English Alphabetic Code with the International Phonetic Alphabet

The English language has a fascinating history – but this has resulted in a complex alphabetic code for the writing system whereby the 26 letters of the alphabet represent the 44 or so smallest sounds identifiable in English speech in three complicated ways: 1. one sound (phoneme) can be represented by one, two, three or four letters: e.g. /a/ a in apple, /f/ ph in photograph, /igh/ igh in night, /oa/ ough in dough 2. one sound can be represented by multiple spelling alternatives (graphemes): e.g. /oa/: o, oa, ow, oe, o-e, eau, ough 3. one grapheme (letter or letter group) can represent multiple sounds: e.g. ‘ough’: /oa/ though, /or/ thought, long /oo/ through, /ou/ plough, /u/ thorough On this Alphabetic Code Chart, the units of sound (phonemes or combined phonemes) are shown in slash marks. Vowel sounds are shown in red and consonant sounds are shown in blue. The vowel sounds provide the main volume and depth in spoken words whereas the consonant sounds are generally much quieter and sometimes very high-pitched such as /s/ and /t/. Teachers need to teach the separate units of sounds carefully, avoiding the added ‘schwa’ or “uh” sound: e.g. “sss” not “suh”; “t” not “tuh”. units of sound simple code complex code graphemes or spelling alternatives information + IPA symbols key words + key words which are code for the sounds /a/ a The Synthetic Phonics Teaching Principles /æ/ apple

/e/ Teach the KNOWLEDGE of the e -ea -ai alphabetic code; that is, the /ɛ/ egg head said again letter/s-sound correspondences.

/i/ Teach the THREE CORE SKILLS: i -y /ɪ/ insect cymbals 1. DECODING: Sound out and /o/ blend all-through-the-printed-word o wa qua alt for reading unknown words. /ɒ/ octopus watch qualify salt 2. ENCODING: Orally segment /u/ (identify) the sounds all-through-the- u o -ou -ough spoken-word for spelling; then select /ʌ/ umbrella son touch thoroughfare the correct graphemes AS CODE FOR the identified sounds in that /ai/ particular word. ai -ay a -ae a-e first aid tray table sundae cakes 3. HANDWRITING: Hold the /eɪ/ pencil with the tripod grip and form -ey -ea eigh -aigh correctly the 26 upper case and 26 prey break eight straight lower case letters on writing lines. Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2013 Page 1 of 6 /ee/ Teach a simple code (basic or ee ea e e-e transparent) first; that is, mainly one spelling for each sound at a rate of eel eat emu concrete two to five letter/s-sound /i:/ correspondences per week. The -ey -ie -ine simple code is part of the complex key chief sardines code – a first step towards between teaching the alphabetic code.

/i and ee/ -y -ey -ie Keep the simple code revised and sunny monkey movie begin to introduce spelling and /igh/ pronunciation alternatives of -igh -ie i -y i-e ei the complex code (extended, /aɪ/ night tie behind fly bike eider duck advanced or opaque code) at a rate appropriate to the age, stage and /oa/ ability of the learners. oa ow o -oe o-e oak tree bow yo-yo oboe rope APPLICATION Provide a cumulative bank of words, /əʊ/ sentences and texts at code level: -ough -eau 1. to model blending, segmenting dough plateau for spelling, and handwriting /y+oo/ 2. for each learner to practise -ue u u-e ew eu his or her growing skills of blending, /j/ + /u:/ barbecue unicorn tube new pneumatic segmenting and handwriting increasingly independently. short /oo/ Provide cumulative, decodable -oo -oul -u reading books at code level. /ʊ/ book should push ‘Two-pronged’ long /oo/ oo -ue u-e -ew -ui teaching approach Teach a systematic, planned moon blue flute crew fruit synthetic phonics programme /u:/ alongside incidental teaching of -ou -o -ough any letter/s-sound correspondences soup move through as required for differentiation, wider reading and spelling and for the /oi/ wider curriculum - for individuals, oi oy groups and whole classes. /ɔɪ/ ointment toy Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2013 Page 2 of 6 /ou/ Accents ou ow -ough Teaching the English alphabetic code is not an ‘exact science’ and /aʊ/ ouch ! owl plough accents need to be taken into /ar/ account at all times along with the ar a alm -alf -alves notion of ‘tweaking’ (modifying) /ɑ:/ artist father palm half calves pronunciation when decoding to reach the correct target word or /or/ preferred pronunciation. or oar -oor ore -our fork oars door snore four Schwa effect for reading /ɔ:/ Modifying pronunciation also helps aw au -al war quar to raise awareness of the schwa effect (unstressed syllables) whereby, or /aw/ dawn sauce chalk wardrobe quarter dependent upon in reality, a sound close to /u/ is the regional or spoken translation of the written national accents augh ough code in words such as ‘sofa’ (sofu), caught thought ‘faster’ (fastu), ‘little’ (littul), ‘around’ (uround). This is common. /ur/or /er/ er ir ur ear wor /ɜ:/ Schwa effect for spelling mermaid birthday nurse earth world Be aware of the schwa effect when ‘schwa /er/’ segmenting spoken words for or ‘schwa /u/’ -er -our -re -ar -or spelling. /ə/ mixer humour theatre collar sailor The ability to spell accurately relies /air/ on a growing awareness of air -are -ear -ere spelling alternatives and /ɛə/ hair hare bear where knowledge of spelling word /eer/ banks (words with the same eer ear -ere -ier spelling and sound). This knowledge /ɪə/ takes much longer to acquire. deer ears adhere cashier Emphasise the process for spelling of /oor/ SOUND-TO-PRINT rather than -oor -ure relying on visual memory and recall /ʊə/ poor sure of letter order and letter names.

/y+oor/ Decoding is the reverse process: -ure PRINT-TO-SOUND. /j/+ /ʊə/ pure Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2013 Page 3 of 6

units of sound simple code complex code graphemes or spelling alternatives information + IPA symbols key words + key words which are code for the sounds /b/ The notion of a ‘code’ b -bb bu Root all the teaching for decoding /b/ bat rabbit building and encoding in the CODE - that is, /k/ the relationship between the sounds k c -ck ch qu que of speech and their spelling /k/ kit cat duck chameleon bouquet plaque alternatives (the graphemes). This means avoiding the following ideas: /d/ d -dd -ed *that letters ‘say’ sounds - they say /d/ dig puddle rained nothing, they simply prompt us to /f/ generate the sounds either ‘aloud’ f -ff ph -gh or silently ‘in our heads’

/f/ feathers cliff photograph laugh *that there are ‘silent’ letters as in /g/ ‘kn’, ‘wr’, ‘mb’, ‘gn’ and so on – g -gg gu gh -gue these are simply further graphemes /g/ girl juggle guitar ghost catalogue which ARE CODE FOR the sounds – / / this is consistent, for example, with h h wh saying that the grapheme ‘igh’ is /h/ code for the /igh/ sound (we don’t hat who suggest that ‘gh’ are ‘silent letters’ /j/ in the grapheme ‘igh’) j -ge ge gi gy -dge /dʒ/ jug cabbage gerbil giraffe gymnast fridge *that the end letter ‘e’ of split digraphs a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e and u-e /l/ “make the preceding vowel SAY ITS l -ll NAME” – this is inconsistent with /l/ ladder shell modern synthetic phonics teaching rooted in the ‘alphabetic code’. /u+l/ -le -il -al -el To work out ‘the code’, start /əl/ kettle pencil hospital camel from a whole spoken word said /m/ slowly. Orally segment the word m -mm -me -mb -mn into its sounds and map those onto /m/ map hammer welcome thumb columns the graphemes in the written word. Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2013 Page 4 of 6 /n/ n -nn kn gn -ne THE SUB-SKILLS OF THE THREE CORE SKILLS /n/ net bonnet knot gnome engine

/ng/ DECODING SUB-SKILLS: -ng -n Without print – hear the /ŋ/ gong jungle individual sounds of a word and ‘discern’ the word (= oral /ng+k/ blending): hear /z/ /i/ /p/, say “zip”; -nk -nc hear /k/ /oa/ /t/, say “coat” + /ŋ/ /k/ ink uncle With print – see the graphemes /p/ and say the sounds to automaticity; p -pp see s, say /s/; see oa, say /oa/; see /p/ pan puppet ph, say /f/

/k+w/ Use capital letter resources – not qu -kw just lower case letters. Capital /k/ + /w/ queen awkward letters ARE THE SAME CODE AS /r/ lower case letters. r -rr wr rh ENCODING SUB-SKILLS: /ɹ/ rat arrow write rhinoceros Without print – hear the whole /s/ spoken word said slowly, train the s -ss -ce ce ci cy learner to split the word into its snake glass palace cents city bicycle constituent sounds from beginning to end (= oral segmenting): “zip” /s/ “/z/ /i/ /p/”; “coat” “/k/ /oa/ /t/” (with -se sc -st- ps no print, you can use any sounds) house scissors castle pseudonym -use the left hand, palm facing to /t/ tally the separate sounds onto the t -tt -ed pt -bt thumb and fingers from left to right With print – select grapheme tiles /t/ tent letter skipped pterodactyl debt or magnetic letters, or write the /v/ letters, to spell the sounds identified v -ve [Use manipulatives, such as /v/ violin dove grapheme tiles, at the basic code stage for young learners as they get /w/ to grips with handwriting skills – w wh -u then focus on handwriting to spell.] /w/ web wheel penguin Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2013 Page 5 of 6 HANDWRITING SUB-SKILLS: /k+s/ -x -ks -cks -kes -cs Demonstrate the correct tripod hold – for young learners say, “Froggy /k/ + /s/ fox plurals: books ducks cakes I love picnics. legs with the log under” – pinch /g+z/ the pencil with thumb and forefinger -x -gs -ggs -gues just above where the cone end /g/ + /z/ exam plurals: pegs eggs catalogues slopes, make a fist and place the middle finger beneath the pencil to /y/ form the tripod hold, or grip, (small y hands struggle to ‘grip’ fat pencils /j/ yawn or marker pens, use regular-sized /z/ pencils) z -zz -s -se -ze x Air write, finger-trace and copy- write graphemes whilst saying /z/ zebra jazz fries cheese breeze xylophone the sound – this is ‘multi-sensory’ /ch/ /ch+u/ linking sounds to shapes and ch -tch -ture handwriting the shapes (e.g. say /ch/ /tʃ/ chairs patch /tʃ/+/ə/ picture for ‘ch’ – not /k/ /h/) Mini whiteboards are suitable for /sh/ sh ch -ti -ci -ssi quick-fire ‘show me’ activities; /ʃ/ for handwriting practice – use sheep chef station magician admission paper and pencil routines sitting unvoiced /th/ voiced /th/ with good posture at desks, paper th th slanted, spare hand holding paper /θ/ thistle /ð/ there steady BE VIGILANT for learners hooking /zh/ their wrists around and writing -si -s -z g -ge ‘above’ the words on the page – /ʒ/ television treasure azure (blue) courgette collage ensure they write ‘below’ the words.

Please note that this version of an Alphabetic Code Chart is not definitive. Further code may be discovered in both common and unusual words. The word ‘giraffe’, for example, is common but the grapheme ‘-ffe’ is rare AS CODE FOR the sound /f/. Add discovered code to the chart or to the MAIN PHONICS DISPLAY WALL. On this chart, a grey dash indicates that the particular letter/s-sound correspondence is unlikely to begin a word. Hollow letters alert the reader to various possible pronunciations; for example, wa could be the code for /w+a/ as in ‘wag’, but is more likely to be /w+o/ as in ‘watch’. This is a generic alphabetic code chart highlighting the vowel sounds followed by the consonant sounds. Alphabetic Code Charts can be designed to be programme-specific according to the order that the letter/s-sound correspondences are introduced and with specific mnemonic systems (aids to memory for the sounds and/or spellings). Vowel sounds can be spelled with both vowel letters and consonant letters such as ‘igh’, ‘ow’, ‘or’, ‘ough’. Teachers need to make clear when they are referring to vowel or consonant sounds, or vowel or consonant letters. For further information, see synthetic phonics guidance documents at www.phonicsinternational.com

Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2013 Page 6 of 6