The use of decodable texts in the teaching of reading in children without reading disabilities: a meta-analysis

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to synthesise the research evidence on the use of decodable texts in the teaching of word reading and pseudoword decoding to determine their effectiveness in facilitating the development of reading skills in children without reading disabilities. A total of 821 articles were identified in the initial search. The search resulted in 16 articles that met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analyses. The results of the risk of bias assessment revealed that the majority of the studies had a moderate to serious bias. The average standardised mean difference for word reading was small g = 0.20 and moderate g = 0.30 for pseudoword decoding. This finding highlights how using decodable texts can facilitate word reading and decoding to some degree, but they need to be used in combination with other reading instructional materials.