013 they\u2019ve even been described as \u201cthe reading wars<\/a>\u201d. In England, as in many other countries, much of the debate has been over the use of phonics, which helps children understand how sounds \u2013 \u201cphonemes\u201d \u2013 are represented by letters.<\/p>\n

The government requires teachers to use a particular type of phonics teaching called \u201csynthetic phonics<\/a>\u201d, and the emphasis on this technique has become overwhelming in English primary schools.<\/p>\n

Supporters of synthetic phonics teaching have argued that teaching of phonemes and letters should be first and foremost. On the other side have been supporters of whole language instruction, who think that reading whole texts \u2013 books for example \u2013 should come first and foremost.<\/p>\n

Our\u00a0new research<\/a>\u00a0shows that synthetic phonics alone is not the best way to teach children to read. We found that a more effective method is to combine phonics teaching with whole texts, meaning that children learn to read by using books as well as learning phonics.<\/p>\n

Current synthetic phonics lessons typically have an exclusive focus on phonemes, and how these are represented by letters. For example in the word \u201cdog\u201d each letter stands for a different phoneme: \/d\/ \/o\/ \/g\/. In the word \u201cteach\u201d there are three phonemes: \/t\/ \/ee\/ \/ch\/. Phonemes can be represented by one letter or sometimes by more than one letter, like the \/ee\/ phoneme represented by the two letters \u201cea\u201d in \u201cteach\u201d.<\/p>\n

The teaching of synthetic phonics is done separately from other English teaching. Children read \u201cdecodable books\u201d: books with a limited vocabulary of words designed to emphasise use of the letters and sounds taught in phonics lessons.<\/p>\n

Our research<\/a>\u00a0included a survey of more than 2,000 primary school teachers. When asked a question about their approach to reading, 66% responded: \u201cSynthetic phonics is emphasised first and foremost in my phonics teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Education\u00a0enforces the policy of teaching<\/a>\u00a0synthetic phonics in various ways. It vets published teaching schemes, creating a list of approved synthetic phonics schemes. Ofsted, the government office responsible for educational standards, has a strong focus on synthetic phonics teaching in their inspections of schools.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, children in year one (aged five to six) in England take a national statutory test, the\u00a0phonics screening check<\/a>. This is used to emphasise phonics teaching and hold teachers to account. This test includes the requirement for children to learn to read nonsense words, called \u201cpseudo words\u201d. These could include, for example, \u201cmeck\u201d, \u201cshig\u201d, \u201cblem\u201d and \u201csut\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is clear from our research that the phonics screening check is narrowing teaching. For example, 237 teachers in our survey said that they were giving extra phonics lessons to help children pass the test. The word \u201cpressure\u201d appeared 97 times in teachers\u2019 comments about the phonics screening check. One teacher felt that they had to \u201clive and breathe phonics\u201d.<\/p>\n

Existing evidence<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Our research also reviewed the best existing evidence on phonics teaching and reading.\u00a0Previous research<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a systematic review, which analyses the findings of a number of research papers \u2013 not only questioned an emphasis on synthetic phonics but also on other systematic phonics teaching. It found that there is no evidence that synthetic phonics teaching is better than other methods of teaching phonics and reading.<\/p>\n

Other main methods of teaching reading include the \u201cwhole language\u201d approach. In this approach, teaching reading with whole texts is the priority. Encouraging children\u2019s motivation for reading is another main aim of whole language teaching. In the whole-language approach phonics is not taught systematically.<\/p>\n

Another main method of teaching reading is \u201cbalanced instruction\u201d. With this approach the importance of comprehending the meaning of written language is carefully balanced with the acquisition of a range of skills and knowledge. Balanced instruction combines systematic teaching of whole texts and other linguistic aspects such as sentences and words.<\/p>\n

Another\u00a0systematic review<\/a>\u00a0found that integrating phonics teaching with comprehension teaching resulted in the best impact on children\u2019s reading.<\/p>\n

As part of our research we carried out a new analysis of all 55 research papers that were part of this systematic review. In summary, it was clear that in effective teaching approaches phonics teaching was connected with whole texts in every lesson.<\/p>\n

One study, carried out in Canada, was particularly compelling because the tests of children\u2019s reading comprehension showed that the approach had been effective four years after the intervention had ended. The effective approach was driven by helping children to make sense of reading using whole texts.<\/p>\n

A different approach<\/h4>\n

We found that England\u2019s emphasis on synthetic phonics is different compared to high performing English language countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests. None of these other countries mandate synthetic phonics.<\/p>\n

Canada has consistently performed the best of English language dominant nations in the PISA tests. Canada\u2019s approach at national and state level is very different from England\u2019s because it emphasises whole texts, and phonics is not emphasised as much.<\/p>\n

The approach to teaching reading in England means that children in England are unlikely to be learning to read as effectively as they should be. Teachers, children, and their parents need a more balanced approach to the teaching of reading.<\/p>\n

Author Bios:<\/strong> Dominic Wyse is Professor of Education and Alice Bradbury is Professor of Sociology of Education both at UCL<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arguments about the best way to teach children to read can be intense \u2013 they\u2019ve even been described as \u201cthe reading wars\u201d. In England, as in many other countries, much of the debate has been over the use of phonics, which helps children understand how sounds \u2013 \u201cphonemes\u201d \u2013 are represented by letters. The government […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[428865],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-61143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-synthetic-phonics-lessons"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPhonics teaching in England needs to change \u2013 our new research points to a better approach - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/phonics-teaching-in-england-needs-to-change-our-new-research-points-to-a-better-approach\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phonics teaching in England needs to change \u2013 our new research points to a better approach - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Arguments about the best way to teach children to read can be intense \u2013 they\u2019ve even been described as \u201cthe reading wars\u201d. 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