Which statement describes the relationship between phonics instruction and reading scores when phonics is abandoned?

• A. Abandoning phonics leads to lower reading scores
• B. Phonics alone guarantees success
• C. Phonics has no effect on scores
• D. Phonics replaces comprehension instruction

Answer: (A)

Phonics instruction helps students map letters to sounds and blend those sounds to read unfamiliar words, which builds accurate word recognition and reading fluency. When phonics is abandoned, students lose a reliable decoding strategy, making decoding harder, slowing their reading, and reducing overall comprehension. This typically leads to lower reading scores, because fluent decoding is a foundation for understanding text. Phonics isn’t a guarantee of success on its own, and it doesn’t replace comprehension instruction; effective reading development integrates decoding with vocabulary, fluency, and explicit comprehension strategies.