Daisy Christodoulou · Diane McGuinness · Glynis Cousins · K Anders Ericsson · linguistic phonics · Mark Seidenberg · Michael J. Prietula · Paul J Feltovich

Threshold concepts and the idea of sound to print

 I’ve been thinking quite a bit recently about Glynis Cousin’s short introduction to ‘threshold concepts’, an idea developed by Erik Meyer and Ray Land and, although I have reservations about some of the things she argues, I find her central theme quite helpful. She describes a threshold concept as one that is ‘central to the mastery of… Continue reading Threshold concepts and the idea of sound to print

Diane McGuinness · Early Reading Instruction · linguistic phonics · visual phonics

Graphemes and phonemes, or how NOT to teach reading and spelling

Although I’ve written about the differences between linguistic and traditional (graphemic) phonics a number of times to date, I’m often being asked for further clarification. This I am more than happy to give because it’s in the detail of what we do at Sounds-Write that makes it so effective. So, how do the two orientations differ from… Continue reading Graphemes and phonemes, or how NOT to teach reading and spelling

linguistic phonics · Maggie Downie

Linguistic v traditional phonics – an afterword

Thanks to reminder in a tweet from Maggie Downie, I’m adding a further point to my previous post ‘Linguistic v traditional phonics’. As I’m always arguing, linguistic phonics gives primacy to the spoken language. The reason is because all children grow up learning the spoken language naturally, which is not the case with written language!… Continue reading Linguistic v traditional phonics – an afterword

linguistic phonics · sound-to-print · Sounds-Write · traditional phonics

Linguistic phonics v traditional phonics

Given that for many researchers working in the field of beginning reading and writing it is axiomatic that teachers should be adopting a synthetic phonics approach, the next question is: should that approach be graphemic, as Letters and Sounds is; or, should it be phonemic, as Sounds-Write, Sound Reading System, and That Reading Thing are?… Continue reading Linguistic phonics v traditional phonics

Diane McGuinness · linguistic phonics · visual phonics

Sound to print: the appliance of science

‘Phonics,’ wrote Diane McGuinness, in her superb book Early Reading Instruction  ‘is a problematic word.’ Never was there a truer thing said! Why? Because ‘phonics’ is an umbrella term for all kinds of approaches, some good and some fair-to-middling-grim.  According to McGuinness, the ‘classification is unsatisfactory because it does not identify the critical difference in… Continue reading Sound to print: the appliance of science

linguistic phonics · Susan Godsland · synthetic phonics

Linguistic versus synthetic phonics

Someone on the Reading Reform Foundation website recently asked what were the differences between linguistic and synthetic phonics. Although some people claim that the differences between linguistic phonics and synthetic phonics are minimal, I would contend that they are enormous and, furthermore, that these differences have profound consequences for teaching and learning. To begin with, the… Continue reading Linguistic versus synthetic phonics

linguistic phonics · Sounds-Write · test results

Sounds-Write study on 1607 Key Stage 1 pupils in state primary school across the country.

The Sounds~Write linguistic phonic teaching programme was conceived and written in 2002/3. An essential component of the authors’ thinking about literacy tuition is that all teachers of literacy deserve high quality training. This is needed to help dispel the many myths and inaccuracies pervading teaching practices that stem from a variety of sources including: personal… Continue reading Sounds-Write study on 1607 Key Stage 1 pupils in state primary school across the country.