Should We Teach Phonics to English Learners?

Blast from the Past: First posted March 7, 2010; re-posted April 25, 2018; and re-posted again on November 18, 2023.

I wrote this blog entry largely based on the conclusions that Isabel Beck and I had drawn on behalf of the National Literacy Panel for Language Minority Children and Youth. There were very few experimental studies that looked at the particulars of teaching reading to English Learners, but what was there was consistent: instruction that had been effective with native language populations generally was effective with second language learners, too. There were only three studies of explicit teaching of phonics to ELs at the time and they agreed that such teaching was beneficial. With so few data to go on, I think it is fair to say that I was guessing to some extent.

However, since that blog posted, evidence has continued to accumulate, something I noted when this blog entry first re-posted. Since then evidence has continued to build, and it is no longer a guess: Indeed, explicit phonics instruction is beneficial to English Learners. Another conclusion of that Shanahan & Beck review was that the effect sizes for teaching phonics to ELs were lower than for teaching native speakers. That is because decoding can only get one so far in reading; being able to decode words that you have no idea as to the meanings of is not particularly efficacious. That's why explicit teaching of vocabulary and other language skills is so essential for anyone learning a new language. What English Learners need is like what native speakers need when it comes to learning reading -- but these students' lack of knowledge of the English language will remain the biggest barrier to their success, long after English decoding has been mastered. Not only has the research made me a big fan of explicit decoding instruction for English Learners, but I am a big fan of Claude Goldenberg's notion that these students need a daily period devoted to English language instruction as well (rather than just hoping they'll pick it up socially).   

Back in the 1990s, there were lots of arguments in reading education between those who believed that explicit phonics was helpful in teaching reading and those who advocated whole language (whose views ranged from no phonics to occasional mini-lesson phonics as needed).

These days, those arguments don’t happen quite as often. The National Reading Panel reviewed data on phonics studies; the National Early Literacy Panel reviewed data on phonics; and phonics studies continue to accumulate. It seems clear that phonics instruction is helpful in getting reading started quickly and appropriately and so most teachers in the primary grades usually try to deliver such teaching.

But there still are arguments about that from the second-language community. The thought among some experts on English language learning is that such teaching may help native speakers, but it isn’t beneficial to those who don’t already know English.

Are they crazy?

No, they are not, but it appears that they are wrong; or partly wrong. They fear that teaching students to focus on sounds instead of meaning will derail things for kids who need to be intensely focused on meaning. They also, again quite rightly, point out that those phonics studies reviewed by the various panels did not include English Learners; therefore, we can’t use that evidence to determine what is best for such kids (seems like a fair argument to me).

However, phonics research on English Learners has been accumulating for the past decade (I’m in the middle of meta-analyzing that), and it seems evident now that such teaching is beneficial to those kids, too. Phonics not only appears to improve the decoding of English Learners, but this decoding advantage carries over to comprehension as well.

But I said that those English Language Learner experts weren’t entirely wrong.

How does that work given those findings?

One of the main reasons that those experts bridle at phonics for second language learners is because schools often only have one plan for helping students who are low readers. That means the English learners are always stuck into the phonics group, no matter what assessments would show about them.

I just read some terrific studies by Sharon Vaughn and her colleagues. They came up with an intervention that explicitly taught phonics, but also explicitly worked on English Learners’ vocabularies and comprehension. And that makes sense. Even if these kids struggle with decoding, they still will need help with oral language and comprehension. None of the studies that have shown the benefits of phonics to English learners has done this in a vacuum; these kids were getting language and comprehension support too.

Teach phonics to English learners who are beginning readers or who are struggling with decoding, but teach that phonics along with substantial high-quality instruction in meaning as well.

References 

Adesope, O. O., Lavin, T., Thompson, T., Ungerleider, C. (2011). Pedagogical strategies for teaching literacy to ESL immigrant students: A meta-analysis. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 629-53. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8279.2010.02015.x. 

Baker, D. L., Burns, D., Kame'enui, E. J., Smolkowski, K., & Baker, S. K. (2016). Does supplemental instruction support the transition from Spanish to English reading instruction for first-grade English learners at risk of reading difficulties? Learning Disability Quarterly, 39(4), 226-239. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0731948715616757

Cárdenas-Hagan, E., Carlson, C. D., & Pollard-Durodola, S. D. (2007). The cross-linguistic transfer of early literacy skills: the role of initial L1 and L2 skills and language of instruction. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 38(3), 249-259. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461(2007/026).

Connor, C. M., May, H., Sparapani, N., Hwang, J. K., Adams, A., Wood, T. S., Siegal, S., Wolfe, C., & Day, S. (2022). Bringing Assessment-to-Instruction (A2i) technology to scale: Exploring the process from development to implementation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 114(7), 1495–1532. doi.org/10.1037/edu0000758

Dussling, T. M. (2020). The impact of an early reading intervention with English language learners and native-English-speaking children. Reading Psychology, 41(4), 241-263. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2020.1768977

Gonzales, W., & Tejero Hughes, M. (2021). Leveraging a Spanish literacy intervention to support outcomes of English learners. Reading Psychology, 42(4), 411-434. doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2021.1888352

Hall, C., Steinle, P. K., & Vaughn, S. (2019). Reading instruction for English learners with learning disabilities: What do we already know, and what do we still need to learn? New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 166, 145-189. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20302

Ludwig, C., Guo, K., & Georgiou, G. K. (2019). Are reading interventions for English language learners effective? A meta-analysis. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 52(3), 220–231. doi.org/10.1177/0022219419825855

Mancilla-Martinez, J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2017). Early indicators of later English reading comprehension outcomes among children from Spanish-speaking homes. Scientific Studies of Reading, 21(5), 428-448.  doi:10.1080/10888438.2017.1320402.

Mathes, P. G., Pollard-Durodola, S. D., Cárdenas-Hagan, E., Linan-Thompson, S., & Vaughn, S. (2007). Teaching struggling readers who are native Spanish speakers: what do we know? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 38(3), 260-71. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461(2007/027).

Parker, D. C., Klingbeil, D. A., Hanrahan, A. R., Schramm, A. L., Copek, R. A., & Willenbrink, J. B. (2022). Effects of a multi-component decoding intervention for at-risk first graders. Journal of Behavioral Education, 31(2), 326–349. doi.org/10.1007/s10864-020-09400-7

Share, D. L. (2021). Is the science of reading just the science of reading English? Reading Research Quarterly, 56, S391-S402. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.401

Shanahan, T., & Beck, I. L. (2006). Effective literacy teaching for English-language learners. In D. August & T. Shanahan (Eds.), Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth (pp. 415-488). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.  

Sprenger-Charolles, L., & Colé, P. (2013). What are the most effective methods of learning how to read? Studies with children who have learned to read in their mother tongue or second language. Approche Neuropsychologique des Apprentissages chez l’Enfant, 25(123), 127-134.

Vadasy, P. F., & Sanders, E. A. (2012). Two-year follow-up of a kindergarten phonics intervention for English learners and native English speakers: Contextualizing treatment impacts by classroom literacy instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(4), 987–1005. doi.org/10.1037/a0028163

 

LISTEN TO MORE: Shanahan On Literacy Podcast