Structured Literacy vs. Science of Reading 

Understanding the distinctions between structured literacy vs. the science of reading can be crucial to ensuring that reading programs are designed to support students effectively. The science of reading provides research findings that are critical to our understanding of the cognitive functions involved in how the brain processes written words. It is not an instructional approach in and of itself, nor does it provide guidelines for how to teach the components it identifies as essential for learning to read. That’s where structured literacy plays a role. Structured literacy is a method for teaching foundational reading skills through explicit and systematic instruction. It is the practical application of the science of reading. 

Is structured literacy the same as the science of reading?

Structured literacy and the science of reading are different, but highly related concepts. 

The science of reading is a broad term referring to decades of research from multiple fields of study, including cognitive science, linguistics, and psychology, that seeks to identify how children best learn to read. This body of research has pointed definitively to the effectiveness of these key areas of instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The science of reading is not a curriculum, product, or program. It is the ongoing research on how the human brain processes written words. 

Structured literacy takes the knowledge acquired through the science of reading research and applies it to an instructional approach that teaches children to read in a way that is systematic, cumulative, explicit, and diagnostic. This evidence-based method weaves together essential skills identified through science of reading research, consisting of phonology, sound-symbol association, syllables, morphology, syntax, and semantics. 

One way to think about the connection between these two terms is that the science of reading is the why of reading instruction and structured literacy is the how.

Key components of structured literacy and the science of reading 

Let’s unpack the key components of structured literacy and the science of reading to see how they relate and where they intersect. 

Structured literacy 

The key components of structured literacy can be grouped in two categories—elements and principles. Effective implementation of structured literacy involves teaching the elements in accordance with the principles. 

Structured literacy elements

• Phonology: The sound structure of spoken words. It includes both phonological awareness (the ability to recognize and manipulate spoken parts of words), and phonemic awareness (the ability to recognize and manipulate individual sounds).
• Sound-symbol association: The process of mapping phonemes (sounds) to graphemes (letters). It includes understanding the alphabetic principle (i.e., written symbols represent sounds).
• Syllables: Syllables are single units of speech, usually containing a vowel. Knowing how to identify and divide the six syllable types helps readers associate vowel spellings with vowel sounds, and syllable division rules help readers decode unfamiliar words.
• Morphology: Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in language and include base words and affixes. Morphological awareness helps with decoding and understanding the meaning of complex words.
• Syntax: Syntax refers to the rules dictating the sequence and function of words in a sentence. It includes grammar, sentence structure, and mechanics.
• Semantics: The study of meaning in language. Structured literacy includes early instruction in semantics in support of comprehension.

Structured literacy principles 

• Systematic & cumulative: The organization of material begins with the most basic concepts and progresses to the more complex. Each skill is based on concepts previously learned, and all information builds on earlier knowledge.
• Explicit: Skills and concepts are directly taught and practiced. Structured literacy includes direct instruction with continuous student-teacher interaction.
• Diagnostic: Students’ unique strengths and areas in need of improvement are identified through ongoing assessment (both informal and formal) and addressed through differentiated instruction. 

Science of reading components

Many people assume that the science of reading simply refers to phonics instruction. While phonics instruction is a critical component of the science of reading, it does not wholly define it. The science of reading seeks to identify how the human brain learns to read and highlights the following components: 

• Phonemic awareness: The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. Key skills include blending, segmenting, substituting, and deleting sounds in words.
• Phonics: The relationship between letters (graphemes) and the sounds (phonemes) they represent. Key skills include recognizing letter-sound correspondences, blending sounds into words, and decoding.
• Fluency: The ability to read text smoothly, accurately, and with expression, which is necessary for comprehension. Key skills include reading at an appropriate speed and using proper phrasing.
• Vocabulary: Knowing what words mean and how to say and use them correctly. Key skills include understanding the meaning of words, including multiple meanings, and the relationships between words.
• Comprehension: The ability to understand, interpret, and analyze text. Key skills include summarizing, identifying the main idea, making predictions, and drawing conclusions.

These five components are typical of science of reading. In addition, HMH emphasizes the following in its reading programs:

• Knowledge building: A deep base of content knowledge helps students make meaning from texts.
• Writing: Reading and writing are interconnected. As students improve their writing, they become better readers, and as they read more, their writing skills improve.

Structured literacy and the science of reading are interconnected. The key components identified by the science of reading as essential for learning to read—phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension—serve as the basis for structured literacy, which applies the research to an evidence-based teaching framework. Phonemic awareness and phonics are directly addressed in structured literacy through the elements of phonology and sound-symbol association. Structured literacy also incorporates morphology, syntax, and semantics, integrating meaning and language into early reading instruction, and supporting learners with fluency, vocabulary knowledge, and comprehension. These components are essential for helping students with reading disabilities, such as dyslexia.

How does structured literacy build upon the science of reading?

Structured literacy builds on the science of reading by integrating the research into an instructional framework. It goes beyond identifying components essential for reading success to mapping out an approach for teaching the components using evidence-based methods for reaching all learners, particularly those with reading challenges. By weaving instruction that is systematic, cumulative, explicit, and diagnostic with the elements identified by research as most essential for reading success, structured literacy makes the science of reading both practical and accessible. 

Bottom line: the science of reading and structured literacy connect theory and real-world teaching methods. The science of reading provides the core research on how the brain processes written language, and structured literacy translates the research into an evidence-based method for reading instruction, bridging the gap between theory and practice.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of HMH.

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HMH core, intervention, and supplemental programs are rooted in the science of reading. Find out more about our evidence-based approach to teaching a child to read.