How best to address weaker reading and spelling in secondary

Any questions/comments/observations relating to the educational content of the programme can be posted here. Any 'technical' problems to the 'Technical Problems' forum please.

Moderators: admin, debbie

Post Reply
User avatar
debbie
Posts: 2596
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: UK

How best to address weaker reading and spelling in secondary

Post by debbie »

It can be very disturbing to note how many young people are not really secure with reading and spelling by the time they are in secondary education. This is the case for English-speaking pupils/students and not just for those for whom English is a new or additional language.

It is not uncommon for such young people to continue to slip through the net of the secondary school for multiple reasons. The most damaging of all is that the staff of the secondary school may perceive that the weaknesses in reading and spelling are about within-the-individual issues and not about the prior teaching.

It may well be that the young people concerned do have individual and specific challenges but this is not always the case at all. Further, such learning difficulties can have been caused or exacerbated (made worse) by the teaching - or lack thereof - through primary education.

Whatever the reason for weak reading and spelling profiles, the staff at the secondary school need to address this and there are a number of ways this can be undertaken.

This was my response to a lady who completed our self-study Phonics Training Online course at:

https://phonicstrainingonline.com

There are a number of suggestions I can make but these may have different degrees of relevance dependent on your context and the needs of the pupils in your school.

By this I mean, are you noting weak spelling, and/or reading inaccuracy, of just a few pupils, or widespread, and how do you address this?

1) Make sure your colleagues and pupils fully appreciate that ‘phonics’ is for life, not just for teaching infants. Find a way of taking colleagues through the spelling routine to demonstrate that they may think in terms of sounds (even if at the syllable chunking level) for spelling whether handwriting or typing, and ask if they make this explicit to their pupils when, for example, writing longer or more unusual, or new words on the whiteboard. Demonstrate how they write through those longer words and ask the pupils themselves to identify what they are doing to write. Point out to your colleagues, and to the pupils, that we generally only use letter names, letter by letter, to RELAY a spelling accurately from one person to another. So ‘sounds’ analysis and support is the process/skill, and everyone should know this commonly.

2) Many young people have not had a thorough grounding in phonics for reading and spelling, and may not have been taught a wide range of alphabetic code knowledge that explicitly or at all, and KS 2 teachers may not have built on infant teaching well enough or at all. This means that even if pupils can read many words, they may have the default reading profile of taking a stab – a guess – at new words – even quite simple words of everyday language. Teacher Jacqui Moller-Butcher currently working in a secondary school first noticed this reading profile in KS 2, and then in KS 3 and she coined the phrase ‘look-alike’ word reading and provided records to exemplify what this means. She wrote some great guest-posts for my ‘Naked Emperor’ blog which might be of interest to see if you recognise this in your pupils:

https://debbiehepplewhite.com/guest-pos ... ent-161726

The importance of this is being aware of this type of reading profile as these pupils are readers, but privately when reading they could be making many errors which affect their reading comprehension and which prevent an increase in spoken vocabulary. Again – it is about making your colleagues fully aware of these circumstances because this can lead to professional conversations about how best to support a better understanding of the complex alphabetic code for staff and pupils alike.

3) To support a better understanding of the bigger picture alphabetic code is the use of overview Alphabetic Code Charts. This can be a combination of main display charts which should constantly support spelling along with the intellectual appreciation of the code by everyone! You can also promote the use of the mini alphabetic code charts for each pupil. This may be for all pupils to be seen as ‘standard’ or for only those pupils that you think would benefit although this might then be perceived as baby stuff rather than adult stuff. There is even a chart which is one-side and includes the International Phonetic Alphabet which is not at all babyish in appearance. David has rebuilt our Alphabetic Code Charts site now so do visit:

https://alphabeticcodecharts.com

Educating everyone can include a look at a comparison chart such as the great contrast between the English code and the Spanish code – all available via our site above.

4) Are there pupils who will benefit from specific phonics teaching? If so, this could be approached as an intervention for groups and/or individuals as required. If you take a look at the scope of the Phonics International programme, there are plenty of the core materials which can be used well and appropriately in which case follow the guidance delivered via ‘The BIG Pink Button’ on the homepage. We have now made the full programme completely free so individual staff members can register in their own right. There is a free pre-recoded webinar on the coronavirus page with full course notes which you could recommend to any staff members relevant – perhaps all?

5) Based on the Phonics International programme and ‘order’ of introducing the letter/s-sound correspondences, Abigail Steel has produced three workbooks for secondary which can complement or be used as stand-alone material. It is scripted so that teaching assistants or people new to phonics are supported so there is a Teacher Book too. Abi has provided these as free pdfs or they can be bought ready-made via Amazon I believe. You need this link to investigate:

https://www.abigailsteeltraining.com/ke ... onics.html

Please don’t hesitate to get back to me with any further questions and/or to let me know how you get on in your school.
Last edited by debbie on Tue Mar 02, 2021 9:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
Debbie Hepplewhite
User avatar
debbie
Posts: 2596
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: UK

Post by debbie »

All secondary school staff (indeed all teaching staff) should be teachers and supporters of spelling at all times - and the use of overview Alphabetic Code Charts are so helpful with this process:


https://phonicsinternational.com/Let_me ... l_that.pdf
Debbie Hepplewhite
User avatar
debbie
Posts: 2596
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: UK

Post by debbie »

The free pre-recorded webinar is via this link below, and the free printable course notes are packed full of information. It is my opinion that all staff members who teach or support pupils in all sectors should be fully trained so they are knowledgeable about the complexities of the English alphabetic code and the phonics core skills and their sub-skills for reading and spelling:

https://phonicsinternational.com/cv-lockdown-resources/
Last edited by debbie on Tue Mar 02, 2021 9:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Debbie Hepplewhite
User avatar
debbie
Posts: 2596
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: UK

Post by debbie »

The full Phonics International programme provided via printable and projectable resources is incredibly comprehensive and flexible to use - however, this is the guidance for the 'core' and 'essential' resources:

https://phonicsinternational.com/how2.pdf


Homepage:

https://phonicsinternational.com
Debbie Hepplewhite
User avatar
debbie
Posts: 2596
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: UK

Post by debbie »

Here is some feedback from people all over the world who have undertaken our Phonics Training Online course - see the top thread:

viewforum.php?f=19
Debbie Hepplewhite
Post Reply