Research shows that effective phonics instruction should explicitly and systematically address the following (Castles et al., 2018; Ehri, 2021; Ehri, 2022; Foorman et al., 2016; Hudson et al., 2012; NICHD, 2000): • Phonological Awareness: Since research shows that the ability to identify and manipulate different sounds within words (i.e., syllables, onsets/rimes, and phonemes) is predictive of word recognition, reading, and spelling performance (Mues et al., 2021), R4R teaches students that syllables can be divided into onsets and rimes. • Phonemic Awareness: Because orthographic mapping is impossible without the ability to discriminate and manipulate phonemes (Lindsey, 2022), students practice hearing, identifying, blending, segmenting, manipulating, and distinguishing sounds in words in R4R. • Alphabet Knowledge: During explicit alphabet instruction, R4R teaches students letter names and sounds simultaneously. This approach has been shown to be highly impactful for letter-sound learning (Piasta et al., 2010; Roberts et al., 2018). • Phonics Knowledge: Since research shows that effective sound-spelling knowledge should “teach the highest utility sound-spelling correspondences, from the alphabet to the most common single-syllable CVC words, to more sophisticated common patterns, covering all 44 phonemes” (Lindsey, 2022, p. 103), R4R explicitly teaches the sound-spelling patterns of consonants and short vowels, consonant blends, and digraphs. The program then progresses to long vowels and complex vowels. Word study is integrated throughout, beginning just as students blend CVC words, starting with simple inflectional endings and going through the scope and sequence to inflectional endings with base changes, syllabication, and morphemes. • Spelling: R4R explicitly teaches spelling, since research suggests it reinforces orthographic mapping (Ouelette et al., 2017). • Decoding: Since experts agree that students must learn explicit strategies to decode words (Mesmer & Kambach, 2022), R4R teaches students to pronounce phonemes corresponding to letters with no pauses rather than pausing between phonemes before blending. • Morphology/Word Study Knowledge: Because knowledge of morphemes enables individuals to more efficiently decode and better understand the meanings of words (Apel et al., 2021), R4R teaches students how to identify compound words, syllable types, root words, and affixes and to apply their understanding of each word part to their understanding of the entire word. • High-Frequency Words: Since the What Works Clearinghouse recommends teaching high-frequency words with regular and irregular sound spellings so that students can recognize them efficiently (Foorman et al., 2016), R4R explicitly teaches high-frequency words selected from the Dolch and Fry sight word lists.
SCHOLASTIC READY4READING FOUNDATION PAPER 2
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