Synthetic phonics, also known as blended phonics or inductive phonics, is a method of teaching English reading which first teaches letter-sounds (grapheme/phoneme correspondences) and then how to blend (synthesise) these sounds to achieve full pronunciation of whole words.
Overview
Synthetic phonics refers to a family of programmes which aim to teach reading and writing through the following methods: Teaching students the correspondence between written letters (graphemes) and speech sounds (phonemes), known as “grapheme/phoneme correspondences” or “GPCs” or simply “letter-sounds”. For example, the words me and pony have the same sound at the end, but use different letters. Teaching students to read words by blending: identifying the graphemes (letters) in the word, recalling the corresponding phonemes (sounds), and saying the phonemes together to form the sound of the whole word. Teaching students to write words by segmenting spoken words: identifying the phonemes of the word, recalling the corresponding graphemes, then writing the graphemes together to form the written word.
Synthetic phonics programmes have some or all of the following characteristics: Teaching letter-sounds out of alphabetic order, following an order determined by the number of words that can be spelled with those letter-sounds at an early stage (e.g., more than 50 words can be spelled using only the most common sounds corresponding to s, a, t, i, p, n). Teaching the reading and writing of words in order of increasing irregularity, in other words teaching words which use typical letter-sounds first (e.g. fan and ape), and teaching words with more unusual letter-sounds later (e.g. phone and eight).
Synthetic phonics programmes do not have the following characteristics: Encouraging students to guess words from contextual clues (see whole language method). Encouraging students to memorise the shape of words, to recall them by sight without first identifying the letter-sounds and blending them (see Look say method). Teaching grapheme-phoneme correspondence on a "when needed" basis or as applied to particular groups of words, when these words arise in other forms of reading instruction (see embedded phonics in Whole language).
Methodology
Synthetic phonics teaches the phonemes (sounds) associated with the graphemes (letters) usually at the rate of three to six letter-sounds per week. The sounds are taught in isolation then blended together (i.e. synthesised), all-through-the-word. For example, learners might be taught a short vowel sound (e.g. a as in cat) in addition to some consonant sounds (e.g. s, t, p). Then the learners are taught words with these sounds (e.g. sat, pat, tap, at). They are taught to pronounce each phoneme in a word, then to blend the phonemes together to form the word (e.g. s - a - t; "sat"). Sounds are taught in all positions of the words, but the emphasis is on all-through-the-word segmenting and blending from week one. It does not teach whole words as shapes (initial sight vocabulary) prior to learning the alphabetic code.
When learners can read enough words with letter-sounds they have learned, by saying the sounds and blending them, they are introduced to texts that include only words with those letter-sounds. These texts provide practice in word reading, increase confidence and reward effort.
Synthetic phonics develops phonemic awareness along with the corresponding letter shapes. It involves the learners rehearsing the writing of letter shapes, preferably with the tripod pencil grip, alongside learning the letter-sounds. Dictation is a frequent teaching technique from letter level to word spelling, and eventually extending to text level. Synthetic phonics does not teach letter names until the learners know common letter-sounds thoroughly and how to blend sounds for reading and segment spoken words for spelling. Often when letter names are introduced it is through singing an alphabet song.
Synthetic phonics teaches phonics at the level of the individual phoneme from the outset; not syllables and not onset and rime. Teachers are to put accuracy before speed, because fluency (i.e. speed, accuracy, expression) and comprehension will come with time.
Synthetic phonics involves the teaching of the transparent alphabet (e.g. c as in "cat") before progressing onto the opaque alphabet (e.g. ch as in "school"). In other words, learners are taught steps that are straightforward and 'work' before being taught the complications and variations of pronunciation and spelling of the full alphabetic code. It introduces exception words and 'tricky' words (words with letter-sounds that have not yet been taught or are unusual), after a thorough introduction of the transparent alphabet code (learning a common spelling for each of the 40-plus sounds of English and how to blend sounds for reading and segment spoken words for spelling). English has a surprisingly large number of words with unusual letter-sounds, often the most common words of all, such as 'to', 'of', etc. They are taught slowly and systematically. The phonics application still works at least in part in such words.
Synthetic phonics involves a heavy emphasis on hearing the sounds all-through-the-word for spelling and not an emphasis on "look, cover, write, check". This latter, visual form of spelling plays a larger part with unusual spellings and spelling variations, although a phonemic procedure is always emphasised in spelling generally.
Teachers read aloud a full range of literature with the learners and ensure that all learners have a full range of experience of activities associated with literacy such as role play, drama, poetry, but the learners are not expected to 'read' text with words they cannot read in or out of context, and the method does not involve guessing at words from context, picture or initial letter clues.
Typical programme
learning letter sounds (as distinct from the letter names); For example, mm not em, ss not ess, ff not ef. The letter names can be taught later and are not usually taught in the early stages. learning the 40+ sounds of English and their common corresponding letters;
The English Alphabet Code 'Key': 40+ phonemes with their common 'sound pattern' representations. This is based on the typical British pronunciation. The number of the 40+ phonemes varies according to accent and analysis for some regions in the UK and for other English-speaking countries, such as Australia, Canada, and the United States. For a more complete list of alternative spellings of the sounds, see .
Vowels:
a - mat a-e - ape, baby, rain, tray, they, eight air - square, bear ar - jar, far e - fed, bread ee - sweet, me, beach, key eer - deer, hear er - computer, errand i - pig, stick i-e - kite, wild, light, pie o - bought, quality
oa - oak, rope, bow, piano oi - coin, boy oo - (short) book, would, put oo - (long) moon, crew, blue, fruit ow - down, house or - fork, pork, store u - plug, glove ur - burn, teacher, first u-e - tune, unicorn, hue uh - button, chug
Consonants:
b - boy, rabbit c / k - cat, key, duck, school, quit ch - chip, watch, statue d - dog, ladder f - fish, coffee, photo, tough g - gate, egg, ghost h - hat, whole j - jet, giant, cage, bridge k-s - box
l - lip, bell, sample m - man, hammer, comb n - nut, dinner, knee, gnat ng - ring, singer p - pan, happy r - rat, cherry, write s / c - sun, dress, house, city, mice sh - ship, mission, station, chef
t - tap, letter, debt th - thank th - that v - vet, sleeve w - wet, wheel, queen y - yes, new z - zip, fizz, sneeze, is, cheese g-z - exist zh - treasure
Systematic phonics
Systematic phonics is not one specific method of teaching phonics; it is a term used to describe phonics approaches that are taught explicitly and in a structured, systematic manner. They are systematic because the letters and the sounds they relate to are taught in a specific sequence, as opposed to incidentally or on a "when needed" basis.
The National Reading Panel (NRP) concluded that systematic phonics instruction is more effective than unsystematic phonics or non-phonics instruction. The NRP also found that systematic phonics instruction is effective (with varying degrees) when delivered through one-to-one tutoring, small groups, and teaching classes of students; and is effective from kindergarten onward, the earlier the better. It helps significantly with word-reading skills and reading comprehension for kindergartners and 1st graders as well as for older struggling readers and reading disabled students. Benefits to spelling were positive for kindergartners and 1st graders but not for older students.
Systematic phonics does not include methods such as embedded phonics and phonics mini lessons which are found in the Whole Language approach and the Balanced Literacy approach.
Systematic phonics is sometimes mischaracterized as "skill and drill" with little attention to meaning. However, researchers point out that this impression is false. Teachers can use engaging games or materials to teach letter-sound connections, and it can also be incorporated with the reading of meaningful text.
Phonics can be taught systematically in a variety of ways, such as: analogy phonics, analytic phonics, phonics through spelling, and synthetic phonics. However, their effectiveness vary considerably because the methods differ in such areas as the range of letter-sound coverage, the structure of the lesson plans, and the time devoted to specific instructions.
Systematic phonics has gained increased acceptance in different parts of the world since the completion of four major studies into teaching reading; one in the US in 2000, another in Australia in 2005, another in the UK in 2006, and another in Canada in 2022.
In 2009, the UK Department of Education published a curriculum review that added support for systematic phonics. In fact, systematic phonics in the UK is known as Synthetic phonics. It's often referred to as ‘systematic’ synthetic phonics because children learn about the various sounds, spellings, and grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) in a structured manner.
Beginning as early as 2014, several states in the United States have changed their curriculum to include systematic phonics instruction in elementary school.
In 2018, the State Government of Victoria, Australia, published a website containing a comprehensive Literacy Teaching Toolkit including Effective Reading Instruction, Phonics, and Sample Phonics Lessons.
Analytic phonics and analogy phonics
Analytic phonics does not involve pronouncing individual sounds (phonemes) in isolation and blending the sounds, as is done in synthetic phonics. Rather, it is taught at the word level and students learn to analyse letter-sound relationships once the word is identified. For example, students might be asked to practice saying words with similar sounds such as ball, bat and bite. Furthermore, students are taught consonant blends (separate, adjacent consonants) as units, such as br in break and or shr in shrouds.
Analogy phonics is a particular type of analytic phonics in which the teacher has students analyse phonic elements according to the speech sounds (phonograms) in the word. For example, a type of phonogram (known in linguistics as a rime) is composed of the vowel and the consonant sounds that follow it (e.g. in the words cat, mat and sat, the rime is "at".) Teachers using the analogy method may have students memorize a bank of phonograms, such as -at or -am, or use word families (e.g. can, ran, man, or may, play, say).