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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 volume 25, pages 1365–1384 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

A comparison was made of 10-year-old boys and girls who had learnt to read by analytic or synthetic phonics methods as part of their early literacy programmes. The boys taught by the synthetic phonics method had better word reading than the girls in their classes, and their spelling and reading comprehension was as good. In contrast, with analytic phonics teaching, although the boys performed as well as the girls in word reading, they had inferior spelling and reading comprehension. Overall, the group taught by synthetic phonics had better word reading, spelling, and reading comprehension. There was no evidence that the synthetic phonics approach, which early on teaches children to blend letter sounds in order to read unfamiliar words, led to any impairment in the reading of irregular words.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the pupils and teachers who took part in this study. They would also like to gratefully acknowledge funding from the Scottish Executive Education Department and the University of Hull; however, the views expressed here are not necessarily those of these bodies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, England, UK

    Rhona S. Johnston, Sarah McGeown & Joyce E. Watson

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  1. Rhona S. Johnston
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  2. Sarah McGeown
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  3. Joyce E. Watson
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Correspondence to Rhona S. Johnston.

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Johnston, R.S., McGeown, S. & Watson, J.E. Long-term effects of synthetic versus analytic phonics teaching on the reading and spelling ability of 10 year old boys and girls. Read Writ 25, 1365–1384 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-011-9323-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-011-9323-x

Keywords

  • Synthetic phonics
  • Analytic phonics
  • Opaque orthography