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The phonics teaching programme validation process

By ensuring high-quality phonics teaching and improving literacy levels, the government wants to:

give all children a solid base on which to build as they progress through school

help them develop the habit of reading both widely and often, for both pleasure and information

In April 2021, we published the revised core criteria for effective systematic synthetic phonics teaching programmes ( SSP) and launched a new process to validate those programmes. The process applied to both previously assessed programmes and new applicants.

A number of publishers completed an initial self-assessment based on these criteria, which was then reviewed by independent evaluators. After 3 rounds of evaluation, 45 SSP programmes were validated.

We are not planning an imminent future validation round, but any update will be provided on this page. Although the process has now been completed, the information provided for 2021 to 2022, including the criteria used and the guidance supplied, remains available.

A Flying Start with Letters and Sounds

ACET Phonics

All Aboard Phonics

ALS Phonics: Letters and Sounds

Anima Phonics: Letters and Sounds Updated

Bug Club Phonics

Dramatic Progress in Literacy Phonics (DPiL)

Essential Letters and Sounds

Extend Letters and Sounds

FFT Success for All Phonics

First Class Phonics

Fishing for Phonics

Floppy's Phonics

GES Simply Letters & Sounds

Jolly Phonics

Junior Learning Letters & Sounds

LearnPhonics!

Lesley Clarke's Letters and Sounds

Letterland

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised

McKie Mastery Power Phonics

Monster Phonics

No Nonsense Phonics

Pearl Phonics

Phonics International

Phonics Shed

Phonics Steps

Pip and Pap

Read Write Inc.

Reading Planet Rocket Phonics

Ready Steady Phonics

RoboPhonics

Schofield & Sims My Letters & Sounds

Smart Kids Letters and Sounds - The Code

Snappy Sounds

Song of Sounds

Sound Discovery

Sound!Start Phonics for Letters and Sounds

Sounds-Write

Supersonic Phonic Friends

The Partnership Phonics Programme (based on Letters and Sounds)

Time for Phonics

Twinkl Phonics

Unlocking Letters and Sounds

Wand Phonics with Phonics International and/or No Nonsense Phonics

The contact details and web addresses for currently validated programmes are available and regularly updated.

Information for schools

There is no statutory requirement for schools to choose one of the SSP programmes on the validated list. Ofsted does not have a preferred programme or approach. What's important is that schools take an approach that is rigorous, systematic and used with fidelity (any resources used should exactly match the Grapheme Phoneme Correspondence (GPC) progression of their chosen SSP approach), and that achieves strong results for all pupils, including the most disadvantaged. You can refer to this blog for more information.

However, validation status indicates that a programme has been self-assessed by its publisher and judged by a small panel with relevant expertise, and that both consider it to meet all the Department for Education (DfE) criteria for an effective SSP programme.

A complete SSP programme is one that provides:

all that's essential to teach SSP to children in the reception and key stage 1 years of mainstream primary schools

sufficient support for children in reception and key stage 1 to become fluent readers

a structured route for most children to meet or exceed the expected standard in the year one phonics screening check

all national curriculum expectations for word reading through decoding by the end of key stage 1

For more guidance on choosing an SSP programme that's best for your school, contact your local English hub. It can offer guidance on the details of each validated programme to help with your decision.

If you are or are about to become a partner school that's supported by one of our English hubs, contact the hub to discuss which SSP programme to use in your school. The hubs programme will only support schools to implement a programme from the updated validated list.

Support for schools

As well as providing an updated list of validated programmes, we have launched a package of measures designed to support schools in providing excellent reading provision and developing pupils' proficiency in, and love of, reading.

The package includes:

guidance for schools on early reading: the reading framework: teaching the foundations of literacy

£8.7 million additional funding in academic year 2022 to 2023 to support schools to purchase and embed complete SSP programmes from the validated list, including their associated training and resources

a new national professional qualification for leading literacy (NPQLL), launched in October 2022, to train teachers and leaders to become literacy experts who will drive up standards of literacy teaching in their schools and improve literacy outcomes for every child

Schools that are interested in purchasing a validated programme can contact their local English hub to see what support they're eligible for.

Previous SSP programme validation routes

Between 2010 and 2014, we compiled a collection of phonics teaching programmes to help schools decide which was suitable for their school. We reviewed each programme against core criteria for effective SSP programmes.

Publishers could apply to have their programme featured through either:

a self-assessment process

submitting a tender to feature in the Importance of Phonics catalogue

Until this new validation process launched in April 2021, neither the list of self-assessed programmes nor the Importance of Phonics catalogue list of programmes had been updated or reviewed since 2014.

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By ensuring high-quality phonics teaching and improving literacy levels, the government wants to: give all children a solid base on which to build as they progress through school help them develop the habit of reading both widely and often, for both pleasure and information In April 2021, we published the revised core criteria for effective systematic synthetic phonics teaching programmes ( SSP) and launched a new process to validate those programmes.

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All effective early years practitioners realise that talk is at the heart of maths learning. Quite simply, most of children's understanding about number, shapes and measures comes from talking about number, shapes and measures, and exploring them through everyday play indoors and outdoors.

As all those working to support children's communication and language development know, the interactions children have with their families play a major role in their early language use.

This applies to all of the vocabulary children use, so if families are using lots of descriptive and comparative mathematical vocabulary as part of everyday talk, then children are likely to be using that vocabulary too.

They'll join early years settings talking about 'big, bigger and biggest' and using number names with confidence - although not necessarily in the right order!

But huge differences have been found in both the receptive vocabulary (understanding) and expressive vocabulary (talk) for children. By the age of three, those in the families who talk the most are likely to have a vocabulary in excess of 1,100 words, while children in the lowest talking families have less than 400, and in some cases significantly less.

"those in the families who talk the most are likely to have a vocabulary in excess of 1,100 words"

As we know that children often find naming words (nouns) easiest to learn, it stands to reason that children with the smallest vocabularies are less likely to be using descriptive, comparative or positional language.

It has been estimated that for children to be able to access the KS1 maths curriculum fully, they need to be familiar with over 400 mathematical words and phrases (National Strategies, 2000).

So what can we do to ensure that children have opportunities to develop such an extensive expressive vocabulary? A lot of this depends on careful, reflective planning which builds on what children know and can do and is informed by children's enthusiasms and passions.

We need to consider very carefully the following:

● the environment we provide, including ways in which to enrich continuous provision

● specific activities planned to support children's understanding of elements of maths

● the vocabulary we introduce and model the use of

● the enabling statements and open ended questions we ask

Talking about number

Recent research about the home environment has shown that parents can impact on their child's cardinal-number knowledge - for example, knowing that the word 'three' refers to sets (groups) of three entities, such as cars, dinosaurs or apples.

It seems that parents' number talk which involves counting or labelling sets of visible 'real' objects in the 'here and now' is related to children's later knowledge of this critical area of mathematical development.

When parents talk about groups of between four and ten objects, this is even more effective than talk about smaller sets - so playing with farm animals or cars and a garage and using number names will make a difference.

So what are the implications of this?

I think, firstly, that we need to be working closely in partnership with families to support all aspects of children's learning and development.

Parents want to know what they can do to support their child's learning, and we can give them practical, doable, fun suggestions.

Secondly, we need to ensure that we model effective behaviour too - talking with children about numbers to ten (and beyond, where appropriate) when acting as co-players in children's imaginative small world play.

"Parents want to know what they can do to support their child's learning"

When we are supporting children's developing knowledge and understanding of number, we can introduce specific vocabulary and use questions which extend learning and enabling statements which will support children's thinking:

● What can you tell me about your favourite number?

● I wonder if anyone can guess the number of bugs Mrs Frog has eaten

● How could we record the number of beans in the box?

● I can only see nine Wellington boots

● Why is that number so important?

● I'm wondering why Mr Puppet has said there are four apples, and I can see five

● How many blocks can we build up before they all topple over?

We need to remember that, sometimes, making a statement will promote more discussion than asking a direct question, which can be quite daunting for some children.

Shape, space and measures

When children are confident in their use of number names, we sometimes assume that they have a wide vocabulary for all elements of maths too, but this isn't always the case.

Practitioners in an outstanding nursery class in London decided to focus on children's mathematical vocabulary development as part of a small-scale action research project (Kent and Stevens, 2011).

The nursery offers a stimulating, rich environment and the children are all very familiar with 'number rhymes' and explore these through props and experiences.

The nursery team knew that many of the children were engaged in current play themes around monsters, dinosaurs and aeroplanes.

They loved to talk about 'big' things, and often clambered into a climbing tree in the outdoor area - "I'm bigger than you, I am."

So, an obvious 'way in to learning' was to introduce new descriptive vocabulary about size through a book that is very similar to the beloved traditional tale of The Enormous Turnip: Brenda Parkes and Judith Smith's The Enormous Watermelon.

The class teacher began by sharing the big book with two groups of children, including a group of children due to move into the Reception class at the end of the term, and a group of three-year-olds.

The children were excited and engaged by the story, joining in animatedly with the telling.

Unsurprisingly, when the youngest children were asked to share words that mean the same as, or are similar to 'enormous', the words included just 'big' and 'giant'.

More surprisingly, the older children didn't really use many more descriptive words, suggesting 'big' and 'giant' and also 'gigantic', 'massive' and 'fat' - a total of just five descriptive words.

A short while after sharing the book, the children went home, each clutching a speech bubble. Every family was asked to talk about 'size' words with their child, and to bring back one word, written in the bubble.

Over the following week, more than 50 words were identified, with children and families engaging enthusiastically with the task.

Practitioners used the words gathered to form a word cloud - these can be created very easily online.

If a word was included four times, it wasn't repeated four times in the word cloud but was shown four times bigger.

So, if lots of children used words like 'big', 'huge' and 'giant' then these words were bigger in the word cloud, and unique words like 'humongous' or 'mammoth' were smaller.

The resulting cloud was shared with families and displayed in the maths workshop, so that all practitioners could use the words for the rest of the term.

Soon children were using wider descriptive vocabulary for things that are 'enormous', and this impacted on use of descriptive vocabulary in general too.

In conclusion

When you are developing your planning, remember to include mathematical vocabulary at all stages.

In your long-term overview, have some idea of the breadth of vocabulary you want to include. Ensure that you use your observations of children and their interests to inform your short-term plans.

Be sure to display the vocabulary, and possible enabling statements and questions so that all adults can use them - and share the words with families too.

One good idea is to laminate individual words and phrases and hang them on folding sock dryers above the sand, water or small world play areas, so that everyone remembers to focus on maths talk.

Extend their vocabulary!

When we are supporting children's developing knowledge and understanding of shape, space and measures, we can introduce specific vocabulary and use questions that extend learning and enabling statements that will support children's thinking.

Try the following:

● What can you say about the weight of this car?

● I wonder if anything weighs more than the red car

● Which bag feels the heaviest?

● I can't see out of the window from here

● Can you explain how you know they weigh the same amount?

● Gosh, if you lay on the floor, your model looks different

● How many shells do you think it takes to balance the box?

● How strange that you can make a cylinder shape by rolling that flat piece of paper
Judith Stevens is an author, consultant and trainer specialising in communication and language and mathematics. She is co-author, with Carole Skinner, of Foundations of Mathematics - An active approach to number, shape and measures in the Early Years.
You may also be interested in...

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Teach Early Years magazine is the leading B2B title for early years teachers, practitioners and providers, offering expert advice on educating the 0-5s and operating a sustainable childcare business.

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Incorporating Mathematics into your learning environment

Mathematics is a specific area of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage, yet many settings find it difficult to incorporate it into everyday learning environments. Here are some 7 easy ways to make sure you are encouraging mathematical development through play.

Role Play

Role play allows the children to re-enact their experiences and use everyday resources and items. Mathematics can be added into this area by offering photos of numbers found in the environment such as on buses or road signs. Children can familiarise themselves with numbers they see in everyday life and begin to recognise these. Plastic money can also be added to the role play, giving children early experience with handling and recognising the value of coins.

Sand and Water Play

Sand and water play gives children the opportunity to experience and explore measuring. Offering measuring jugs, funnels and different sized containers, children are able to transport the sand or water between the different containers developing early mathematical language such as 'empty' and 'full.'

Nursery Rhymes

Singing nursery rhymes that incorporate mathematical concepts are a simple way to introduce maths into the learning environment. Song time should be part of everyday practice. There are so many nursery rhymes that can be shared with children, for example, five little ducks, five little-speckled frogs, One Two Three Four Five one a caught a fish alive.

Book Area

A book area can be enhanced to include mathematics by adding a range of reading materials such as takeaway menus or recipe cards. This gives children the opportunity to develop their awareness of numbers and weight alongside their literacy development. Young children often confuse letters and numbers so this can support them in recognising and separating these ideas.

Creative Area

Mathematics can be displayed in a creative area in many ways. Offering cutting materials such as scissors can allow the children to alter and reshape paper, giving them the experience of creating shapes and measuring. Plastic rulers can be available in the mark making area, supporting children to draw and experiment with lines. Also adding lots of open ended resources in the creative area allows children to build 3D structures, supporting their measuring skills.

Investigation

Having an investigation area can help children to develop their mathematical knowledge. Offering resources such as magnifying glasses, tape measures and small padlocks with keys can help children use their problem-solving skills to explore and learn.

Outside environment

Maths can be observed in the outside environment in a range of ways. Using pebbles to write numbers on enables the children to experience numbers in a fun way. Mud kitchens can also be a great way for children to experience weighing and measuring to further their mathematical skills.

For more ideas on promoting mathematical development in the outdoors visit our Pinterest page

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7 simple ways to add mathematics to your environment

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Mathematics is a specific area of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage, yet many settings find it difficult to incorporate it into everyday learning environments. Here are some 7 easy ways to make sure you are encouraging mathematical development through play.

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Critically evaluate the benefits to children of working in partnership with parents 

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Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language.Written language can be compared to a code, so knowing the sounds of individual letters and how those letters sound when they're combined will help children decode words as they read.

Understanding phonics will also help children know which letters to use when they are writing words.

Phonics involves matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters. For example, the sound k can be spelled as c, k, ck or ch.

Teaching children to blend the sounds of letters together helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words by sounding them out. For example, when a child is taught the sounds for the letters t, p, a and s, they can start to build up the words: "tap", "taps", "pat", "pats" and "sat".

How is phonics taught?

Introducing young children to the joy and wonder of books requires a systematic teaching of phonics.

Synthetic phonics

The most widely used approach associated with the teaching of reading in which phonemes (sounds) associated with particular graphemes (letters) are pronounced in isolation and blended together (synthesised). For example, children are taught to take a single-syllable word such as cat apart into its three letters, pronounce a phoneme for each letter in turn /k, æ, t/, and blend the phonemes together to form a word.

Analytical phonics

A popular approach in Scotland, this method is associated with the teaching of reading in which the phonemes associated with particular graphemes are not pronounced in isolation. Children identify (analyse) the common phoneme in a set of words in which each word contains the phoneme under study. For example, teacher and pupils discuss how the following words are alike: pat, park, push and pen.

Analogy phonics

A type of analytic phonics in which children analyse phonic elements according to the phonograms in the word. A phonogram, known in linguistics as a rime, is composed of the vowel and all the sounds that follow it, such as -ake in the word cake. Children use these phonograms to learn about "word families" for example cake, make, bake, fake.

Embedded phonics

An approach to the teaching of reading in which phonics forms one part of a whole language programme. Embedded phonics differs from other methods in that the instruction is always in the context of literature rather than in separate lessons, and the skills to be taught are identified opportunistically rather than systematically.

Understanding phonics at home

If you are a parent and need support to understand more about phonics to help your child with their learning, you can find out more on our Words for Life website.

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What is phonics? | National Literacy Trust

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How phonics is taught including: synthetic phonics, analytical phonics, analogy phonics and embedded phonics

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From the much maligned key stage 1 screening test which asks children to sound out words such as "drall", "halp" and "snope", to the current embrace of the synthetic phonics model in UK schools, how to teach reading and writing is a subject of hot debate.

All schools will have their own favourite phonics programme. But whether you are Floppy fans or find joy in Jolly or elsewhere, the Guardian Teacher Network has some excellent resources to complement phonics work in school and at home and help your pupils to learn the most important lessons of their lives.

An inspiring start is the Teach your monster to read game to practice the first steps of reading. It was created to develop early literacy and is built on the principles of synthetic phonics, following the teaching sequence of the letters and sounds programme. Find a guide to the game here. Teach your monster to read is set in a world with eight islands and children have to demonstrate knowledge of four graphemes to complete each island and move on to the next one. There are lots of exciting things to do on the way which allow the player to practice important elements of reading and the game's primary aim to to develop children's speed and accuracy of grapheme/letter recognition.

Children can get to grips with graphemes in this ready-made "ir, ue, aw, ue, wh, ph" PowerPoint with sounds and action buttons, and here is the "ay, ou, ie, ea, oy" version. These attractive ready-to-print 200 high frequency words from phonics letters and sounds will also be useful in the primary classroom.

This interactive online lesson on reading CCVC and CVCC words will help children blend phonemes in words including clusters that need to be treated as a single sound when blending.

For those who want to prepare for the year 1 phonics screening test, this set of 40 cards containing both real and pseudo words (the latter illustrated with creative pictures that could lead to some new words being incorporated into the English language - perhaps an ulf will become one of your pupils' favorite animals, or even a vap). The words are based on the sample materials provided by the STA. If you go to www.primarytools.co.uk you can find a really useful electronic tracking spreadsheet for a class of 33 pupils which is colour coded and automatically adds up the score per pupil and per word. More phonics test practice can be had using this literacy assessment tool.

Thanks to Alan Davies from Thrass for sharing these English phonics guide and check guidance notes for teachers. The resource contains some excellent ideas for class teaching for learners of all ages and abilities, including gifted and talented, those with learning difficulties and EAL students - with guidance on helping learners say the right sound when they read and choose the right letters when they spell.

For gorgeous teaching resources that link phonics work with animal topics find E is for Elephant and other animals and S is for Seagulls and other animals.

This phonics bingo game is fun and perfect for reinforcing teaching on phonics and words.

Internet phenomenon and full-time primary school teacher Mr Thorne, of Mr Thorne Does Phonics fame, is well worth investigating. His fabulously entertaining and educational videos, where you can get to know Geraldine the learning Giraffe a little better, can be found on YouTube. For iPad fans, you can download the Mr Thorne Does Phonics: letters and sounds app.

Also recommended is the the Ladybird - I'm Ready for phonics app which covers, with the help of Captain Comet, initial letter sounds, phonemes, graphemes and all those tricky words that can cause even the most competent pupil to stumble. There are short videos of the phonemes being said and the pupils can record themselves too.

Macrophonics offers a cute phonics alphabet for use in school and at home. Pupils can tap the letter to hear it and then there is a short fun film showing the word in action offering some context for it. It is free for the iPad. Funimal Phonics is a great app for pupils first getting to grips with their letter sounds.

Burt's reading scheme has been used by many schools to provide extra consolidation for pupils in key stage 2 who are struggling with reading, based on the letters and sounds system. Find some really useful worksheets for Module 1, Module 2, which introduce the five vowel sounds, Module 3 which introduces blending, Module 4 which blends consonants and vowel digraphs and finally Module 5 which covers more advanced blends.

There are practitioners who advocate alternative methods to the current phonics model taught in schools. Mona McNee is an 89-year-old reading teacher and campaigner who developed the Step by Step decoding system of phonics based on 26 letters and without flash cards. Rather than letters and sounds ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, Mona McNees' method uses the rule that single letters can say the long vowels, for example the magic e rat/rate, them/e, pip/e, cut/e. Her method has some passionate supporters and many people, including prisoners who never learned to read when they were at school, have mastered reading through her resources. Her motivation to keep banging the drum over so many years? "The humiliation of not learning to read does not bear thinking about." So here are some alternative resources which may be of particular use for teachers who are working with children or adults who haven't learned to read the first time round. One of Mona McNee's most ardent fans, who taught his three children to read using a tattered copy of her original Step by Step manual, created phonics4free.org to share the work. Here is lesson one of Mona McNee's system with supporting games Snakes and ladders 1 and Snakes and ladders 2.

For those who want to do some more research into phonics and beyond, see the Rooted in Reading passport report which looks at some pioneering work done by the CfBT Education Trust with Lincolnshire County council. Their reading promotion project combines high quality teaching of phonic work with equally high quality incentives to read for enjoyment and information. The report shows that complementary incentives can help children develop a healthy appetite for reading by rewarding their success as they progress from beginners to skilled readers as they progress through 12 reading passports, and makes fascinating reading.

* Join the Guardian Teacher Network community for free access to teaching resources and an opportunity to share your own. There are also thousands of teaching, leadership and support jobs on the site. Visit http://jobs.theguardian.com/schools

* This article was amended on 5 April 2013. The original referred to "Burt's Reading Recovery scheme". Reading Recovery is a trademarked name referring to the specific early literacy intervention accredited by the Institute of Education.

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From the much maligned key stage 1 screening test which asks children to sound out words such as "drall", "halp" and "snope", to the current embrace of the synthetic phonics model in UK schools, how to teach reading and writing is a subject of hot debate.

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How to teach complex sounds: Ruth Miskin demonstrates

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As a licenced teacher and later as a principal, I have successfully educated more than 300 students ranging in age from 5 to 20 at a private school I founded and operated for 9 years. All my students were failing in either public or private schools when they came to me. The one main thing that all my students had in common regardless of the medical designation they had was that their reading comprehension skills were extremely weak. This is a common occurance for a full one third of the population. Hence my brand name...One Third.

We did not focus on Phonics at this point as my research indicated that until someone has mastered the art of a basic reading vocabulary (alphabet, 150 words that mean nothing, sentence formation, the parts of speech, punctuation), it is impossible to progress with success to a writing vocabulary which of course includes sounds and blends, etc.

Most schools today blend the reading and writing vocabularies. That is one of the main reasons why fully one third of students today are failing in school and have difficulty in the workforce.

If schools want to allow all children the opportunity to reach their potential, it is my opinion based on solid evidence that we must change how we introduce our children to reading. If you cannot add....you cannot subtract. If you cannot add and subtract, you cannot multiply. If you cannot add, subtract and multiply, you cannot divide.

The same is true for listening, spoken, reading and written vocabularies.

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As a licenced teacher and later as a principal, I have successfully educated more than 300 students ranging in age from 5 to 20 at a private school I founded and operated for 9 years. All my students were failing in either public or private schools when they came to me.

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Task 1

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factors affecting development work sheet(1)

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Early years

Resources and tools for early language development and parental engagement.

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Deliver outstanding literacy provision at primary school stage.

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Help students develop the literacy skills they need to succeed at school and in their future lives.

We empower parents and families

Parents - you're not alone! Discover a wealth of practical tips to help your child's literacy journey, fun activities to try together as well as reassuring support and guidance on our Words for Life website. We have plenty of creative ways to nurture your child's reading, speaking, listening and writing development at home.

We collaborate with communities and local areas

We work collaboratively in 20 areas of the UK that face the biggest challenges with literacy and where we can make the most difference. We work alongside teachers and football coaches, to librarians and youth leaders - to create bespoke solutions that support literacy at home, in school and in the community.

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This is a significant year for us at the National Literacy Trust as we celebrate our 30th birthday. Over the past three decades, we have been supporting families and children to change their life stories through the power of literacy and we are ready to celebrate!

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How we are helping get a library into every primary

On Wednesday 8 November, we welcomed over 100 authors, partner organisations, funders, fellow charities, MPs, peers, and supporters, to Portcullis House in Westminster, to celebrate the anniversary of our Libraries for Primaries campaign.

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Celebrating the first of 25 amazing Coronation Libraries

On Wednesday 1 November, we celebrated the opening of the first of 25 Coronation primary school libraries, at a special event at Harris Primary Academy Croydon.

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Wicked Writers: Be the Change competition will launch in January 2024

Open to all UK schools and launching on 29 January 2024, Wicked Writers: Be the Change asks 9 to 14-year-olds to harness the power of persuasive writing to think about any environmental issue they feel passionately about.

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National Literacy Trust | UK Literacy Charity

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We are an independent charity working with schools and communities to give children the literacy skills to succeed in life.

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Interesting article BUT beware, is American 

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Interesting article BUT beware, is American 

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If you think students start learning to read from the moment they enter kindergarten onward, think again! Children naturally develop pre-reading skills much earlier-even in infancy, the way babies experiment with language can become the building blocks of literacy later on. Because of this, a student's reading ability comes from experiences outside the classroom as much as it does inside it.

The majority of teachers (87%) agree that many students face learning barriers that come from outside of school.[1] But when asked what these factors might be, fewer have concrete answers. Early literacy development is complex and, while no one thing leads to success or failure, both social and cognitive elements contribute to it. Educators, however, can learn a few common factors their students might identify with to provide the best support possible.

Read on to learn the five stages of literacy development and how sociocultural factors or learning disorders can affect your students' reading comprehension. Then, discover how a growth mindset and the right strategies can help struggling readers make academic gains in literacy.

How Children Develop Reading Comprehension

Understanding how literacy and language development in early childhood works can help you learn why certain factors can change it. One of the most popular theories comes from Dr. Jeanne Chall, an esteemed Harvard University educational researcher. After decades of studying how students learn to read, she pinpointed five crucial stages of reading development that students should reach throughout their educational career.

Chall's five stages of reading development are:

Emerging pre-reader (6 months-5 years)

Novice reader (6-7 years)

Decoding reader (7-9 years)

Comprehending reader (9-15 years)

Expert reader (16 years and up)

While the final three stages are all crucial for mature literacy development, the first two (emerging and novice) are essential stages of development for early students. Emerging pre-readers are mostly focused on skills that lead to reading later on, like learning the letters of the alphabet or becoming familiar with printed text.[2] While they don't necessarily start reading until they begin school, children are already picking up traits that contribute to it later on. Any exposure to books, especially being read aloud to, can help them pick up literacy faster later on.[3]

Once children begin elementary school, they will start to associate letters and sounds with printed or spoken words.[4] This phase is known as the novice reader. A student will usually enter this stage during kindergarten or first grade, though the transition from pre-reading to early reading is different for each student. The more complex words that students are exposed to through language and print, the faster they will enter this stage.

The last three stages happen later in a student's academic career: decoding, comprehending, and expert.[5] Decoding readers start to focus on the story's meaning instead of just word recognition, and their speed and fluency increase dramatically. Comprehending students build upon these skills by recognizing themes, and they read to learn about new experiences, understand issues important to them, and gain more complex knowledge. And expert readers, the last stage, focuses on reading from a wide variety of sources and synthesizing information into their own cohesive essays.

The earlier you address any issues that might affect a student's reading skills, the stronger their academic gains will be. The ideal time is while they are either in the pre-reading or novice stage. If you're an early education teacher, keep an eye out for various factors that could contribute to student's literacy development and provide appropriate support.

Sociocultural Factors that Affect Emergent Literacy

According to Dr. Nell Duke, an early education professor at the University of Michigan, culture is one of the primary factors that affect reading development- "When you read Arabic," she explains, "you read it from right to left-something as fundamental as that will vary on the cultural and the sociolinguistic context in which reading occurs."[6]

Cultural contexts can be positive, negative, or neutral. Whether a student reads left to right or right to left, for example, is neither advantageous nor damaging as long as the direction fits the cultural norm. Educators should be aware, however, of which factors are positive or negative so they can assist students and their families as needed.

One link between socioeconomic status and education, for example, is that there's often a vocabulary gap between low- and high-income students. By second grade, low socioeconomic status (SES) students know about 4000 less words than their high SES peers. The reason isn't because low-income students aren't as capable of learning words but that they're less likely to access early education programs because their family cannot afford it.

According to Dr. Duke, a literacy achievement gap in education is "not any fault of family, not any fault of children-it's the fault of a system that isn't providing equitable access to quality preschool."[7] Because one in five children in the United States live on or below the poverty line, finding ways to supplement these deficiencies is a core responsibility for educators.[8] The more access students of all SES levels have to classroom and at-home resources, the more vocabulary gaps close.[9]

Another cultural factor that can affect a student's reading comprehension is whether they're learning a second language. English language-learning students, for example, may have trouble learning to read in English if they haven't achieved oral fluency yet. Once a student has reached bilingualism, however, they're actually at a cognitive advantage for learning to read.[10] By nurturing pre-reading skills in a bilingual classroom, your students' academic gains can reach or even exceed their monolingual peers.

Types of Learning Disabilities Linked to Reading

Beyond sociocultural factors, certain conditions or developmental issues can result in reading disabilities. Dyslexia, for example, is one of the most well-known types of reading disabilities. It is also the most common learning disability in general, affecting about 20% of all students.[11] Although no specific gene has been pinpointed as the cause of dyslexia, researchers believe a combination of genetics and how the brain processes words can lead to this disorder.[12]

How dyslexia affects reading varies for all students, but it usually impairs the way students see letters or connect them with sounds. Some students may have trouble seeing certain letters, while others might struggle to learn which sounds pair with which letters. If you have a dyslexic student in your class, work with their parents to determine the severity of the disorder and how you can best reach the student's needs.

Although dyslexia is the most popular learning disability linked to reading, there are several others educators should be aware of. Dysgraphia, for example, is a learning disability that affects a student's handwriting, as well as how a student writes letters or learns to spell. Another, language processing disorder, can stunt a child's ability to attach meaning to words or sentences. Even math literacy can be affected: dyscalculia is a learning disorder that can hinder a child's ability to read numbers and mathematical equations.

Other medical conditions may also lead to difficulties learning to read. Studies have found a link, for example, between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disabilities.[13]

Other conditions known to cause reading comprehension issues include:

Autism

Visual or hearing impairments

Intellectual disabilities

Memory processing issues

Aphasia

When teaching students with learning disorders, keep in mind that a reading disability is not a measurement of intelligence. Many people with reading disorders are just as intelligent and capable of success as their peers with the right resources. If you think a student in your classroom may have a reading disability, consider discussing it with their parents so they can seek professional treatment, if needed.

Viewing Struggling Readers Through a Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset

Regardless of the cause, the most important way to help students with reading comprehension difficulties is to view them through a growth mindset. The definition of growth mindset comes from Dr. Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford University. While researching how to reach at-risk students, she found that our beliefs about ourselves and others can influence educational outcomes.[14]

Teachers usually view students through one of two lenses: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Educators with a fixed mindset assume that a student's intelligence, personality, and creativity cannot change. Any successes or failures their students reach are a result of who they are rather than what they do. A growth mindset, on the other hand, allows teachers to view failure as a learning opportunity and bridge to success later on. These educators believe that their student's academic ability can change and develop over time and that their intelligence is more than just their grades.

Studies have found that using a growth mindset for students in your class can help induce academic gains in struggling readers, particularly those from low-income families.[15] Try to view every child in your class as capable of success not in spite of, but because of their failures. While working with struggling students, celebrate their strengths and teach them that even if they struggle with reading now, they have the capacity for strong reading skills.

How to Help Struggling Readers Develop Reading Fluency

Any time or money spent in early reading programs can lead to profound social change.[16] With the right mindset, every student in your class has the potential to develop stronger literacy skills.

Use these reading comprehension strategies to help struggling or reluctant readers learn basic literacy skills:

A 2018 study found that students learn to read best using a multisensory approach.[17] Try adding visual or audio aids to your assignments, like read-aloud or multimedia activities

If you know that a student has a reading disability, provide accommodations. Discuss the disability with their parents and offer help, resources, and extra time on reading assignments as needed

Build a strong foundation in fundamental reading skills like phonological awareness or letter recognition first before moving onto more complex topics

Along with constructive criticism, praise your students as their reading skills improve. Positive encouragement can help motivate students and strengthen their academic confidence

Assign take-home books and reading assignments to your students. Research on how to help struggling readers suggests that parent engagement helps close the vocabulary gap and significantly raises literacy scores[18]

Sources:
Scholastic Corporation. Barriers to Equity in Education. Retrieved from scholastic.com: http://www.scholastic.com/teacherprincipalreport/barriers-to-equity.htm.[1]

Chall, J. Stages of Reading Development. McGraw Hill, 1983, pp. 10-24.[2]

Sénéchal, M., and LeFevre, J. Parental Involvement in the Development of Children's Reading Skill: A Five‐Year Longitudinal Study. Child Development, January 2003, 73(2), pp. 445-60.[3]

Chall, J. Stages of Reading Development, pp. 10-24.[4]

Ibid.[5]

Claro, S., Paunesku, D., and Dweck, C.S. Growth mindset tempers the effects of poverty on academic achievement, August 2016, 113 (31).[6]

Ibid.[7]

National Center for Children in Poverty. Child Poverty. Retrieved from nccp.org: nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html.[1]

Heckman, J.J. The Economics of Inequality: The Value of Early Childhood Education, American Educator, 2011, 35(1), pp. 31-35.[9]

Kieffer, M.J. Socioeconomic Status, English Proficiency, and Late-Emerging Reading Difficulties, August 2010, 39 (6).[10]

The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. What is Dyslexia? Retrieved from yale.edu: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/dyslexia/what-is-dyslexia/.[11]

Gabrieli, J.D.E. Dyslexia: A New Synergy Between Education and Cognitive Neuroscience. Science, July 2009, 325, pp. 280-83.[12]

August, G.J., and Garfinkel, B.D. Comorbidity of ADHD and reading disability among clinic-referred children. Journal of Abnormal Child Development, February 1990, 18(1), pp. 29-45.[13]

Claro, S., Paunesku, D., and Dweck, C.S. Growth mindset tempers the effects of poverty on academic achievement.[14]

Ibid.[15]

Rolnick, A., and Grunewald, R. Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return, The Region, December 2003, pp. 6-12.[16]

Smith, G.J., Booth, J.R., and McNorgan, C. Longitudinal Task-Related Functional Connectivity Changes Predict Reading Development, Frontiers in Psychology, September 2018, pp. 6-12.[17]

Kennedy, E. Narrowing the Achievement Gap: Motivation, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy Matter, Journal of Education, 2010, 190(3).[18]

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Exploring the Factors that Affect How Students Learn to Read | Waterford.org

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If you think students start learning to read from the moment they enter kindergarten onward, think again! Children naturally develop pre-reading skills much earlier-even in infancy, the way babies experiment with language can become the building blocks of literacy later on.

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factors affecting development work sheet(1)

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Article for research task - Group B

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Learning how to read requires several complex accomplishments. Read about the challenges children face as they learn how sounds are connected to print, as they develop fluency, and as they learn to construct meaning from print.

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Between the ages of four and nine, your child will have to master some 100 phonics rules, learn to recognize 3,000 words with just a glance, and develop a comfortable reading speed approaching 100 words a minute. He must learn to combine words on the page with a half-dozen squiggles called punctuation into something – a voice or image in his mind that gives back meaning. (Paul Kropp, 1996)

Emerging literacy

Emerging literacy describes the gradual, ongoing process of learning to understand and use language that begins at birth and continues through the early childhood years (i.e., through age eight). During this period children first learn to use oral forms of language (listening and speaking) and then begin to explore and make sense of written forms (reading and writing).

Listening and speaking

Emerging literacy begins in infancy as a parent lifts a baby, looks into her eyes, and speaks softly to her. It's hard to believe that this casual, spontaneous activity is leading to the development of language skills. This pleasant interaction helps the baby learn about the give and take of conversation and the pleasures of communicating with other people.

Young children continue to develop listening and speaking skills as they communicate their needs and desires through sounds and gestures, babble to themselves and others, say their first words, and rapidly add new words to their spoken vocabularies. Most children who have been surrounded by language from birth are fluent speakers by age three, regardless of intelligence, and without conscious effort.

Each of the 6,000 languages in the world uses a different assortment of phonemes – the distinctive sounds used to form words. When adults hear another language, they may not notice the differences in phonemes not used in their own language. Babies are born with the ability to distinguish these differences. Their babbles include many more sounds than those used in their home language. At about 6 to 10 months, babies begin to ignore the phonemes not used in their home language. They babble only the sounds made by the people who talk with them most often.

During their first year, babies hear speech as a series of distinct, but meaningless words. By age 1, most children begin linking words to meaning. They understand the names used to label familiar objects, body parts, animals, and people. Children at this stage simplify the process of learning these labels by making three basic assumptions:

Labels (words) refer to a whole object, not parts or qualities (Flopsy is a beloved toy, not its head or color).

Labels refer to classes of things rather than individual items (Doggie is the word for all four-legged animals).

Anything that has a name can only have one name (for now, Daddy is Daddy, and not a man or Jake).

As children develop their language skills, they give up these assumptions and learn new words and meanings. From this point on, children develop language skills rapidly. Here is a typical sequence:

At about 18 months, children add new words to their vocabulary at the astounding rate of one every 2 hours.

By age 2, most children have 1 to 2,000 words and combine two words to form simple sentences such as: "Go out." "All gone."

Between 24 to 30 months, children speak in longer sentences.

From 30 to 36 months, children begin following the rules for expressing tense and number and use words such as some, would, and who.

Reading and writing

At the same time as they are gaining listening and speaking skills, young children are learning about reading and writing.

At home and in child care, Head Start, or school, they listen to favorite stories and retell them on their own, play with alphabet blocks, point out the logo on a sign for a favorite restaurant, draw pictures, scribble and write letters and words, and watch as adults read and write for pleasure and to get jobs done.

Young children make numerous language discoveries as they play, explore, and interact with others. Language skills are primary avenues for cognitive development because they allow children to talk about their experiences and discoveries. Children learn the words used to describe concepts such as up and down, and words that let them talk about past and future events.

Many play experiences support children's emerging literacy skills. Sorting, matching, classifying, and sequencing materials such as beads, a box of buttons, or a set of colored cubes, contribute to children's emerging literacy skills. Rolling playdough and doing fingerplays help children strengthen and improve the coordination of the small muscles in their hands and fingers. They use these muscles to control writing tools such as crayons, markers, and brushes.

As their language skills grow, young children tell stories, identify printed words such as their names, write their names on paintings and creations, and incorporate writing in their make-believe play. After listening to a story, they talk about the people, feelings, places, things, and events in the book and compare them to their own experiences.

Reading and writing skills develop together. Children learn about writing by seeing how the print in their homes, classrooms, and communities provides information. They watch and learn as adults write – to make a list, correspond with a friend, or do a crossword puzzle. They also learn from doing their own writing.

The chart below offers examples of activities preschool and kindergarten children engage in, and describes how they are related to reading and writing.

Make a pattern with objects such as buttons, beads, small colored cubes.

By putting things in a certain order, children gain an understanding of sequence. This will help them discover that the letters in words must go in a certain order.

Listen to a story, then talk with their families, teachers, or tutors and each other about the plot, characters, what might happen next, and what they liked about the book.

Children enjoy read-aloud sessions. They learn that books can introduce people, places, and ideas and describe familiar experiences. Listening and talking helps children build their vocabularies. They have fun while learning basic literacy concepts such as: print is spoken words that are written down, print carries meaning, and we read from left to right, from the top to the bottom of a page, and from the front to the back of a book.

Play a matching game such as concentration or picture bingo.

Seeing that some things are exactly the same leads children to the understanding that the letters in words must be written in the same order every time to carry meaning.

Move to music while following directions such as, put your hands up, down, in front, in back, to the left, to the right. Now wiggle all over.

Children gain an understanding of concepts such as up/down, front/back, and left/right, and add these words to their vocabularies. Understanding these concepts leads to knowledge of how words are read and written on a page.

Recite rhyming poems introduced by a parent, teacher, or tutor, and make up new rhymes on their own.

Children become aware of phonemes – the smallest units of sounds that make up words. This awareness leads to reading and writing success.

Make signs for a pretend grocery store.

Children practice using print to provide information – in this case, the price of different foods.

Retell a favorite story to another child or a stuffed animal.

Children gain confidence in their ability to learn to read. They practice telling the story in the order it was read to them – from the beginning to the middle to the end.

Use invented spelling to write a grocery list at the same time as a parent is writing his or her own list.

Children use writing to share information with others. By watching an adult write, they are introduced to the conventions of writing. Using invented spelling encourages phonemic awareness.

Sign their names (with a scribble, a drawing, some of the letters, or "correctly") on an attendance chart, painting, or letter.

Children are learning that their names represent them and that other words represent objects, emotions, actions, and so on. They see that writing serves a purpose to let their teacher know they have arrived, to show others their art work, or to tell someone who sent a letter.

Becoming readers and writers

By the time most children leave the preschool years and enter kindergarten, they have learned a lot about language. For five years, they have watched, listened to, and interacted with adults and other children. They have played, explored, and made discoveries at home and in child development settings such as Head Start and child care.

Kindergarten

Beginning or during kindergarten, most children have naturally developed language skills and knowledge. They...
Know print carries meaning by:

Turning pages in a storybook to find out what happens next

"writing" (scribbling or using invented spelling) to communicate a message

Using the language and voice of stories when narrating their stories

Dictating stories

Know what written language looks like by:

Recognizing that words are combinations of letters

Identifying specific letters in unfamiliar words

Writing with "mock" letters or writing that includes features of real letters

Can identify and name letters of the alphabet by:

Saying the alphabet

Pointing out letters of the alphabet in their own names and in written texts

Know that letters are associated with sounds by:

Finger pointing while reading or being read to

Spelling words phonetically, relating letters to the sounds they hear in the word

Know the sounds that letters make by:

Naming all the objects in a room that begin with the same letter

Pointing to words in a text that begin with the same letter

Picking out words that rhyme

Trying to sound out new or unfamiliar words while reading out loud

Representing words in writing by their first sound (e.g., writing d to represent the word dog)

Know using words can serve various purposes by:

Pointing to signs for specific places, such as a play area, a restaurant, or a store

Writing for different purposes, such as writing a (pretend) grocery list, writing a thank-you letter, or writing a menu for play

Know how books work by:

Holding the book right side up

Turning pages one at a time

Reading from left to right and top to bottom

Beginning reading at the front and moving sequentially to the back

Because children have been learning language since birth, most are ready to move to the next step – mastering conventional reading and writing. To become effective readers and writers children need to:

Recognize the written symbols letters and words used in reading and writing

Write letters and form words by following conventional rules

Use routine skills and thinking and reasoning abilities to create meaning while reading and writing

The written symbols we use to read and write are the 26 upper and lower case letters of the alphabet. The conventional rules governing how to write letters and form words include writing letters so they face in the correct direction, using upper and lower case versions, spelling words correctly, and putting spaces between words.

Routine skills refer to the things readers do automatically, without stopping to think about what to do. We pause when we see a comma or period, recognize high-frequency sight words, and use what we already know to understand what we read. One of the critical routine skills is phonemic awareness – the ability to associate specific sounds with specific letters and letter combinations.

Research has shown that phonemic awareness is the best predictor of early reading skills. Phonemes, the smallest units of sounds, form syllables, and words are made up of syllables. Children who understand that spoken language is made up of discrete sounds – phonemes and syllables – find it easier to learn to read.

Many children develop phonemic awareness naturally, over time. Simple activities such as frequent readings of familiar and favorite stories, poems, and rhymes can help children develop phonemic awareness. Other children may need to take part in activities designed to build this basic skill.

Thinking and reasoning abilities help children figure out how to read and write unfamiliar words. A child might use the meaning of a previous word or phrase, look at a familiar prefix or suffix, or recall how to pronounce a letter combination that appeared in another word.

First and second grades

By the time most children have completed the first and second grades, they have naturally developed the following language skills and knowledge. They...
Improve their comprehension while reading a variety of simple texts by:

Thinking about what they already know

Creating and changing mental pictures

Making, confirming, and revising predictions

Rereading when confused

Apply word-analysis skills while reading by:

Using phonics and simple context clues to figure out unknown words

Using word parts (e.g., root words, prefixes, suffixes, similar words) to figure out unfamiliar words

Understand elements of literature (e.g., author, main character, setting) by:

Coming to a conclusion about events, characters, and settings in stories

Comparing settings, characters, and events in different stories

Explaining reasons for characters acting the way they do in stories

Understand the characteristics of various simple genres (e.g., fables, realistic fiction, folk tales, poetry, and humorous stories) by:

Explaining the differences among simple genres

Writing stories that contain the characteristics of a selected genre

Use correct and appropriate conventions of language when responding to written text by:

Spelling common high-frequency words correctly

Using capital letters, commas, and end punctuation correctly

Writing legibly in print and/or cursive

Using appropriate and varied word choice

Using complete sentences

The chart below offers examples of activities children engage in and describes how they are related to reading and writing.

Discuss the rules for an upcoming field trip, watch their teacher write them on a large sheet of paper, and join in when she reads the rules aloud.

Children experience first-hand how different forms of language – listening, speaking, reading, and writing – are connected. They see language used for a purpose, in this case to prepare for their field trip. They see their words written down and hear them read aloud.

Look in a book to find the answer to a question.

Children know that print provides information. They use books as a resource to learn about the world.

Read and reread a book independently for several days after the teacher reads it aloud to the class.

Children read and reread the book because it's fun and rewarding. They can recall some of the words the teacher reads aloud and figure out others because they remember the sequence and meaning of the story.

Read some words easily without stopping to decode them.

Children gradually build a sight vocabulary that includes a majority of the words used most often in the English language. They can read these words automatically.

Read words they have never seen before.

Children use what they already know about letter combinations, root words, prefixes, suffixes, and clues in the pictures or story to figure out new words.

Use new words while talking and writing.

Children build their vocabularies by reading and talking, sharing ideas, discussing a question, listening to others talk, and exploring their interests. Using new words helps them fully understand the meaning of the words.

Recognize their own spelling mistakes and ask for help to make corrections.

Children understand that spelling is not just matching sounds with letters. They are learning the basic rules that govern spelling and the exceptions to the rules.

Ask questions about what they read.

Children understand that there is more to reading than pronouncing words correctly. They may ask questions to clarify what they have read or to learn more about the topic.

Choose to read during free time at home, at school, and in out-of-school programs.

Children learn to enjoy reading independently, particularly when they can read books of their own choosing. The more children read, the better readers they become.

Key Points About Development

Children develop in four, interrelated areas – cognitive and language, physical, social, and emotional.

Most children follow the same sequence and pattern for development, but do so at their own pace.

Language skills are closely tied to and affected by cognitive, social, and emotional development.

Children first learn to listen and speak, then use these and other skills to learn to read and write.

Children's experiences and interactions in the early years are critical to their brain development and overall learning.

Emerging literacy is the gradual, ongoing process of learning to understand and use language.

Children make numerous language discoveries as they play, explore, and interact with others.

Children build on their language discoveries to become conventional readers and writers.

Effective readers and writers recognize letters and words, follow writing rules, and create meaning from text.

Successful programs to promote children's reading and literacy development should be based on an understanding of child development, recent research on brain development, and the natural ongoing process through which most young children acquire language skills and become readers and writers.

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Between the ages of four and nine, your child will have to master some 100 phonics rules, learn to recognize 3,000 words with just a glance, and develop a comfortable reading speed approaching 100 words a minute.

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Language communication reading and writing development.pptx2