Question: At what point in a student’s reading development do you no longer need to spend any instructional time on systematic, explicit instruction in phonology, phonics, and syllabification?
- when students can tell you a sound for each letter in the alphabet
- when students can rapidly and accurately read a wide variety of multisyllabic words both in isolation and in a text
- when students, after several rereadings, can read a passage and understand it
- when students can express themselves with phonetic spelling
Answer: when students can rapidly and accurately read a wide variety of multisyllabic words both in isolation and in a text.
The most appropriate point to determine that a student no longer requires systematic, explicit instruction in phonology, phonics, and syllabification is:
“When students can rapidly and accurately read a wide variety of multisyllabic words both in isolation and in a text.”
This point indicates that the student has internalized the rules and principles of phonics and syllabification to the extent that they can decode and read complex words in diverse contexts.
While the other options may be indicators of progress, they do not necessarily represent the comprehensive grasp of phonics and syllabification skills that this option does.
