Science of Reading FAQs: 10 Questions & Answers with Dr. Sharon Vaughn

Understanding and effectively implementing evidence-based literacy instruction has become a top priority for many educators. With so many critical elements to consider — phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, writing, and more — it’s understandable for teachers to have questions!

In this blog post, literacy expert and Savvas author Dr. Sharon Vaughn answers 10 common teacher questions about the Science of Reading. From clarifying questions about the role of graphemes in phonemic awareness to strategies for helping older students with word-reading difficulties, Dr. Vaughn provides actionable insights grounded in research.

Whether you’re new to the Science of Reading or looking to deepen your knowledge, these answers offer practical guidance for enhancing your literacy instruction for all students.

Question 1: Should phonemic awareness be taught with or without graphemes?

Incorporating graphemes (letters or written symbols that represent sounds.) during activities like sound manipulation, deletion, and blending, which are all components of phonemic awareness, is not only appropriate but aligns with the Science of Reading. So, yes. Feel free to use letters!

Think about it this way: the goal of phonemic awareness is — at the sound level — getting students to hear, blend, manipulate, and substitute sounds. But reading ultimately involves print. So, we want to connect sounds to letters as soon as possible. This accelerates students’ progress towards reading, which is the primary goal. Manipulating sounds is a tool to support this goal, not the end itself.

Question 2: What percentage of secondary students (middle and high school) have word-reading difficulties and what can be done for them?

Over 70 percent of students with reading difficulties in secondary grades struggle with word reading. While you might not need to revisit phonemic awareness, you should focus on phonics for multi-syllable words, fluency (accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression), vocabulary, comprehension, and spelling. These skills remain essential for older students, especially as we apply the Science of Reading to secondary education.

Question 3: Should teachers only focus on phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension in reading instruction? Or are there other critical areas that should be incorporated?

Phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension are crucial to effective reading instruction, but they’re part of a larger framework.

Reading connected text is also essential. This includes reading at both the word level (for fluency) and at the sentence or paragraph level in connected text. Students need practice with different text types, like narrative, informational, and hybrid texts.

Teaching phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension without diverse, instructionally appropriate text would be incomplete.

Question 4: When teaching phonemic awareness, should I show students pictures of words?

It’s not necessary to show students pictures of words when teaching phonemic awareness. The goal of phonemic awareness is for students to recognize sounds and understand how they eventually map to print. Focus on segmenting and blending sounds directly, and keep instruction engaging with students doing most of the work. Use quick pacing, minimize teacher talk, and have meaningful discussions when working on text.

Question 5: My students struggle with remembering phonics rules. Any tips?

Rather than memorizing rules, focus on phonics patterns through repeated practice.

For example, if teaching the ai pattern in words like maid, show students examples of similar words, then mix them with other patterns for distributed practice. This approach builds familiarity through application rather than rote memorization.

Question 6: When should students use context clues versus phonics skills to decode a word?

Students should use context clues for understanding word meanings.

For decoding, students should rely on phonics or analogy — using known patterns (e.g., reading plain by recognizing that it’s similar to rain). Context clues come into play once they know the word’s pronunciation but need to understand its meaning.

Question 7: How can we shift from the workshop model to a more structured reading approach?

Keep elements of the workshop model that focus on text reading, but shift to more explicit, skill-focused instruction with flexible grouping based on students' needs.

For example, some groups may focus on multi-syllable words while others work on comprehension. Retain effective workshop elements, adjust as needed, and ensure teachers have the resources to implement these changes effectively.

Question 8: Should we avoid using comprehension passages that contain phonics patterns students haven’t learned yet?

It depends on students’ reading maturity when deciding to use comprehension passages that contain phonics patterns students haven’t learned yet.

Younger readers benefit from controlled text, but as students gain more reading skills, they can handle words and patterns they haven’t been explicitly taught. As students advance, controlled text becomes less critical, and they can generalize learned patterns to new contexts.

Question 9: What’s the role of content knowledge in reading, and how should teachers build it?

Students don't learn to read because we teach them to read, they learn to read because they practice doing it. So, let's practice it in content areas. Literacy should be integrated across content areas, not limited to “reading time.” Reading practice in content areas builds vocabulary, background knowledge, and reading stamina, ultimately supporting comprehension.

Question 10: For students behind in vocabulary, are there strategies to help them catch up?

Yes, there are strategies to help students catch up on vocabulary learning. One of my favorite strategies is a school-wide approach, which can be difficult to accomplish, but is possible and can be very effective when the whole school participates. What it would entail is for teachers at each grade level to decide what critical vocabulary words every student in that grade level should know. And this doesn’t just apply to literacy but science, social studies, and mathematics as well. Mathematics is a beautiful vocabulary language!

But imagine if we decide as a team what vocabulary words are critical to learn for first, second, third, and fourth grades, and then work together to both teach and expose students to those critical vocabulary words. Vocabulary instruction would then become part of a school-wide set of practices. Not something that was solely in the hands of the literacy teacher, but something that was in the hands of teachers across all disciplines, incorporating the way in which we think about vocabulary into a school-wide approach.

Asking Questions Leads to Effective Instruction

Teaching is an act of community. By listening to each other and experts like Dr. Vaughn, we can strengthen our classroom practices and help ensure that all students have the opportunity to build strong reading skills.

Do you have questions you'd like to ask Dr. Vaughn, or are you curious about learning more about common Science of Reading misconceptions? Be sure to sign up for our upcoming webinar!