Teaching Phonological

Awareness and Phonics for

English
JANUARY 2024

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2

Lotus Phonics Program:

Overview

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 Phonics teaches students the alphabetic principle and
3 the alphabetic code

ALPHABETIC PRINCIPLE ALPHABETIC CODE

• Words can be broken into sounds • For any language, the alphabetic
(phonemes) which are represented code is the actual mapping or
by and mapped to symbols correspondence between phonemes
(graphemes) in a systematic way. and graphemes.

Children need to ‘crack the code’ of English to become

independent readers.
 Encoding / Spelling

• Segment spoken word into

phonemes and match phonemes to
4 Knowledge of graphemes.
the code is the
first step in Decoding / Read
learning to read • Segment written word into
and write graphemes and match to phonemes.
Blend together to produce spoken
word.
 5

“Once students
understand that
graphemes map • Encoding and decoding are based on code
knowledge not rote memorising of letter
to speech in sequences (words).
predictable ways,
• By teaching the code systematically and explicitly,
they will process
we “illuminate the inner workings of the
new words more correspondence system and in turn support
efficiently and memory for print” (Moats 2020:112)
effectively.”
(Moats 2020:116)
 6

How do
human brains
learn?
7
If working memory is overloaded, learning is compromised, and
content will not be stored effectively in long-term memory.

However, there are NO known

Cognitive load theory tells us
limits to what we can store and
that there is a limit to how
access automatically in our
much new information we can
long-term memory where we
hold in our working or short-
store information semi-
term memory and process at
permanently according to
one time.
schemas.
 8

• Research has shown that the level of reading accuracy achieved

by children in their mother-tongue over a given period of time
varies significantly between languages in part due to the level
The limited of orthographic consistency, that is, transparency.

orthographic • Children learning English take longer to reach a level of reading

accuracy than children learning more orthographically
consistency of consistent and predictable languages.

English is an • The comparative inconsistency of English is a further reason

important factor
NOT to teach the English writing system in Sri Lankan primary
grades until the children have mastered their mother-tongue
in assessing sufficiently to be able to understand and learn concepts in other
subjects taught in mother-tongue.
cognitive load • If both mother-tongue and English are taught in parallel, both
will suffer as will the child’s learning in other subject areas.
(Goswami 2005)
 9

Cognitive load • “Cognitive load theory supports explicit models

theory is also of instruction, because such models tend to accord

very important with how human brains learn most effectively

(Kirschner, Sweller & Clark 2006). Explicit
in choosing instruction involves teachers clearly showing
instruction students what to do and how to do it ….” (Centre
models for Education Statistics and Evaluation 2017:2)
 Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is supported
10 by 40 years of research in the science of reading
DUAL ROUTE THEORY COGNITIVE LOAD
THEORY
• New or unfamiliar words must be • Direct and structured learning
decoded using the ‘phonological opportunities help us expand the
route’. amount of information we can
hold.
• As students read more and more,
they store more and more words in • This in turn allows us to draw
long term memory and can more on the lexical route rather
instantly recognise them and read than the phonological route.
them automatically. This is the
‘lexical route’.
11

Systematic and explicit

phonics instruction produces
the best performance in
reading skills and
competencies (Fletcher &
Lyon 1998, Lyon 2023, Moats
2020)

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 Phoneme-grapheme relationships are taught in a
defined, logical sequence.

Learning begins with simple codes (e.g. single letter

12 Systematic graphemes) and moves to more complex codes as
students master each level of complexity or group of
means: codes.
Teaching and learning builds on what is already known
at each stage.

Gradually introduce words for students to segment and

blend together (decode / encode) using only the codes
they have learnt.
 The teacher explains the alphabetic code clearly and
directly, demonstrates their use, guides the students in
practice and supports students in independent exercises.

13 Explicit means: Children learn the phoneme-grapheme relationships

explicitly. They do not simply ‘infer’ from exposure to
written language.

They learn the patterns and rules so they can read on

their own.
 Phonics instruction programming is based on what
14 research tells us about literacy development

Pre- Early Later

Consolidated
alphabetic alphabetic alphabetic
Several thousand words
Matching letters to sounds Good phonetic spelling known by sight
Letter names (automatically recognized)

Orthographic mapping of
Early phonetic spelling Building ‘sight’ vocabulary sounds, syllables, meaningful
parts of unknown words
Print/book awareness

Decoding short, regular Applies phonics to decoding

Morpheme awareness
words new words

Early phonological sensitivity Beginning or basic phoneme

Segments sounds in 4-to 5- Advanced phoneme
awareness; isolating the
sound words awareness
sounds that are easy to detect

(Ehri 2014 as cited in Moats 2020:16)

15 We can map this developmental progression to learning
English as an additional language in primary grades in Sri
Lanka

Context Pre-alphabetic Early alphabetic Later alphabetic Consolidated

English speaking Pre-Kindergarten End of Kindergarten End of Year 1 End of Year 2

context (Reading
Rockets 2023)

Sri Lankan End of Grade 2 By end of Grade 3 By end of Grade 4 From Grade 5
equivalent for EAL
 Phonics should be taught systematically and
16 explicitly for the first four years of reading

• The amount of time spent on phonics instruction decreases over time from an initial
average of 30mins/day; and the amount of time spent on reading for accuracy,
fluency and comprehension, increases.
• Some students will need more phonics instruction and for longer and some will need
less.
• As phonics knowledge builds, students practice decoding using appropriate reading
material - decodable readers gradually transitioning to connected texts.
• Regular assessment of mastery is essential – in the early stages as often as weekly.
 The teaching approach for systematic phonics
17 follows four guiding principles (Moats 2020:254-256)

Scope and Explicit Monitor, assess,

Multi-modal
sequence instruction diagnose, respond

•The scope and •Explicit teaching •Lessons should be •The teacher monitors
sequence maps out the involves: multi-modal to help and assesses students
order in which • explaining and students focus, as they move forward
phonemes and demonstrating a understand concepts, and makes adjustments
corresponding concept (“I do”), and remember. to the program or
graphemes are taught • supporting students • Common modes amount of practice in
from simple to in an initial practice include actions and the lesson.
complex. activity (“we do”) hands-on activities. •In this way the
•It is cumulative – each • and then giving them program has a
step builds on additional practice diagnostic and
knowledge learnt in (“you do”) to enable responsive element.
the previous step. them to develop
mastery.
 Lotus Phonics Program
DEVELOPMENTA L EARLY ALPH ABETIC –
PRE-ALPH ABETIC CONSOLIDAT ED
STAGE LATER ALPH ABETIC

Sri Lanka Grade End of Grade 2 Grade 3-4 Grade 5-6

8-Week Foundation Phonics Advanced Phonics 1 Advanced Phonics 2

Scope and sequence • Most common sound/symbol • More challenging grapheme • Syllable types: open/closed,
combination for each of the types. consonant and vowel
40-44 sounds • Regular and irregular patterns, sight-syllables,
• Grouped in a logical sequence spelling patterns as they longer syllable words.
to enable early reading and emerge in connected text. • Morphemes: common
spelling of words • Sight and high frequency prefixes, roots, suffixes.
• With regular spelling words (regular and irregular • High frequency academic
patterns. spelling). vocabulary

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 The Lotus Phonics Program can be incorporated into the English
syllabus for Primary and junior Secondary grades but must be
19 taught systematically and explicitly

Early Alphabetic –
Pre-alphabetic Consolidated
Later Alphabetic
Grade 2-3 Grade 5-6+
Grade 3-4

Advanced 2: Go
beyond decoding and
spelling to master the
Advanced 1: Learn structures of words –
more of the code, syllables, morphemes
rules, patterns, and – for more fluent
Foundation: Learn the frequent words to
basic code at the end reading with
make word understanding
of Grade 2 and start to recognition faster and
read from the easier
beginning of Grade 3
20 Summary

• Phonics teaches students the alphabetic principle and the alphabetic code. Knowledge of the code is the first step in
learning to read and write.
• Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is supported by 40 years of research in the science of reading.
• Systematic and explicit phonics instruction produces the best performance in reading skills and competencies
(Fletcher & Lyon 1998, Lyon 2023, Moats 2020)
• “Cognitive load theory supports explicit models of instruction, because such models tend to accord with how
human brains learn most effectively (Kirschner, Sweller & Clark 2006). Explicit instruction involves teachers clearly
showing students what to do and how to do it ….” (Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation 2017:2)
• Phonics instruction programming is based on what research tells us about literacy development. Phonics should be
taught systematically and explicitly for the first four years of reading.
• The Lotus Phonics Program is taught in three stages: Foundation (Grades 2-3), Advanced 1 (Grades 3-4), and
Advanced 2 (Grades 5-6). It can be incorporated into the English syllabus for Primary and junior Secondary grades.