What is balanced literacy?

In a balanced literacy approach, children are taught through a combination of whole language and phonics approaches

Balanced literacy is a method of teaching literacy that uses a combination of whole language and phonics approaches.

The term was coined in 1996 by the California Department of Education, following the so-called “reading wars” of the 1980s - which pitted phonics and whole-language approaches against one another, in what were often heated debates about the best ways to teach children how to read.

In the same year, Bill Honig, co-founder and president of the Consortium on Reading Excellence (CORE), a professional development organisation, defined a balanced approach as “one which combines the language and literature-rich activities associated with whole language with explicit teaching of the skills needed to decode words for all children”.

It is worth noting that definitions of “balanced literacy” vary; in some circles, the term is understood to refer to the use of whole-language approaches only.

The EEF view: What does the research say?

The evidence suggests that children benefit from a balanced approach to literacy that includes a range of approaches - though not necessarily “balanced literacy”, as defined above, which can be a contentious term among some in education.

The emphasis of the different approaches will naturally need to shift as children progress, but effective diagnosis can help teachers to identify priorities and focus their teaching to ensure it is efficient.

Some of the most promising approaches, according to the evidence so far, include oral language interventions. These focus on spoken language and verbal interaction in the classroom and appear to benefit all pupils, for both reading and writing. Some studies show slightly larger effects for younger children and pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Phonics approaches have been found to be effective in supporting younger pupils (4- to 7-year-olds) to learn to read.

Reading comprehension strategies, which focus on learners’ understanding of the text, have also been found to work. These teach a range of techniques that enable pupils to comprehend the meaning of what is written, such as inferring the meaning from context, summarising or identifying key points, using graphic or semantic organisers, developing questioning strategies, monitoring their own comprehension and identifying difficulties themselves.

The focus for schools should be on developing whole-class teaching strategies that improve the literacy capabilities of all students. However, it’s likely that a small number of pupils will still require additional support to make progress. This support should take the form of high-quality, structured, targeted interventions.

How does it work in the classroom?

Although research suggests there are some broad strategies that make literacy teaching more effective, there is plenty of scope for teachers to try different things within this.

For example, in order to develop children’s story-telling in key stage 1, teacher Jess Gosling repeatedly reads three or four books with her class, and discusses the features of the texts, including images, key language and the plot, before then asking them to act out the story.

She then introduces Vivian Gussin Paley’s (1991) helicopter stories: here, the children tell the teacher simple stories while acting them out. Next, children are given a Tales Toolkit, which supports them to write and draw out their story, thinking about components including character, setting, problem and resolution.

This method is used alongside phonics approaches.

Further reading:

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What is balanced literacy?

How does it work in the classroom?

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