The DfES National Literacy Strategy (implemented in all primary schools in England from 1998) uses a broadly synthetic phonic
approach, and all published NLS materials are based on the phonological system of RP (e.g.
ttp://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/publications/literacy/948809/, where the phoneme symbols used are often grapheme-based,
hence the NLS symbols "/ar/", "/air/", etc). 

To provide some support for teachers in areas where the phonological system is not as in RP, the LAGB Education Committee are
gathering materials (e.g. tables of phoneme-grapheme correspondences) for different varieties of English - link in Patrick's
message below. Pages already up are on Newcastle (Dominic Watt), Liverpool (Patrick Honeybone & Kevin Watson) and Manchester
(myself), and pages on South West and rhotic NW accents forthcoming.

If anyone would like to offer materials for any other accent(s) (primarily but not exclusively in England (where the NLS is
implemented)), all contributions welcome....!

Sue



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>>> Patrick Honeybone <[log in to unmask]> 02/06/2006 16:46:10 >>>
This is not really an answer to Paul's question, but if anyone's interested
in these issues, you may also be interested in the material here...

http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/ec/accents.htm 

Patrick 

-----Original Message-----
From: Teaching of phonetics mailing list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Paul Carter
Sent: 02 June 2006 10:21
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: Re: synthetic phonics in England

Aside from the fact that it doesn't actually introduce a new way of spelling
English phonemes, nor was the study in England, does anyone know of any
possible consequences of using English (as opposed to Scottish) phonemes in
this sort of reading strategy? Interesting to see postvocalic r treated as
part of a vowel, for example...

Paul

On Jun 1 2006, Tom Zurinskas wrote:

> Synthetic phonics described below is the new way of teaching English 
> to youngster in England. The description below comes from Wikipedia. 
> It introduces a new way of spelling English phonemes. Anyone familiar 
> with it?
> 
> tom z
> 
> 
> Synthetic Phonics is a method of teaching reading which intensively 
> teaches first the letter sounds and then builds up to blending the 
> letter sounds together to achieve full pronunciation of the printed word.
> 
> Description The name 'Synthetic Phonics' comes from the concept of 
> 'synthesising', which means 'putting together' or 'blending'. What is 
> synthesised/put together/blended in reading are the sounds prompted by 
> the letters on the page. (rrf.org.uk, newsletter 54)
> 
> According to the Clackmannanshire 7 year longitudinal study, 
> '[Synthetic phonics] is a very accelerated form of phonics that does 
> not begin by establishing an initial sight vocabulary. With this 
> approach, before children are introduced to books, they are taught 
> letter sounds. After the first few of these have been taught they are 
> shown how these sounds can be blended together to build up words 
> (Feitelson, 1988). For example, when taught the letter sounds /t/ /p/ 
> /a/ and /s/ the children can build up the words 'tap,' 'pat, 'pats', 
> 'taps' 'a tap' etc. The children are not told the pronunciation of the 
> new word either before it is constructed with magnetic letters or 
> indeed afterwards; the children sound each letter in turn and 
> synthesise the sounds together in order to generate the pronunciation 
> of the word. Thus the children construct the prounciation for 
> themselves. Most of the letter sound correspondences, including the 
> consonant and vowel digraphs, can be taught in the space of a few 
> months at the start of their first year at school. This means that 
> children can read many of the unfamiliar words they meet in text for
themselves, without the assistance of the teacher'.
> 
> Common Terminology
> Common terminology used within the Synthetic Phonics method includes :
> 
> blend (vb.) to draw individual sounds together to pronounce a word, e.g. 
> s-n-a-p, blended together, reads snap phoneme the smallest single 
> identifiable sound, e.g. the letters 'sh' represent just one sound, 
> but 'sp' represents two (/s/ and /p/) grapheme a letter or a group of 
> letters representing one sound, e.g. sh, ch, igh, ough (as in 
> 'though') (vowel) digraph, two letters making one sound, e.g. sh, ch, 
> th, ph. Vowel digraphs comprise two vowels which, together, make one 
> sound, e.g. ai, oo, ow (Rose Review - see external links)
> 
> 
> What it is Synthetic phonics involves the teaching of letter/s-sound 
> correspondences to automaticity, rapidly and systematically (approx 6 
> sounds per week) and models how the alphabetic code works by sounding 
> out and blending all-through-the-word for reading and segmenting the 
> individual sounds all-through-the-word for spelling. Sounds and 
> letters are taught in all positions of the words, but the emphasis is 
> on all-through-the-word blending and segmenting from week one. 
> Synthetic phonics develops phonemic awareness along with the 
> corresponding letter shapes. Synthetic phonics teaches phonics at the 
> level of the individual phoneme from the outset; NOT syllables and NOT 
> onset and rime. Synthetic phonics involves the children rehearsing the 
> writing of letter shapes alongside learning the letter/s-sound 
> correspondences preferably with the tripod pencil grip. Dictation is a 
> frequent teaching technique from letter level to word spelling, 
> including nonsense words and eventually extending to text level. 
> Synthetic phonics teachers put accuracy before fluency. Fluency will 
> come with time, but the emphasis on thorough letter/s-sound 
> correspondence knowledge and synthesising enables the reader to become 
> more accurate, fluent and to access the meaning of the text at the level
of the reader's oral comprehension more readily.
> Synthetic phonics involves the teaching of the transparent alphabet 
> before progressing onto the opaque alphabet. In other words, children 
> are taught steps which are straightforward and 'work' before being 
> taught the complications and variations of pronunciation and spelling 
> of the full alphabetic code. Synthetic phonics introduces irregular 
> words and more tricky words slowly and systematically after a thorough 
> introduction of the transparent alphabet code (learning the 42 
> letter/s-sound correspondences to automaticity and how to blend for 
> reading and segment for spelling). 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. Synthetic phonics teachers read a full range of 
> literature with the children and ensure that all children have a full 
> range of experience of activities associated with literacy such as 
> role play, drama, poetry, but the children are not expected to 'read' text
which is beyond them.
> 
> What it is NOT Synthetic phonics does not teach whole words as shapes 
> (initial sight vocabulary) prior to learning the alphabetic code.
> Synthetic phonics does not teach letter names until the children know 
> their letter/s-sound correspondences thoroughly and how to blend for 
> reading and segment for spelling. Often when letter names are 
> introduced it is through singing an alphabet song. Synthetic phonics 
> DOES NOT involve guessing at words from context, picture and initial
letter clues.
> Children read print (at letter level, word level, digraphs, word 
> level, text level) which corresponds with the level of knowledge and 
> skills taught to date. This means they rehearse what they have been 
> specifically taught and do not need to guess (which can cause damaging 
> habits to the extent of dyslexic symptoms and behavioural problems). 
> This text level print is often referred to as phonically decodable 
> text. Repetitive books are not necessary and children can rapidly 
> access books described as 'real' because of the effectiveness of the 
> synthetic phonics teaching approach.
> 
> What a typical Synthetic Phonics programme consists of learning letter 
> sounds (as distinct from the letter names); For example, /mm/ not muh, 
> /ss/ not suh, /ff/ not fuh. The letter names can be taught later but 
> should not be taught in the early stages. learning the 44 sounds and 
> their corresponding letters/letter groups; The English Alphabet Code 
> 'Key' : 44 phonemes with their common 'sound pattern' representations:
> Vowels (19): /a/ mat /ae/ ape, baby, rain, tray, they, eight /air/ 
> square, bear /ar/ jar, fast /e/ peg, bread /ee/ sweet, me, beach, key, 
> pony /i/ pig, wanted /ie/ kite, wild, light, fly /o/ log, want /oe/ 
> bone, cold, boat, snow /oi/ coin, boy, /oo/ book, would, put /ow/ 
> down, house /or/ fork, ball, sauce, law, /u/ plug, glove /ur/ burn, 
> teacher, work, first /ue/ blue, moon, screw, tune /uh/ (schwa) button, 
> computer, hidden, doctor /w/ wet, wheel, Consonants (25): /b/ boy, 
> rabbit /ks/gz/ box exist /c/k/ cat /key, duck, school /ch/ chip, watch 
> /d/ dog, ladder /f/ fish, coffee, photo, tough /g/ gate, egg, ghost 
> /h/ hat, whole /j/ jet, giant, cage, bridge /l/ lip, bell, sample /m/ 
> man, hammer, comb /n/ nut, dinner, knee, gnat /ng/ ring, sink /p/ pan, 
> happy /kw/ queen /r/ rat, cherry, write /s/ sun, dress, house, city, 
> mice /sh/ ship, mission, station, chef /t/ tap, letter, debt /th/ 
> thrush /th/ that /v/ vet, sleeve /y/ yes /z/ zip, fizz, sneeze, is, 
> cheese /zh/ treasure
> 
> learning to read words using sound blending; reading stories featuring 
> the words the students have learned to sound out; demonstration 
> excersises to show they comprehend the stories;
> 
> References
> Clackmannanshire 7 year longitudinal study: Rhona Johnson, Department 
> of Psychology, University of Hull and Joyce Watson, School of 
> Psychology, University of St Andrews.
> 
> 

-- 
Paul Carter    <http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~pgc104/>
Dept of Language & Linguistic Science, University of York, YORK YO10 5DD
email: [log in to unmask]; tel: +44 1904 432660; fax: +44 1904 432673