Instruction in language, phonological awareness, and decoding improved performance in the taught domain, while interventions teaching print knowledge or early writing exclusively did not¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (4 entries) · quant-synthesisr2·q3·i1small
Currency · newest study 2021 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 4 of 4 entries) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i1 Teaching language produced a significant weighted effect size of 0.19 on language outcomes among 74 interventions. → Sarah Herrera 2021
q3 i1 Teaching phonological awareness produced a significant weighted effect size of 0.32 on phonological awareness outcomes among 36 interventions. → Sarah Herrera 2021 (2)
q3 i1 Teaching print knowledge produced a significant weighted effect size of 0.23 on print knowledge outcomes among 38 interventions. → Sarah Herrera 2021 (3)
q3 i? Interventions that taught print knowledge or early writing exclusively did not improve performance in the taught domain. → Sarah Herrera 2021 (4)
Evidence¶
Sarah Herrera 2021¶
Sarah Herrera, Beth M. Phillips, Yi-Chieh Newton, Jennifer L. Dombek, and James A. Hernandez. (2021). Effectiveness of Early Literacy Instruction: Summary of 20 Years of Research. Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast, REL 2021-084. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs
q3 · i1 · quant-synthesis · r2
Weighted synthesis across 74 interventions teaching language in high-quality impact studies. The review reports a statistically significant weighted effect size of 0.19 on language outcomes, "equivalent to an 8 percentile point increase in language performance."
"Teaching language resulted in a statistically significant weighted effect size of 0.19 on language outcomes, among the 74 interventions evaluated in studies that included at least one effect size estimate"
Sarah Herrera 2021 (2)¶
Sarah Herrera, Beth M. Phillips, Yi-Chieh Newton, Jennifer L. Dombek, and James A. Hernandez. (2021). Effectiveness of Early Literacy Instruction: Summary of 20 Years of Research. Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast, REL 2021-084. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs
q3 · i1 · quant-synthesis · r2
Weighted synthesis across 36 interventions teaching phonological awareness. The review reports a significant weighted effect size of 0.32, "equivalent to a 13 percentile point increase in performance," and significantly larger than for interventions not teaching phonological awareness.
"Teaching phonological awareness resulted in a significant weighted effect size of 0.32 on phonological awareness outcomes, among the 36 interventions evaluated in studies that included at least one effect size estimate"
Sarah Herrera 2021 (3)¶
Sarah Herrera, Beth M. Phillips, Yi-Chieh Newton, Jennifer L. Dombek, and James A. Hernandez. (2021). Effectiveness of Early Literacy Instruction: Summary of 20 Years of Research. Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast, REL 2021-084. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs
q3 · i1 · quant-synthesis · r2
Weighted synthesis across 38 interventions teaching print knowledge. The review reports a significant weighted effect size of 0.23 on print knowledge outcomes, a 9 percentile point increase, versus 0.10 for interventions not teaching print knowledge.
"Interventions that taught print knowledge resulted in a significant weighted effect size of 0.23 on print knowledge outcomes, among the 38 interventions evaluated in studies that included at least one effect size estimate"
Sarah Herrera 2021 (4)¶
Sarah Herrera, Beth M. Phillips, Yi-Chieh Newton, Jennifer L. Dombek, and James A. Hernandez. (2021). Effectiveness of Early Literacy Instruction: Summary of 20 Years of Research. Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast, REL 2021-084. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs
q3 · i? · quant-synthesis · r2
Review synthesis of high-quality impact studies across the 112 interventions with at least one effect size estimate. The review reports that for print knowledge and early writing, "interventions that taught either domain exclusively did not improve performance in the taught domain."
"For the print knowledge and early writing domains, interventions that taught either domain exclusively did not improve performance in the taught domain."
Discussion¶
Learner Variables¶
- Alphabet Knowledge and Print Awareness — outcome: instruction changes it
Related Claims¶
- Of 132 early literacy interventions evaluated by high-quality impact studies, 38 demonstrated effectiveness in at least one language or literacy outcome domain and 93 showed inconclusive effects — a broader claim this one bears on
- Teaching phonological awareness and print knowledge improved decoding performance even without decoding instruction, and adding decoding instruction more than doubled the weighted effect size — related
- Language and early writing interventions showed larger effects on researcher-developed than standardized outcome measures, while phonological awareness, print knowledge, and decoding effects were comparable across measure types — related
- Among language-only interventions, instructional practices and one-on-one or small-group delivery produced significantly larger language gains than curricula and large-group or whole-class delivery — related
- Teaching phonological awareness and print knowledge improved early writing performance with or without early writing instruction — related
- No individual alphabetics outcome reached statistical significance in the WWC analysis — related
- Peer pairing, peer tutoring, and small collaborative/cooperative groupings improved MLs' English phonological awareness, decoding, and fluency across grade levels — related
- Phonemic Awareness Training Improves Reading — a broader claim this one bears on
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
taught-domain-instruction-improves-taught-domain |
title |
Instruction in language, phonological awareness, and decoding improved performance in the taught domain, while interventions teaching print knowledge or early writing exclusively did not |
description |
Instruction in language, phonological awareness, and decoding improved performance in the taught domain, while interventions teaching print knowledge or early writing exclusively did not |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2021 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-08 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
4 — sarah-herrera-2021, sarah-herrera-2021-2, sarah-herrera-2021-3, sarah-herrera-2021-4 |
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