4.1 Introduction
As you have learnt, dyslexia is
characterised by difficulties in recognising, spelling and decoding words.
These difficulties can be caused
by issues dealing with phonics, or the phonological parts, of language and are
typically unrelated to other cognitive abilities. Difficulty with phonics is
one of the most common characteristics of dyslexia. Phonics, meaning sounds,
are often described as the basic building blocks of language, particularly in
teaching English. Yet, phonics are an issue for dyslexic learners.
Recent research has shown that
dyslexia may actually be rooted in an issue that the brain has when it tries to
distinguish distinct sounds from each other, which makes the learning of
phonics particularly complicated for dyslexics.
In this module, you will learn
more about what phonics are and why they are an important teaching strategy for
teaching the English language to both young learners and ESL (English as a
second language) learners. You will also learn how dyslexia can impact learning
phonics and how to work with individual pupils to ensure that phonics are being
taught in a way that helps support dyslexic pupils, as opposed to putting them
further behind.
4.2 Phonics Defined
The word 'phonics' is derived
from ancient Greek roots. 'Phone', inGreek, means 'sound' or 'voice'.
Understanding phonics as a series
of sounds is a good way to approach the study of phonics and helps clarify the
importance of phonics in language for both non-dyslexic readers and dyslexic
individuals. In practical use, phonics is a system that English speakers use to
learn how to read and write. It focuses on the sounds that the letters make,
both together and individually, to help new speakers learn and recognise new
words. These sounds are known as phonemes.
Phonics also includes the study
of the symbols that represent the sounds, which in English are groups of
letters in the alphabet. The groups of letters displayed are referred to as
graphemes.
Phonemes
Phonemes are small units of sound
and they include one, two or three letters that make up a sound.
English language and it is as
follows:
S T P N M A E I O G D C R H U
Ai Ee Igh B F
L J V
Oa Oo
Ar
W K X
Y Z
Qu
Or Ur Ow
Oi Ch Sh
Th Ng
Ear
Air Ue Er
Each of these phonemes refers to
one or more distinct sounds used in the English language. The ability to
recognise these phonemes helps learners distinguish between and identify words.
Graphemes
Graphemes in the English language
are represented in the list of phonemes above.The difference between a grapheme
and a phoneme is that a phoneme is a sound that a speaker makes, whereas a
grapheme is the visual representation of the sound, like letters written on
paper, such as the list above.
Thus, the list above is a list of
phonemes when you produce the sounds. However, the list itself is a list of
graphemes because the letters written down provide a visual representation of
the sounds.
Essentially, phonemes are
important for pronunciation and graphemes are important for spelling.
Understanding both is essential for literacy in and fluency of a language.
There are 26 letters in the English alphabet and these 26 letters are combined
to make 44 phonemes or sounds. However, because of the evolution of the English
language over time, there are approximately 120 graphemes, which means that
those 44 phonemes can be written down around 120 different ways.
4.3 A Way of Teaching
Phonics is just one way of
teaching pupils how to decode words. However, it is the most common way of
teaching English in the UK.
Some of the other systems of
learning language include:
See and Say
The See and Say method teaches
students visual cues to recognise words. In this method, a pupil may look at
the shape of the word, to remind them of the word and its meaning.
Whole Word Learning
In the Whole Word approach,
pupils are taught individual words as vocabulary. They are expected to
recognise the word entirely from memory.
The merits of phonics over
alternative strategies lie in the ability to teach learners to spot and
understand patterns in language, as opposed to learning and understanding words
individually. This helps students with spelling and pronunciation, and pattern
recognition promotes greater cognitive skills, compared to methods that only
require memory.
When pupils learn English using
phonics, they come away with the skills required to learn and remember new
vocabulary, which better prepares them to read independently, for both learning
and leisure.
Studies show that readers who are
taught using the phonics system are able to read more accurately than those who
have been taught without teaching methods and that dyslexic pupils are also
able to benefit from this teaching method. Thus, whilst dyslexic pupils may
struggle more with learning phonics, teachers do not typically use different
methods of teaching literacy and instead use different tools and adaptations to
support dyslexic learners.
FACT
Phonics teaches children to be
able to listen carefully and identify the phonemes that make up each word. This
helps children to learn to read words and to spell words.
Source: Phonicsplay.co.uk
4.4 Phonics Screening Check
Pupils of school age who live in
the UK will undergo a phonics screening check.
This check helps determine the
individual pupil's grasp on phonics and helps the school determine whether the
pupil is progressing at the required pace. This check is also important for
dyslexic pupils, for similar reasons. It is a strong indicator of a pupil's
performance in phonics, which helps the school and teachers to determine how to
proceed.
How the Check Works
The check is fast and relatively
easy. The pupil sits down with their teacher or a teacher with whom they are
familiar with; the pupil then reads through a list of 40 words. The child is
required to say the words aloud.
The words on the list comprise
some that the child may have encountered before, in their current and previous
classes; however, others are new to the child. New words may include vocabulary
words at a level above the child's reading level. Some of the words on the list
may also be nonsense words or words that are not recognised in the English
language. Children will be informed of the possibility of nonsensical or
unrecognisable words before the check starts.
This test helps show how the
child has approached familiar vocabulary and whether they have the skills
required to tackle new vocabulary on their own. The nonsense words, while
unconventional, are a useful tool because they are used to teach sounds in the
classroom and cannot be referred to in the child's basic vocabulary bank, as
will be demonstrated later in this module. Instead of showing that they have
memorised all of the words on the list, the children are demonstrating their
ability to decode words, which is an important literacy skill.
The check only takes a few
minutes. However, the child is not put under any time pressure because the test
is not supposed to be stressful. If the child struggles too much, the teacher
stops the process and does not force them to continue. This check is not
designed to humiliate the child but to inform the teacher about their progress.
Thus, it is a suitable tool for identifying and supporting dyslexic pupils.
4.5 Supporting Phonics in Dyslexic
Learners
Teaching Phonics in the Classroom
Phonics may seem like a complex
concept, especially for young learners. However, phonics lessons are not as
complex as they sound. Early phonics lessons are often made up of games, songs
and activities and generally take up less than half an hour of the school day.
Children learn to make sounds and distinguish those sounds from other sounds
which many children enjoy because it gives them freedom to be creative and a
little bit silly in the classroom.
Those with dyslexia tend to
struggle with phonics; however, teaching phonics to dyslexic children, or
adults learning English for the first time, is not impossible and it can still
be enjoyable, despite being more difficult. It simply requires the right
approach from the teacher.
There are two important tools for
teachers to use whilst preparing phonics lesson plans. To teach phonics to
dyslexic pupils, it is important to start with the fundamental principles of
sounds in the English language. The first fundamental principle is that there
is more than one way to write a sound. This is crucial because it gives a
certain amount of freedom to the rules, even though it technically complicates
the decoding process.
Using the phonic alphabet chart
is the other important tool when teaching phonics. Some dyslexic children and
adults find it very difficult to hear the difference between sounds in certain
words, unless the speaker slows down and separates and enunciates each
syllable. This is an important part of dyslexia and it can be helped with the
phonic alphabet chart, which serves as a visual reminder of phonics during the
lessons.
With these two tools in mind,
teachers can then focus on teaching the six steps of phonics in the classroom.
Teaching Phonics in Six Steps
Step 1: Decode
Decoding is essential in phonics;
it is the process of seeing the letter or letter group and then sounding it out
aloud. The first step usually begins with the following letters: 'a', 'I', 'n',
'p', 't' and 's'. These letters are considered to be crucial for decoding and
for vocabulary. They can also be used to create a wide variety of words which
is useful for practice in the classroom and at home.
Step 2: Blending
Blending occurs when children
move from only speaking individual sounds to being able to say the whole word
by blending the sounds. This step takes time for all children and may take more
time for dyslexic children. Blending is also the step whereby children move
from speaking new words to learning how to write and spell these words which is
known as encoding.
Step 3: Decoding Consinant Vowel
Consonant (CVC) Words
In step 3, children begin to
approach three-letter words. These words are arranged in the format of
consonant-vowel-consonant.
Step 3 is also where new sounds
are introduced. The letters 'b', 'd', 'g' and 'h' are typically introduced
here, as well as the remaining vowels.At this point, children might be asked to
form their own words with these letters. This is where nonsense words may enter
the classroom. Children may create nonsensical combinations of letters, to
practise decoding the new sounds they have learnt and to practise blending the
sounds they know.
Step 4: Decoding Clusters
A consonant cluster occurs when
two consonants are grouped together. For example, when 'pl', 'tr'
or 'cr' are used in a word, this
is referred to as a consonant cluster, even if there are vowels on either said
of the cluster.
Children need to learn these
words because some of the important vocabulary words will include consonant
clusters. These will then be blended into words known as CCVC
(consonant-consonant- vowel-consonant) words. CCVC words are words that feature
a consonant cluster followed by a vowel then another consonant. These words
include vocabulary like 'stop 'or 'flag'.
Consonant clusters are difficult
for children and this is why they arrive later in the phonics learning process.
Step 5: Understanding Vowel
Digraphs
A vowel digraph occurs when two
vowels are grouped together to make a single sound, for example, 'oo', 'ee' or
'ai'. They are introduced during the last steps of phonics because vowels can
have several sounds which are called split digraphs.
During this step, pupils will
begin to encounter words that include both consonant clusters and vowel
digraphs.
Step 6: Understanding Consonant
DigraphsQ
Consonant digraphs are found when
two consonants are grouped together to make a single sound. 'Ch' and 'sh' are
two of the most common consonant digraphs taught during early phonics lessons.
Consonant digraphs are found at
the end of the process because pupils have already learned that the same letter
can create different sounds.
4.6 Teaching Phonics at Home
The time allotted to teaching
phonics in the classroom is not enough to support pupils with dyslexia.
In fact, it is not always enough
to support pupils without dyslexia. Both schools and the UK Government
recommend that pupils practise phonics at home.
Parents can help their children
learn phonics at home, to help enable them in the classroom and in life.
Here are some simple ways to
teach phonics outside the classroom:
Parents should get in touch with class
teachers to learn about class procedures for teaching phonics. This will
prevent parents from undermining the teacher's lessons and help support them.
For example, when the parent knows which sounds are being covered in lessons
that week, they can create lessons at home to support the lessons at school.
This also includes choosing the right
materials for the level of phonics at which the child has been assessed. The
teacher can suggest the right books and materials for the child. Finding
materials at the right level is crucial for the success of children as it
includes enough familiar words to promote confidence and the words left to be
decoded are within the child's abilities. This means that the child can work on
decoding and not just guess the words.
Some schools will keep records of what the
child has read. Parents and teachers can work together on these records to talk
about what the child has read. This is also a good opportunity to communicate
about what the child enjoys, what they excels in and what they struggle with.
Parents can highlight different sounds when
reading out loud with their children. They can start by highlighting the basic
individual letters, for example, s, a, and t. As the child progresses, they can
move on to the two-letter sounds. Eventually, three-letter sounds can be
introduced when the child has made enough progress.
Parents can encourage children to practise
phonics by sounding out the unfamiliar words they encounter. Children learn
well when they speak the different sounds they see and then try to blend them
together. This works particularly well when there are no pictures to help them
guess what the sound means. Parents can do this while reading books; however, reading
out words in everyday life can also help. Reading shop signs, street signs and
packages can help children practise words that they may not encounter in the
classroom and will encourage them to work on reading everything around them.
Playing games, such as 'I Spy', is a good way
to organically include practise time in everyday life without the child feeling
like they are in a never-ending phonics lesson.
When children encounter unfamiliar words in
books, parents can help them sound them out and start a discussion about what
the word means. Doing so will help the child follow the story and put the word
in context.
Conclusion
Phonics are a difficult subject
to understand on the surface. Yet, once they are broken down for pupils, they
are one of the most effective ways for all pupils to learn language, including
pupils who are dyslexic.
Dyslexic pupils are at a natural
disadvantage when it comes to learning phonics because their brain may struggle
to differentiate between sounds. However, plenty of practice and patience can
help pupils learn phonics and find their own learning strategies to be able to
successfully communicate and become enthusiastic readers and writers.
Finally, it should be stressed
that although all schools in the UK need to have and deliver a programme of
phonics for children, other methods can be used. These other methods such as
'Say and See' or 'Whole word learning' should be considered when minimal
progress is being made in phonics.
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