Dive Brief:

• A new study from the United Kingdom encourages educators to teach reading with phonetic sounds instead of letters.  
• The study, conducted by educational psychologist Marlynne Grant, followed 30 second graders who were taught reading with phonics. She found that those who learned through sounds and blending were on average over two years ahead of their age group in reading, and over 1.5 years ahead in spelling.  
• A survey of over 1,000 British primary school teachers and literary specialists corroborates this study, reporting that 72% of the educators believed phonics checks were helpful when trying to identify students who were falling behind.  

Dive Insight:

While 72% of the British educators said phonics were helpful in identifying struggling students, the same survey found that only 60% of schools use phonetic sounds as their primary means for teaching reading.

In the United States, phonics instruction was mandated under No Child Left Behind in 2001. A consequential 2006 study found that phonics instruction is helpful and improves reading outcomes for students with dyslexia.  

While this new British study has a somewhat small pool — only 30 students — its results seem to match some of the already known findings surrounding phonics. As the study's author, Marlynne Grant, wrote, "The use of a systematic synthetic phonics programme was shown to give children a flying start with their reading, writing and spelling, it was effective for catch-up, it reduced special educational needs across the schools and it enabled higher numbers of children to transfer to their secondary schools well equipped to access the curriculum."