Synthetic Phonics for ESL Children in Hong Kong: An Exploratory Study

1. Synthetic Phonics for ESL Children in Hong Kong: An Exploratory Study Dr Paul Sze Faculty of Education The Chinese University of Hong Kong

2. How is phonics taught in primary schools in Hong Kong? The current mainstream approach

3. Example Scenario 1 • Pupils have learnt the following words from different parts and stages of their English curriculum: • Chair, chess, chip, change, child, children, chocolate • Rich, beach, match, catch, much • Teacher guides pupils to deduce the sound represented by ‘ch’

4. Example Scenario 2 • Pupils have learnt the following words from different parts and stages of their English curriculum: • say, bay, lay, tray, day, may, way • Teacher guides pupils to deduce the pronunciation represented by ‘-ay’.

5. Analytic Phonics The approach that guides pupils to deduce sound-spelling relationships from words that they have already learnt.

6. Problems with the Analytic Approach • Phonics teaching depends on pupils’ vocabulary learning; and • Vocabulary learning is generally slow because it has to be contextualised, according to the official English Language curriculum.

7. Results • Rate of phonics learning hindered by vocabulary learning. • Phonics learning becomes haphazard. Pupils’ knowledge of phonics does not develop systematically. • In recent years, more and more secondary schools have found it necessary to re-teach phonics from S.1.

8. Synthetic Phonics A different approach which has been widely promoted in the UK in recent years and found to be highly effective.

9. Synthetic Phonics • Direct teaching of sound-spelling relationships (i.e., graphemes, eg., a, e, i, o, u, ee, ay, ea, ow, f, ce, sh, th, wh, …). • Pupils are given training in blending graphemes into syllables/words, and segmenting syllables/words into graphemes.

10. Example Scenario 1 • If pupils have been taught the graphemes ‘ay’ and some common consonant graphemes, they will be able to sound out for themselves: • Bay, Hay, gay, Jay, lay, nay, pay, ray, tray • … and spell these words correctly from their pronunciation

11. Example Scenario 2 • If pupils have been taught the grapheme ‘ch’, and some common vowel (and consonant) graphemes, they will be able to sound out: • chip, cheap, cheese, choose, chat, chin, chart, chum, cheer; • … and spell them from their pronunication.

12. Results in the UK • Synthetic phonics is accelerated phonics. • Pupils’ spelling greatly improves. • Pupils reading is also accelerated, since they can sound out words in story books, many of which are already in their listening-speaking vocabulary.

13. Will Synthetic Phonics work in ESL contexts? ???

14. Synthetic Phonics for ESL Children in Hong Kong: An Exploratory Study • In the first term of 2008-09, with the full support of OUP, an independent study was carried out at 3 primary schools in HK. The study covered all the P.1 pupils at the 3 primary schools. • The research question: Does synthetic phonics work for these P.1 children?

15. 2 possible research designs • Experimental • Pupils randomly assigned to Experimental Group and Control Group; • Experimental Group given treatment (synthetic phonics); Control group no treatment; • The two groups compared afterwards. • Pre-experimental • All pupils take part in experiment and given same treatment (synthetic phonics) • Their ability measured (a) before, and (b) after, the experiment, and compared.

16. The Pre-experimental Design • Pupils given a pre-test on 2 phonics skills in September 2008. • They then followed a three-month programme on synthetic phonics (Stage 1 of OUP’s Read, Write, Inc. course). Teachers concerned at the 3 schools supported by OUP ELT experts and synthetic phonics trainers. • Pupils given a post-test on same 2 phonics skills in January 2009.

17. Pre-test and Post-test • The pre-test and post-test had same content and measured 2 phonics skills: • ability to recognise correct spellings for unfamliar words heard; and • ability to sound out unfamiliar words from their spellings • All words used are one-syllable, nonsense words, to control for previous knowledge.

18. Results: Mean Scores • Test 1: Recognising correct spellings of nonsense words (8 items) • Pre-test: 6.15 • Post-test: 7.07 • Test 2: Sounding out nonsense words (4 items) • Pre-test: 0.85 • Post-test: 2.43

19. A significant difference found when data analysed with SPSS Conclusion: The treatment (synthetic phonics) worked in helping the children acquire phonics skills.

20. Further Observations • The effect of synthetic phonics in helping children acquire phonics skills was shown as quickly as 3 months into the programme. • The direct teaching of the 44 graphemes can be completed in a short period of time. Work on multi-syllabic words can be started sooner. • A reading programme can be started sooner, since pupils need not be taught to recognise every word in their storybooks.

21. Synthetic phonics is accelerated phonics. …

22. Some queries about synthetic phonics • 1. Is the learning of graphemes, blending, and segmenting, too abstract for young children? • 2. Will the sound and spelling practice be mechanical and boring for young children?

23. Answers to the Queries • The study, and my classroom observations (both in primary schools and play group centres) show that the activities are within easy grasp of young children. • Young children enjoy playing with sounds and spellings. • Teachers (eg., RWI-trained) can use a variety of game-like activities for the practice.