What Does Research Say About the Importance of Phonics to Reading Success?
Historically, large-scale, influential research studies have repeatedly found phonics instruction to be a key component in effective reading instruction (Baer, 2003). The First Grade Reading Studies (Bond & Dykstra, 1967) compared different approaches to reading instruction, trying to determine the most effective. Although the researchers were unable to identify a single program that outperformed all others, they concluded that programs that had an early emphasis on phonics were more effective than those that did not. Similarly, Chall’s (1967) meta-analysis of early reading instruction, Learning to Read: The Great Debate, found that programs that emphasized early and systematic phonics were positively associated with students’ reading achievement. In the 1980s, a now famous report, Becoming a Nation of Readers (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1984), reinforced the importance of phonics instruction within effective reading programs, as did Adam’s (1990) classic text, Beginning to
