There are a lot of elements to effective phonics instruction. Phonics alone is not enough. Phonics needs to be leveled (with the correct phonics sounds), explicit, systematic, include interleaving, decodables and a variety of research-based activities. While there are many elements of effective phonics instruction, in this post, I’ll only focus on leveled phonics.
[In regard to this blog, I’m defining leveled as choosing the correct phonics sounds and skills to work on in instruction. I’m not discussing leveled book systems that have been the topic of Emily Hanford’s podcasts.]
Leveled phonics is crucial for effective instruction. A child who needs to work on silent e, makes no progress if the lessons are focused on letter sounds. A child who does not know letter sounds, makes no progress if the lessons are on reading r-controlled sounds. The teacher needs to know the strengths and weaknesses of the student, and tailor lessons accordingly.
If a child is behind in reading, they often receive some sort of intervention at school. It’s important to note what the child is learning in these interventions. If a student knows letter sounds, consonant digraphs, and silent e, then it would be inappropriate and ineffective to do a letter sound activity. This may seem intuitive, and it is, but a surprising number of reading interventions are implemented at the wrong level, making them a waste of time.
First, the educator needs to know what phonics sounds the student has mastered. The educator can get an understanding of what the child knows by providing an assessment with a mixed list of decontextualized words.
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A quick assessment can be very informative.
For example, have the child read:
short vowel words: ram tip nap den hen pup cup hop mitt mop
consonant digraph words: bath chip thin wham thick
consonant blends words: blast spent chimp crisp sand
silent e words: bike rode like poke cake made dine rake
long vowel words: road peek bunny foam rain bead funny seek goal drain
The above is not a formal or comprehensive assessment. However, decontextualized lists are very informative for instructors. They don’t allow the child to lean on pictures, memorization or context. Thus, they really reveal the student’s decoding abilities.
If the child is reading certain word types with high accuracy, there’s no need to teach these phonics sounds in lessons. For example, if the child is reading short vowel words with 80% accuracy in a decontextualized list, there’s no need to focus on these phonics sounds in direct instruction. Unfortunately, many phonics interventions in schools are not leveled appropriately. This is why kids who receive phonics lessons can still remain perpetually behind.
There will be phonics sounds you don’t need to teach and there will be phonics sounds you absolutely need to teach. If your student is reading below 70% accuracy in a decontextualized list, you need to teach these phonics sounds.
Phonics is important, but it’s not enough. The teacher needs to tailor instruction to make sure it’s at the child’s or classroom’s level.
In fact, many parents face confusion in regard to the type of instruction their child is receiving at school. They may hear that their child is getting phonics instruction in class. This may appease parents or make them feel that there is nothing left to do.
However, there are many elements of effective phonics instruction. Is the phonics instruction direct? Is it systematic? Does it include delayed review or decodables? And, as discussed in this post, does the child actually need to learn the phonics sounds that are taught in the lesson? Is the phonics lesson to hard and above the student’s level? Or is the lesson just right?
Just right. Phonics lesson do need to be just right in order to be effective. This is why it takes an educator that’s trained in research-based instruction to help dyslexic and struggling readers.
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