A Systematic Review of the Research Literature on the Use of Phonics in the Teaching of Reading and Spelling (DfES Research Report RR711)
Primary school (grades 1–6) Reading and writing
Links to claims
Limits (1)
| Claim | Basis |
|---|---|
| C12 | Systematic review of RCTs: systematic phonics vs whole-language/whole-word: word-reading accuracy d = 0.27 (significant), comprehension d = 0.24 (4 trials, p = .08, not significant). Narrowed C12 2026-10-16 (extra run 3). |
Review state: first-pass draft, pending human review.
Source note
Syntes: A Systematic Review of the Research Literature on the Use of Phonics in the Teaching of Reading and Spelling (DfES Research Report RR711) (2006)
Källa: Department for Education and Skills Research Report RR711 (University of York / Sheffield); copy via dera.ioe.ac.uk/14791
Verified content
- Systematic review of randomised trials only: 20 RCTs on initial reading teaching, children mostly 5–7 (some up to 11); one UK trial.
- Systematic phonics vs whole-language or whole-word teaching, 12 individually randomised trials pooled: word-reading accuracy d = 0.27 fixed (0.10 to 0.45, p = .002), 0.38 random (0.02 to 0.73); without one outlier 0.20 fixed (p = .03) and 0.21 random (−0.03 to 0.44, p = .09).
- Reading comprehension: 4 trials, d = 0.24 fixed (approximate CI −0.03 to 0.51, p = .08), 0.35 random, neither significant; weight of evidence weak. Spelling: 3 trials, no effect found; synthetic vs analytic: 3 trials, no difference.
- Read: full report (PDF) 2026-10-16; not stored.
Metadata as recorded
- ID
- READ-008
- Tier
- meta
- Titel
- A Systematic Review of the Research Literature on the Use of Phonics in the Teaching of Reading and Spelling (DfES Research Report RR711)
- År
- 2006
- Källa/DOI
- Department for Education and Skills Research Report RR711 (University of York / Sheffield); copy via dera.ioe.ac.uk/14791
- Typ
- government-commissioned systematic review and meta-analysis
- Åldersgrupp
- grundskola-lag
- Teman
- lasning-och-skrivande
- Hämtad
- 2026-10-16
The original files (PDF or abstract) are kept in the project archive and are not published here.