‘Synthetic Phonics’ and ‘Phonemic Awareness’ are the current buzz words in our Australian schools and curriculums. With Literacy being at the forefront of our educational focus, governments are recognising that phonics is critical in the pathway to improve Literacy levels across the country. has been identified as the missing piece that has not been included in the classrooms of the recent past. Today, educational advisors to the government are working closely with educational departments and agencies to bring forward phonic programs that will improve Literacy levels in schools in all states and territories.
Synthetic phonics is a term coined from the synthesising of phonemic knowledge. It is structured on a step-by-step introduction to the sounds of the English Language beginning with the simplest letters and sounds and progressing to the blends that are formed with consonants. At some point, Digraphs, Trigraphs and Quadgraphs are introduced and woven into the educational package. Educational programmes which incorporate this style of synthetic phonics are being adapted to the Australian curriculum and being rolled out and delivered/implemented to students across the country.
Phonemic awareness has long been known to support students acquire the skills to read and write English. With the knowledge of the sounds that letters, and the combination of letters, make the individual gains a confidence and ability to decode words as they occur on the page. Being able to read words and pronounce them is the beginning of connecting these words to the aural and oral language being heard and spoken. The brain quickly connects letters in written words to the sounds of the language and, in turn, this supports the individual to be able to write words to create their own written text.
