Updates and developments in the field of literacy

This is the forum for participants of the 'PHONICS TRAINING ONLINE' course written by Debbie Hepplewhite. Participants are welcome to add their own comments. Debbie will contribute any relevant up-to-date findings, issues and developments. To find out about the course, go to: www.phonicstrainingonline.com .
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Updates and developments in the field of literacy

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It is important that we make every endeavour to keep the online training course current.

Please feel free to contribute any developments in your part of the world, or generally in the field of literacy.
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Twitter is buzzing about Year Two national tests

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Here in England, Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, has raised the possibility of re-instating national TESTS for Year 2 children to replace the current teacher ASSESSMENT for the national snapshot of standards.

I think this is an important topic and although I'm not in favour of 'over testing' children as such, I am in favour of quick snapshot tests to provide a national picture rather than complex, teacher testing. Of course teacher assessment is the basic toolkit of teachers for their planning and provision.

I raise the topic of testing and assessment in the online course and so it is very topical that there is now a lot of a national interest in the issue of testing nationally and the format that should take - more information about this here:


http://phonicsinternational.com/forum/v ... .php?t=936
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Post by debbie »

Susan Godsland raises the topic of 'Response to Intervention or Really Terrible Instruction?' via the 'International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction' (IFERI) forum:

http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... ?f=2&t=488

If this is of interest, please do follow up on Dick Schutz's paper, RTI: 'Response to Intervention', 'Really Terrible Instruction,' or 'Re-Tasking Intelligence' also the thread 'R + P interventions - flogging a dead horse?' via the Reading Reform Foundation (links provided by Susan).

Please note that I've added Robert Slavin's comments about Response to Intervention (thanks to Kerry Hempenstall) and, further, note my comments about fidelity to programme and guidance - something which is very difficult indeed to achieve.

I'm seriously hoping that after people have completed my online training course, there might be a greater chance of 'fidelity to programme and guidance' than I often see during observations in schools - assuming, of course, that the programme is content-rich and the guidance is both sensible and ambitious and fit-for-purpose for all profiles of learner! :wink:
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Post by debbie »

Here is Gordon Askew's blog posting observing that teachers still inadvisedly promote multi-cueing reading strategies:

http://ssphonix.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/ ... ot-to.html
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A potentially misleading and damaging anti-phonics article

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I felt compelled to address the issues raised in an article by Misty Adoniou in 'The Conversation' (November 2015) which I explain in full here:


http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... ?f=2&t=503
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Post by debbie »

We've added an additional paper to the 'Links and Resources' page for Module Five:
'English synthetic phonics in an international context: How using synthetic phonics with non-native English speakers can help with bilingualism - and suggestions for good practice'
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Spread of Alphabetic Code Charts

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I received this message from a lady who does much training in systematic synthetic phonics around the world - often for Jolly Learning Ltd - but she, like me, understands the importance of the use of Alphabetic Code Charts as a generic information resource.

I am so pleased that the teachers themselves in Cameroon understood the importance of the information they include.
Dear Debbie

Yesterday I got back from training in three cities in Cameroon - three days with a teacher and headteacher from each of six schools in each city and regional inspectors from around each city. I demonstrated a lesson in each place and all the classes had over 100 children. They were supposed to be six year olds, but some looked much younger. The teachers I met there are amazing - dedicated and able to manage very large classes. Every time I found the teachers were much more enthusiastic than at the beginning, after seeing a lesson demonstrated with Cameroonian children in a large class in a government school.

The only resources I showed delegates apart from Jolly Phonics resources were two of your alphabetic code charts - one with pictures and one with notes for teachers. The teachers were very interested in them. I have never seen crowds of teachers pouring over the details so much. Some were particularly interested in the notes for teachers and said they would be very helpful. They said they should be displayed in every school. At one time I lost them and found they had been whisked away to a photocopier. As they were both your larger ones, I tried to say that it would probably be easier to print them directly from the internet and told them how to find them on the internet, but they wanted to photocopy them.

I thought you would be interested.
The Alphabetic Code Chart site is here:

http://alphabeticcodecharts.com

And it looks as if these are the charts (or similar) that might have been shown in Cameroon:

http://alphabeticcodecharts.com/B1_DH%2 ... colour.pdf

http://alphabeticcodecharts.com/FFF_The ... 0chart.pdf

I know of schools using different SSP programmes from the two programmes I am associated with where versions of my free Alphabetic Code Charts are used. This is possible because the English alphabetic code is the same code (more or less) regardless of SSP programme used.
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Report debunks speed reading promises as too good to be true

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In 'From experience to meaning':

http://theeconomyofmeaning.com/2016/01/ ... o-be-true/
New report debunks speed reading promises as too good to be true

Ah, a new study that looks critically at claims and states it’s not really what people expect. This get’s me interested. “Learning to speed read seems like an obvious strategy for making quick work of all the emails, reports, and other pieces of text we encounter every day, but this new report raises important doubts about the claims put forth by many speed reading programs and tools.
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Pamela Snow

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Pamela Snow contributes an excellent paper for:
Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture: Language is literacy is language - Positioning speech-language pathology in education policy, practice, paradigms and polemics
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10. ... 15.1112837

Bear with this paper - if you can spare the time, read through to the end.
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Post by debbie »

Susan Godsland flags up a paper critical of the government guidance:

CLPE, NAAE, NATE & UKLA's new plans for teaching reading

I address the critics here:

http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... ?f=3&t=539
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David Didau: 'Learning is liminal'

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I enjoy David Didau's blog postings - he's worth following.

I like this piece:
'Learning is liminal'
http://www.learningspy.co.uk/learning/l ... ment-65150

David writes about:
Who is dyslexic and why does it matter?
http://www.learningspy.co.uk/myths/who- ... it-matter/
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An example of different interpretations of a literacy study

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The contrasting responses in different newspapers to the reporting of a new literacy study in England are quite extraordinary - illustrating that the devil is not only in the detail but in the reporting of the detail!

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/inexpensive-ph ... ign=buffer

Compare for example ....
An “inexpensive” trial policy improved all pupils’ literacy in the early years and had long-term effects on children who struggle with reading, a major new study has found.
....with the Times newspaper's headline:

“The phonics system used in all schools to teach children to read has no long-term benefits for the average child, a major study finds today. The universal benefit of the programme is called into question in a large-scale study, which tracked the progress of more than 270,000 pupils. It shows that, while phonics can help disadvantaged children or those without English as a first language, it makes no difference by age 11.”
And here is the actual study:
CEP Discussion Paper No 1425
April 2016

Teaching to Teach” Literacy

Stephen Machin
Sandra McNally
Martina Viarengo
http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1425.pdf

And here is the misleading headline and article written by Emma Plackett who skews or disregards the important issues around reading instruction and this latest study:
The LSE is right: the phonics reading method doesn't work for every child

EMMA PLACKETT
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04 ... -for-ever/

Is this more about self-promotion than the actual findings of the study?

Here is another report about the same study:
Synthetic phonics can improve reading skills, study claims

Using synthetic phonics to teach children how to read can have considerable long-term benefits for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who do not have English as a first language, according to a new study by the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP).

http://www.capitaeducation.co.uk/news/s ... aims-17936#
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Post by debbie »

I've added the above information to some further information about the report on 'synthetic phonics' provided by Jenny Chew (Jenny commented via the UK Reading Reform Foundation forum and I added this to the International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction forum).

See here:
The importance of reading the research to understand the conditions and conclusions transparently
http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... ?f=2&t=583
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Post by debbie »

The link below leads to a really important development in Australia that, hopefully, has implications for other countries where English is taught, see the thread at the site of the International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction about Dr Jennifer Buckingham's paper recommending use of a year one phonics screening check in Australia based on findings in England:

http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... ?f=2&t=688

This is certainly a 'MUST' read for anyone in Australia - and for anyone with an interest in worldwide literacy and what can be done to improve it!
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