Teacher Question:
I teach in a K-3 primary school. My school is making a big deal out of decodable texts. All the reading instruction in Grades K and 1 is focused on decodables. These texts are promoted in our library and in the book lists we recommend to parents. How will kids ever learn to love reading if all their reading experiences are with decodables (they aren’t even real books)?
Shanahan response:
I’ve written in the past, about decodables. I’ve stressed how modest their research base is but have argued for their inclusion in decoding programs. Kids should have an opportunity to practice what they’re taught.
I’ve also encouraged caution. There are good reasons not to overdo it with decodables given what we know about the nature of learning to read, the importance of nurturing an expectation of variability, and the role of statistical learning. Too much reliance on decodables may mislead kids about the consistency of the phonological-orthographic aspects of words.
But you’re not asking about their instructional value. You’re wondering why any kid would ever choose to read decodables and whether a steady diet of such reading could result in reading joy. This is a frequent concern among teachers, according to an Education Week survey (Schwartz, 2020) conducted a while back and other more recent evidence (Gallery, 2024).
Unfortunately, this is one of those “there’s no research on that” questions. No studies have set out to provide any direct and definitive answer to your query. But we do know something about kids and their reading choices.
I vividly remember a study I read decades ago. Well, the truth is I remember a finding of that study. For the life of me, I can’t locate it or any reference to it… probably a doctoral dissertation, but I’ve been unable to retrieve it. (I hope it’s not a false memory; an old man’s imaginary friend).
The study I remember documented first graders’ choices from their well-stocked classroom library. The researcher was surprised that so many kids enjoyed reading books that she thought had little literary merit. The book collection included plenty of Caldecott winners and other high-quality picture books. Many of the kids preferred books with titles like, Tug the Pup, and Big Pig.
As a former first-grade teacher, I wasn’t surprised by that at all. The researcher assumed that the books themselves were the main feature of these kids’ reading, that the kids read for the books. That’s not the case for most beginners and probably not for many of the rest of us either.
What turns on beginning readers? Being able to read!
They want to be successful, competent, and effective; grown up. At 5- or 6-years-old being able to read is a very cool thing. Kids who can read successfully feel good about it. In that equation, the books don’t matter very much, it’s the reading.
I suspect that’s one of the reasons why rereading is so prevalent among young kids. They get to repeat – and, perhaps, further perfect – their success. I also think that’s part of the reason they gravitate to short books over longer ones; finishing a book is an accomplishment and quicker reads make that sense of accomplishment more frequent.
My point isn’t that kids’ choices should be limited to decodables or books with lots of repeated vocabulary. But those choices should be copiously available for self-selected reading given how successfully they fulfill kids’ desires and needs.
Teachers may consider these books boring (Mesmer, 2006; Schwartz, 2020), but research says that kids don’t. For instance, kids enjoy taking decodables home for reading (Cowan, 2026). Wiley Blevins (2016) reported that kids liked reading more after some time working with phonics and decodables, and that many kids’ love of reading declines when they don’t get such support.
There’s an important lesson here that goes beyond whether decodables – or any texts – will necessarily put kids on the road to lifelong reading.
When I was trying to track down that remembered or imagined study, I read a lot of research on children’s reading preferences (Boraks, et al., 1997; Capper, 2013; Gaylord, et al., 2020; Hu, et al., 2024; Johnsson-Smaragdi & Jönsson, 2006; Kuzmilcová & Nekola, 2022; Nippold, et al., Duthie, 2005; Reedy, & De Carvalho, 2021; Reedy & Reedy, 2024). It’s an issue that has raised researchers’ curiosity for generations: What topics do kids like to read about? Do boys and girls prefer different genres (Bergman Deitcher, et al., 2019; Cervetti, et al., 2009; McGeown, 2015)? Do kids prefer fantasy or realism (Barnes, 2012)?
In recent years, studies have explored whether kids would rather read storybooks or informational texts. Many adults have strong beliefs on this topic (e.g., Pappas, 1993; Yatvin, 2001). Several studies have reported that kids have a much stronger taste for fictional stories than information (Awais & Ameen, 2013; Chapman, et al., 2007; Clark & Foster 2005; Hoffman, et al., 2012; Owen, 2013; Pentimonti, et al, 2010; Robinson, et al., 1997; Yopp & Yopp, 2012). That would cinch it for me if there weren’t so many other studies showing the opposite (Correia, 2011; Kamil, et al., 2005; Kotaman & Tekin, 2017; Kraemer, et al., 2012; Mohr, 2003; Mohr, 2006; Repaskey, et al., 2017).
There seems to be no question about it: Kids either prefer reading fiction or non-fiction!
Another example of this kind of confusion is presented by studies comparing preferences for fantasy or realism. Some studies show that youngsters like fantasy best (you know, talking animals and the like), but there are also studies with the opposite conclusion. One study even showed that grownups have a greater tendency to choose fiction and fantasy than kids do (Barnes, 2012). Wow!
I don’t think researchers have screwed up – not if we consider the whole literature.
I know readers who only read novels and others who think that’s a total waste of time. Then there are the ones like me who prefer both, leaning one way or another at any given time. I’m on a bit of a novel tear myself right now: What We Can Know, The Quiet American, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Loving, and Howard’s End.
These studies are useful because they expose the wide range of goals that reading fulfills and the amazing collection of texts we’ve accumulated for meeting those needs.
Young kids may love reading some books because they allow them to show off their newly acquired skills or abilities; it makes them proud. Nothing wrong with that.
But there are lots of other reasons to read, and the readers I admire most are those who’ve managed to figure out which texts give them what they need and want.
People read because they want to know things, so informational texts are a natural choice. A recent New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller list includes 3 books about our current political situation (2 Left, 1 Right); 3 books about celebrities who recently passed away (Hayden Panettiere, Dolly Parton), 2 about ecology (plants, specifically), and two focused on life management (marriage, trauma). We may desire information, but that list shows how diverse our tastes are when it comes to such content.
There’s also a Times fiction list and at least some who dine there also seek information. Historical fiction, for instance, may satisfy that desire for some – exposing not just the facts of an event, but what it may have been like to live through it. Of course, there are lots of other reasons for reading fiction. Perhaps the fantasies and thrillers on that list are for purposes of entertainment or escape, and those are not the same thing.
My wife often reads books, not because of their attraction, but because she belongs to one of our many neighborhood book clubs. This part of her reading agenda has little to do with the books themselves, and much more to do with connecting with her friends. (She is also in a two-member cross-country book club with one of our grandkids – again, for the social connection more than for what the books themselves may deliver. Of course, she’d be quick to contradict me on this – “It’s both,” she’d correct me).
Kids, too, engage in social reading. You don’t really believe that everyone loves Harry Potter. Many do, of course, but many other kids just wanted to be part of the club.
What affects our reading choices at any given time?
Lots of things: text availability, reader awareness of what’s available, attractiveness of book covers and the intrigue of book titles, connections to other media (Jacoby & Edlefsen, 2020), the races and ethnicities of the characters (Brown-Wood, & Solari, 2021) the lengths of the books, what we read before (think series books here), what our friends are reading, what we’re dealing with in our lives now (e.g., upcoming trip, births, weddings, marital concerns, workplace needs), and so on.
My point – and the ultimate contribution of this collection of studies – is that there is not a single reason to read. Accordingly, there isn’t one kind of text that will encourage kids to love reading and want to engage in it.
If you want kids to become readers, consider and value their needs. Perhaps start with something simple like Maslow’s Needs pyramid. According to Maslow, we need love and belonging; esteem; and self-actualization, along with meeting the demands of physical survival. Think about how reading may contribute to fulfilling any of those.
Then, go further. Are there needs that Maslow missed or should some of his components be divided up. Where does pursuing one’s curiosity or exploring some topic fit in that scheme? How about reflection or the development of an appreciation of beauty? Do we have a fundamental need to exercise our imaginations? (Freud (1908) thought we did).
Take those goals or purposes and identify child-appropriate texts that could play a role in their accomplishment. But go further. Think about the social arrangements that would support those kinds of reading, and how kids will find out that books could be used in those ways and how they would go about accessing books for those needs.
Don’t worry about whether kids will enjoy their decodables. Many will and there’s nothing wrong with that. The same can be said for some kids’ desire to read only graphic novels or comic books to the exclusion of everything else. Such pursuits are not harmful. It is an important reminder that kids and adults don’t always see things in the same way. What you think will turn them off may have the opposite effect for many.
Schools have a responsibility to provide access to and exposure to a much wider range of texts and reading experiences than that. Decodables make pedagogical sense for a brief period, but never as the only things kids should be reading even during that period.
If you’re serious about wanting kids to embrace reading throughout their lives – to turn to reading when it could be a source of help or joy—then get beyond the books themselves. Kids should learn not just how to read, but why people read, and what kinds of texts they read to accomplish their multiplicity of goals, and how to successfully handle that plethora of text types.
References
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