The best approach to beginning reading instruction is one that incorporates explicit instruction in five areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2000). These are known as the "5 Big Ideas" in beginning reading. While the research is clear on what to teach, how to teach these…

Some readers thrive more than others because they are more actively involved in their learning. All students can become active participants in their learning through quality teacher prompting. In this article, teachers will learn how to promote emergent learners' active participation as they decode and comprehend, while problem-solving unknown…

Multilingual readers use strategies other than phoneme-grapheme and word patterns to pronounce and comprehend sight words presented in popular children's books. Using the Contemporary Children's High-Frequency Words (CCHFW) list, which represents culturally and linguistically diverse and inclusive words, this article provides resources and…

This article explores the vital but often overlooked role of inferencing in early reading comprehension. While foundational decoding skills such as phonological awareness and fluency are essential, reading comprehension depends equally on children's ability to construct meaning beyond the words on the page. Drawing on the "Simple View of…

In this article, one teacher shares her journey using decodable books with her culturally and linguistically diverse students, documenting new understandings and tensions that she has encountered. Four literacy teacher educators augment the teacher's story by connecting it with the current literature on literacy and decodable books. After reading…

This study aimed to examine the role of phonological decoding on the reading skills of Turkish beginning readers with reading disabilities. Participants were 80 second graders with and without reading disabilities educated in general education classes at public elementary schools in Ankara, Turkey. In the assessment process, to test the…

When young children of Color from minoritized communities read decodable readers mandated by their school districts, children approach reading the texts with the expectation that the texts will make sense. While decodable readers allow children to apply their knowledge of phonics skills in context to support their word recognition, they tend to…

We suggest that a healthy literacy diet for beginning readers consists of literacy experiences along a number of dimensions, including experiences with decodable text. As such, this article explores the role of decodable texts in a comprehensive early literacy curriculum that recognizes literacy as a complex, culturally mediated, and multifaceted…

Researchers disagree about the value of controlling the decodability of texts for students with reading difficulty, specifically what type of text they should read: "decodable texts" (words limited to taught patterns), "nondecodable" texts (those not limited by instruction), or "both." We analyzed the effects of…

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…

Purpose: We examine the content, context, and management of literacy learning opportunities in a large, diverse sample in the US and whether these opportunities were differentiated by children's oral language and decoding skill levels. Method: A total of 1,404 children in 153 preschool-through-third-grade classrooms were observed for several…

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…

Purpose: We investigated the role of spoken language in the acquisition of literacy in the context of Arabic diglossia, where the written language, Standard Arabic, deviates substantially from the spoken language, Colloquial Arabic, children acquire naturally from birth. Method: The participants (N = 110; 40 girls) were Saudi Arabic--speaking…

This exploratory study builds upon extant reading development studies by identifying discrete groups based on reading comprehension trajectories across first grade. The main goal of this study was to enhance the field's understanding of early reading comprehension development and its underlying subcomponent skills, with the intent of better…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how K-2 teachers perceive the effectiveness of multi-sensory phonics methods used in conjunction with a standards-based reading curriculum on students' reading acquisition skills, students' decoding abilities, and student engagement in an inclusive classroom at a public charter school in…