Text Decodability and the First-grade Reader

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of highly decodable text and coordinated phonics instruction on first graders' word recognition strategies. The quantitative study sought to examine the validity of a major claim about highly decodable text—that it enables readers to apply phonics instruction to a greater extent than less decodable text. All participants received the same fourteen-day phonics instruction. However, participants read either highly decodable or less decodable text following the instruction. Treatment participants reading highly decodable text were found to apply letter/sound knowledge to a greater extent than control participants. They also were more accurate and relied on examiners less for assistance. Treatment and control participants did not differ in self-correction rates. As a replication of an earlier study, this work suggested that readers with knowledge of the alphabetic principle, given the same phonics instruction, will apply it more in a highly decodable context.