The inclusion of pseudowords within the year one phonics ‘Screening Check’ in English primary schools

Gibson, Howard; England, Jennifer

doi:10.1080/0305764x.2015.1067289

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The test has always been and remains controversial, due to long‐standing debates about the efficacy of synthetic phonics (see Wyse & Goswami ; Clark, , ), doubts about the role of the check in identifying children who struggle with phonics (Duff et al ., ) and the inclusion of pseudo‐words (Gibson & England, 2014, ). The aim of the policy is ostensibly to improve reading scores, by ‘[making] sure that all pupils have learned phonic decoding to an appropriate standard by the age of 6’ (DfE, ), although the increased role of synthetic phonics in teaching children to read continues to be the subject of fierce debate (Davis, ; Clark, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of the Phonics Screening Check on grouping by ability: A ‘necessary evil’ amid the policy storm

Bradbury¹

2018

British Educational Res J

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This article examines the impact of a statutory assessment in England, the Phonics Screening Check (PSC), on classroom practices of grouping children by 'ability'. Bearing in mind the argument that assessment is the rudder that steers the otherwise slow-moving battleship of educational practice, it is argued that the PSC has altered how teachers organise their classes and curriculum in both the affected year group (Year 1, children aged 5-6) and in earlier and later years. Using data from a nationwide survey of teachers (n = 1,373), focus groups and in-depth interviews with teachers, the article examines how this relatively new phonics assessment forms part of a 'policy storm' of pressures relating to accountability, which encourage teachers to place children in groups on the basis of ability, even when they have doubts about this practice and there is little evidence to suggest grouping improves attainment. Practices include grouping children within classes, across year groups or even across several year groups, by phase of phonics learning, guided by advice from bought-in private phonics schemes. There is also evidence of 'educational triage', where borderline children become the focus, and increased use of interventions which involve withdrawing children. Overall, the article uses the PSC to demonstrate how, in times of multiple policy pressures, assessment can rapidly alter practice, in this case making grouping a 'necessary evil', as one teacher respondent argued.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of the Phonics Screening Check on grouping by ability: A ‘necessary evil’ amid the policy storm

Bradbury¹

2018

British Educational Res J

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“…When presented with words for which they have no semantic association or sight word recognition, children are required to apply their knowledge of grapheme-phoneme correspondences to "decode" the word. The same methodology underpins the Phonics Screening Check, which has been used in England since 2012 (Gibson & England, 2016) and is now in use across South Australia (Government of South Australia Department for Education, 2019). Word-level reading tasks that include both real word and pseudoword components can enable teachers to more accurately identify specific difficulties and to select interventions capable of targeting specific areas of weakness (Castles, Polito, Pritchard, Anandakumar, & Coltheart, 2018).…”

Section: Phonemic Decoding and Word Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A longitudinal analysis of the alignment between children’s early word-level reading trajectories, teachers’ reported concerns and supports provided

et al. 2020

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In this longitudinal study, the word-level reading trajectories of 118 children were tracked alongside teachers' reported concerns and types of support provided through Grades 1, 2 and 3. Results show a significant decline in composite scores relative to age norms over time, with children achieving significantly lower in phonemic decoding than word recognition at the subtest level. Five group trajectories were identified: children who achieved average or above average scores across all 3 years (n = 64), children who consistently bordered on average (n = 11), children who achieved below average in Grade 1 but who then achieved average or above in Grade 2 or Grade 3 (n = 7), children who achieved average or above in Grade 1 but then declined to below average in Grade 2 or Grade 3 (n = 10), and children who achieved below average across all 3 years (n = 26). Appropriately, teachers' concerns were highest for students in the groups that improved, declined or remained persistently below average. However, analysis of the focus of teachers' concerns and the supports they said were provided to the children in these three groups suggests that teachers are not always accurate in their interpretation of children's presenting characteristics, resulting in the misalignment of support provision.

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“…Whilst this may be resisted, as it is stated that the purpose of the pseudo words is to ensure that no child can ‘sight read' the words and so bypass the application of phonics skills, it is important for policy‐makers to balance the negative unintended outcomes of using pseudo words with any positive outcomes in relation to reading attainment (of which there is no current evidence). Gibson and England () and later, the Darnell et al () research concluded that there was little or no difference between using real or non‐words in phonics assessment and so the replacement of non‐words with real words would not compromise the assessment of phonics skills and knowledge. Because of the high stakes nature of the PSC, pseudo words are being taught as the curriculum rather than being used as an assessment tool.…”

Section: Conclusion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Listening to the voices of children: an illuminative evaluation of the teaching of early reading in the light of the phonics screening check

Carter

2019

Literacy

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The phonics screening check (PSC) was introduced in England in 2012 for children in Year 1. There have been criticisms in relation to its reliability and appropriateness as an assessment tool for early reading although supporters of the PSC see it as a valuable tool in securing progress in reading. The DfE-funded evaluation concluded, however, that it "did not find any evidence of improvements in pupils' literacy performance, or in progress, that could be clearly attributed to the introduction of the PSC". This article reports some of the findings from a doctoral study that sought to illuminate the voices of those most affected by the PSC: children in Year 1 and their teachers. The study used an illuminative evaluation methodology (Kushner, 2017) and focused on a range of schools in a large city, selected for their diversity in relation to attainment data (PSC and reading) and socio-economic status. The findings demonstrate the negative backwash from the assessment process which has influenced the way that phonics is taught and so raises some questions for teachers and policy-makers about the approach to the teaching of early reading in the light of the PSC.

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The inclusion of pseudowords within the year one phonics ‘Screening Check’ in English primary schools

Cited by 10 publications

References 31 publications

The impact of the Phonics Screening Check on grouping by ability: A ‘necessary evil’ amid the policy storm

The impact of the Phonics Screening Check on grouping by ability: A ‘necessary evil’ amid the policy storm

A longitudinal analysis of the alignment between children’s early word-level reading trajectories, teachers’ reported concerns and supports provided

Listening to the voices of children: an illuminative evaluation of the teaching of early reading in the light of the phonics screening check

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