Differing effects of two synthetic phonics programmes on early reading development
Background Synthetic phonics is the widely accepted approach for teaching reading in English: Children are taught to sound out the letters in a word then blend these sounds together. Aims We compared the impact of two synthetic phonics programmes on early reading. Sample Children received Letters an...
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Published in | British journal of educational psychology Vol. 86; no. 2; pp. 182 - 203 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.06.2016
Wiley-Blackwell British Psychological Society |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Background
Synthetic phonics is the widely accepted approach for teaching reading in English: Children are taught to sound out the letters in a word then blend these sounds together.
Aims
We compared the impact of two synthetic phonics programmes on early reading.
Sample
Children received Letters and Sounds (L 7 schools) which teaches multiple letter–sound mappings or Early Reading Research (ERR; 10 schools) which teaches only the most consistent mappings plus frequent words by sight.
Method
We measured phonological awareness (PA) and reading from school entry to the end of the second (all schools) or third school year (4 ERR, 3 L&S schools).
Results
Phonological awareness was significantly related to all reading measures for the whole sample. However, there was a closer relationship between PA and exception word reading for children receiving the L&S programme. The programmes were equally effective overall, but their impact on reading significantly interacted with school‐entry PA: Children with poor PA at school entry achieved higher reading attainments under ERR (significant group difference on exception word reading at the end of the first year), whereas children with good PA performed equally well under either programme.
Conclusions
The more intensive phonics programme (L&S) heightened the association between PA and exception word reading. Although the programmes were equally effective for most children, results indicate potential benefits of ERR for children with poor PA. We suggest that phonics programmes could be simplified to teach only the most consistent mappings plus frequent words by sight. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/WNG-VF14C6R4-T istex:7BBE63102F696CE2FC3AAF49523CB724387415E6 Learning Skills Research ArticleID:BJEP12097 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0007-0998 2044-8279 |
DOI: | 10.1111/bjep.12097 |