Synthetic phonics “ineffective” for teaching children with persistent reading difficulties

Synthetic phonics, where children are taught to pronounce sounds in isolation before putting them together to form words, isn’t working for many struggling young readers, a study has found.

Phonics helps children learn to read by teaching them how letters and sounds connect, enabling them to decode unfamiliar words and build reading fluency. But some children with learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, ADHD, can struggle with rigid phonics routines.

Now a study by researchers at UCL Institute of Education and Liverpool John Moores University, published in Reading Research Quarterly, has questioned the Government’s approach.

This school term, the government raised the target for the number of pupils in England to reach the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check from 84 per cent to 90 per cent, despite only 80 per cent of pupils currently meeting that target.

Some don't progress

Dr Emma Sumner, co-author of the paper based at LJMU’s School of Education, says that while phonics works for many learning to read, some children don’t progress with just phonics instruction and teachers need to be able to take a more individualised approach to meet the needs of children with reading difficulties.

She said: “It’s important that we try to minimise children with reading difficulties disengaging because they can’t respond to the instruction offered. Fostering reading engagement and motivation to read, and an individualised approach beyond just phonics instruction, is crucial.”

The team found that 21% of  teachers surveyed for the research persist with the synthetic phonics approach, even when it does not work for the children they teach, because this is what Department for Education require.

Too inflexible

Lead author Professor Dominic Wyse (UCL Institute of Education) said: "England’s phonics orthodoxy is too inflexible to get the best outcomes for children with reading difficulties. We cannot persist with a one-size-fits-all approach that we know doesn’t work for all children.

“We call on the DfE to reconsider their view that synthetic phonics is the only option for struggling readers.

The researchers surveyed 133 experienced teachers, head teachers, and special needs experts in England and carried out systematic reviews of what works when teaching children with reading difficulties.

They examined teaching approaches for children with reading difficulties ranging from moderate difficulties through to more severe difficulties such as dyslexia.

They found that while some teachers persisted with the synthetic phonics approach even when it does not work for their pupils, others took a more flexible, common-sense approach – for example, engaging children’s interests; prioritising the use of high-quality children’s books; and teaching writing to support reading.

Frustration for teachers

Some teachers expressed frustrations with the inflexibility of the official approach to teaching reading, saying that their pupils’ enjoyment of reading was being negatively impacted.

The study found that there was very little research evidence, from experimental trials, to support the Government’s narrow approach to synthetic phonics and that a less rigid approach was more effective for children with reading difficulties.

As well as arguing for more professional autonomy for teachers, the researchers are calling for a greater emphasis on children’s motivation for reading; more focus on comprehension and fluency; and greater use of real books, not only ‘decodable texts’ produced by DfE approved private sector synthetic phonics schemes.