Research has demonstrated the positive effects of systematically teaching phonemic awareness and phonics in kindergarten and first grade, but many commonly used reading curricula do not adequately incorporate these foundational skills. In this study, we examined the efficacy of an instructional program ("UFLI Foundations") in…

The purpose of this paper is to explain how teachers can build on children's oral language resources to support writing. Thus, we offer recommendations and specific examples for classroom applications that connect oral language with written expression. Specifically, we provide examples on the transition from phonemic awareness to phonics to word…

Teachers are asked to use reading science to inform how they teach phonics and phonological awareness. As teachers look to the research base to guide their practice, some questions and concerns regarding what best practice looks like have come up. This article starts with a brief description of phonics and phonemic awareness and then discusses…

Recently, the science of reading has garnered much attention in elementary schools across the U.S. The science of reading is a body of research on learning to read that has been accumulated through systematic inquiry. Seth A. Parsons and Joy Dangora Erickson argue that the way the science of reading is being implemented is missing a key…

Reading is one of the most well-studied aspects of human learning. Since the 1950s, with more interest, research tools, and funding available, the body of reading research has exploded: Every year, hundreds of new scientific papers are published. However, there has been a detrimental lag in ensuring this science is understood by the people who…

Across the nation the average allotted time, per school day for phonics instruction is 20-30 minutes for elementary students (Shanahan, 2019). Although this is an average, the aforementioned amount of time is not an adequate amount of time to include all of the necessary components of effective phonics instruction (Shanahan, 2019). Furthermore,…

In our first article, we outlined some of the reasons for reading failure at the Early Childhood level and beyond, discussed common challenges students face, and explored essential components for quality reading instruction. We'll revisit the students you met in the first article to provide a window into how the Science of Reading can be…

The current study compared the reading growth of (a) students who received targeted interventions, (b) students who received typical school interventions, and (c) students who were proficient readers at the study's onset. The participants were 1,513 students in first through fifth grades who attended one of three treatment schools or one of three…

Early diagnosis of children with reading disorders is essential for intervention and academic success. Many children with reading difficulties have a deficit in phonemic awareness. A web-based, group-administered screening vehicle, the Risk Factor Screen for Reading (RiFS-Reading), was developed to quickly identify students who are "At…

In 2015, a small school district in a mid-Atlantic state implemented Letterland, a phonics-based early reading program, to increase early reading levels. The problem investigated in this study was that, despite district implementation of the Letterland phonics program, early childhood students continued to struggle with mastery of phonics and…

This article reviews literature published between 2010 and 2022 on the integration of tablets in phonological awareness and phonics instruction in kindergarten and the elementary grades. Studies involving phonological awareness skills compared traditional methods with tablet instruction and investigated tablet integration with teacher guidance,…

Despite training in phonics and phonemic awareness during literacy methods courses, preservice teachers indicate having a limited understanding of how to apply these two critical components of reading in their own classrooms. As preservice teachers enter the classroom, they will need support from principals, literacy professionals, and colleagues…

Background: Despite evidence that synthetic phonics teaching has increased reading attainments, a sizable minority of children struggle to acquire phonics skills and teachers lack clear principles for deciding what types of "additional" support are most beneficial. Synthetic phonics teaches children to read using a decoding strategy to…

Background: Failure to learn early reading skills leads to lower reading comprehension later in elementary school (Double et al., 2019; Paige et al., 2019), which can then lead to poverty, underemployment, and increased likelihood of being incarcerated (World Literacy Foundation, 2018). Early reading skills are best developed in kindergarten…

The problem addressed through this research study was although kindergarten through Grade 3 (K-3) reading teachers have received specific professional development in phonological methods, a gap in practice exists with the implementation of instructional strategies. The purpose of this study was to explore K-3 reading teachers' perspectives…