Over the past 30 years, Jolly Phonics has continued to be used successfully in classrooms around the world.
Below, we are delighted to showcase some of the external research that has been conducted that highlights the impact our systematic synthetic approach continues to have.
Thank you to each researcher who has shared their findings with us and allowed us to host their papers here.
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A closer look
The Clackmannanshire research followed children through primary school, looking separately at word reading, spelling and comprehension.
It is useful to read the early comparison and the later follow-up together. All original groups received synthetic phonics by the end of Primary 1, which matters when interpreting the long-term findings.
Maiko Iriyama, Shigeo Kato, Kayoko Yamashita and Sakura Watanabe followed pupils who received Jolly Phonics in Grade 6. Early sound and nonword task scores were associated with Grade 9 vocabulary; basic sound scores were also associated with grammar. These correlations do not establish cause and effect. The Japanese paper appears in AUDELL Journal, Volume 3, pp. 3–18; the link opens the full journal at the paper.
Shigeo Kato, Maiko Iriyama, Kayoko Yamashita and Sakura Watanabe examined approximately six months of Jolly Phonics teaching with Grades 5 and 6 in Minamiuonuma, compared with pupils in Niigata City. The study reports stronger improvements in English phonological awareness and sound manipulation, with possible benefits for Japanese sound manipulation. This was a non-randomised comparison. Published in JES Journal, Volume 20, pp. 272–287.
Lori Motsch compared two annual cohorts of 29 kindergarten pupils receiving reading support, one combining direct teaching with iPad activities. Differences were significant for letter naming and letter-sound fluency, but not phoneme segmentation. The design compares different years and evaluates the intervention package, rather than isolating an app’s effect.
The collection covers AFAQ, Punjab Education Foundation, ITA Lahore and ITA Karachi projects. It compares Jolly Phonics teaching with existing English teaching and reports reading-test outcomes, alongside teacher training and implementation. The overview and four reports belong to one collection and should not be counted as five independent studies.
Leila Farokhbakht studied early English reading motivation among 100 learners aged 10–12. After one month, pupils taught through multisensory phonics reported higher motivation than the comparison group. Motivation is the focus of this report; the accompanying thesis also addresses literacy learning.
Olubusola Eshiet’s study involved 226 pupils, nine teachers and nine schools, with intervention and comparison groups. It reports stronger reading improvement in the synthetic phonics groups and explores pupils’ engagement and teachers’ confidence through observations and interviews. A short executive summary is available alongside the full thesis.
Daniela Caserta’s thesis examines systematic synthetic phonics and the use of Jolly Phonics in Milan. It discusses English teaching in an international school and an Italian state school, alongside teacher preparation and early introduction of English. The full thesis is in Italian.
Constance de Ayala’s report describes literacy teaching in disadvantaged English state schools and discusses teaching routines, leadership and training. It is a contextual education report published in French, rather than an intervention trial conducted in France.
Masamichi Yuzawa and colleagues examine a multisensory approach to English phonological learning among Japanese young children. The paper compares activities and age groups, with tasks assessing English sound awareness and repetition. Read the original Japanese paper for the methods and outcomes; it is not a whole-programme reading evaluation.
Lisnawati Ruhaena compared two groups of 30 preschool children learning through Jolly Phonics or regular teaching. The study reports stronger initial literacy outcomes for the Jolly Phonics group on its assessment. The paper is in Indonesian with an English abstract, and considers literacy in both languages.
Bowyer-Crane and colleagues compared two 20-week interventions for 152 children with poor oral language at school entry. Phonology with reading produced stronger literacy and phonological outcomes; oral-language teaching produced stronger vocabulary and grammatical outcomes. The findings highlight the different skills supported by each intervention.
Comfort Ekpo and colleagues at the University of Uyo studied 168 Primary 1 pupils in five purposively selected schools. The paper reports better reading outcomes for the Jolly Phonics groups and recommends replication. This preliminary study uses intact classes and should be read in the context of its selected schools.
Johnston and Watson followed children through primary school, measuring word reading, spelling and comprehension. The report records gains on all three measures, of different sizes. All original groups received synthetic phonics by the end of Primary 1, so the later results are a follow-up rather than a seven-year comparison with an untreated group.
Yvette Hus describes an early reading project in four kindergarten classes in a bilingual school serving children at risk of reading difficulties. Pre- and post-assessments recorded phonological and decoding development over nine weeks. A separate Grade 1 cohort provides context, rather than a randomised same-age control group.
Morag Stuart studied 112 five-year-olds, most learning English as an additional language. A 12-week phoneme-awareness and phonics programme was compared with a Big Books approach. The phonics group retained advantages in reading and spelling at the one-year follow-up. The findings relate to this teaching programme and school context.
Rhona Johnston and Joyce Watson discuss early synthetic phonics teaching, including their work with Woods Loke School and Scottish schools. This historical article provides context for the later Clackmannanshire research. Woods Loke was also the school where Jolly Phonics authors Sue Lloyd and Sara Wernham taught.
Marlynne Grant’s evaluation records reading and spelling outcomes for successive Reception cohorts using Jolly Phonics. The summary distinguishes a one-term trial from a full-year cohort. Read those periods separately: this is a school evaluation, and the reported reading-age gains should be understood in that setting.
Pauline Dixon, James Tooley and Andrew Hunt report on a six-month project involving more than 500 children in 22 schools. Schools using Jolly Phonics were compared with schools continuing their existing English teaching. The authors report a significant difference on five of six tests; the results relate to these schools and teaching conditions.
Olubusola Eshiet’s Jolly Buddies pilot paired older pupils with younger struggling readers, using Jolly Phonics Extra materials. The report describes the February–May intervention, training, monitoring and reading assessments. It offers implementation context for peer-supported reading; the reported gains are specific to this pilot.
The Federal Capital Territory report describes monitoring across 12 primary schools, assessing 160 pupils in Jolly Phonics classes and 80 pupils in comparison classes. It combines reading assessments with observations of implementation. The report provides local programme evidence, including the training and monitoring that accompanied teaching.
This collection includes a University of Calabar pilot report, Sarah Shepherd’s dissertation and a Jolly Phonics promotional case study. They examine synthetic phonics and early literacy in Cross River. The documents describe different periods and perspectives; they are grouped here without treating them as one identical cohort or adding their results together.
The two-page overview covers three urban and three rural schools. It describes delayed materials in the first year and improved implementation following further training, materials and monitoring. Reading outcomes compare successive Grade 1 cohorts, so this is a historical-cohort comparison rather than a randomised trial.
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