It’s time we spend a little bit of time diving into phonics. Phonics is at the forefront of the Science of Reading conversations. In fact, when you hear someone talk about SOR, they may really only be talking about phonics. The science of reading instruction is about so much more than just phonics instruction. But, phonics hasn’t been enough of a focus in our classrooms over the last several decades, and our NAEP results show that our students are not proficient readers. This post aims to look at the research around phonics: what we learned from the NRP and what we’ve learned since.
English is an alphabetic writing system. Meaning, the sounds of the language are represented by letters (phonemes) or groups of letters (graphemes). When a child learns to decode that symbol-to-sound relationship, they have the ability to translate that written word into spoken language. Additionally, English is a deep orthography– there is a large amount of variation in phoneme-grapheme relationships.
With that said, almost 50% of English words have expected sound-symbol relationships. Another 36% percent have only 1 sound change that is unexpected. For one-syllable words, 80% are regular. Many variations can also become expected. For example, “bread” does not make the expected long vowel sound of the vowel team. However, knowing that many -ead words have the short e sound such as lead, read, head, and dead, makes the pronunciation more recognizable.
I don’t think there’s any pushback on teaching phonics. The question comes from how much, with whom, and for how long. In the post sharing the findings of the NRP, I talked about the surprising findings regarding phonics. Namely, its effectiveness beyond first grade. Since then, however, many additional meta-analyses have occurred evaluating various methodologies and the results of phonics instruction overall. Let’s review some of the findings:
- Systematic phonics yielded better gains than did nonsystematic or non-phonics instruction
- Systematic phonics was effective whether taught through one-on-one, small groups, or whole class settings
- Phonics instruction produced strong growth in kindergarten and 1st grade for students identified as at-risk for reading difficulties
- Positive effects were reported beyond first grade, though the magnitude of the gains were smaller
- Types of instruction did not result in significant performance differences
The types of instruction that were evaluated were:
- Synthetic- connecting letters to sounds (graphemes to phonemes) and blending to form words
- Analytic- larger-unit phonics focusing on word families and onset-rime work.
- Embedded- supporting students with unknown words encountered in text
This quote stands out the most to me from the Findings and Determinations by Topic Areas:
Systematic synthetic phonics instruction had a positive and significant effect on disabled readers’ reading skills. These children improved substantially in their ability to read words and showed significant, albeit small, gains in their ability to process text as a result of systematic synthetic phonics instruction. This type of phonics instruction benefits both students with learning disabilities and low-achieving students who are not disabled. Moreover, systematic synthetic phonics instruction was significantly more effective in improving low socioeconomic status (SES) children’s alphabetic knowledge and word reading skills than instructional approaches that were less focused on these initial reading skills.
In that post, I talked about this quote being clear, for me, that synthetic phonics instruction was clearly what was needed for our students. While many students are able to learn to read without that level of explicit supports, others cannot. And we need to be sure we’re meeting the needs of all learners.
Research has continued to dive into phonics instruction, especially on the areas the NRP found to be lacking. Here’s a brief recap of some of the findings as presented in Dr. Susan Brady’s 2020 Perspective.
- Synthetic phonics instruction had significantly better reading, spelling, and phoneme awareness outcomes at the end of kindergarten intervention (and had positive long-term results) than analytic phonics. The children that received synthetic phonics instruction were the only ones that could read by analogy and did better reading irregular and nonsense words.
- Students receiving instruction on grapheme-phoneme correspondences had significantly better performance on advanced reading measures compared to students with orthographic rime programs and whole language programs. Despite the orthographic rime group receiving instruction focused on rimes, it was the students that received grapheme-phoneme instruction that were able to more fluently read transfer words with the same orthographic patterns. Finally, the students receiving grapheme-phoneme instruction performed significantly better on spelling and reading comprehension assessments.
- Another study looked at students beyond 1st grade that had deficient decoding skills with one-syllable words. Researchers analyzed student errors by position within the word. After intervention targeting letter-sound concepts and phoneme awareness, students showed significant improvements with decoding, phoneme awareness, and comprehension in comparison to a control group.
- 1st grade students that were deficient in decoding would reach grade-level expectations at the end of second grade only if they received teacher-managed, code-based instruction in both 1st and 2nd grades.
- For students with weaknesses in phonics, explicit phonics intervention should be tailored to students’ needs. For older students, instruction should move beyond the grapheme-phoneme level into graphosyllabic patterns and morphological concepts.
- For students with significant reading difficulties, intensive intervention is necessary. Students in 2nd and 3rd grade that received intense intervention had long-term benefits demonstrated many years later.
What I appreciate about these findings is the evidence supporting phonics instruction beyond kindergarten and first grade, especially with students deficient with word recognition. These results are clear that a synthetic approach is more effective than analytic. That isn’t to say that an analytic program wouldn’t meet student needs. Rather, a synthetic approach is more effective for some students. Because of that, it’s what should guide our instruction to ensure we reach all learners. Additionally, analytic phonics plays a part in our instruction; it’s just not the instructional framework we should follow. We want students to notice patterns in words. It can be especially helpful with more advanced spelling patterns (e.g. eigh and should/would/could). But, our foundations needs to be on building the sound-spelling relationship and using analytic phonics to deepen that instruction.
How Much Phonics and For How Long?
Since the NRP report, we’ve also expanded our understanding of the progression of word reading development as demonstrated by Ehri’s Phases and her theory of orthographic mapping. We know that a students phase indicates the kind of instructional supports needed to help a student develop. Students in the prealphabetic and partial alphabetic need more phonics instruction than those at the consolidated phase. These students also need support with phonemic awareness. Whereas, students in the consolidated phase are ready to move towards instruction focused on morphology rather than phonics. It’s through this phase progression that our instruction shifts. A 4th grade student reading within the full alphabetic phase will need additional instruction than grade level peers, whereas a kindergarten student at the full alphabetic phase will not need much instruction.
We must assess our students to identify where they are in order to provide the kind of instruction needed to promote word reading development. Screening assessments help identify students in need of further instruction. Diagnostic assessments help us identify our specific students’ needs in order to differentiate our instruction and move beyond whole-class needs. I talk more about Diagnostic Phonics Assessments in their own post.
We know systematic, explicit instruction of grapheme-phoneme correspondences, following a developmental progression benefits decoding skills, phoneme awareness, and reading comprehension. We know it’s the instruction that benefits all learners. What’s still not clear is a specific scope and sequence. In the next post in the series, we’ll dive into how to structure our phonics lessons to benefit both reading and spelling.
Further Reading on Phonics Instruction
A 2020 Perspective on Research Findings on Alphabetics: Implications for Instruction Expanded Version by Dr. Susan Brady posted on The Reading League website
What Teachers Need to Know and Do to Teach Letter-Sounds, Phonemic Awareness, Word Reading, and Phonics by Dr. Linnea Ehri in The Reading Teacher Vol. 76 No. 1
The Alphabetic Principle: From Phonological Awareness to Reading Words on Improving Literacy
Speech to Print by Louisa Moats
Further Information on the Science of Reading
I am going to share helpful information on the Science of Reading throughout the next several months. Each post will have a different focus, and I will also share links to relevant posts of my own, from time to time. The topics have been carefully chosen to include the background information needed to understand the science and help you learn more about some of the large, underlying research in the field. The next three up in the series include The National Reading Panel’s 5 Pillars of Reading, the Simple View of Reading, and Scarborough’s Rope.
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Ni wakati sisi kutumia kidogo ya muda diving katika phonics. Phonics ni katika mstari wa mbele wa Majadiliano ya Sayansi ya Kusoma. Kwa kweli, wakati unaposikia mtu akizungumza juu ya SOR, wanaweza kuwa wakizungumza tu juu ya foniki. Sayansi ya kufundisha kusoma ni zaidi ya kufundisha sauti tu. Lakini, foniki haijawahi kuwa na lengo la kutosha katika madarasa yetu katika miongo kadhaa iliyopita, na matokeo yetu ya NAEP yanaonyesha kwamba wanafunzi wetu si wasomaji stadi. Chapisho hili linakusudia kuangalia utafiti kuzunguka phonics: nini sisi kujifunza kutoka NRP na nini sisi kujifunza tangu. Kiingereza ni mfumo wa maandishi ya alfabeti. Maana, sauti za lugha huwakilishwa na herufi (fonemu) au vikundi vya herufi (graphemu). Mtoto anapojifunza kufunua uhusiano huo wa ishara na sauti, ana uwezo wa kutafsiri neno hilo lililoandikwa katika lugha inayozungumzwa. Kwa kuongezea, Kiingereza ni orthography ya kina <unk> kuna kiasi kikubwa cha tofauti katika mahusiano ya fonemu-grapheme. Kwa mujibu wa utafiti huo, karibu asilimia 50 ya maneno ya Kiingereza yana uhusiano wa sauti na alama. Kwa upande mwingine, asilimia 36 ya watu wana mabadiliko ya sauti ambayo hayakutarajiwa. Kwa maneno yenye silabi moja, asilimia 80 ni ya kawaida. Tofauti nyingi zaweza pia kutarajiwa. Kwa mfano, <unk>mkate<unk> haufanyi sauti ya vokali ndefu inayotarajiwa ya timu ya vokali. Hata hivyo, kujua kwamba maneno mengi yenye -ead yana sauti fupi ya e kama vile kuongoza, kusoma, kichwa, na kifo, hufanya matamshi yawe ya kutambuliwa zaidi. Sidhani kama kuna upinzani wowote juu ya kufundisha foniki. Swali linatokana na kiasi gani, ni nani, na kwa muda gani. Katika makala hii, nilijadili matokeo ya utafiti wa NPR na pia nilijadili matokeo ya utafiti wa NRP kuhusu sauti. Yaani, ufanisi wake zaidi ya darasa la kwanza. Tangu wakati huo, hata hivyo, meta-uchambuzi mwingi wa ziada umefanyika kutathmini mbinu mbalimbali na matokeo ya mafundisho ya foniki kwa ujumla. "Kama matokeo, ""Systematic Phonics ilitoa faida bora kuliko mafundisho yasiyo ya utaratibu au yasiyo ya sauti"" - ""Systematic Phonics ilikuwa na ufanisi ikiwa ilifundishwa kupitia moja kwa moja, vikundi vidogo, au mipangilio ya darasa nzima - Maagizo ya sauti yalitoa ukuaji mkubwa katika chekechea na darasa la kwanza kwa wanafunzi waliotambuliwa kuwa hatari ya matatizo ya kusoma - Athari nzuri ziliripotiwa baada ya darasa la kwanza, ingawa ukubwa wa faida zilikuwa ndogo." - Embedded- kusaidia wanafunzi na maneno haijulikani alikutana katika maandishi Hii nukuu inasimama nje zaidi kwangu kutoka matokeo na maamuzi kwa maeneo ya mada: utaratibu synthetic phonics mafundisho alikuwa na athari chanya na muhimu juu ya wasomaji walemavu 'kujifunza ujuzi. Watoto hao walipata maendeleo makubwa katika uwezo wao wa kusoma maneno na walionyesha faida kubwa, ingawa ndogo, katika uwezo wao wa kuchanganua maandishi kama matokeo ya mafundisho ya utaratibu ya foniki ya synthetic. Aina hii ya mafundisho ya phonics inanufaisha wanafunzi wote wenye matatizo ya kujifunza na wanafunzi wa chini wa mafanikio ambao si walemavu. Zaidi ya hayo, mafunzo ya phonetic synthetic ilikuwa na ufanisi zaidi katika kuboresha ujuzi wa alfabeti na ujuzi wa kusoma maneno ya watoto wa hali ya chini ya kijamii na kiuchumi kuliko mbinu za mafunzo ambazo hazikuzingatia ujuzi huu wa kwanza wa kusoma. Katika makala hii, nilizungumzia kuhusu nukuu hii kuwa wazi, kwa ajili yangu, kwamba synthetic phonics mafundisho ilikuwa wazi nini ilikuwa inahitajika kwa wanafunzi wetu. Ingawa wanafunzi wengi wanaweza kujifunza kusoma bila msaada huo wa wazi, wengine hawawezi. Na tunahitaji kuwa na uhakika kwamba sisi ni kukidhi mahitaji ya wanafunzi wote. Utafiti umeendelea kuingiza katika mafundisho ya phonics, hasa juu ya maeneo ambayo NRP iligundua kuwa haipo. "Hii ni muhtasari mfupi wa baadhi ya matokeo kama ilivyoonyeshwa katika ""Mtazamo wa 2020"" wa Dk Susan Brady." - Maagizo ya foniki ya synthetic yalikuwa na matokeo bora zaidi ya kusoma, herufi, na ufahamu wa fonemu mwishoni mwa uingiliaji wa chekechea (na alikuwa na matokeo mazuri ya muda mrefu) kuliko foniki ya uchambuzi. Watoto waliopokea mafunzo ya foniki ya synthetic ndio tu waliosoma kwa mfano na walifanya vizuri zaidi kusoma maneno yasiyo ya kawaida na yasiyo na maana. Wanafunzi waliopokea mafunzo juu ya maandishi ya grapheme-phoneme walikuwa na utendaji bora sana kwenye vipimo vya kusoma vya juu ikilinganishwa na wanafunzi walio na programu za orthographic rime na programu za lugha nzima. "Wanafunzi wa kikundi cha ""Orthographic Rime"" walipata mafunzo ya ""Grapheme-Phoneme"" ambayo iliwawezesha kusoma maneno ya uhamisho kwa usahihi zaidi na muundo huo wa maandishi." Hatimaye, wanafunzi waliopokea mafundisho ya grapheme-phoneme walifanya vizuri zaidi katika tathmini za herufi na uelewa wa kusoma. Utafiti mwingine ulichunguza wanafunzi zaidi ya darasa la kwanza ambao walikuwa na ujuzi mdogo wa kufuta maneno ya silabi moja. Watafiti walichanganua makosa ya wanafunzi kulingana na mahali walipo ndani ya neno. Baada ya kuingilia kati kwa malengo ya maneno ya herufi na ufahamu wa fonemu, wanafunzi walionyesha maboresho makubwa katika kufuta, ufahamu wa fonemu, na uelewa ikilinganishwa na kikundi cha kudhibiti. Wanafunzi wa darasa la kwanza ambao walikuwa na upungufu katika decoding wangefikia matarajio ya kiwango cha darasa mwishoni mwa darasa la pili tu ikiwa walipokea mwalimu-kuongozwa, mafundisho ya msingi wa nambari katika darasa la kwanza na la pili. - Kwa wanafunzi wenye udhaifu katika phonics, wazi phonics uingiliaji inapaswa kuwa tailored kwa mahitaji ya wanafunzi. Kwa wanafunzi wakubwa, mafundisho yanapaswa kupita kiwango cha grapheme-phoneme katika mifumo ya graphosyllabic na dhana za morphological. - Kwa wanafunzi wenye matatizo makubwa ya kusoma, uingiliaji mkubwa ni muhimu. Wanafunzi wa darasa la pili na la tatu waliopata uingiliaji mkali walikuwa na faida za muda mrefu zilizoonyeshwa miaka mingi baadaye. "Kile ninachokithamini kuhusu matokeo haya ni ushahidi unaounga mkono mafundisho ya foniki zaidi ya chekechea na darasa la kwanza, haswa na wanafunzi wenye upungufu wa utambuzi wa maneno. """ Matokeo haya ni wazi kwamba mbinu ya synthetic ni ufanisi zaidi kuliko uchambuzi. Hiyo si kusema kwamba programu ya uchambuzi haingekidhi mahitaji ya mwanafunzi. Badala yake, mbinu ya mchanganyiko ni yenye matokeo zaidi kwa wanafunzi fulani. Kwa sababu hiyo, ni nini lazima kuongoza mafundisho yetu kuhakikisha sisi kufikia wanafunzi wote. Kwa kuongezea, foniki ya uchambuzi ina jukumu katika mafundisho yetu; sio tu mfumo wa mafundisho ambao tunapaswa kufuata. Tunataka wanafunzi waone mifumo katika maneno. Inaweza kuwa hasa muhimu na mifumo ya herufi ya juu zaidi (kwa mfano eigh na lazima-ngekuwa-kuweza). Lakini, misingi yetu inahitaji kuwa juu ya kujenga uhusiano wa herufi za sauti na kutumia foniki ya uchambuzi kuimarisha mafundisho hayo. Ni Phonics Ngapi na Kwa Muda Gani? Tangu ripoti ya NRP, pia tumepanua uelewa wetu wa maendeleo ya maendeleo ya kusoma neno kama inavyoonyeshwa na Awamu za Ehri na nadharia yake ya ramani ya orthographic. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""kiwango cha wanafunzi"" ni aina ya msaada wa mafunzo unaohitajika kusaidia mwanafunzi kukua." Wanafunzi katika prealphabetic na sehemu ya alfabeti wanahitaji mafundisho zaidi ya phonics kuliko wale katika awamu ya kuunganishwa. Wanafunzi hawa pia wanahitaji msaada na ufahamu wa fonemiki. Wakati, wanafunzi katika awamu ya kuunganishwa ni tayari kuhamia kuelekea mafundisho ililenga morphology badala ya phonics. Ni kupitia maendeleo haya ya awamu kwamba maagizo yetu hubadilika. Mwanafunzi wa darasa la nne anayesoma katika awamu kamili ya alfabeti atahitaji mafundisho zaidi kuliko wenzao wa darasa, wakati mwanafunzi wa shule ya chekechea katika awamu kamili ya alfabeti hatahitaji mafundisho mengi. Ni lazima tuchunguze wanafunzi wetu ili kutambua mahali walipo ili kutoa aina ya mafundisho yanayohitajika kukuza maendeleo ya kusoma neno. Tathmini za uchunguzi husaidia kutambua wanafunzi wanaohitaji mafundisho zaidi. Tathmini za utambuzi zinatusaidia kutambua mahitaji maalum ya wanafunzi wetu ili kutofautisha mafundisho yetu na kwenda zaidi ya mahitaji ya darasa lote. Mimi majadiliano zaidi kuhusu Diagnostic Phonics Assessments katika post yao wenyewe. Utafiti wa grapheme-phoneme unaonyesha kwamba uelewa wa phoneme unasaidia katika kuunda na kuunda uelewa wa kusoma. Tunajua ni mafundisho ambayo yanafaidi wanafunzi wote. Kile ambacho bado hakijulikani ni wigo maalum na mfululizo. Katika chapisho linalofuata katika mfululizo huo, tutazungumzia jinsi ya kuunda masomo yetu ya fonetiki ili kufaidika na kusoma na kuandika. "Kutoka kwa utafiti wa ""A 2020 Perspective on Research Findings on Alphabetics: Implications for Instruction"" na Susan Brady, Mwalimu wa Fasihi, na Mwalimu wa Fasihi, na Fasihi ya Fasihi, na Fasihi ya Fasihi, na Fasihi ya Fasihi, na Fasihi ya Fasihi, na Fasihi ya Fasihi, na Fasihi ya Fasihi, na Fasihi ya Fasihi, na Fasihi ya Fasihi." 76 - N. "Kutoka kwa ufahamu wa fonolojia hadi kusoma maneno, juu ya kuboresha ujuzi wa kusoma na kuandika, kwa Louisa Moats, ""Ujuzi zaidi juu ya Sayansi ya Kusoma""" Kila chapisho litakuwa na lengo tofauti, na pia nitashiriki viungo vya machapisho yangu yanayohusiana, mara kwa mara. Mada zimechaguliwa kwa uangalifu ili kujumuisha habari ya msingi inayohitajika kuelewa sayansi na kukusaidia kujifunza zaidi juu ya baadhi ya utafiti mkubwa wa msingi katika uwanja huu. "Mapendekezo ya kwanza ya kitabu hiki ni ""The Five Pillars of Reading"" na ""The Simple View of Reading"" na ""The Scarborough Rope.""" Unataka kupata kila post katika barua pepe yako hivyo wewe si miss ni? Jisajili hapa chini. Nitakupelekea barua pepe machapisho na viungo muhimu zaidi kila wiki baada ya chapisho kuwa hai!