Three Approaches to Phonics

- based on an article by John Savage

Synthetic (Explicit)Analytic

(Integrated)Embedded (Implicit)

Synthetic (Explicit)

• Built on the alphabetic principal• Direct, systematic teaching• Sound-symbol relationship• “This is ‘m’ and it says /m/”• Learn to blend individual

sounds/symbols into syllables and words

Synthetic Phonics Programs

• Orton Gillingham• Wilson • Project Read• Multi-sensory with VAKT,

sequential, many repetitions, and students work to mastery

• Decoding uses controlled text

Recommended by the US National Reading Panel for its systematic, direct method, Synthetic Phonics has become the foundation of the “Reading First” component of the “No Child Left Behind Act.” Children first learn how to connect letters or letter combinations with sounds, and then how to blend the sounds together to form recognizable words. They are then taught to sound out and blend letters to pronounce unfamiliar words. Synthetic Phonics rapidly teaches children to read within months rather than years.

Analytic Phonics• Also known as

integrated phonics instruction

• Direct presentation of sound-symbol relationships

• One part of overall curriculum

• Lists of words with blends, digraphs, short vowels, vowel teams, etc.

• Students analyze word elements word families

Integrated Phonics Programs• Basal readers

• Children’s Literature• Games with word sorts,

word building• Other activities to help

students master the orthographic system

• A separate time may be set aside for phonics

• Balanced with other instructional components designed to teach reading and writing

Analytic Phonics

• Students look at the Word level

• They learn how to break words down rather than build them up whole to part

• Word Study: A new approach to teaching spelling

• Usually not used with the at-risk reader (without add’l remediation, review, or repetition of some type)

• The Whole Word Method: Letter Sounds or Whole Words

Embedded (Implicit)

• Begins with the story and builds phonics into the lesson • Instruction in sound-symbol relationship

is built into authentic reading experiences

• Informational purposes not for skill development

• Phonics is naturally embedded in writing• Decoding and encoding develop together• This approach lacks structure – some

could “fall through the cracks”

Embedded Phonics Programs

• Consciously built into shared reading, guided reading, and authentic experiences that use trade books

• Could be effective for some students to learn decoding skills as part of real reading experiences

Research ResultsFoorman: “empirical evidence favors explicit

bibliography coding instruction.”Baker and Stahl believed in the importance

of directly teaching alphabetic coding.Overall: explicit instruction in l/s

correspondence is not necessary for all children but implicit instruction offers no known advantage; thus,

explicit phonics never seems to

hurt and often seems to

help meet the needs of all.