Syllabic phonics

Syllabic Phonics teaches phonics using syllables as a starting point. The list of syllables is called a syllabary. The syllabary usually excludes syllable letter combinations that are not found in words of that language. Syllabic phonics were historically taught on wax tablets, then with a hornbook, then a battledore, then with spelling books.

History of syllabic phonics

The teaching of reading with syllables has been around since at least 95 AD, when Quintilian spoke of their use in the teaching of reading. Quintilian mentions the teaching of syllables in his Institutes of Oratory, Institutio Oratoria, and advises teachers to make haste slowly:

30. For learning syllables there is no short way. They must all be learned throughout, nor are the most difficult of them, as is the general practice, to be postponed, that children may be at a loss, forsooth, in writing words. 31. Moreover, we must not even trust to the first learning by heart; it will be better to have syllables repeated and to impress them long upon the memory; and in reading too, not to hurry on, in order to make it continuous or quick, until the clear and certain connection of the letters become familiar, without at least any necessity to stop for recollection. Let the pupil then begin to form words from syllables and to join phrases together from words. 32. It is incredible how much retardation is caused to reading by haste; for hence arise hesitation, interruption, and repetition, as children attempt more than they can manage; and then, after making mistakes, they become distrustful even of what they know. 33. Let reading, therefore, be at first sure, then continuous, and for a long time slow, until, by exercise, a correct quickness is gained.

According to Geraldine Rodgers,

The teaching of beginning reading remained unchanged until the eighteenth century A. D. Children first learned the alphabet, and then learned the syllabary, but they continued to spell each syllable as it was practiced, using the current letter names. It was only after they learned the syllabary that they read connected texts, usually Latin prayers after about 300 A. D. They then read those texts syllable by syllable until they became proficient readers. Until the sixteenth century A. D. in English-speaking countries, beginning reading was taught in Latin, and, in much of Europe, beginning reading continued to be taught in Latin until the eighteenth century.

— Why Noah Webster's way was the right way

While the method may have remained the same, changing technology led to a change in the method in which the syllables were taught. At first, syllables were taught on wax tablets, then a hornbook, then a battledore, then spelling books (spellers) that started with a syllabary. Noah Webster defined "spelling-book" as "A book for teaching children to spell and read" in his 1828 Dictionary.

Geraldine Rodgers believes that Noah Webster's speller, The American Spelling Book, was the first use of Synthetic Phonics, which she calls "Pascal phonics," and said:

Noah Webster improved this basic spelling book method by what amounted to the addition of Pascal phonics in his American Spelling Book.

— Why Noah Webster's way was the right way

Prior spellers such as Dilworth's used analytic phonics.

Dilworth’s speller, which had been so popular in America, and which Noah Webster said he had used as a boy in the 1760’s, taught reading by analytic sound."

The syllable method was also called the "Alphabet method," and according to E. Jennifer Monaghan, it "reigned supreme" from 1640 - 1840.

Examples of currently available syllabic phonics programs

English

Noah Webster's Blue-Backed Speller, or American Spelling Book, has two editions in print today--a copy of the first edition of 1783, and a copy of an 1831 edition of The American Spelling Book.

It is also being used to teach reading and spelling today by homeschooling families. Homeschoolers generally use a version by Don Potter, either a PDF version of the 1908 Speller available at his website or the print version of his reformatted PDF titled Noah Webster's Spelling Book Method for Teaching Reading and Spelling.

1879 McGuffey Speller reprint.

French

French syllabic phonics are referred to as "method syllaqbique" or "methods de lecture syllabique (alphabetique)"

Manual de Lecture

La bonne méthode de lecture

A list of other French syllabic phonics programs is available at lire ecrire.

German

In German, syllabic phonics are referred to as "Silbenmethode."

ABC der Tiere by Mildenerger

Russian

This book does not start with a syllabary, but instead a portion of the syllabary on each page followed by words and sentences made from those syllables.

Bukvar' by Zhukov N.

The syllables for teaching Russian are also available as cubes designed by Nikolai Zaitsev, similar to alphabet blocks but with syllables instead of letters.

Spanish

This book does not start with a syllabary, but instead a portion of the syllabary on each page followed by words and sentences made from those syllables.

La Pata Pita by Hilda Perera

Examples of historic syllabic phonics programs

English

Dilworth's Spelling-book

Webster's American Spelling Book

McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book

French

Petit Cadeau Destine Aux Enfans, ou Nouvel ABC Francais by L'Abbe Mozin, 1831

German

ABC und Lesebuch fur die katholische Schuljugend in Rheinbaiern by Ritter, 1827

Spanish

Cartilla filologica espanola: Primer libro de lecture by Francisco Ferrer Guardia, Barcelona, 1908

Abecedario ilustrado: Libro primero de lectura escrito con un metodo especial by Lorenzo Campano, Mexico, 1881

Libro primero para uso de los ninos by Enrique Mandevil, Barcelona, 1892

Libro segundo by Enrique Mandevil, New York, 1880

See also

• phonics
• syllabary

• synthetic phonics
• analytic phonics