Phonics Phases

If you think about what is involved in learning to read, you will realise that it is a very complex process.

Learners need to recognise the individual sounds (phonemes) that make up the words we speak. They also need to recognise the different shapes that letters form on the written page (graphemes). Then, they must connect the letters they see with the sounds the letters represent. This is called grapheme-phoneme correspondence.

However, when learning to read English, grapheme-phoneme correspondence is not always regular or predictable. Learners must understand that a single letter can represent multiple sounds, while the same sound can be represented by different letters. For example, the letter 'c' is pronounced as 'k' in some words (e.g., cat) and as 's' in others (e.g., city), whereas the 'k' sound might be spelled with 'k' (e.g., kite) or 'c' (e.g., cat).

To support young readers with this challenging task, the Department for Education in England advocates the use of validated systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programmes. These programmes are designed to ensure consistency and effectiveness in phonics instruction.

What is Systematic Synthetic Phonics?

The word synthetic comes from synthesise, meaning to blend individual elements into a greater whole. Just as a factory synthesises plastic by blending various chemicals and a music synthesiser creates music from individual bits of data, the synthetic phonics approach teaches pupils to make words by blending sounds together.

Children begin not by learning the names of the alphabet letters but rather their sounds. If they see the letters m and s on the page, they do not learn that they are called 'em' and 'ess' but that they make the sound 'mmm' and 'sss'. They learn to sound out the sounds represented by each letter, so if they see the word Sam they will sound out 'sss', 'a' and 'mmm', and then blend these three sounds together to say 'Sam'.

This approach is also systematic, meaning that graphemes are introduced gradually in a logical sequence. The teacher first ensures that pupils have developed the visual and listening skills they need in order to become successful readers. The children then learn regular graphemes, those which consistently represent the same sounds, before they progress to words with more irregular spelling.

There are a variety of systematic synthetic phonics programmes available, each with its own approach to structuring learning, but they all conform to the following logical sequence:

Phase 1: Skill Development

Before they can learn to read, children need to develop their listening and visual skills.

A crucial listening skill is phonological awareness, the ability to discriminate different sounds such as the different endings of the words 'cut' and 'cup'. This skill develops naturally as children learn to distinguish the sounds around them. Music, poems, nursery rhymes, and everyday sounds are all key elements in developing this skill.

The visual skills which help children to acquire letter knowledge include shape recognition, and the ability to visually sort and classify objects.

Children generally develop most of these skills naturally through their interactions with parents and caregivers. Their reception year teacher will help them continue developing these skills before introducing them to a formal reading programme.

Further reading: Phase 1 - Skill Development

Phase 2: Introducing the First Letters

Once they have acquired the necessary basic skills, children are gradually introduced to their first graphemes and the sounds they represent. These may be single letters, such as s and n, or pairs of letters, such as ck. These first graphemes consistently represent the same sound. Children are encouraged to blend the graphemes together in order to sound out words (as in our previous example of s + a + m = sam) as soon as they have learnt enough graphemes to do so.

Validated SSP programmes provide clear guidance on introducing graphemes systematically in the reception year.

Further reading: Phase 2 - Introducing the First Letters

Phase 3: Expansion

Children are introduced to an additional set of graphemes. These consist of both single letters and digraphs, groups of letters (generally pairs) which represent a single sound. They begin with consonant digraphs such as 'sh' and 'th', followed by vowel digraphs such as 'oa' and 'oo'.

This is also the stage at which children begin to learn common exception words, which are words that cannot always be sounded out according to phonics rules. Examples include she, they, and you.

Phase 4: Consolidation

At this stage, children practise the skills they have learnt and learn to blend groups of consonants such as tr, str, and lk. They also continue to learn more common exception words.

[NOTE: Stages Three and Four occur in Year One of the National Curriculum for England].

Further reading: Phase 4 - Consolidation

Phase 5: Further Development

Once children can read words automatically without having to sound them out, they learn more vowel digraphs and different ways to write the same sound. For example, the words wail, way, and whale all show different ways of representing the same ay sound. They also learn alternative pronunciations for the same graphemes, such as the ea in tea, head, and break.

They also continue adding common exception words to their repertoire.

Phase 6: Achieving Fluency

At this stage, pupils can read familiar words automatically and decode most new words silently without sounding them out aloud, though they may need to sound out complex or unfamiliar words. The goal at this stage is for children to improve their reading fluency by reading a wide variety of material, both fiction and non-fiction, to develop their spelling accuracy and writing skill.

[NOTE: Phases Five and Six are benchmarks for Year Two of the National Curriculum for England].