Is Letterland effective?
Is it truly a synthetic-phonics programme? This article is an attempt to answer these questions. Why was the article included in the Newsletter? Last year on the RRF Message Board there were discussions about Letterland and some contributors made negative comments. Lyn Wendon, the author of Letterland, asked the RRF if she could respond to those criticisms in a Newsletter, and it was agreed that she should have that opportunity. Does the inclusion of the article mean that the RRF recommends the use of Letterland? The decision to include the article was based only on the reason given above. It was not meant to be a recommendation of Letterland by the RRF. Is Letterland effective? One of the principles of the RRF is to provide information about effective teaching methods and another is to promote the use of scientifically proven reading instruction programmes. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence both to support Letterland and to give rise to serious reservations about it. Unfortunately
