Phonics | Foundation for Learning and Literacy

Phonics Plus does the new Victorian approach to reading miss differentiation and meaning- making?

Apr 14, 2025 | Reading and Writing

Nelson, N. (2025, April,14) Edu Research Matters. This short, thoughtful post was published in April 2025 in the AARE Blog, Edu Research Matters. It scrutinises the new Phonics Plus lesson plans provided to teachers by the Victorian Government. The author, Naomi...

What can quantitative analyses tell us about the national impact of the phonics screening check?

Nov 5, 2024 | Reading and Writing

Campbell, T. & Kelly, J. (2024, Nov, 5). Education Policy Institute The research conducted by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) is on the impact of the Phonics Screening Check (PSC). It has used national census data for all children in year 1 in England and is...

Fact-checking the Science of Reading

Apr 1, 2024 | Fact Checks

Rob Tierney and P David Pearson explore the validity of claims associated with the Science of Reading as they have appeared in social media, the popular press, and academic works. The book offers a comprehensive review of these claims—analyzing the evidence, reasoning, assumptions, and consequences associated with each claim—and closes with ideas for moving beyond the debates to greater consensus or accommodation of differences.

Teaching phonics ‘first’ is not new

May 1, 2021 | Fact Checks

We need to focus on meeting the needs of individual children in helping them learn to read rather than teaching ‘a method of reading’ (Reid, 2006, p.16). No one method can be the ‘right’ method for all children – quality teachers will draw on a diverse range of strategies and approaches to teach to the diverse needs of the children in their classrooms.

Fact Check on Defining Effective Reading

Sep 1, 2020 | Fact Checks

Continued and often heated debates about how teachers and parents can best help young children learn to read are closely related to different definitions of, and understandings about, what effective reading is. This Fact Check discusses two approaches to defining effective reading and argues that it is imperative to adopt a definition of reading that privileges meaning-making.

Fact Check on What Makes for Systematic Teaching of Phonics

Jun 1, 2020 | Fact Checks

Some recent public commentary around learning to read and write is misleading and false. One such claim is that that all students should receive the same synthetic phonics program in the same sequence and in the same way and for the same amount of time. This is not supported by research.

Fact Check on Clarifying a Balanced Literacy Approach

Jun 1, 2020 | Fact Checks

Recently in press articles, some commentators have provided a misleading view of what many systems, schools and educators know as a ‘balanced literacy approach’ claiming it does not attend adequately to phonics instruction. It is important that the expertise of those teachers and school leaders who are effectively using a balanced literacy approach is not undermined.

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Keyword: Phonics