In order to become readers, children need to learn the systematic relationship between code and sound. But with 44 sounds in the English language and 100’s of ways to spell them – the mind boggles. Reading with visual sounds in stories helps to consolidate the different and various spelling patterns of the phoneme – in a meaningful way.
In order to become readers, children need to learn the systematic relationship between code and sound. This is the first step. Meaning and comprehension will come later: children arrive at the meaning of words through orthographic mapping via speech. As children sound out the graphemes, they are able to make connections between words that look and sound the same.
Phonics reduces the cognitive load: there are 44 sounds in the English language. And, instead of learning thousands of words, children may begin with the graphemes. As children learn to decode these sounds, they are able to connect the graphemes to words. Children then begin to recognise words and store them in their long-term memory.
Decoding is the pathway to meaning.
Recognising the need to return to word decoding to promote literacy the NSW Education Department has called for schools to explicitly teach systematic synthetic phonics, or blended phonics. They have introduced phonics screening as part of the phonics curriculum.
Systematic phonics is a core foundational necessity that serves as a building block for literacy and fluency.
Phonics Screening Year 1
- Watch the following video from the Department of Education to understand how phonics are screened and assessed.
- Download this Letter–Sound Assessment Prompts worksheets to learn the order in which sounds are assessed.
The Research Behind Teaching Synthetic Phonics
For an in-depth look at the research and methods behind teaching systematic, synthetic phonics, watch Jennifer Buckingham’s presentation given at the 2019 Literacy Summit.
For additional videos and resources similar to this once, view the Five From Five events page.