New GEEAP-endorsed report offers evidence-based solutions to address global literacy crisis among children

Endorsed by the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel’s (GEEAP) interdisciplinary panel of the world’s top education experts, who provide educators with practical evidence-based recommendations to improve children’s learning. They are a strategic partner of the What Works Hub for Global Education.

The ‘literacy crisis’ is complex, but two things are clear: some teachers lack confidence in teaching literacy effectively and some children are not learning foundational literacy skills despite being in school. This new paper, Effective Reading Instruction in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: What the Evidence Shows, synthesises the growing research from LMICs, reviewing around 120 studies on effective reading instruction conducted across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and covering more than 170 different languages. It identifies the key skills pupils must learn, and that teachers must learn to teach, to effectively support the acquisition of literacy. Globally launched today, the report is endorsed by the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (GEEAP), an independent, multidisciplinary panel of leading global experts in education evidence and policymaking that is co-hosted by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), UNICEF and the World Bank.

70% of children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) cannot read and understand simple, age-appropriate text, as noted in the 2022 World Bank State of Global Learning Poverty report. In many countries, after several years of instruction, children are so far below the expected proficiency that they have very little chance of becoming readers. A study that analysed data from early grade reading assessments (EGRAs) from over 500,000 students across 48 LMICs in 96 languages revealed the depth of the crisis: it showed that after three years of schooling, over 90% of students can’t identify letter names, letter sounds or read simple words at expected levels. Failure to use evidence-based approaches to instruction is one of the main causes of the literacy crisis but improving how teachers teach can change this. Investing in proven reading methods during children’s early school years is likely to reduce the need for expensive remedial programs later, decrease grade repetition, and lower dropout rates.

Learning to read is fundamental to human dignity, freedom, and development.  Literacy is a core skill that expands human agency and freedoms. Reading proficiency predicts academic success across all subjects, and is correlated with economic growth, reduced inequality and better health. Children who don’t become skilled readers face limited educational opportunities and lower lifetime earnings.

Children do not learn to read naturally: they must be explicitly taught, which is why using evidence to inform teaching approaches can have a positive impact. Instructional approaches backed by evidence are also cost-effective investments, having positive outcomes for reasonably low investment. This report notes that two main sets of skills are needed for reading – decoding and language comprehension.

• Decoding is the ability to recognize written symbols (eg letters) and convert them into the sounds they represent to recognize words.
• Language comprehension involves understanding the meaning of words, sentences and texts.

To develop these skills, children need to be explicitly taught the following sub-skills:

1. Oral language skills: this includes listening and speaking skills, and vocabulary development. Children must understand spoken words before they can comprehend written text. While children naturally develop some oral language skills, targeted classroom instruction significantly accelerates this development.
2. Phonological awareness: this is the ability to identify and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken language. Children must understand that spoken words are made up of smaller sound units before they can connect letters to those sounds and blend them into words.
3. Systematic phonics instruction: this refers to teaching children the specific relationships between letters and sounds, and how to combine these to form words. Children learn to ‘sound out’ unfamiliar words by identifying each letter’s sound and blending them together.
4. Reading fluency: this is the ability to read text accurately, quickly, and with appropriate expression. Fluent reading frees up mental energy for understanding meaning rather than struggling to identify individual words.
5. Reading comprehension strategies: as part of reading instruction, children also benefit from explicit instruction in specific techniques for understanding texts, such as monitoring their own comprehension, and building knowledge about the world.
6. Writing skills: A strong evidence base, including emerging research from LMICs, demonstrates that writing instruction – including letter formation, spelling, and composing texts – significantly supports reading development and reinforces the other core skills.

The report also shared changes policymakers can implement to support these findings. GEEAP urges education policymakers to promote evidence-based instruction so more children become skilled readers. They recommend that policymakers:

1. Make a national commitment to ensure all children become skilled readers through effective, evidence-based instruction.
2. Choose appropriate languages of instruction and give children the support they need to learn to read in those languages.
3. Deliver explicit, systematic and comprehensive reading instruction in all six core skills: oral language, phonological awareness, systematic phonics, reading fluency, reading comprehension and writing. Ensure that instruction is explicit and systematic – without leaving children to ‘figure it out on their own’. Provide students sufficient time to practice reading – including ample opportunities to engage with books, read a variety of texts independently, and build a culture of reading.
4. Adapt instruction to language characteristics: the core principles of evidence-aligned reading instruction are universal, but successful programs tailor instruction to address contextual needs.
5. Focus on effective implementation by providing teachers with structured support, user-friendly materials, and ongoing professional development.

Read the full report and executive summary to learn more.