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Frequently Asked Questions
Readable English is a research-proven, accelerated reading program that uses systematic phonics and phonemic awareness to exponentially increase fluency and comprehension. Students take ownership of their learning and quickly get to grade level reading and beyond!
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- GENERAL
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- STUDENTS
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What evidence do you have on the effectiveness of Readable English?
You can read the already published peer-reviewed research studies on the effectiveness of Readable English here, and we have relationships with major universities and independent researchers to continue publishing findings in peer-reviewed journals. We also collect standardized school testing data to show before and after results which you can view on our Research & Results page. On average, students learning Readable English improve at twice the rate of students in control groups, for both reading accuracy and comprehension.
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Isn't English fairly phonetic, are the glyphs really needed?
While to a proficient reader English may seem fairly phonetic, in reality, it is very complex. In just the 1,000 most common words, approximately:
- Only 38% are truly phonetic, meaning they can be sounded out with standard letter and digraph sounds. These include words like ‘can’, ‘list’, and ‘long’.
- 35% follow one of 45 phonetic rules. Some of the basic rules include the ‘final e’ rule in words like ‘time’ and make’ and the two vowels go walking rule in words like ‘speak’ and ‘sail’.
- 27% are exceptions to rules or simply need to be memorized. Exceptions to rules include words like ‘have’, ‘gone’, ‘break’ and ‘said’. And words that simply need to be memorized include words like ‘one’, ‘who’ and ‘ocean’’.
For learners, all this overloads their cognitive capacity. You can read more about how complex the English language is in our free ebook download here.
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Once a student has learned the glyphs, what support materials are available in Readable English?
A core component of the Readable English program is the ability for teachers and students to convert any texts or classroom materials into Readable English. The conversion tools within the learning portal enable teachers to instantly convert text or upload whole documents to be converted. Browser extensions for Chrome and Safari are also available which enable text on any web pages to be instantly converted into Readable English. We also provide a number of reading practice materials through the learning portal, such as the Reading Practice Module.
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How do schools implement the program?
Implementation can be individualized by school needs. Once teachers are trained, the program can be implemented with an entire class, in small groups or one-to-one. The program is implemented in two core stages:
Breaking the Code – Learning the 21 glyphs, combined with core skill building activities.
Integrating the Markup – Continued daily reading practice with the markup to build fluency and comprehension.See our implementation models resource for explanation on the flexibility of both stages.
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Will Readable English conflict with my current methods?
Readable English is not a substitute for the good practices that teachers implement, such as structured synthetic phonics programs. However, where other phonics programs fail to address “tricky words” such as ‘who’, ‘though’ and ‘yacht’, Readable English builds a pronunciation guide right into the word eliminating the need for memorization. We’ve found that the addition of the markup does not conflict with most phonics-based approaches, in that the spelling is kept intact and it simply provides an extra visual cue that aligns with the rules students already know.
Many phonics programs denote the difference between sounds using italics or underlines, for example, a regular ‘oo’ for ‘boot’ and ‘th’ for ‘thumb’ and an underlined or italicized ‘oo’ for ‘book’ and ‘th’ for ‘them’. Readable English goes a step further by adding diacritical marks called ‘glyphs’ to ANY letters that do not make their standard sound, such as in ‘blood’ and ‘brooch’.
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Which students would benefit from the program
The program is ideal for struggling readers, Special Education students, Multilingual Learners and students with dyslexia. However, all students in grades 2-12 can benefit from being able to access content at their own grade level and above.
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What is the Readable English End of Year process?
The purpose of the RE End of Year Process is to reset student and teacher accounts for the start of a new school year. If students are continuing with Readable English into a second year, the end of year process ensures the content within the learning portal is adjusted to the new grade level. The RE End of Year Process takes place over approximately one week during the summer break, around the 4th of July.
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Does learning the glyphs increase the cognitive load for students?
Readable English does not load the brain with another layer, in fact, it removes the need for students to learn all the current phonetic/language conventional rules and exceptions – the existing layer where the real cognitive load sits. In this way, Readable English lightens the cognitive load, making heavy load language rule and exception lessons redundant. This is why Professor John Sweller (the founder of the Cognitive Load Theory) is a public advocate of Readable English. You can watch his video testimonial or read his written endorsement.
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Will my child develop a dependency on the glyphs?
Readable English is designed so that the glyphs are removed as students become more proficient, in the way you would remove training wheels from a bicycle. In the peer-reviewed research studies that have been published, all testing is conducted in Standard English, indicating that learning Readable English leads to faster growth in reading, even once the glyphs have been removed. Through qualitative research with teachers and students, we’ve found that students actually simply ignore the glyphs for words that have been committed to memory as sight words, through orthographic mapping.
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How can I register to start using Readable English?
To purchase Readable English for tutoring or homeschooling use, go to Order Now.
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Are there any technology specifications for using Readable English?
The current Readable English learning portal is a web app that can be used on most personal devices. We recommend using Google Chrome for the best experience, though other browsers will generally work. For further details on hardware requirements, data sharing, training, support, data accessibility, and data security, please reference our Readable English Technology Specifications.
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Can Readable English be taught completely online?
Yes. The Readable English online platform allows teachers to teach in-person or online with pre-made lesson presentations that need no prep time. With the share screen function, and interactive games and videos, the presentation slides keep the program highly engaging and effective. Since all lessons work in either setting, teachers do not miss a session of reading if students are at home. Because of this flexibility, the scenarios can vary by need. Teachers can use the online platform to teach large groups, small groups, or one-to-one.
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Will Readable English help with pronunciation?
Yes! Readable English makes English phonetic, which means that the pronunciation of words is predictable and consistent. One of the most effect uses of the markup is to read words with the Readable English markup on when learning new vocabulary words. This ensures correct pronunciation and prevents "fossilisation."
Want to know more?
Our research-proven, accelerated reading program gets students to take ownership of their learning by quickly getting them to grade-level reading and beyond.
