1. The science of reading Dr Sarah McGeown.
Dr Sarah McGeown
Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology
University of Edinburgh

2. Webinar outline
Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
The Big Five
Reading for pleasure
Building evidence into education

3. Poll Have you received training in systematic phonics instruction? YesNo
Unsure

4. Poll
Could you describe the differences between synthetic phonics and analytic phonics?
Yes No
Unsure

5. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction

6. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Whole word
Biff
Chip
Floppy

7. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Whole word
Strategy to learn these words will depend on children’s knowledge base
Biff
Chip
Floppy

8. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Whole word
Strategy to learn these words will depend on children’s knowledge base
No letter-sound knowledge – use visual cues of word and/or card
Biff
Chip
Floppy

9. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Whole word
Strategy to learn these words will depend on children’s knowledge base
No letter-sound knowledge – use visual cues of word and/or card
Biff
Chip
Floppy

10. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Biff
Chip
Floppy
Whole word
Strategy to learn these words will depend on children’s knowledge base
No letter-sound knowledge – use visual cues of word and/or card

11. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Whole word
Strategy to learn these words will depend on children’s knowledge base
No letter-sound knowledge – use visual cues of word and/or card
Some letter-sound knowledge – use and consolidate
Biff
Chip
Floppy

12. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Use context The boy went to the shop and bought sweets

13. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Use context The boy went to the shop and bought sweets
Drawing on:
Semantic (vocabulary, background knowledge) Syntactic (e.g., grammar, language structure) cues

14. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Use context The boy went to the shop and bought sweets
Drawing on:
Semantic (vocabulary, background knowledge) Syntactic (e.g., grammar, language structure) cues
Children with better language skills, vocabulary and grammar will be better placed to decipher the unfamiliar word.

15. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Phonics
Teaches children explicitly about the relationship between letters and sounds (a, x, th, ee, ck).

16. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Phonics
Teaches children explicitly about the relationship between letters and sounds (a, x, th, ee, ck).
Synthetic: c-a-t = cat; a-c-t = act; sh-i-p = ship; f-i-sh = fish

17. Different approaches to initial word reading instruction
Phonics
Teaches children explicitly about the relationship between letters and sounds (a, x, th, ee, ck).
Synthetic: c-a-t = cat; a-c-t = act; sh-i-p = ship; f-i-sh = fish
Analytic: cat = c-a-t; camp, clap, clean; ship = sh-i-p

18. Analytic phonics Synthetic phonics
Analyse grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences: cat = c-a-t. Often rhyme: c-at, s-at
Synthetic phonics
Synthesise grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences: c-a-t = cat

19. Analytic phonics Synthetic phonics
Analyse grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences: cat = c-a-t. Often rhyme: c-at, s-at
Phonological awareness training (i.e., not always in context of print)
Synthetic phonics
Synthesise grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences: c-a-t = cat
Always learnt in the context of print

20. Analytic phonics Synthetic phonics
Analyse grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences: cat = c-a-t. Often rhyme: c-at, s-at
Phonological awareness training (i.e., not always in context of print)
Grapheme-phoneme correspondences typically learnt firstly in the initial position of word: man, mouse, mountain
Synthetic phonics
Synthesise grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences: c-a-t = cat
Always learnt in the context of print
Grapheme-phoneme correspondences learnt in all positions of the word from beginning of instruction

21. Analytic phonics Synthetic phonics
Analyse grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences: cat = c-a-t. Often rhyme: c-at, s-at
Phonological awareness training (i.e., not always in context of print)
Grapheme-phoneme correspondences typically learnt firstly in the initial position of word: man, mouse, mountain
Letter sounds taught at a slower pace compared to SP and embedded within a more eclectic approach
Synthetic phonics
Synthesise grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences: c-a-t = cat
Always learnt in the context of print
Grapheme-phoneme correspondences learnt in all positions of the word from beginning of instruction
Typically taught at a fast pace, not embedded within other approaches

22. Systematic synthetic phonics
Systematic (planned sequence) synthetic (synthesise letter sounds correspondences) phonics a t p i n a t n i p i n t a t n a n p n i a t p p i t n p a t n i p i t p a a p n i t i t p n a p p i n t

23. Systematic synthetic phonics
Systematic (planned sequence) synthetic (synthesise letter sounds correspondences) phonics a t p i n a t n i p i n t a t n a n p n i a t p p i t n p a t n i p i t p a a p n i t i t p n a p p i n t
Irregular words: McGeown et al., (2013b, 2013c).

24. Evidence of effectiveness
Evidence for systematic phonics instruction (Castles et al., 2018)
Compared SSP to a eclectic approach to reading instruction (whole word, context, analytic phonics). In both studies, SSP taught children were significantly better readers (Johnston et al., 2012; McGeown et al, 2012).
A more phonics focused approach may be particularly suitable for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who typically have weak language skills and letter-sound knowledge (McGeown et al., 2012; 2013a).
Synthetic phonics programmes vary. Programmes which teach most consistent letter-sound mappings plus frequent words by sight appropriate for children starting school with weak phonological awareness skills (Shapiro et al., 2016). .

25. The Big Five

26. The Big Five Phonemic awareness
Alphabetic principle/phonics instruction
Fluency with text
Vocabulary
Comprehension
National Reading Panel (2000)
See Castles et al., (2018) for skills underpinning word reading and reading comprehension

27. Reading enjoyment

28. Importance of reading for pleasure
Decodable books: Opportunity to immediately practice what they have been taught and experience success in independent reading.

29. Importance of reading for pleasure
Decodable books: Opportunity to immediately practice what they have been taught and experience success in independent reading.
However, restricted words within decodable texts arguably not conducive to promote a love and interest in reading.

30. Importance of reading for pleasure
Decodable books: Opportunity to immediately practice what they have been taught and experience success in independent reading.
However, restricted words within decodable texts arguably not conducive to promote a love and interest in reading.
Once beyond early stages of learning to read, benefits of decodable readers will reduce. Insufficient research to understand when this occurs.
Build the skill and desire to read.

31. Reading enjoyment
Phonics can be delivered in fun and engaging ways. Enjoyment of phonics instruction is associated with children’s general enjoyment of reading, reading confidence and word reading skills (McGeown et al ).

32. Reading enjoyment
Phonics can be delivered in fun and engaging ways. Enjoyment of phonics instruction is associated with children’s general enjoyment of reading, reading confidence and word reading skills (McGeown et al ).
Phonics needs to be within a curriculum that also develops oral language skills and promotes a love of, and interest in, books, words and stories.

33. Reading enjoyment
Phonics can be delivered in fun and engaging ways. Enjoyment of phonics instruction is associated with children’s general enjoyment of reading, reading confidence and word reading skills (McGeown et al ).
Phonics needs to be within a curriculum that also develops oral language skills and promotes a love of, and interest in, books, words and stories.
The science of reading, to date, has neglected to focus on how to enhance children’s reading enjoyment and engagement.

34. Building evidence into education

35. Building evidence into education
“The opportunity to make informed decisions about what works best, using good quality evidence, represents a truer form of professional independence”  Goldacre (2013)
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36. Scottish Parliament Petition
PE01668: Improving literacy standards in schools through research-informed reading instruction
Petitioner: Anne Glennie
Summary:
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to i) provide national guidance, support, and professional learning for teachers in research- informed reading instruction, specifically systematic synthetic phonics; ii) ensure teacher training institutions train new teachers in research-informed reading instruction, specifically systematic synthetic phonics.

37. SSLN: Reading performance
Performing very well- 80% or more of items successfully completed
Performing well – 60% or more, but less than 80% successfully completed
SSLN, 2016

38. SSLN: Reading performance (deprivation)
Proportion of pupils performing well or very well .
SSLN, 2016

39. Let’s keep the conversation going…….
LALco is a multidisciplinary forum, which brings together individuals with shared interests in language and literacy but different knowledge and expertise.
Our aim is to create a context for inclusive dialogue to raise awareness of challenges and to generate evidence-based and workable solutions to close the language and literacy attainment gap.
Led by Dr Lynne Duncan (University of Dundee) and Dr Sarah McGeown (University of Edinburgh)
Website in development:

40. Contact me: Email: s.mcgeown@ed.ac.uk Twitter: @DrSarahMcG
Websites: and

42. Poll
Has anything you have learnt from the webinar today changed your thinking?
Yes No
Unsure

43. Poll
Will anything you have learnt from the webinar today impact on your practice?
Yes No
Unsure

44. Thank you for listening….. Opportunity for questions and discussion

45. Questions
How should we best approach the teaching of "tricky words" when using a systematic phonic approach?
I'd be very grateful if it could include advice on how to extend the children's vocabulary throughout the school. We are in an area of deprivation and the children frequently come to us with a very limited vocabulary.

46. References
Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
Johnston, R. S., McGeown, S., & Watson, J. E. (2012). Long term effects of synthetic versus analytic phonics teaching on the reading and spelling ability of 10 year old boys and girls. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 25,
McGeown, S., Johnston, R., & Medford, E. (2012). Reading instruction affects the cognitive skills supporting early reading development. Learning and Individual Differences, 22,
McGeown, S. P., & Medford, E. (2013a). Using method of instruction to predict the skills supporting initial reading development: insight from a synthetic phonics approach. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal. doi: /s
McGeown, S. P., Medford, E., & Moxon, G. (2013b). Individual differences in children’s reading and spelling strategies and the skills supporting strategy use. Learning and Individual Differences, 28,
McGeown, S. P., Johnston, R. S., & Moxon, G. (2013c). Toward an understanding of how children read and spell irregular words: the role of nonword and orthographic processing skills. Journal of Research in Reading. doi: /jrir
McGeown, S. P. Johnston, R., Walker, J., Howason, K., Stockburn, A., & Dufton, P (2015). The relationship between young children’s reading attitudes, confidence and attainment. Educational Research,57,
National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence based assessment.
Shapiro, L. R., & Solity, J. (2016). Differing effects of two synthetic phonics programmes on early reading development. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, 2,