Scholastic Reading Hub | Teaching Reading | Phonics

Phonics

What is it?

Over time, there have been many different ways that have been ‘the best’ way to teach children to read. Currently, the Department for Education in England promotes systematic synthetic phonics. This isn’t the case outside England, other countries advocate a more ‘balanced reader’ approach to reading.

Systematic synthetic phonics is a process where children are taught to read letters or groups of letters by the sounds they represent. When the individual sounds are learned, they can then be blended together to make words. These sounds are taught in a systematic way. The Department for Education in England has a list of validated systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programmes, a full list of which can be found here.

There is a lot more to reading than just being able to decode words. To create a balanced reader, children should be able to:
  • Decode (phonics)
  • Read with fluency and phrasing and,
  • Comprehend the text they are reading with at least
    • literal,
    • inferential and
    • response comprehension types from the start of their reading journey.
  • They should be able to do this across a wide-range of text types.

In the balanced reader approach, it is important that children’s reading skills in each of these areas develop at the same pace, if they don’t they will become an unbalanced reader and teachers will need to put in place an intervention at a later stage to redress the balance.

What does the research show?

There has been plenty of research conducted into the various forms of reading instruction. Here are some snapshots:

The Education Endowment Foundation says that “Phonics approaches have been consistently found to be effective in supporting younger readers”

The Department for Education, in its document Reading: the next steps, says “There is a substantial body of evidence which demonstrates that systematic synthetic phonics is the most effective method for teaching all children to read”

John Hattie gives Reading Recovery an effect size of 0.5 and phonics instruction 0.53, both well within the ‘zone of desired effects’

Marie Clay (2002), says: “All readers…need to find and use different kinds of information in print and combine the information which they find in print with what they carry in their heads from their past experiences with language…A left to right sounding out of chunks or letter clusters or, in the last resort, single letters, is usually unsuccessful on its own. The terms ‘look and say’, or ‘sight words’ or ‘phonics’ are used to describe some recommended ‘methods of instruction’ which are oversimplified accounts of what we actually need to learn to do in order to be able to read.” (Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals, Part Two, p14)

How Scholastic can help

Understanding and resourcing reading in your school can be confusing. We’re here to help with reliable, trusted advice on the best resources for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Request a chat with our Educational Sales Consultants by emailing us or take a look here

Phonics Book Bag Readers

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Phonics Book Bag Readers are a brand new set of phonically decodable readers perfect for very early readers, exactly matched to the Little Wandle Letters & Sounds Revised SSP used in schools across the UK.

Catch Up Your Code

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Catch Up Your Code identifies and addresses gaps in knowledge of the alphabetic code of English.

This knowledge is critical for efficient decoding and spelling. Any gaps impact negatively on reading comprehension and quality of writing. Catch Up Your Code starts with a short assessment to identify gaps in code knowledge, then provides a series of fast, effective 10-minute lessons to close the gaps.

Read & Respond

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Read & Respond will help you to inspire a love of reading with best-loved children’s books. A flexible literacy programme includes phonics activities for ages 5-7 year olds and helps you to engage all of your pupils regardless of their age or stage.

Phonics screening check resources

Prepare with confidence for the Phonics Check with Scholastic National Curriculum Tests.

Trusted by teachers and parents, Scholastic’s Practice Papers are fully in line with the Phonics Screening Check for children in Year 1. The Practice Papers will help your child achieve to the best of their ability.

Marie Clay

Marie Clay is the most trusted guidance for teachers managing early literacy including Reading Recovery.

For three decades Marie M. Clay has been acknowledged as a world leader in research on literacy learning. This collection provides essential support for early literacy intervention, including vital professional development for training and specialist teachers, as well as trustworthy resources to aid with the delivery of the PM reading programme and more – all to help put reading at the heart of your school.

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