Structured Literacy Explained: Principles, Components, and Instructional Approach

Reviewed by: Octavia Gray-Essex, Ed.D., Senior Education Advisor, LETRS-trained

Now more than ever, teachers are experiencing increasing pressure to accelerate learning and increase students' literacy scores. At the same time, there is a national teacher shortage making this more difficult.

Thankfully, the science of reading is here to help. The science of reading is a huge body of multidisciplinary research showing exactly how the human brain learns to read. While the science of reading is not a curriculum, it does inform effective methods of instruction—specifically, Structured Literacy. This instructional practice focuses on literacy acquisition that makes learning how to read possible (and even fun) for 95% of students, which is a huge jump from the 34% of students who are currently able to read proficiently.

Key Takeaways

• Structured Literacy is an evidence-based approach to reading instruction defined by three core principles: explicit instruction, systematic and cumulative sequence, and diagnostic teaching.

• True Structured Literacy addresses all components of reading development, from phonological awareness and phonics to vocabulary, syntax, and comprehension—not just phonics.

• The Simple View of Reading shows that Reading Comprehension = Decoding x Language Comprehension, Structured Literacy builds both reading comprehension components.

• A Structured Literacy approach is now embedded in reading legislation across more than 40 U.S. states, reflecting broad scientific consensus on effective reading instruction.

What Is Structured Literacy?

Structured Literacy is an approach to teaching reading distinguished by its systematic, cumulative, and explicit methodology. The International Dyslexia Association® (IDA) developed and trademarked this teaching method.

Today, a Structured Literacy approach is embedded in reading legislation across more than 40 U.S. states, reflecting broad scientific consensus that systematic, explicit instruction is the most effective way to teach all students to read.

There are two critical hallmarks of Structured Literacy instruction:

• It must teach all the components that evidence indicates are foremost in ensuring reading success.  

• It must employ principles that align with the necessity of each component.

Think of Structured Literacy as the in-class application of the science of reading. Often, programs that claim to be based on the science of reading cherry-pick the evidence to accommodate certain beliefs. This is why a term like Structured Literacy provides differentiation among reading programs and instructional approaches.

Structured Literacy Instruction: It's Not Just Phonics

One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding the science of reading is that it is centered on phonics. While phonics is a large component of reading that is taught through Structured Literacy, it is just one of many elements teachers must consider when working with students. Reading comprehension isn't just about what skills educators should teach, but specifically how to teach those skills. This is where Structured Literacy comes in.

To see what Structured Literacy looks like in practice, read about how one teacher made the shift from balanced literacy to Structured Literacy and find out what changed across six components of her curriculum.

Strengthening Reading Comprehension: The Simple View of Reading

The Simple View of Reading proposes that reading comprehension is the product of decoding (or word recognition) and linguistic comprehension. This serves as a framework for understanding and identifying Structured Literacy instruction. Because inefficiency in one component may lead to overall reading failure, Structured Literacy instruction includes both the critical components and their underpinning elements, as outlined below. These components distinguish Structured Literacy as being informed by the science of reading.

The Simple View of Reading states that to fully develop one's reading comprehension, one must develop decoding and linguistic comprehension skills. These two components are made up of multiple moving parts, which we'll break down.

Decoding

Translating printed symbols on a page into their spoken equivalents is known as decoding. In other words, when we segment the sounds of the letters C-A-T and blend them to make the word cat, we are decoding. The ultimate goal of decoding is to free cognitive resources to focus on the meaning of what is being read. 

As students achieve fluent reading, decoding instruction remains essential only for students who are not fluent readers. The underpinning components of decoding are phonology, orthography, and morphology.

Phonology

Phonology refers to the speech sound system of a language. In English, we have 44 speech sounds called phonemes. Although phonology is solely related to oral language and not reading, it is a key component in developing one's reading skills.

Early instruction in phonology and developing phonemic awareness can prevent reading failure later on. In fact, a student's ability to detect, think about, and manipulate phonemes is particularly predictive of reading success.

Orthography

Orthography refers to a language's writing system. The English language consists of 26 letters that can represent the 44 phonemes in written words. Decoding begins with an understanding that spoken sounds are represented by letters (i.e., the alphabetic principle or sound-letter correspondence).

Proficient reading comprehension relies on automatic associations of sounds and letters. When students can read effortlessly, cognitive resources are available for them to focus on meaning, which is where students bridge the gap between learning to read and reading to learn.

Morphology

Morphology is the study of morphemes, which are the meaningful units of words (e.g., prefixes, roots, suffixes, and combining forms). Knowledge of morphemes facilitates decoding and provides a springboard for vocabulary development. As morphology combines phonology, orthography, and meaning, it bridges the gap between alphabetic reading and comprehension.

The more a reader knows about morphemes, the easier it is to instantly recognize and comprehend the long words found in complex texts.

Linguistic Comprehension

The ability to derive meaning from words, sentences, and texts at a listening level is referred to as language comprehension. To comprehend language, the reader needs vocabulary, knowledge, understanding of sentence structures, and the ability to infer what the author is implying. That makes explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction as important to the development of language comprehension as it is to the development of accurate and automatic decoding.

The underpinning components of language comprehension include semantics, pragmatics, syntax, and discourse.

Semantics

Semantics is the study of the meanings and relationships of words. A reader's breadth and depth of vocabulary contribute to reading achievement. The primary goals of reading and writing are to determine and communicate meaning, so it is extremely important that students understand the meanings of words and how they function within sentences.

In addition, many words in English have multiple meanings, so it is key for the reader to be able to determine the author's intended meaning of a word within the sentence's context.

Pragmatics

Pragmatics are the rules of conversations or discussions (e.g., eye contact, taking turns) and the use and interpretation of language in a particular context. Pragmatics is often called the “hidden curriculum,” and it should not be assumed that students understand the content of pragmatics or will intuit this on their own.

Syntax

Syntax is the order and relationships of words in sentences, as well as the structure of sentences in oral and written language. Learning syntax includes understanding the parts of speech and sentence structures that support reading comprehension and written composition. A student's understanding of pronoun references, verb tenses, and subject-verb agreement is predictive of reading comprehension abilities.

Discourse

Discourse is the organization of spoken and written communication. A student's proficiency in understanding words, phrases, and text at oral and listening levels is indicative of reading comprehension and writing proficiency. Strategies to develop students' discourse include comprehension monitoring, graphic organizers, question-answering and generation, cooperative learning, story structures, and summarization tasks. Along with using these tools, students should also spend time developing their background knowledge through listening, reading, writing, and discussion-based activities. 

All the elements of decoding and linguistic comprehension blend to form a student's reading comprehension skills, which is why it's important to take a Structured Literacy approach to teaching students how to read. It is imperative all of these components build on top of one another and work together to set students up for success.

The Core Principles of Structured Literacy

According to the IDA, there are three principles that go into Structured Literacy instruction. More specifically, Structured Literacy is defined by its systematic and cumulative, diagnostic, and explicit methodology.

1. Systematic and cumulative: "Systematic" means the organization of the material follows the logical order of language; the sequence begins with the simplest concepts and gradually increases in difficulty as students' understanding deepens. "Cumulative" means each step should build on top of the previous one.

2. Diagnostic: "Diagnostic" refers to the way teachers understand and react to their students' learning process. They must be able to individualize instruction (even in group situations) based on continuous assessment. These assessments can be informal (e.g., observation) or formal (e.g., standardized testing).

3. Explicit: Explicit instruction requires teachers to be clear and direct when teaching students new concepts. Teachers should not assume students already know things that have not been taught, nor that students learn through exposure alone. Explicit teaching involves direct student-teacher interactions, and research has shown that incorporating multisensory teaching can support students' learning as well.

Structured Literacy Is Proven to Lead to Student Success

Structured Literacy instruction is informed by the science of reading, which is the only proven way to ensure students can become proficient readers and confident learners across the curriculum. Although this instruction is beneficial for all students, it is essential for those who are at risk for reading difficulties.

By implementing the components, principles, and instructional practices that align with both the science of reading and Structured Literacy, administrators, teachers, and parents are assured all students will receive the multifaceted literacy instruction they need for reading and academic success.

When selecting a literacy program, look for explicit alignment with the three Structured Literacy principles—systematic and cumulative sequence, diagnostic assessment, and explicit instruction—as the clearest sign a program actually follows the science of reading.

Supporting Structured Literacy With Lexia

Lexia® Core5® Reading provides explicit, systematic, and cumulative reading instruction across six essential literacy components: phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, vocabulary, automaticity/fluency, and comprehension. In peer-reviewed research meeting ESSA standards, Core5 has been shown to accelerate reading growth. In one district, the percentage of students working at or above grade level increased from 48% to 95% following Core5 implementation.

Lexia® LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) equips educators with the knowledge and skills to deliver Structured Literacy instruction with fidelity. LETRS-trained teachers develop a deep, research-based understanding of phonology, orthography, morphology, and the other components of reading, enabling them to apply explicit, diagnostic instruction in any classroom. Lexia also offers Lexia® LETRS® for Early Childhood Educators, with coursework designed specifically for pre-K through first grade teachers to build Structured Literacy skills from the earliest years of formal reading instruction.

Dr. Octavia Gray-Essex is a literacy scholar-practitioner who bridges research, policy, and practice to strengthen literacy systems and expand educational opportunity for all students. With more than two decades of experience spanning classroom, school, district, and national contexts, she works with education leaders to translate evidence into sustainable approaches that strengthen teaching, learning, and leadership across the K–12 continuum.

Dr. Gray-Essex holds a bachelor’s degree in government, a master’s degree in educational leadership and policy studies, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction. She serves on the Legislative and Policy Committee of the Literacy Research Association (LRA) and is a member of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER) and the International Dyslexia Association (IDA).