Unlocking Reading Potential: The Theoretical Underpinnings of Readable English

For many struggling readers, traditional phonics instruction alone isn’t enough. Research shows that an estimated 25% of students with reading disabilities fail to make significant progress despite intensive phonics interventions (Torgesen, Wagner & Rashotte, 2001). Worse still, the benefits of remediation decrease as students get older (Lovett & Steinbach, 1997). This highlights a need for more multifaceted and strategic approaches to help struggling readers achieve proficiency.

Why Orthographic and Phonetic Instruction Matter

Studies reveal that both orthographic (visual-spelling patterns) and phonetic (sound-based) instruction are important for improving word recognition and reading comprehension. In fact, these combined approaches outperform phonetic instruction alone (Abbott & Berninger, 1999; Apel & Swank, 1999; Arnbak & Elbro, 1996; Kirk & Gillon, 2009). For struggling readers, this combined approach provides additional scaffolding that enhances their ability to decode words, understand their structure, and grasp their meanings.

Readable English adopts this research-backed strategy by embedding interactive orthography, syllabication, and phonetic cues into reading instruction. These tools offer an integrated system that strengthens foundational skills, helping adolescent readers improve both word-level understanding and overall comprehension.

The Science Behind the Approach

Several key theories of reading development provide the foundation for why a scaffolded approach like Readable English works.

1. Dual Route Cascade Theory

This theory (Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon & Ziegler, 2001) suggests that we recognize words through two simultaneous processes:

• Graphophonemic analysis: Decoding words through the ability to match up letters (graphemes) in the spellings of words to sounds (phonemes) detected in their pronunciations.

• Orthographic-semantic analysis: Recognizing the word’s spelling pattern and usage and connecting them to its meaning.

• In essence, we decode not just by how words sound, but also by how their spelling and usage give us clues about meaning. Readable English supports both processes, offering struggling readers a dual advantage.

Triple Word Form Theory

According to this theory (Berninger, Abbott, Nagy & Carlisle, 2010), the three key components of reading - orthographic (spelling), phonological (sounds), and morphological (word structure) awareness - develop together in a mutually supportive way. Strengthening one area, such as orthographic awareness, positively impacts the others, creating a compounding effect on reading skills.

Cognitive Load Theory

Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller, 1988) emphasizes the importance of reducing the mental burden on working memory. When information is presented in structured, meaningful “chunks,” it’s easier to process and understand. With Readable English, recognizing root words and patterns through the use of syllable breaks allows for faster and more efficient word recognition. In addition, the transparent orthography removes the guesswork from decoding by embedding a built-in pronunciation guide, providing all the necessary information to decode words without relying on complex rules.

This efficient word recognition is critical because it separates strong readers from struggling ones (Nagy, Anderson, Schommer, Scott & Stallman, 1989). By reducing cognitive load, Readable English helps readers focus more on comprehension and less on decoding.

The Decoding Threshold Hypothesis

The Decoding Threshold Hypothesis posits that the relation between decoding and reading comprehension becomes unpredictable when decoding falls below a threshold (Wang, Sabatini, O'Reilly & Weeks, 2019).

Further, Gilbert, Goodwin, Compton & Kearns (2013) found that the effect of morphological awareness - understanding the roots, prefixes, and suffixes of words -on reading comprehension was significant in struggling readers of multisyllabic words, but not in more proficient readers. 

By breaking words into syllables and providing a transparent orthography, Readable English enables students to decode complex words with greater ease, as well as recognize affixes and roots. This leads to an increase in multisyllabic word reading ability and improved comprehension.

The Self-Teaching Hypothesis

The Self-Teaching Hypothesis (Share, 1995) suggests that once learners grasp letter-sound correspondence, they can begin to teach themselves new words. Each time unfamiliar words are decoded, learners are exposed to patterns within the words - orthographic, phonological, morphological, semantic. Over time, these patterns are then stored in their "orthographic memory”. This hypothesis is supported by statistical learning, the process by which humans infer patterns from the environment. Together, orthographic memory and statistical learning enable readers to predict and understand new words independently over time.

This hypothesis is key to Readable English as a path to reading success; the scaffold is used until it is no longer needed.

Bridging Research and Practice

Readable English stands at the intersection of these research-backed theories, offering struggling readers a well-rounded approach to reading. By integrating orthographic, phonetic, and morphological supports, this method reduces cognitive load, enhances word recognition, and improves comprehension.

For educators, this means equipping students with tools that address the root causes of reading struggles, not just the symptoms. For students, it means a clearer path toward reading success and, ultimately, a stronger connection to the world of words. 

Conclusion 

The journey to reading proficiency is complex, especially for students with disabilities. However, with interventions grounded in robust research and theoretical frameworks, it’s possible to unlock the potential of even the most struggling readers. Readable English is one such solution: a bridge between evidence-based strategies and transformative outcomes in the classroom.

Want to learn more about Readable English? Explore our resource library or contact us to see how we can help your district equip all learners for reading success.