After the failure of ITA, schools returned to a familiar tool, phonics. But was it enough to fix the literacy problem?
When the Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA) faded from classrooms in the early 1970s, it left behind more than a pile of discarded primers and experimental texts. It left behind a question: What do we do now?
Faced with disappointing literacy outcomes and disillusionment with experimental solutions, educators turned back to something familiar, phonics. The 1970s and 1980s marked a return to basics, a renewed emphasis on teaching children how to "sound out" words using the regular alphabet.
This era didn’t reinvent the wheel, but it did reinforce the idea that effective reading instruction must begin with a strong foundation in the relationship between letters and sounds.
🔤 What Is Phonics, Exactly?
Phonics is a method of teaching reading that focuses on the systematic correspondence between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes). It teaches students to:
- Recognize letters and their associated sounds
- Blend sounds to form words
- Break apart written words into sounds to spell them
While phonics had long been used in reading instruction, it surged back into prominence after ITA’s failure, largely because it was practical, affordable, and familiar to teachers and parents.
🔁 Back to Basics
In contrast to ITA's complete alphabet overhaul, phonics required no new symbols, no custom-printed materials, and no radical rethinking of language. It was a return to what many considered common sense, and that gave it an edge in the post-ITA years.
Classrooms of the 1970s and 1980s saw a proliferation of:
- Decodable readers (texts that use regular, phonics-friendly spelling patterns)
- Phonics workbooks and sound charts
- Letter-sound drills and oral blending exercises
While teaching approaches varied widely by region and school, the core idea remained the same: teach kids the building blocks of language first.
📈 Did It Work?
Phonics instruction showed consistent results, especially in helping early readers gain decoding skills. Research from the time (and since) has shown that explicit, systematic phonics can:
- Improve word recognition
- Strengthen spelling
- Build reading fluency
However, by the early 1980s, phonics was beginning to face a different kind of criticism. Detractors argued that phonics alone wasn’t enough. Students could decode, yes, but many lacked comprehension, context, or interest. Reading became mechanical, not meaningful.
This tension set the stage for the next major shift in reading instruction: the rise of the Whole Language Movement.
🧠 For Writers: Why This Matters
The way readers are taught affects what they notice, how they interpret words, and even what kind of literature they connect with. The phonics revival of the ’70s and ’80s built a generation of readers who could decode efficiently but not always joyfully.
Understanding this helps writers think about:
- The demands of early literacy on readers
- Why simple, phonetically regular words still appeal to some adults
- How instructional trends influence reading preferences and fluency across generations
🧩 What’s Next?
In the 1980s and ’90s, phonics didn’t just face criticism — it faced a full-on rebellion. Enter the Whole Language Movement, with its promise to make reading meaningful again.
In the next installment, we’ll look at how the pendulum swung too far, and why Whole Language turned into one of the most controversial chapters in the history of literacy instruction.