English is the most used language in the world, and there is great interest in understanding how young children can best be taught to read and write it.
Many children “crack the alphabetic code” successfully and go on to experience reading and writing as rewarding and vital aspects of their lives. But there are still too many children not learning to read and write as well as they should.
In England in 2023, 27 per cent of children did not meet the expected standard for reading and 29 per cent did not meet the expected standard for writing in the key stage 2 Sats. This was despite a decade of strong focus on phonics and reading.
Levels of reading and writing for pleasure are now of great concern, as evidenced in the data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) assessments and the National Literacy Trust Reading and Writing for Pleasure surveys.
We need to ask ourselves whether the way we have been teaching our children to read is the best way to engage them in a lifelong love of reading.
The “reading wars” have raged for many years now, but we need to move forward, cutting through the polarised debates. It’s not about phonics versus whole language. It’s not about phonics every day first thing in the morning and reading for pleasure done separately.
And it’s not just about reading. Now, more than ever before, the interrelationship between language, reading and writing should be guiding our understanding of how to ensure children become fully literate, with all the personal, social, emotional, academic and economic benefits this brings.
We have a wide range of research to draw from, showing us the potential for a better way forward, to ensure children develop both the skills and motivation to read and write in a culture that promotes language and creativity, and more than this, to become fully literate.
Reading and writing with real books
And so we created our new theory and model for teaching: the double helix of reading and writing. This approach is explicitly built on new analyses of the most robust research studies undertaken to determine what are the most effective ways to teach phonics, reading and writing.
The importance of comprehending and composing the meaning of written language is carefully balanced with the acquisition of a range of skills and knowledge. This enables pupils to see the real purposes for reading and writing.
Instead of focusing narrowly on the phonemes that letters represent, we prioritise the comprehension of text, the grammar of sentences, and teaching writing to help reading. Children are supported to understand the structure of language as a whole, using real books to systematically teach the key elements that are vital to learn to read and write, including phonics.
Developing motivation to be readers and writers drives our approach. This will engage children and sustain their enthusiasm to read and write for real purposes and for pleasure.
Lessons focus on motivating children through the use of real books written for children, by published children’s authors and illustrators, which can be found in any good children’s bookshop, rather than texts specially produced for phonics schemes.
Lessons integrate the teaching of reading and writing. Phonemes and letters are taught in a systematic sequence of learning, but this is integrated with other vital components of reading. Whole texts are used to stimulate children’s interest, with parts read aloud to demonstrate fluent reading and improve listening comprehension. The focus on words, phrases and sentences within these texts to explore particular phonemes is a contextualised approach.
During lessons, a variety of questions are asked to develop retrieval, inference, deduction and empathy, but also to find out what aspects of the texts interest the children, and in so doing afford them some agency.
Purposeful writing opportunities to develop both transcriptional and compositional aspects of writing are planned and part of all lessons, stimulated by and extending from the text.
Phonics teaching is a vital part of the approach but balanced with all the other elements of reading and writing, so that as well as developing the skills to decode and encode words children never lose sight of the fact that reading and writing are driven by meaning and motivation.
We published our new book last month, fully outlining the evidence base, the theory, and extended examples of how our new approach works in practice, aiming to ensure children develop both the skills and motivation to read and write for purpose and pleasure in a culture that promotes language and creativity.
Dominic Wyse is professor of early childhood and education at the Institute of Education, University College London. Charlotte Hacking is the learning and programme director at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education
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