Learning Difficulties Australia

Professional Learning - EISyd

Leaving Nothing to Chance: Explicit Instruction to prevent early literacy difficulties

May 2017

Research Foundation with References

Research Foundation

The quality of teaching and learning provision are by far the most outstanding findings from related local and international evidence-based research indicating that what matters most is quality teachers and teaching, supported by strategic teacher professional development, Rowe, Ken, "The Importance of Teacher Quality As A Key Determinant of Students’ Experiences and Outcomes of Schooling" (2003)

Research has firmly established the effectiveness of the systematic method for teaching well-defined skills with small step-by-step instruction, pausing to check for student understanding, and eliciting active and successful participation from all students. (Rosenshine, 1986)

There is growing evidence of the importance of explicit instruction in core literacy skills at the early stages of literacy instruction. The NSW Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation highlighted “explicit teaching techniques” as one of three critical attributes of excellent teachers of literacy and numeracy (2013, p. 5), echoed in national and international findings on literacy acquisition (NRP, 2000; Rose, 2006). While references to the terms ‘explicit and direct’ have become more prevalent over the last ten years and are now part of a reform-based agenda for Australian schools (Turnball, 2015), Buckingham, et al (2013) argue that the teaching of initial reading in Australian schools remains inconsistent and at times contrary to research findings resulting in “profoundly negative consequences for children” (p. 21).

Teachers’ knowledge of the structure of language and phonology is one of the largest determining factors in children’s success in acquiring basic reading skills and an area of weakness internationally (Bos et al., 2001; McCutchen et al., 2002; Moats,2009; Spencer, et al., 2008), and in Australia (Fielding-Barnsley, 2010; Hammond, 2015; Stark,et al, 2015). Moats (2014) states that ironically, it is the teachers who often know the least about beginning literacy concepts that “are the most hostile to learning more about it - possibly because the need to know… is not self-evident” (p. 82).

Justification of success when teaching with an explicit instructional approach for all students is documented in the study of nine High Performing Primary Schools using a 5-year collection of NAPLAN results, readily available on the My School website, begun in 2010, (Louden, 2015). The three common characteristics of all the high performing schools were:

  • Stable long-term school leadership
  • Well-developed school improvement plans
  • Reading programs based upon explicit teaching of synthetic phonics in the early years.

Retrieved from:

Australian School Reform Agenda - 2015

Bos, C., Mather, N., Dickson, S., Podhajski, B., & Chard, D. (2001). Perceptions and

knowledge of pre-service and in-service educators about early reading instruction Annals of Dyslexia, 51, 97-120.

Buckingham, J., Wheldall, K., & Beaman-Wheldall, R. (2013).Why Jaydon can’t read: the triumph of ideology over evidence in teaching reading. Journal of Public Policy and Ideas, 29 (3), 21-32.

Fielding-Barnsley, R. (2010). Australian pre-service teachers' knowledge of phonemic awareness and phonics in the process of learning to read. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 15(1),

99-110.

Hammond, L. (2015). Early Childhood educators’ perceived and actual metalinguistic knowledge, beliefs and enacted practice about teaching early reading. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 20 (2), 113-128.

McCutchen, D., Abbott, R.D., Green, L.B., Beretvas, N., Cox, S., Potter, N.S., Quiroga, T., &

Gray, A.L. (2002). Beginning Literacy: Links Among Teacher Knowledge, Teacher Practice, and Student Learning. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 35 (1), 69 -84. doi:10.1177/002221940203500106

Moats, L. (2009). Knowledge foundations for teaching reading and spelling. Reading and Writing, 22 (4), 379-399. doi: 10.1007/s11145-009-9162-1

Moats, L. (2014). What teachers don’t know and why they aren’t learning it: addressing the need for content and pedagogy in teacher education. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 19 (2), 75-91. doi: 10.1080/19404158.2014.941093

National Reading Panel (NRP). (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read. An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Rose, J. (2006). Independent review of the teaching of early reading. Final Report.

United Kingdom: Department for Education and Skills. Retrieved from

Rosenshine, B. (1986) Principles of Instruction: Research-Based Strategies That All Teachers

Should Know.

Spencer, E.J., Schuele, C.M., Guillot, K.M., & Lee, M.W.(2008). Phonemic awareness skill

of speech-language pathologists and other educators. Language, Speech, and

Hearing Services in the Schools, 39, 512-520. doi: 0161-1461/08/3904-0512

Stark, H.L., Snow, P.C., Eadie, P.A., & Goldfeld, S.R. (2015). Language and reading instruction in early years’ classrooms: the knowledge and self-rated ability of Australian teachers.

Annals of Dyslexia, 1-27.