The role of instruction in learning to read: Preventing reading failure in at-risk children

First and 2nd graders (N = 285) receiving Title 1 services received 1 of 3 kinds of classroom reading programs: direct instruction in letter-sound correspondences practiced in decodable text (direct code); less direct instruction in systematic sound-spelling patterns embedded in connected text (embedded code); and implicit instruction in the alphabetic code while reading connected text (implicit code). Children receiving direct code instruction improved in word reading at a faster rate and had higher word-recognition skills than those receiving implicit code instruction. Effects of instructional group on word recognition were moderated by initial levels of phonological processing and were mast apparent in children with poorer initial phonological processing skills. Group differences in reading comprehension paralleled those for word recognition but were less robust. Groups did not differ in spelling achievement or in vocabulary growth. Results show advantages for reading instructional programs that emphasize explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle for at-risk children.