international education institute
Research on Literacy Model
SCIENTIFIC BASE FOR FRONTLINE PHONICS CURRICULUM
In June 2003, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released the 2002 results for its National Report Card on reading proficiency for fourth, eighth, and twelfth grade students. The National Report Card has been issued five times since 1992. Although the 2002 results showed that the percentage of fourth graders who performed at or above the basic level was higher than previous years’ results, it was not significantly different from 1992. In addition, 36 percent of fourth-graders and 25 percent of eighth-graders performed below the basic level. Therefore, roughly, 1 in 3 fourth graders and 1 in 4 eighth graders failed to demonstrate even a partial mastery of reading.
From interpersonal contact with thousands of parents, teachers and educators nationwide, Frontline Phonics has found a large percentage of consumers are still approaching reading curriculum selection by trial and error methods, and few have found a research-based curriculum that will provide consistent results year after year.
Frontline Phonics, a program based on decades of research and 17 years of field testing, is designed to take beginning readers to an advanced first grade reading level in one school year. Frontline Phonics was developed by teachers using thousands of children and pilot classrooms to achieve fun, results-driven reading instruction. The Frontline Phonics methodology is based on the six implications in teaching a child to read condensed from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) research findings in the report A Synthesis of Research on Reading from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Bonita Green PhD., University of Oregon, 1997).
According to the synthesis of NICHD research, appropriate early direct instruction appears to be the best medicine for reading problems, evidenced by the fact that children who fall behind at an early age (kindergarten and first grade) fall further and further behind over time. (Fletcher, et al, 1994) The six major implications the NICHD research suggests for early reading instruction represent conclusions from multiple studies comparing the effects of different treatments on various population samples. The findings indicate that teachers need to follow these steps to prevent reading problems in students.
The more recent Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read (2000) substantiates the research implications Grossen reports. Correlational studies identified phonemic awareness and letter knowledge as the two best school entry predictors of how well children will learn to read during the first 2 years of instruction (NRP 2-1). The results of experimental studies led the Panel to conclude that teaching phonemic awareness caused students to improve in both reading and spelling (NRP 2-29, 2-41). The findings were replicated across multiple experiments and thus provide converging evidence for causal claims. Better reading performance will result from instruction designed around these implications, especially the first four implications.
"…Phonemic awareness … is clearly effective. It improves their ability to manipulate phonemes in speech. This skill transfers and helps them learn to read and spell. Phonemic awareness (PA) training benefits not only word reading but also reading comprehension. PA training contributes to children’s ability to read and spell for months, if not years, after the training has ended." (NRP 2-40)
Below we illustrate how Frontline Phonics incorporates each of these steps into its methodology. The fidelity with which Frontline Phonics incorporates these implications from the research distinguishes this program from many other beginning reading programs on the market.
This document focuses on Frontline Phonics 1, the first half of Frontline Phonics Complete Beginning Reading Program, which is most appropriate for preschool. The Complete Program is marketed to schools and education centers nationwide. Frontline Phonics 1 takes beginning readers to an advanced first grade reading level in the first year of instruction. The Complete Program would take readers to an advanced second grade Level. In addition, the term "teacher" is used frequently throughout the document. The word "parent" can be substituted and the same results will apply.
Frontline Phonics lessons are administered in 15 minute sessions focused on a single concept (i.e., letter-sound relationship). The materials are elemental in nature, incorporating colorful cartoon characters, nursery rhyme-like stories, large traceable letters and playful songs that appeal to ages 3 to 7—roughly preschool to second grade. Since the attention span of this age group is minimal and oftentimes motivated through play, Frontline Phonics methodology is effective in holding the attention of beginning readers and makes reading instruction feel similar to play time. Frontline materials focus on just one letter-sound relationship per lesson (one phoneme) that is introduced directly through verbal and audible repetition, sing-along songs, games, cartoon characters, and coloring worksheets that appeal ages 3-7.
1. BEGIN TEACHING PHONEMIC AWARENESS DIRECTLY AT AN EARLY AGE
Phonemic awareness (PA) is the ability to break down words into individual sounds or phonemes. PA is prerequisite to learning phonics and therefore do not yet involve the children in reading. Though the importance of PA has only recently received attention in research, Frontline Phonics has included instruction in PA since its development in the late 80’s.
Frontline Phonics incorporates several PA activities which hold the attention of beginning readers. For example, Frontline’s first lesson focuses entirely on the letter "m." During this lesson, students are introduced to a character called Morty Mouse through a short story. This story helps reinforce the phoneme through the Morty Mouse character and a story that emphasizes the /mmmm/ sound.
Use the mouse to tell the story. Emphasize the letter sound:
Morty Munching Mouse loves to munch.
Munch, munch, munch. (mmmm—rub tummy)
Morty Munching Mouse munches macaroni.
Munch, munch, munch. (mmmm—rub tummy)
Morty Munching Mouse munches muffins.
Munch, munch, munch. (mmmm—rub tummy)
Morty Munching Mouse munches mushrooms.
After children hear the story, they complete lesson worksheets that teach PA requiring them to identify words with the same initial phoneme, isolate sound/phonemes, and alliteration using the same phoneme (e.g., Morty Munching Mouse).
In addition to the above, children learn a specific song for the most common phoneme representing each letter in the alphabet. Children listen to the song of the phoneme they are working on.
Technical notes: Teach phoneme awareness directly
Lack of phoneme awareness seems to be a major obstacle for learning to read (Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987a; Wagner & Torgeson, 1987). About 1 in 5 children do not develop phoneme awareness without direct instruction in phoneme awareness. For these children phoneme awareness does not develop or improve over time; they never catch up but fall further and further behind in reading and in all academic subjects (Fletcher, et al., 1994; Shaywitz, Escobar, Shaywitz, Fletcher, & Makuch, 1992; Stanovich, 1986; Stanovich & Siegel, 1994).
Recent research on phoneme awareness has found the following types of tasks to have a positive effect on reading acquisition and spelling: rhyming, auditorily discriminating sounds that are different, blending spoken sounds into words, word-to-word matching, isolating sounds in words, counting phonemes, segmenting spoken words into sounds, deleting sounds from words (Ball & Blachman, 1991; Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1990; Cunningham, 1990; Foorman, Francis, Beeler, Winikates, & Fletcher, in press; Lie, 1991; Lundberg, Frost, & Petersen, 1988; O'Connor, Jenkins, & Slocum, 1983; Smith, Simmons, & Kameenui, 1995; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987b; Yopp, 1988).
Explicit instruction in how segmentation and blending are involved in the reading process was superior to instruction that did not explicitly teach the children to apply phoneme awareness to reading (Cunningham, 1990). Kindergarten children with explicit instruction in phoneme awareness did better than a group of first graders who had no instruction, indicating that this crucial preskill for reading can be taught at least by age 5 and is not developmental (Cunningham, 1990).
In a study by Ball and Blachman (1991), 7 weeks of explicit instruction in phoneme awareness combined with explicit instruction in letter-sound correspondences for kindergarten children was more powerful than instruction in letter-sound correspondences alone and more powerful than language activities in improving reading skills.
In a study by Foorman et al. (in press), 260 children were randomly assigned to a revised kindergarten curriculum (n=80) and a standard curriculum (n=160) consisting of developmentally appropriate practices described by the state of Texas' essential elements for kindergarten. The revised curriculum sought to prevent reading disabilities by teaching phoneme awareness for 15 minutes a day using the Lundberg, Frost, and Petersen (1988) curriculum from Sweden and Denmark. Children in the revised curriculum made significant gains in phoneme awareness over the year. Foorman et al. found that the greatest gains occurred when the explicit instruction moved into teaching the letter-sound relationships concurrently with the instruction in phoneme awareness. Phoneme awareness alone is not sufficient for many children. Explicit instruction in common letter-sound correspondences is also necessary (Adams, 1988; Ball & Blachman, 1991; Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1990; Foorman et al., in press; Mann, 1993; Rack, Snowling, & Olson, 1992; Snowling, 1991; Spector, 1995; Stanovich, 1986; Torgesen et al., in press; Vellutino, 1991; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987a).
Research shows that a lack in PA is a major obstacle in reading proficiency (Fletcher, et at., 1994). This research supports that PA has been very successful with kindergartners, as long as it is age appropriate. Age appropriate does not mean delaying intervention until later years. Rather, age appropriate means finding materials which are developmentally appropriate and will interest the given age group. (Fletcher, et al., 1994) In a series of studies incorporated in the NICHD research findings, "kindergarten children with explicit instruction in phoneme awareness did better than a group of first graders who had no instruction, indicating that this crucial preskill for reading can be taught at least by age 5 and is not developmental" (Cunningham, 1990). In another study (Share et al.,1984), kindergartners were tested on factors that may contribute to reading readiness including phonemic segmentation, letter name knowledge, memory for sentences, vocabulary, father’s occupational status, parental reports of reading to children, TV watching and more. Results showed that phonemic awareness was the top predictor of reading readiness along with letter knowledge (NRP 2-11).As further support, the National Reading Panel 2000 findings say that "teaching phonemic awareness helps many different students learn to read including preschoolers, kindergartners, and 1st graders who are just starting to read." (NRP 2-41) Students in the lower grades, preschool and kindergarten, showed larger effect sizes in acquiring PA than children in 1st grade and above, suggesting that phonemic awareness instruction is highly effective with young readers. (NRP 2-28) The NRP concluded that when teaching these younger students, sessions should "probably not exceed 30 minutes in length." (NRP 2-42)
2. TEACH EACH SOUND-SPELLING CORRESPONDENCE EXPLICITLY
Most basal reading programs of the 1980's as well as the linguistic basals of the 1970's, did not present letter-sound correspondences explicitly. Instead they recommended that letter-sound correspondences be presented implicitly. The following instructions from such an implicit phonic approach published by Harcourt, Brace-Jovanovich, direct the teacher to introduce the sound for s:
(Write the words sun and soap on the chalkboard. Point to each word, say it, and have the children repeat it.) "The words sun and soap begin with the same sound. They also begin with the same letter." (Point to the s in sun.) "What letter does the word sun begin with?" (Students say the letter name, s.) "The letter s stands for the beginning sound in sun." (Point to the s in soap.) "What letter does the word soap begin with?" (Students say the letter name, s.) "The letter s also stands for the beginning sound in the word soap." (Point to the s in both words.) "The letter s stands for the beginning sound in the words sun and soap." (Early, Cooper, Santeusanio, 1983, p. 70).
As is typical of the implicit approach, the sound /ssss/ for the letter s is never explicitly stated by the teacher, nor does the letter s appear in isolation. In contrast, the following is an example of instructions that present the letter-sound correspondence for s in Frontline Phonics:
(Hold up the large flashcard with the letter s and point to s.) "This is the letter s. It says ssss. What letter is this? (Students say, s.) What does it say? (Students say the sound, sss.) Good!"
In Frontline Phonics, the letter-sound correspondence is explicitly presented in isolation, teaching individual sound-spelling relationships.
After the letter-sound relationship has been taught explicitly in Frontline Phonics, the teacher reinforces the learning through activities mentioned in the previous section that include reference to the letter. The simple, repetitive lyrics recited in the context of seeing the letter reinforces children’s recall of the sound that goes with the letter. Students listen to the song twice during each lesson. They sing the "m" lyrics while the teacher points to the letter in isolation or in words or objects that begin with that letter provided in the Lesson Manual.
There is also an area on the lesson worksheet for children to trace the specific letter and then practice printing the letter on their own. [For a full lesson plan outline, see appendix.]
Once the worksheets and phonemic awareness activities have been completed by the students, the teacher checks student mastery of the individual phoneme again in a final review.
"What letter is this? What does it say? Can you tell me a word that starts with the sound of "mmmm"? Good! Now you may keep Morty Mouse. He will help you remember what "m" says."
Note: There are several optional activities teachers can do in their classrooms throughout the week to reinforce letters and sounds for cumulative review. Most of these activities are physical or kinesthetic, (hide and go seek games, memory games, arts and crafts) requiring little prep time. These games can be played with the children on the days where no formal lessons or letter instruction is given so that phonemic awareness concepts are reinforced throughout the week.
Examples from lessons "a," "h" and "t":
Research supports these methods with findings showing that new letter-sound relationships should be briefly practiced each day, not in the context of words, but in isolation. The rest of the session involves practice reading the new letter in the context of words and stories that are composed of only the letter-phoneme relationships the children know at that point. (Adams 1986 etc.)
Frontline Phonics teaches explicit sound-spelling correspondence. By teaching them individually and then putting them into the context of other letters they’ve learned up to that point (explained in Section 4: Blending), children who use Frontline Phonics are able to experience early success and have increased motivation to continue learning reading skills.
Technical notes: Each letter-sound correspondence should be taught explicitly
Phoneme awareness alone is not sufficient for many children. Explicit instruction in common letter-sound correspondences is also necessary (Adams, 1988; Ball & Blachman, 1991; Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1990; Foorman et al., in press; Mann, 1993; Rack, Snowling, & Olson, 1992; Snowling, 1991; Spector, 1995; Stanovich, 1986; Torgesen et al., in press; Vellutino, 1991; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987a).
Foorman et al. (in press) found that explicit instruction in letter-sound relationships was more effective than whole language instruction in reducing reading disabilities even with children who had benefited from phoneme awareness instruction in kindergarten. Foorman, Francis, Novy, & Liberman (1991) found that more intensive instruction in letter-sound relationships during reading (45 minutes per day) was more effective than less instruction in letter-sound relationships (letter-sound instruction occurring only during spelling and not during reading). Instruction in specific letter-sound relationships was more effective than a strategy for using analogous word parts on transfer to new words and on standardized reading measures (Lovett, Borden, DeLuca, Lacerenza, Benson, & Brackstone, 1994). Torgesen et al. (in press) also found that explicitly teaching the letter-sound relationships was superior to teaching explicitly at the onset-rime level and superior to an implicit approach.
These very recent findings are consistent with other research over the years. An enormous amount of research effort has gone into evaluating whether instruction in specific letter-sound correspondences was important for reading acquisition. The two famous reading research reviews by the Commission on Reading (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985) and Adams (1988) both concluded that the research supported an explicit phonics approach. Similar conclusions were drawn from a meta-analysis conducted by Pflaum, Walberg, Karagianes, and Rasher (1980), and in a longitudinal study on reading comprehension acquisition (Meyer, Hastings, Wardrop, & Linn, 1988).
Two types of findings generally emerge from the specific studies with normally achieving students. The majority of studies find that explicit phonics achieves better results than implicit phonics (Carnine, 1977; Gettinger, 1986; Grant, 1973; Haddock, 1976, 1978; Hayes & Wuerst, 1967, 1969; Jeffrey & Samuels, 1976; Jenkins, Bausell, & Jenkins, 1972; Lynn, 1973; Yawkey, 1973).
Another group of studies find no differences (Fox & Routh, 1976; Muller, 1973). Putnam & Youtz (1972) initially found results favoring an implicit approach, but by second grade the explicit phonics group significantly outperformed the implicit phonics group on a measure of reading comprehension.
Several studies found explicit phonics more effective for low-performing, at-risk or special education students of varying ages (Biggins & Uhler, 1979; Enfield, 1976; Richardson, Winsberg, & Binler, 1973; Williams, 1980).
Taken together these findings indicate that although explicit instruction in letter-sound correspondences does not seem necessary for every group of children, it is for others. On the other hand, implicit phonics instruction offers no known advantage over explicit phonics. Because explicit phonics instruction never seems to hurt and often seems to help, one can conclude that a reading program that teaches letter-sound correspondences explicitly, such as Frontline Phonics, will better meet the needs of all students, not just some students.
3. TEACH FREQUENT, HIGHLY REGULAR SOUND-SPELLING RELATIONSHIPS SYSTEMATICALLY
"Teach systematically" means coordinating the introduction of sound-spellings with the material children are asked to read. Frontline Phonics is built around a specific letter order that does not follow alphabetical order. Rather, phonemes are taught beginning with some commonly used letters and sounds that will allow children to read words quickly as stated above.
According the NICHD research synthesis, "the order of the introduction of sound-spelling relationships should be planned to allow reading material composed of meaningful words and stories as soon as possible. For example, if the first three sound-spelling relationships the children learn are a, b, and c, the only real word the children could read would be ‘cab’. However, if the first three sound-spelling relationships were m,a,s, the children could read am, Sam, mass, ma’am."
Frontline Phonics begins with these same letters to ensure children will feel the success of reading early. The letters m, a, p, s, and t are introduced first to give children the ability to make the most words quickly. The following chart represents the letter order taught in Frontline Phonics:
| m | d | x | q |
| a | n | i | y |
| p | r | z | long a |
| s | l | w | long e |
| t | c | k | long i |
| b | j | v | long o |
| h | f | u | long u |
| g | o | e | two-vowel rule |
Frontline Phonics teaches highly regular sound-spelling relationships systematically through materials that are developed specifically to provide practice in only the letter-sound relationships that have been taught up to that point.
Technical notes: Select high-frequency letter-sound relationships and sequence them carefully
Burmeister (1975) synthesized a number of studies evaluating the utility of the 100 to 200 phonic generalizations that were taught in traditional basals. Most of the traditional phonics rules did not generalize well enough to justify teaching them; there were more exceptions to the rule than instances of the rule. Others were rarely used in words the children read in children's literature (e.g., sc sounds like /sss/ as in scene). She identified a smaller set of approximately 45 letter-sound correspondences that had a utility rate high enough to justify instruction. By learning only one sound for each unique letter or pair of letters (e.g., ai), children could decode 95% of the sounds in the preceding five sentences and would reach close approximations for 98% of the sounds (e.g., f in of sounds like v, not f.
The rules used to sequence the introduction of letter-sound correspondences have been evaluated in comparative research by Carnine (1980c).
4. SHOW CHILDREN EXACTLY HOW TO SOUND OUT WORDS
Going from sound-spelling relationships to actually sounding out words can be difficult for some students and will just "click" for others. According to research, direct instruction in blending (sounding out words) is necessary before students will acquire the generalized skill (Coleman, 1970). After children have learned two or three sound-spelling correspondences, Frontline Phonics begins teaching students how to "blend" the sounds into words. Children are shown how to move sequentially from left to right through spellings as they "sound out," or say the sound for each spelling. Children are only required to practice blending words composed of the sound-spelling relationships the children have learned.
Many reading programs don’t even teach blending. Regardless, Frontline Phonics shows teachers exactly how to explain blending to their students. After students have learned the first five letters of the program (m, a, p, s, t), teachers will focus on only two phonemes to introduce blending: ‘m’ and ‘a’. Students are instructed that they have a motor in their mouth. When they turn the motor on, they make the sound of a specific letter. The blending lesson is introduced between lesson 6 and 7—after children have learned and reviewed the first five phonemes. See the blending instruction below.
"Did you know these sounds can be put together to make a word? When you know words, you can READ! I have a little motor in my mouth. When I turn it on, it will say a sound—"mmmm." If I leave my motor running, it will make the sound last longer "mmmmmmmmm." Then I can put it with other sounds. Listen.
What does this letter say? "aaaa" (blue letter card)
What does this letter say? "mmmm" (blue letter card)
Now listen while I make my mouth motor stay on "aaaaammm"
Let’s do it again! "aaaaammm"
Now faster! "aaamm"
Listen for the word! "am"
Great! Good job!
Let’s do another word! What does this letter say? "mmmm" What does this letter say? "aaaa" What does this letter say? "tttt" Now listen while I make my mouth motor stay on. "mmmmaaaatttt." Let’s do it again, faster and faster with our motors.
Frontline blending instruction is based on research stating that children who did "not stop between the sounds" when they blended was more effective than allowing children to stop between the sounds (Weisberg and Savard, 1993). Frontline Phonics instructs teachers to show their students exactly how to sound out words and give them the opportunity to practice everyday. Only direct blending instructions (like those in Frontline Phonics) ensure that students will be successful using a sounding-out strategy for attacking words (Haddock, 1976; Chapman and Kamm, 1974). Students get comfortable blending from left to right as they practice turning their motors on to blend.
Technical notes: Pupils should be taught how to blend sounds together into words
Coleman (1970) noted that blending is a strategy that students can apply to many different words, but direct instruction in the blending strategy using many sounds is necessary before students will acquire the generalized skill. Skailand (1971) and Silberman (1964) reported that if subjects are taught sound-symbol relationships but not blending, they will not use sounding out as a decoding strategy. Bishop (1964), Jeffrey and Samuels (1976), Carnine (1977), and Vandever and Neville (1976) reported that teaching letter-sound correspondences and sounding out resulted in students' correctly identifying more unfamiliar words than when students were trained on a whole-word strategy. Haddock (1976) and Chapman and Kamm (1974) found that only when blending is directly taught will students successfully use a sounding-out strategy for attacking words. Weisberg and Savard (1993) found that requiring children to "not stop between the sounds" when they blended, or sounded out, words was more effective than allowing children to stop between the sounds.
"After children have learned a few letter-sound
correspondences,
begin showing teaching them how to blend the sounds into words by moving
sequentially from left to right through the sounds as they "sound out"
words. (This is a 'synthetic' phonic approach.)"
5. USE CONNECTED, DECODABLE TEXT FOR CHILDREN TO PRACTICE THE SOUND-SPELLING RELATIONSHIPS THEY LEARN.
The findings of the NICHD research emphasize that children need extensive practice applying their knowledge of sound-spelling relationships to the task of reading as they are learning them. This integration of phonics and reading can only occur with the use of decodable text. Decodable text is composed of words that use the sound-spelling correspondences the children have learned to that point and a limited number of sight words that have been systematically taught.
In Frontline Phonics, children begin to blend and decode after learning only 5 letter-sound relationships. As new letter-sound relationships are introduced, children are asked to read books that incorporate these new learnings along with what they’ve already learned.
To ensure students are able to apply their phonics knowledge to real reading, every lesson provides practice reading connected decodable text. The reading materials included in Frontline Phonics coordinate with the letters and sounds children have learned up to that point so children can approach new reading material with familiarity and confidence. There are 33 books included in the Frontline Phonics reading program.
Blue Books: 13 books focusing on simple blends and
short vowel sounds, includes 3 pre-books.
Orange Books: 10 books to be read in conjunction with the Blue Books. More practice for learning initial blending and decoding skills.
Red Books: 10 books which incorporate long vowel sounds and vowel combinations.
Frontline Phonics introduces 3 Pre-Books during the initial decoding process. The Pre-Books are very simple (one word per page) and are designed to foster confidence and a sense of accomplishment as beginning readers practice reading words and turning pages of their very own book. For example, the first book children read in Frontline Phonics is called "Pam" (also referred to as Pre-Book 1). This book only consists of words made of the first 8 letters they have learned. Pre-Books 2 and 3 are designed in a similar format. See below.
As children learn additional phonemes, they read books which integrate the new letters with the letters already learned so the text is nearly 100 percent decodable. Because there are words in the English language that do not follow traditional phonics rules such as "is," "the," and "are," children are also introduced to up to 6 highly frequent words in each book to learn by sight. Each subsequent book builds on the learning acquired in the previous book as children learn new letters. Most importantly, Frontline Phonics books consist of text that is about 98 percent decodable (as sight words are not technically decodable).
Providing decodable text allows children to apply the sound-spelling relationships they have learned to their reading of the sentence, so the phonics component is integrated into the child’s real reading. Decodable texts provide children a context for using their new knowledge of sound-spelling relationships in the context of real reading.
Examine the progress that takes place in approximately 15 weeks of using Frontline Phonics as children move from Blue Book 2 to Red Book 9:
Blue Book 2:
Ham and Jam
Al is a cat.
Al has ham.
Al has jam.
Al has ham and jam.
Al is a fat cat.
Al is a sad fat cat.
Al ran. Al ran and ran.
Al is a cat.
Blue Book 5: Six Pigs
Mom has a big box
Mom has a big bag.
Mom has a big wig.
Sam has six pigs.
No pigs! Sam is sad.
The pigs zig. The pigs zag.
The pigs zig and zag.
The pigs are in the box.
The pigs are in the bag.
The pigs are in the wig. No pigs.
The pigs win. Sam is glad.
Red book 9: Pete’s Big Wish
Pete the eel has a home deep in the sea. He can swim. He can zig and zag. Pete likes to hide in the sea weed. Pete likes to read. "I see a cat. I see a mule. I see a seal." "I wish I had feet like a cat. I wish I had ears like a mule. I wish I had a tail like a seal." Pete the eel has his big wish. He has feet like a cat. He has ears like a mule. He has a tail like a seal. His cat feet are big. He can not swim. He can not zig and zag. "I do not like feet like a cat." His mule ears are big. He can not hide in the sea weed. "I do not like ears like a mule." His tail is big and wide. He can not get in a hole. "I do not like a tail like a seal." "I wish. I wish. I wish." Pete has no cat feet. He has no mule ears. He has no seal tail. "I am an eel. I am glad."
In Frontline Phonics, children learn to rely on their knowledge of phonics (letter-sound relationships) to read, rather than to guess words entirely from context. The decodable texts provide ample practice for students to become fluent and automatic in their decoding. Fluency and automaticity in decoding opens the door to comprehension. Children who decode effortlessly and automatically will have the mental space then to devote to comprehension.
Technical notes: Prediction and context are not useful strategies for word recognition
Stanovich and Stanovich (1995) recently summarized the research findings regarding the utility of prediction as a strategy for word recognition: "An emphasis on the role of contextual guessing actually represents a classic case of mistaken analogy in science and has been recognized as such for over a decade….It is often incorrectly assumed that predicting upcoming words in sentences is a relatively easy and highly accurate activity. Actually, many different empirical studies have indicated that naturalistic text is not that predictable. Alford (1980) found that for a set of moderately long expository passages of text, subjects needed an average of more than four guesses to correctly anticipate upcoming words in the passage (the method of scoring actually makes this a considerable underestimate). Across a variety of subject populations and texts, a reader’s probability of predicting the next word in a passage is usually between .20 and .35 (Aborn, Rubenstein, & Sterling, 1959; Gough, 1983; Miller & Coleman, 1967; Perfetti, Goldman, & Hogaboam, 1979; Rubenstein & Aborn, 1958). Indeed, as Gough (1983) has shown, the figure is highest for function words, and is often quite low for the very words in the passage that carry the most information content." (p. 90)
Stanovich and Stanovich (1995) also summarize the findings regarding the role of context in reading acquisition. Of the three cueing systems frequently mentioned in reading (semantic, syntactic, and graphophonemic cues), the semantic and syntactic cueing systems seem to play a minor role. Recent eye movement research indicates that good readers do not sample the text and predict to recognize words efficiently, but rather see every single letter on the page. "The key error of the whole language movement is the assumption that contextual dependency is always associated with good reading. In fact, the word recognition skills of the good reader are so rapid, automatic, and efficient that the skilled reader need not rely on contextual information. In fact, it is poor readers who guess from context—out of necessity because their decoding skillls are so weak." (p. 92)
In the NICHD intervention studies (Foorman et al., in press; Torgesen et al., in press) teaching children to use context and prediction as strategies for word recognition resulted in greater numbers of reading disabilities than instruction that taught children to use their letter-sound knowledge as the primary strategy for word recognition.
"Predictable text encourages children to
figure out words by looking at the picture
or other words in the sentence—anywhere but inside the word--for clues about how
to read the word. These are false strategies for reading because they do
not work with authentic text. These guessing strategies must later be
unlearned in order to become good readers."
Technical notes: The initial texts that children read should be code-based
A code-based text is composed words that use only a limited number of sight words that have been systematically taught and the letter-sound correspondences the children have learned to that point. As the children learn more letter-sound correspondences, the texts can become more sophisticated. Texts that are less code-based, using words which the children are not able to figure out using what they have learned about letter-sound correspondences, result in less systematic instruction and the phonological knowledge the children gain is not integrated with actual reading. At these early stages of learning to read, the children can, of course, continue to hear stories the teacher reads to them and build their comprehension skills through oral work. Only after the children have learned enough letter-sound correspondences to decode authentic text should they be expected to do so (Brown & Felton, 1990; Juel & Roper/Schneider, 1981; Vellutino, 1991).
Children learning sound-symbol
relationships need on-going practice
using their growing knowledge of phonics in the context of real reading.
This is only possible with the use of connected, decodable text.
Beck and McCaslin (1978) analyzed eight reading programs and found that Reading Mastery was 100% code-oriented while meaning-emphasis programs were 13%, 3%, and 0% code-based. In reviewing the problems of a whole language approach, Foorman (1995) commented, "Thus, to the extent that meaning-oriented programs include instruction in phonic principles, there is little opportunity to practice applying these principles in connected reading. On the other hand, just because a program is described as a phonics program, one cannot assume that there will be a good match between phonic generalizations taught and opportunity to exercise the generalization in text" (p. 377).
Pupils who learn to read with a systematic, explicit phonic approach are able to use context to figure out new vocabulary words just as readily as pupils taught in a meaning-emphasis program (Carnine, Carnine, & Gersten, 1984).
Singer, Samuels, and Spiroff (1973) compared three procedures for introducing new words: words in isolation, words in sentences (context), and words with pictures. Both context and picture cues slowed acquisition. During the beginning reading stage, students often are not proficient enough in decoding to benefit from context clues (Groff, 1976; Hochberg, 1970), and, in fact, the context clues may draw their attention away from the letters that make up the word. In a review of the research on using pictures to facilitate student learning of a sight vocabulary, Samuels (1970) found that pictures hamper performance. The experiments usually compared two groups–one in which a picture appeared with each word and one without pictures. When pictures accompanied the words, students required longer to reach criterion and made more errors than when pictures were not present. More recent research tends to confirm these findings (Harzem, Lee, & Miles, 1976). Contrary findings do not test the students on word identification without the pictures (Denberg, 1976). Since the pictures were always present in Denburg's study, the students may have learned nothing more than picture reading. The reason for having illustrations is that they increase student enjoyment (Samuels, Biesbock, & Terry, 1974). Providing pictures which students see after they have read the story allows students to check their comprehension. In other words, they create their own visualization of the story, then compare it with the picture: "Now you've read the story. Turn the page and look at the picture."
Although Goodman (1965) found that students correctly identified more words when they were presented in context (rather than in isolation), other researchers did not replicate this effect (Williams & Carnine, 1978). Gibson and Levin (1975) also conclude that the sooner a child learns that what s/he says is determined by the letters that make up the words, the better: "Many children start school with the notion that reading is speaking with books open in front of them. The speech is not nonsensical. Still, the earlier the realization by the child that what he says must be determined by what is printed, the better is the prognosis for early reading achievement" (p. 282).
Technical notes: Build accuracy and
fluency with daily performance
measures, goals, and decision rules for making instructional changes
Research by Bohannon (1975), Jenkins, Mayhall, Peschka, and Townsend (1974), and Mirkin (1977) has shown that the reading performance is best when teachers base their instructional decisions on daily performance measures of reading fluency and accuracy. Mirkin (1977) compared reading improvement under four conditions: (a) daily oral reading practice; (b) daily practice plus goal setting; (c) daily practice and goal setting plus daily measurement; and (d) all previous components plus specific decision rules for making instructional decisions. She found the last condition superior.
6. USE INTERESTING STORIES TO DEVELOP LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION
The text in the boxes above shows that early books, though 100 percent decodable, can’t always provide coherent story lines. Although the first book in Frontline Phonics is one word per page, students will be reading story lines and comprehending story characters and plots (in the following Frontline reading books) just two weeks after the first book is introduced. Children find they are the same age as the characters in the books and a lot of the stories deal with family values, siblings, animals, friends, sharing, and problem solving.
Since the first few books provide little in the way of a story line, teachers and parents are encouraged to read books to their child each day which, though well above their grade level, will help children begin to start asking and responding to questions about the text.
Any controlled connected text, whether it is controlled for decodability or for vocabulary, will not be able to provide entire coherent stories in the early stages of reading acquisition. During this early stage of reading acquisition, the children can still benefit from stories that the teacher reads to them.
Comprehension strategies and new vocabulary should be taught using orally presented stories and texts that are more sophisticated than the early decodable text the children read. The teacher should read this text to the children and discuss the meaning with them. After the children become fluent decoders, they can apply these comprehension strategies to their own reading.
Learning to read is a means to an end. The reason we read is to learn new information and communicate with the world around us. If we cannot comprehend what we are reading, there is no point to reading instruction. Frontline Phonics builds on reading comprehension by asking questions at the end of each book. For example, using the three story lines from the books examined above, there are four or five comprehension questions listed at the end of each book. Parents and teachers are encouraged to ask the child comprehension questions to ensure children are deriving meaning from reading instruction.
Ham and Jam
What made Al so fat?
What did Al eat first?
What did Al do to become thin again?
Why is Al smiling?
Six Pigs
What is Mom doing?
Why does she have boxes and bags?
Do you think a pig is a good pet?
What about six pigs?
What are the pigs trying to do?
Why did the pigs win?
Pete’s Big Wish
What three things did Pete wish for?
Did his new cat feet help him move fast?
Why didn’t he like the mule ears?
Why didn’t he like his big tail?
At the end of the story, why is Pete happy?"
Frontline Phonics encourages teachers and parents to read to their children everyday. This is an opportune time to ask a lot of questions to make sure children are comprehending. Comprehension usually lags in children’s reading as they are first blending and decoding, but children soon catch up after they become automatic and fluent decoders through extensive practice reading decodable text.
SUMMARY
:In brief, Frontline Phonics Beginning Reading program follows decades of research performed by the NICHD and findings of the NRP. Frontline adheres to all six major implications in teaching a child to read as presented by A Synthesis of Research on Reading from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Frontline Phonics strongly believes in the methodology not only because the methods have been proven and replicated in several studies, but also because they receive successful feedback from parents and teachers coast to coast on a daily basis.
During the 2000-2001 school year, Ken Harvey, Chairman of the International Education Institute in Kennewick, Washington, compared reading scores for several kindergartens in Kennewick School District with reading scores for preschool students in the Learning Dynamics Preschool which uses Frontline Phonics exclusively. In the Kennewick School District’s own kindergarten test – which includes letter recognition, letter sounds, beginning word sounds, and rhyming – the preschool graduates outperformed Kennewick’s outgoing kindergartners in every school but one (a national award winning school). Additionally, the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) test was administered to the preschoolers who had completed Frontline Phonics, a test also used with Kennewick first-graders. There are 11 books in the first-grade DRA test, each representing a gradual increase in reading ability from first month through the ninth month. The average preschool graduate who had received Frontline Phonics could read – with 90 percent proficiency – through Book 6 (actually 6.21) on the average, slightly above the first-grade midpoint. In other words, the Frontline graduates from preschool were performing 1.5 years above grade level in reading. If parents and educators understand and use these major implications for early reading instruction, children will be better equipped with the skills they need to become successful, confident readers. Frontline Phonics mirrors the synthesis of research conducted by the NICHD and the NRP. Parents and teachers are strongly encouraged to become active participants in providing their children the quality education Frontline Phonics provides.
MORE ABOUT READING MASTER READING CURRICULUM
In Year 1 of the Read To Succeed Pilot Project, IEI supplement the Frontline Phonics curriculum with one developed in New Zealand that merges Montessori phonics, Doman whole word recognition, and accelerated multi-sensory learning techniques. The Reading Master curriculum offers a book version, a DVD version, a videotaped version and a computerized version to deliver the same basic curriculum through a variety of media and senses. The curriculum is being used effectively in numerous classrooms, but the company founder considers the individualized approaches, implementing video, DVD and interactive CD-ROM, the most effective. By providing these three different formats, the three major learning styles – visual, auditory and kinesthetic – are addressed. The curriculum emphasizes the accelerated learning strategies developed by U.S. educator Glenn Doman to teach 70 minimal sound units (phonograms) and 400 most-used English words.
Every child is born with about 100 billion active brain cells. These are all the active brain cells they will ever have. So how is it that some people are so much cleverer than others? If Einstein’s or Da Vinci’s brain had the exact same number of active brain cells that we and your child have today, how is it that we have not had some of the great thoughts they have had? One definition of intelligence is that it is not what you know but how well you can make connections between what you know to make new composite ideas. Of course the more you know the more pieces of information are available for you to make connections with. The difference between brains lies in the number of connections each of these 100 billion brain cells have made. Each individual cell is capable of making up to 20,000 connections. That means that when you connect the color of a fig parrot’s wings with the glow from the planet Uranus, as you will using Reading Master, for example, you will have actually physically grown a new connection in your brain. The more you use that connection to make further connections the more immediately available the information at the end of that connection will be for your mind to ‘remember’ and the easier the connection process will become.
Your associations are your own!
What is the first thought you have when someone says "blue". Is it sky, flowers, or the way you look when you are feeling cold? The color blue or red is not necessarily located in a file in everyone’s brain labeled ‘colors’. For some people red has an association with fire engines or for others it may be the color of Mommy’s car. The brain stores information like branches on a tree.
The interconnections contained within the Reading Master books were designed before any of the books were written. The challenge was to write 27 books that draw on a common and familiar library of 350 base images, 400 key words and 70 spellings of the 44 sounds in the English language within story lines that are accurate and true to life. The reality of the books enables connections to be made even beyond the more than eight hundred and fifty direct links programmed into the CD-Rom; to the real world experiences of the children and adults interacting with these tools. This design enables the CD-Rom in particular, to access information based on the users interest and in a way that mirrors the way that our brains store and retrieve information; in information trees of our own design, based on our own associations. For example, if you’re playing on the computer in the book, Michael and the Rainforest, and you click on where the word "birds" is first mentioned, you are taken to a "hummingbird" in the Rainforest Birds FlashBook. Here you learn about the Hummingbird. Then if you click on the word "hummingbird" in the Flashbook you are taken to "hummingbirds hover like helicopters" (a different page, later on) in Michael and the Rainforest, reinforcing what you have just learned in the Flashbook. It is up to the user how far down a trail they want to go and there are virtually no end points to the circular linking.
If, for instance, you click on the word "owl" in the sentence, "She has big round eyes like an owl," in Fluffy the Show Cat, you are taken to the owl in the New Zealand Birds FlashBook where more information is provided on owls. If you click on "red" on "Red Persian", you are taken to the rainbow in the Rainbow Sounds Reader where you may add Red Persian to the list of red objects you know. All of this helps the brain add information by associating them with its existing knowledge files.
THE READING MASTER LEARNING TOOLS
There are 32 educational children’s books that form the foundations of the Reading Master System. There are four different types of book: The FlashBook, the FlashBook Reader, the Sounds FlashBook and the Sounds Reader.
For young children, we recommend that you concentrate your efforts on the FlashBooks and corresponding FlashBook Readers, (encyclopedic videos and the green covered books from the "pictures" section of "Flash to Me" mode on the CD-Rom). This part of the curriculum actually helps to grow a child’s brain. The letters that describe the sounds in the Sounds FlashBooks are a little more abstract and are best added later when you feel a child is ready to associate these letters with the sounds. You may like to teach some whole words before using the Sounds books. To do this, just write words out on large pieces of card. Show them to children three times a day. Keep the sessions brief and keep the words relevant to your child’s world. e.g., a child’s name and pets’ names, etc. Words like "mommy" have more meaning to a very young child than the spelling of the sound "m." Once a child knows some whole words, then it will be easier to get a grasp of the individual sound components of the words. Every child is different and will respond differently. Let each child guide you. If they enjoy learning whole words, then keep at it. Step up the rate. If they show little interest, try some sounds. If children respond well to picture flashcards, then show more. If they don’t, then try some new subjects. Let children choose what they want to see. The key is to stay flexible. Keep the information in reach of your children so they can see and use it.
LEARNING STYLES
How children learn depends on two important factors: age and learning style. There are three, currently recognized major learning styles. Everybody has a mixture of all these different styles, but has different primary preferences. It is useful to work out what your child’s preferred learning channel is and pitch your teaching accordingly. But it can be particularly powerful to include all three learning styles on one multi-sensory curriculum. That’s what
1) Visual - Visual learners respond well to pictures and written words. They enjoy reading books. They also respond well to Reading Master’s FlashBook images and whole word cards.
2) Audio - Audio learners learn the most from hearing, whether it be stories read to them or music. These learners often enjoy the phonetic approach to learning to read, more so than the whole word approach. They enjoy playing phonetic "I Spy" games in the car.
3) Kinesthetic-tactile - Kinesthetic-tactile learners learn through doing and feeling. They like to run around pointing out labels on things, they like to skip down the hall once they have been shown the word "skip." They like to write the letters, rather than just look at them or hear them spoken. Using the computer mouse and keyboard will also appeal to these children.
Computers are particularly efficient at employing all three of these learning styles simultaneously not only to appeal to essentially all children, but to create a cumulative impact greater than any one of the learning styles.
DOMAN PICTURE DICTIONARY CD-ROMS
For those classrooms with computer labs, this year we are adding a second computerized curriculum to again employ all three learning styles simultaneously. Glen Doman has spent a lifetime helping brain-injured people use new parts of their brain to re-learn how to read and master other basic skills. In the process of learning how to help brain-injured patients learn to use new parts of their brains, he learned how to create "baby geniuses" who learn more of their brains. His work with children is described in his books Teach your Baby to Read (1964) and How to Give your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge (1984).
Doman’s organization has created a series of 10 CD-ROMs, each containing150 items with illustration, printed word and spoken word – available on the same CD in five different languages. By reviewing these words – 1,500 in total, relating to tools, food, art, sports, science, nature, the human body, geography, etc. – children begin building a conceptual framework, which helps increase their comprehension as they continue to fill in the framework. Without such a framework, much information they encounter passes them by as "nonsense." But with the framework, they have someplace to stick most pieces of information. And, at the same time, they are building their reading and spoken vocabulary. Reading Master’s approach is also based partially on Doman’s strategies. Both curriculum providers and their curriculum users have reported great success using this approach.
CONCLUSIONS
These three curricula combine to create the ideal curriculum. Frontline Phonics uses its own multi-sensory approach to teaching with music (audio), group singing (kinesthetic), flash cards (visual), reading (visual), teacher instruction (audio-visual), letter figurines (visual and kinesthetic) and one-on-one student reading (kinesthetic).
Reading Master and Doman use more high-tech approaches to implement the three learning styles. Both use audio, visual and kinesthetic simultaneously through their computerized CD-ROM curricula. Reading Master also offers other media versions of the same basic curriculum. It offers 32 books, plus video and DVD versions. The Reading Master books allow the teacher or parent to employ any or all of the learning styles. The Reading Master books, videos, DVDs and CD-ROMs all teach the 400 most-used words in the English language, plus the 70 spellings of the 44 sounds. The Doman CD-ROMs together teach 1,500 words and basic concepts in multiple languages.
We are developing a PowerPoint version to allow better classroom presentation of the readers – both Reading Master’s and Frontline Phonics’. The video and DVD versions are primarily audio-visual. The DVD is programmable to further enhance and individualize that learning experience. The CD-ROMs and DVDs make a great combination for any computer lab.