ABC Reading Eggs and the Science of Reading: An Evidence-Based Program for Educators

In the realm of education, few skills are as fundamental as the ability to read.

The Science of Reading is a body of research that provides the most up-to-date knowledge on how children acquire this crucial skill.

It integrates findings from psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, education and cognitive science to understand the processes of reading development and identify the most effective teaching strategies.

Here, we’ll explore this research and how ABC Reading Eggs, our online reading program for schools, applies its core principles to deliver impactful reading instruction.

What insights has the Science of Reading revealed?

The Science of Reading has profoundly influenced our understanding of how students learn to read and how to deliver effective reading instruction.

Dr. Hollis Scarborough, a notable language researcher, conceptualised the interconnectedness of the skills required to become a proficient reader by developing The Reading Rope.

This visual model illustrates the interwoven skills necessary for reading, highlighting that proficiency requires both the ability to recognise (or decode) words and the capacity to understand their meanings.

Dr. Hollis Scarborough's Reading Rope (2001) shows how multiple literacy skills weave together to create skilled reading ability.

Building on this understanding, extensive research supports five essential pillars for reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. These pillars provide the foundation for effective reading instruction but implementing them successfully requires evidence-based teaching approaches.

An enormous body of meta-analysis on educational practices has been undertaken by the researcher, John Hattie. He and his colleagues spent decades studying student achievement, seeking to understand which strategies were the most effective so that teachers could prioritise teaching approaches that had the greatest effect on student understanding. This research is considered the world's largest evidence-based study into the factors that improve student learning.

Among Hattie's HITS (High Impact Teaching Strategies), which are evidence-based teaching practices shown to have a significant, positive impact on student achievement, explicit teaching stands out with a substantial effect size of 0.63. This aligns perfectly with Science of Reading research, which emphasises the importance of explicit and systematic instruction in teaching foundational reading skills.

In Victoria, this evidence-based approach has been embraced through structured literacy instruction. Discover how Victorian schools are implementing these practices.

This systematic approach is particularly crucial because the Science of Reading shows how learning to read places considerable demands on a child's cognitive resources. Research into reading acquisition demonstrates that when tasks are complex, like learning to decode, managing cognitive load becomes crucial.

Breaking down instruction into manageable chunks and providing scaffolded practice helps learners focus on mastering one skill at a time, allowing them to build strong foundational reading skills before progressing to more complex tasks.

Implementing these evidence-based principles effectively requires carefully designed instructional tools and resources.

Understanding the ABC Reading Eggs suite: Mastering reading with the Science of Reading

ABC Reading Eggs, our multi award-winning online reading program, puts these research-based principles into practice.

Built upon the five pillars of reading and incorporating explicit teaching strategies, it achieves our core goal of finding better ways to learn.

Watch our video to learn more!

Grounded in evidence-based research, our program provides explicit and systematic instruction that progresses logically, with each lesson reinforcing and building upon previous concepts.

The ABC Reading Eggs suite includes:

• ABC Reading Eggs: Comprehensive early literacy program.

• Fast Phonics: Systematic, synthetic phonics for foundational skills.

• ABC Reading Eggspress: Develops comprehension, spelling, fluency and vocabulary skills.

• The Library: 4,000+ fiction and nonfiction levelled e-books, including 350+ decodable readers.

Each component is designed to support learners at different stages of their reading journey, providing a complete literacy solution from early reading skills through to advanced comprehension and fluency.

By introducing content in small, manageable chunks with scaffolded practice, ABC Reading Eggs helps children build skills and confidence, enabling them to independently apply what they've learned.

Let’s explore how our program develops each of the five key pillars of reading in a way that's both effective and engaging.

Phonemic awareness: The foundation of reading proficiency

Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognise and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in words, breaking them down into their smallest building blocks.

While exposure to language is important, research shows children need targeted activities to decode unfamiliar words and achieve fluency.

ABC Reading Eggs addresses this through:

• Interactive games that focus on identifying rhymes, isolating sounds and segmenting words into syllables.

• Engaging lessons that teach sound differentiation, phoneme segmentation, substitution and sound manipulation.

• A virtual playroom with over 120 activities that enhance key listening skills crucial for phonemic awareness.

• Animated rhymes and songs that promote phonemic awareness through rhythm clapping and playful sound exploration.

Phonics: Decoding the code

Phonics, the foundation for proficient reading, equips children to decode unfamiliar words and become independent readers.

Research by the National Reading Panel (2000) affirms that systematic phonics instruction is the most effective method for teaching reading and accelerates both acquisition and comprehension.

ABC Reading Eggs caters to all learners by using a carefully sequenced approach that prevents confusion and builds upon prior knowledge.

Here's how:

• Foundational sound-letter associations: ABC Reading Eggs introduces each phoneme alongside its most common letter representation and correct pronunciation. This approach helps children establish strong connections between sounds and written symbols, reinforcing both auditory and visual learning pathways.

• Fast Phonics: Our systematic, synthetic phonics program, included with ABC Reading Eggs, delivers over 120 one-on-one lessons with explicit instruction in a sequenced manner. It covers key phonics skills like phoneme listening, segmentation, substitution and introduces reading strategies and letter forms through engaging animated videos.

• Decodable readers: Over 350 decodable readers provide students with ample opportunities to practise their newly acquired phonics skills in a fun and engaging context.

• Assessment and support: Regular quizzes assess phonics skills, track student progress and identify areas needing extra support.

• Printable resources supplement classroom instruction, providing teachers with additional tools to reinforce systematic phonics teaching.

Fluency: Reading with confidence

Fluency, the ability to read smoothly, accurately and with expression, is essential for comprehension.

It allows readers to focus on meaning rather than decoding individual words, fostering deeper understanding.

ABC Reading Eggs and ABC Reading Eggspress equip students with the tools to become fluent readers:

• Expert modelling in digital books: The program's extensive library of e-books, including beginner-level texts, features fluent narration. This audio support provides a strong model for students to emulate, helping them improve their reading skills from the earliest stages. Students can listen to expert readers bring stories to life, enhancing their understanding of fluency, pacing and expression.

• Read Aloud Fluency: This innovative feature allows students to record themselves reading in a stress-free environment, followed by personalised feedback from their teacher.

• Repeated reading: Students are encouraged to reread texts, building fluency and familiarity with the content as they revisit familiar material.

• Levelled library: Over 4,000 levelled e-books in the ABC Reading Eggs Library cater to all reading abilities, ensuring students can practise confidently.

• Building blocks: In-lesson word activities, including segmenting and blending exercises, target high-frequency words, phonemic decoding and word attack skills, equipping students to tackle new texts with ease.

• The Stadium in ABC Reading Eggspress: This virtual arena enhances fluency through timed games, particularly in the Freestyle Usage event, where students practise reading fluently and accurately.

Vocabulary: A strategic approach to building rich word knowledge

A strong vocabulary is a cornerstone of comprehension. Students with rich word knowledge can grasp text nuances, think critically and retain information more effectively.

Research emphasises the importance of explicit vocabulary instruction that goes beyond simply encountering new words. Students need direct teaching and repeated exposure in meaningful contexts to truly understand and retain new vocabulary.

Engaging and playful approaches further enhance learning and foster a love for words.

ABC Reading Eggs and ABC Reading Eggspress integrate these principles through:

• Meaningful connections: New vocabulary is introduced within clear contexts, definitions and visual aids like pictures, promoting deeper understanding and long-term retention.

• Wide exposure: ‘My Program’ books promote extensive reading, exposing students to a diverse range of vocabulary in a fun and engaging way.

• Building automaticity: Games and activities help students develop automaticity with high-frequency words, the essential building blocks of language.

• Explicit vocabulary instruction in ABC Reading Eggspress: Each lesson incorporates vocabulary building, with a focus on explicitly teaching critical words. The Vocabulary Pursuit event in The Stadium further reinforces skills through engaging, timed games.

Comprehension: Unlocking meaning

Comprehension, the ultimate goal of reading, allows students to grasp the deeper meaning of texts.

Research underscores the necessity of combining explicit instruction with opportunities to practise reading high-quality texts.

ABC Reading Eggs and ABC Reading Eggspress nurture comprehension skills through:

• Scaffolded comprehension lessons: 220 lessons in ABC Reading Eggspress explicitly teach strategies such as cause and effect, fact vs. opinion, visualisation, making inferences and identifying the main idea.

• Interactive comprehension quizzes that assess literal understanding, inferential thinking, vocabulary knowledge and critical analysis, providing valuable insights for teachers.

• English Skills in ABC Reading Eggspress: 216 spelling lessons not only teach students to spell but also improve their comprehension and writing skills through interactive activities and rewards-based games.

• The Reading Journal in ABC Reading Eggspress: This interactive feature allows students to reflect on their reading, encouraging deeper engagement with texts.

• A library of 4,000+ e-books in diverse genres catering to all reading levels, ensuring students can engage with comprehensible content.

Ready to learn more?

Built on Science of Reading principles and filled with engaging, motivating lessons delivered through systematic and explicit instruction, ABC Reading Eggs not only accelerates early reading skills, it lays the foundation for academic success.

By integrating ABC Reading Eggs into your reading curriculum, you can provide your students with a comprehensive, research-based approach to literacy instruction that addresses all five key pillars of reading development.

References

1. Scarborough, H. S. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory, and practice. In S. Neuman & D. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook for research in early literacy (pp. 97–110). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

2. Sweller, J. (2011). Cognitive Load Theory, Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Academic Press, Vol. 55, pp 37-76.

3. Goswami, U. (2000). Phonological and lexical processes. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, Vol. 3, pp. 251–267.

4. Rasinski, T. V. (2003). The fluent reader: Oral reading strategies for building word recognition, fluency, and comprehension. New York: Scholastic.

5. Beck, I., & McKeown, M. (1991). Conditions of vocabulary acquisition. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, Vol. 2, pp. 789–814). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

6. Nagy, W. E., & Herman, P. A. (1984). Limitations of vocabulary instruction. Center for the Study of Reading Technical Report; no. 326.

7. Pearson, P. D., & Duke, N. K. (2002). Comprehension instruction in the primary grades. Comprehension instruction: Research-based best practices, 247-258.