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How do different phonics programs support word decoding? Insights from computational analyses
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DOI：10.1186/s41235-026-00753-7.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Phonics instruction involves teaching grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and is widely recognized as an effective method of reading instruction. We examined what GPCs phonics programs teach, how those GPCs support a child’s ability to pronounce written words to understand how to create an optimized phonics program. We compared three phonics programs, Jolly Phonics, Letters and Sounds, and Read Write Inc., in terms of how well their GPCs enabled the decoding (pronunciation) of a naturalistic child vocabulary. Decodability was measured through an algorithm that simulates how many words can be decoded with each GPC taught. We quantified decodability in different ways to probe the potential impact of teaching GPCs that create ambiguity, either because the same letter(s) map to different phonemes, or because a more complex grapheme involving several letters subsumes letter(s) from simpler GPCs. Teaching more GPCs increases the number of words that can be decoded, although there are diminishing returns to teaching more rules given the cost in terms of instructional time. Moreover, teaching larger sets of GPCs can introduce GPCs that create ambiguity, which empirical studies show can negatively impact learning. We also use our algorithm to identify additional GPCs that could improve the potential effectiveness of existing programs. Our work provides targeted guidance pertaining to the factors that need to be considered in designing an optimized phonics program. It also offers an algorithm that can facilitate phonics program design and pinpoints empirical research needed to advance toward an optimized set of GPCs. To learn to read in languages with alphabetical writing systems, children must learn how to map letters to sounds. Children’s knowledge of phonics, that is, systematic letter-sound correspondences taught during the initial years of schooling, is one of the strongest predictors of their later reading ability. However, phonics programs vary considerably in terms of how many and which spelling-sound rules they teach. This may affect children’s reading skills in suboptimal ways that are poorly understood. Using computational methods, we examine how the spelling-sound rules taught in three widely used English-language programs can be used to pronounce frequent words from child-directed texts. Our results show that the programs differ in how many words they allow learners to pronounce, and whether these words can be pronounced unambiguously. We discuss how the features of different programs trade off in relation to practical (e.g., time) constraints in the classroom. In addition, we illustrate how our approach can be used to identify effective spelling-sound rules that could complement existing phonics programs. By illustrating core principles underlying optimal phonics content, our results can inform the design and assessment of phonics programs and other educational materials as well as the selection of effective teaching resources by teachers and school boards.
Keywords:
Reading acquisition
Phonics instruction
Decoding
GPCs
Rules
Curriculum
Teaching content
Computational analysis
Journal
C
IF:
3.1
Papers:
576
Citations:
2.1K
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