Teaching kids how to read is amazingly controversial. Or at least, it was controversial until recently, when we achieved a proper scientific consensus that the best way to teach them is to use systematic phonics. This method has seen big successes here in the UK, and is helping thousands of children achieve proper literacy.

…that’s the story, anyway. But how strong is that scientific consensus? What evidence do we have that systematic phonics is the best way to learn to read? In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart look into the work of a prominent “phonics sceptic”, and find his arguments pretty compelling.

The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress, the online magazine about science, technology, and human progress. Their new November 2023 issue is out now, full of fascinating, well-researched essays on how mathematics drove the industrial revolution, the history of asbestos as a building material, how we might harness geothermal energy to power the world, and much more. It’s all freely-available right here at this link.

The Studies Show is also supported by the i, a snappy, non-partisan UK newspaper for people with open minds. Insights on UK politics, world affairs, a whole range of voices in the opinion section: it’s all here. You can get a money-off deal on your digital subscription—which includes full access to all Stuart’s science writing—by following this special podcast link.

Show notes

* Big 2018 review article on “ending the reading wars”, with excellent background on the debate and on the science of reading more generally

* Tom’s WIRED article on numeracy, with mention of the history of literacy efforts in the UK

* “fish” = “ghoti”

* The UK’s 2006 Rose Report into the best ways to teach reading

* Survey showing a lot of teachers don’t like the Phonics Check

* In defence of phonics, by Prof. Kathy Rastle

* Prof. Jeffrey Bowers’s 2020 article on “Reconsidering the evidence” that systematic phonics is better than other ways to teach reading (see here for references to all the individual meta-analyses mentioned in the show)

* One of several critiques of Bowers

* Bowers’s 2023 reply to several critics

* Bowers’s blog (many posts about various aspects of the phonics debate; see the comment sections for contributions from his critics and further debate)

* Report on England’s 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) scores

Credits

The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions.