Science of Reading (SoR)

The Progression of Learning to Read

The Science of Reading is a comprehensive approach that focuses on how children learn to read and how adults can help them become fluent readers. The progression of reading starts from the basic grapheme/phoneme correspondence and progresses to reading words, phrases, sentences and eventually, full texts. 

Grapheme/Phoneme Correspondence 

The first step in reading is learning the relationship between the letters (graphemes) and the sounds (phonemes) they represent. Children are taught the sound of each letter of the alphabet and then they learn how to blend those sounds to read simple, one-syllable words. 

Reading Words 

The next stage of reading is learning to read more complex words. As children become more proficient at decoding individual phonemes, they read words with more automaticity. 

Reading Phrases 

With reading phrases, children begin to recognise groups of words as meaningful phrases, reading them with fluency. 

Reading Sentences 

Reading sentences is the next progression. Children begin to read full sentences with an understanding of word meanings and grammar. They learn how to use punctuation marks to guide them in their reading and comprehension. 

Reading Full Texts 

Finally, the last stage of reading is being able to read full texts with a high level of comprehension. This is when ‘learning to read’ transitions to ‘reading to learn’. By this stage, children have developed the necessary decoding skills and have built up their vocabulary and language comprehension, allowing them to read and understand more complex texts. 

To summarise, the Science of Reading progression from grapheme/phoneme, to word, to phrase, to sentence to full texts is a gradual approach to help children become confident readers. Each stage builds upon the previous stage by reducing cognitive load and leads to a high level of reading fluency and comprehension. Teachers and parents can use this staged approach to help children achieve reading success.