Teaching reading in early grades: the classroom practices for integrating phonics approach into whole-language learning

Strands of Evidence has consistently indicated reading as one of the important literacy skills in learning and academic trajectory. While globally there are two dominant approaches on how children should acquire and develop reading skills – whole language and phonic-based approaches, however, there is lack of consensus between and among scholars in relation to the appropriate approach of enhancing children’s reading. Phonics-based approach has been particularly identified as the most effective approach in developing reading skills especially for children from socio-linguistic backgrounds with limited educational resources. This systematic review aimed at understanding the general trends of children’s reading both nationally and globally. Since some literature indicates that children learn to read proficiently when they are taught systematically, gaining insights into how phonics-based instruction plays a role in shaping reading skills was an inevitable endeavour. A total of 76 documents were critically and intensively analysed. Findings indicated that sub-Saharan Africa, including Tanzania lags in terms of children’s reading. Poor reading trends, therefore, suggest that phonics-based instruction is not adequately utilised. On this basis, it is vital understanding how school and out-of- school factors influence teachers in using phonics-based instruction to promote and improve children’s reading skills.