Do Elementary English Textbooks Facilitate the Development of Decoding Skills?

This study aimed at investigating whether elementary English textbooks facilitate the development of decoding skills that are critical to students’ progress in early L2 reading. A total of four sets of elementary English textbooks were examined for the types and elements of phonics instruction as well as for the various features of text decodability. As for the data analysis, phonics elements in the textbooks were classified into five larger categories, and early readings texts were entered into text files and analyzed for repetitions of words and ratings of high-frequency words using VocabProfile and Frequency provided by Compleat Lexical Tutor. Decoding demands of words in the reading texts were also evaluated using an eight level scale. The results indicated that phonics instruction in the textbooks was not multi-faceted in terms of instructional approaches and activities. It was also found that while explicit teaching of phonics centered upon simple spelling-sound correspondences only, the examination of grade 5 reading texts exhibited a large portion of words with complex spelling-sound combinations as well as a significant number of words occurring once despite a high percentage of high-frequency words. This suggested some attention on the part of textbook developers concerning the match between phonics instruction and decodability of early reading texts. The study concluded with some pedagogical implications and suggestions.