Differing effects of two synthetic phonics programmes on early reading development

Background Synthetic phonics is the widely accepted approach for teaching reading in E nglish: Children are taught to sound out the letters in a word then blend these sounds together. Aims We compared the impact of two synthetic phonics programmes on early reading. Sample Children received Letters and Sounds (L&S; 7 schools) which teaches multiple letter–sound mappings or Early Reading Research ( ERR ; 10 schools) which teaches only the most...