Synthetic Phonics and WordAloud -
the answer to Dyslexia
John C.D. Nissen
14th March 2005 / updated 24th November 2005
The research
The central problem of dyslexia, i.e. learning to read, can be solved with the
right method and tools. A remarkable study of schools in Clackmannanshire shows
the effectiveness of synthetic phonics, compared to conventional teaching using
analytic phonics - and children with dyslexia are not left behind. One head
teacher said that it had been a life-changing experience, although she
admitted that some teachers in the school had been reluctant to drop the old
methods. She used to wonder why so many of her children failed to learn to
read with the old methods, and now they were all succeeding, with a remarkable
improvement in self-esteem for dyslexic children who had been previously struggling.
The literacy problem
A quarter of UK children leaving primary school are unable to read, and Tony Blair admits that this is a scandal. Furthermore nearly a quarter of adults in both UK and US are illiterate. Part of the problem is the difficulty of the English language, in having countless spelling rules and exceptions. Thus for example children in Italy learn to read much faster than in England, because Italian has simple spelling rules, with few exceptions to them. Another problem is the proportion of people with dyslexia, estimated at between 4% and 10% in Europe and America. But the main problem is how reading is taught. Previous research has shown the importance of phonics, and phonic awareness, in the teaching of reading. This is now accepted practice in most UK schools, although a few teachers cling to the "whole word" or "whole language" approach and deprecate phonics. The Clackmannanshire study shows how synthetic phonics, properly taught from the first term at primary school, is a dramatic improvement on conventional teaching practice, and it shows that 100% literacy is possible, even in a deprived area of Scotland. This has profound implications on the national literacy strategy (NLS).
The conventional method
In conventional teaching, such as prescribed by the National Literacy Strategy, children start by learning the letters of the alphabet. They are shown how letters represent sounds. They are shown large-print books, and an adult reads out the words, whilst pointing to them. Then they are taught the commonest words to build up a basic vocabulary. They are then shown ways to analyse and decode the less common words from the pattern of the word. They are initially taught to analyse words in terms of the first sound in the word (the "onset" part), for example a group of words beginning with 'g'. Then they move on to consider the sounds in other parts of the word (the "rime" part). Such analysis gives rise to the term "analytic phonics", also known as "implicit phonics". It is a top-down phonics approach. New words are analysed with respect to existing words, e.g. having a different initial letter. When a child is unable to decode a word, they are encouraged to guess the word from context. Their learning of the decoding rules for mapping letters (or letter combinations) to sounds is often spread out over two or three years. Long vowel sounds "er" and "ar" are typically left to the second year. This hampers the child in the ability to read on their own, and the child has to rely overly on guesswork.
In fact the guessing of words is encouraged in the NLS by the so-called "searchlights model" and use of multi-cuing. From
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/literacy/publications/framework/63277/ we
read:
All teachers know that pupils become successful readers by learning to use a range of strategies to get at the meaning of a text. This principle is at the heart of the National Curriculum for English and has formed the basis of successful literacy teaching for many years. The range of strategies can be depicted as a series of searchlights, each of which sheds light on the text.
Successful readers use as many of these strategies as possible.
a.. phonic (sound and spelling)
b.. knowledge of context
c.. grammatical knowledge
d.. word recognition and graphic knowledge
But successful readers do NOT use a range of strategies to get at the meaning. They sound out the words, and obtain the meaning from the sound of the words. Thus the "searchlights" notion is at the heart of the problem, which leads to one in five children failing to read. It encourages the child to guess rather than sound out each word. If Jim Rose says one thing in his report for the government, it should be to ditch this notion.
The synthetic phonics method
In synthetic phonics, as taught in Clackmannanshire, the child starts with just six letters - the six letters from which the most number of three-letter words can be created. They are shown how sounds are represented by letters, for writing/spelling words. At the same time they are shown how you map letters to sounds, in order to read or "decode" a word. The child learns to blend the sounds of letters to form words. This is why it is called "synthetic" phonics, as opposed to "analytic" phonics. It is a key part of the learning process. The children learn 43 phonemes of the English language, and the common decoding rules, in just 16 weeks. They can then concentrate on understanding what they are reading.
You can find out more from the description of how to teach reading and
writing using synthetic phonics.
Sources:
observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1418481,00.html and
www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/ins4-00.asp.
The tools
In the Clackmannanshire study, the children were given magnetic letters to build up words, and to help them understand how the letter sounds can be blended together to produce the words. How would you do the equivalent with a computer? You would ideally have a keyboard with large lower-case letters clearly marked on the keys. The computer software would produce the sound of each letter as it is pressed, and the sound of the word at the end of the word. Once the child was confident about letter sounds and pressing the right keys, the software would give them only the sound of the word. The tool from Cloudworld, called WordAloud, supports these features with a speech synthesiser. In editing mode, you can have the option for: letters only spoken; words only spoken; both letters and words; or no speech.
Source: www.cloudworld.co.uk.
Dyslexia
What is all this saying about dyslexia? Dyslexia is both a genetically-determined, life-long condition and a set of symptoms. The 'problem' of dyslexia is the set of symptoms. The primary symptom in a child or teenager is that the reading age is significantly lower than what would be expected from their IQ. Testing of literacy and language skills is the normal means of diagnosis. Now the Clackmannanshire study shows that synthetic phonics is of most help to the children who are struggling in their reading, including the true dyslexics among them. Their reading age can be raised by two or three years - more than enough to counter any natural reading disability. The primary symptom of dyslexia disappears - the 'problem' of dyslexia is effectively solved.
References
[1] Sound Discovery at
www.ridgehillpublishing.com/sdis.htm where it is claimed that
"virtually all children were able to learn to read and spell at least to their
age levels and they could access the curriculum, which made a significant
contribution to their social and educational inclusion."
[2] Scientists propose cure for dyslexia. Intensive training can jump-start
dyslexic brains.
[3]
Evaluating a phonics programme - Debbie Hepplewhite's criteria for evaluating and selecting a synthetic phonics programme and supporting resources.
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