In recent years, state governments have been pushing ahead with plans to introduce decodable readers in schools with the aim of helping children read.
Decodable readers are books that are contrived to help children practice a particular letter-sound pattern taught as part of a synthetic phonics program.
Supporters of decodable readers claim that decodable books allow children to practice their decoding skills in a methodical way. However, others say focusing on sounds alone is not sufficient to support a struggling reader.
Dr Jennifer Buckingham, director of strategy at literacy program MultiLit, says that while decodable books are often criticised for their contrived storylines, text analysis has shown that the levelled and predictable books used in most classrooms are equally and sometimes more limited in vocabulary.
“Contrary to claims that children find decodable books boring and turn them off reading, there is published research showing that children found decodable books enjoyable and motivating,” Dr Buckingham told The Educator.
A 2013 study by academic Emma Capper found that children reported enjoying reading decodable books and saw them “as a source of exciting stories which developed their reading confidence through practising their skills”.
Other research (Cheatham and Allor, 2012) examined seven high-quality peer-reviewed studies and found decodability to be “a critical characteristic of early reading text as it increases the likelihood that students will use a decoding strategy and results in immediate benefits, particularly in regard to accuracy”.
Other experts remain unconvinced.
Dr Diane Snowball is a literacy consultant and author who has been working in education for 52 years, teaching students and training teachers. She is a past president and honorary life member of the Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA).
She says there are too many articles written by people who have a vested interest in the sales of decodable books, and as such, decision-makers need to be wary of claims about the necessity for such books.
“In my 52 years of experience in successfully teaching students to read and helping thousands of teachers in the same goal, there has never been the need for decodable books,” Dr Snowball told The Educator.
“Also, there are no research studies that indicate decodable texts are necessary for children to learn to read. None”.
THRASS (Teaching Handwriting Reading and Spelling Skills) co-founder, Denyse Ritchie, said there is no evidence for the use of decodable readers starting with ‘letter sounds’.
“I, like many reading experts and researchers, believe this teaching method is on track to destroying reading for comprehension and fluency as it builds a distorted and restrictive understanding of the written English orthographic code, needed to become skilled at reading and writing,” Ritchie told The Educator.
“Decodable readers written to consolidate linear phonics teaching programs beginning with letter sound or SATPIN teaching continuums provide constant repetition and over--learned behaviour that each letter of the alphabet has a unique sound.”
Ritchie says that in turn, this builds a “distorted and unsustainable” orthographic code map for foundational learning, that is that each particular letter of the Alphabet has only one unique ‘sound’.
“The over learning of these one letter one sound correspondences produces a misunderstanding and over reliance by learners that each letter in a word must be given a sound,” she said.
“This, along with the insistence that each word must be ‘sounded out’ letter by letter builds an incorrect understanding of the reading process, that is, we need to learn to identify letter groups and use multiple cues to develop comprehension and fluency.”