New research from the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) research team at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) has highlighted the role of early literacy instruction in improving children’s reading and spelling outcomes.
The new research evaluated the effectiveness of the BSLA at scale to determine the predictors of reading and spelling success for BSLA students.
The findings show that greater improvement in phonics and phonological awareness during the few months of BSLA teaching is strongly associated with a higher likelihood of students reaching proficient and advanced reading levels as they move into Year 2 at school.
Phonological awareness is the ability to recognise and work with sounds in spoken language and is a critical foundation for learning to read and spell.
By focusing on these skills early, teachers can set children on a more confident literacy trajectory.
“These findings reinforce what educators across the motu are seeing in their classrooms,” says Professor Gail Gillon, Director of the Child Well-being Research Institute at UC.
“When children build strong foundational phonological awareness and word decoding skills early, their reading outcomes improve significantly over time. It’s about giving every child the opportunity to become a confident, capable reader.”
The BSLA is an evidence-based early literacy initiative developed specifically for the New Zealand cultural context. It provides explicit and structured teaching in phonics, phonological awareness, vocabulary, oral language, reading and writing to support classroom teachers in accelerating students’ literacy learning.
The approach also includes targeted support for learners who may be at risk of falling behind, ensuring early intervention can be delivered before difficulties become entrenched.
“This latest research data gives schools and teachers valuable evidence that early progress matters,” says Dr Megan Gath, UC’s lead researcher for the statistical modelling of projected reading outcomes.
“The data confirms the importance of intentional, systematic teaching of foundational literacy skills in children’s first term of school. This type of structured literacy teaching can make a measurable difference in children’s long-term reading success.”
