The Test Rather than a paragraph as in Term 1, I used separate sentences designed to test a wide range of Phonics skills, while trying to avoid sight words. Short vowel sounds were tested in sentence 1 and long vowel sounds in Sentence 2, with the rest a mixture of the other sounds required. Most students were able to complete the task within 90 seconds, but I did allow more time to students who were obviously making an effort to analyse the words phonically. The formula of 36 key words, divided by 3, proved an adequate test of a wide range of phonics.
Analysis To determine the most common problems, I used a sample of 150 students, 75 advanced (4AE2 and 2AB) and 75 normal (3E, 1B and first six of 2E1). I chose classes with averages from 5.6 to 7.5 to give clearer discrimination, as weaker students tended to get most words wrong.
The following is a list of the words in descending order of difficulty, with reference to the appropriate lesson in square brackets. The number of students who could not read the word is indicated in brackets. (Advanced students + normal).
cloy (67+69=136) Diphthong “oy” was a problem [22], and blend “cl” [12]. (Rhyme “boy”!)
gin (61+60=121) Most unaware of soft g rule [10]. Also poor vowel recognition. (e.g. “gan”)
ripe (60+57=117) Low awareness of “magic e” [16]. Many said “rip” or “ripper”.
Jake (56+58=114) Low awareness of “magic e” [11]. Many said “Jack” or “Jackie”.
glib (44+61=105) Poor recognition of consonant blend “gl” [15] and end consonant b [2].
dine (50+54=104) Low awareness of “magic e” [16]. Many said “din” or “dinner”.
streak (41+54=95) Poor recognition of blend “str” [21], end consonant k and long “ea” [14].
stew (39+53=92) Poor recognition of long vowel “ew” [20] (Rhyme “new”!) & blend “st” [21].
spree (31+60=91) Poor recognition of long vowel “ee” [14] and consonant blend “spr” [21].
plums (38+50=88) Difficulty with short vowel sound “u” [9] and consonant blend “pl” [15]
fame (44+46=86) Low awareness of “magic e” [11]. Many said “fam” or “farm”.
chow (31+53=84) Diphthong “ow” was a problem [22], and digraph “ch” [17]. (“cow”/“choy”)
sag (40+42=82) Problems with short vowel sound “a” [1] and end consonant “g” [4].
cope (31+49=80) Low awareness of “magic e” [18]. Many said “cop” or “coop”.
vain (35+44=79) Poor recognition of long vowel sound “ai” [11]. Many said “van”.
sane (35+43=78) Low awareness of “magic e” [11].
huge (25+46=71) Low awareness of “magic e” [20].
gut (26+37=63) Difficulty with short vowel sound “u” [9]
tic (21+40=61) End consonant “c”. Many said “tiss”.
Taff (24+37=61) Poor vowel recognition. “Tiff”.
jests (21+37=58) Poor vowel recognition and blend “st”. (I accepted “jest”, as “sts” is difficult.)
Steve (18+39=57) Low awareness of “magic e”. Many said “Steven”.
rude (19+35=54) “Magic e” [20]. Seemed to be a sight word for many.
bloke (12+31=43) “Magic e” [18]. Many said “block”.
keen (7+29=36) Long vowel sound “ee” [14]
Jock (14+19=33) Poor vowel recognition and interference. “Jack”.
sod (9+19=28) Poor vowel recognition.
Van (5+16=21) Poor vowel recognition. Many said “Vin.”
Tex (5+16=21) Poor vowel recognition and problem with end consonant “x”. (e.g. “Tiss”)
Hoad (6+11=17) Some did not recognize long vowel sound “oa”. (Rhyme – road!)
fringe 59 Soft g sound [15], misreading of vowel and blend “fr” [15].
shriek 57 Consonant blend “shr” [32] and long E vowel sound “ie” [33]. Many said “Shrek”!
veil 52 Long A vowel sound “ei” [33] caused difficulties here.
shred 45 Consonant blend “shr” [32]. Students tended to say “sred”.
soar 19 R-controlled vowel [26]. Interference - some said “sour”.
heart 12 R-controlled vowel [26]. But a sight word for most.
nip 28 Some problems with vowel (e.g. “nap”) and end-consonant.
beg 25 Some problems with vowel (e.g. “big”) and end-consonant (“bed”).
shy 23 Problems with digraph “sh” [17] and long vowel sound of “y”.
fans 8 Some vowel problems, but a sight word for most.
bit 5 Some vowel problems, but a sight word for most.
Observations As with the Term 1 test, it was clear that a number of students were able to use a combination of phonics skills and learned vocabulary to read a text. The majority, however, were over-reliant on learned vocabulary and merely substituted a word that looked something like the target word. There are still too many students making no attempt to analyse words according to the letter sounds, including simple consonant-vowel-consonant words.
The weakest students were unable to read any of the underlined words or indeed most of the others, with a lot of failed attempts at word recognition (e.g. “he/she”, “is/in”, “who/was”, “for/of”).
Teaching Needs The results showed that a number of students are aware of phonics as a useful reading tool, but the vast majority have not yet acquired the basics – in particular the short sounds of the vowels, and the indications that a long vowel sound is needed – especially the importance of the “magic e”. I suggest that the normal classes continue with Book 1, with constant revision of the basic vowel sounds – which is actually built into many of the later lessons. Advanced classes should move on to Book 2, but, once again, with a lot of reinforcement of the basics. More supplementary material should probably be acquired, and perhaps more use made of the websites available. Students in the weakest group will need an intensive course in phonics if they are to have any hope of learning to read in English.
Average marks (and range) in descending order. Advanced classes are indicated by *.
2AB* 7.5 4-11
3AB* 7.3 4-12
3D 7.1 4-11
1AB* 7.1 3-11
4BC1 7 4-11
4D1 6.7 4-10
3B* 6.7 2-11
4AE1* 6.6 4-11
3A* 6.6 3-10
4D2 6.5 2-11
2B 6.3 3-10
4AE2* 6.2 2-10
3E2 6.1 2-9
3E1 6 1-10
2E2 6 2-8
3C 5.7 3-9
2E1 5.6 1-10
1B 5.6 3-8
2A 5.3 1-8
1A 4.9 2-7
2C 4.9 2-9
4BC2 4.8 1-9
4BC3 4.7 1-7
2D 4.6 0-11
1E1 4.5 0-8
1E2 4.2 0-8
1D 4.1 0-8
1C 3.3 0-8
3CD 3.1 1-7
2CD 1.9 0-4
1CD 1.6 0-6