Which strategy could a teacher use to help a third-grade student improve their decoding skills in reading?

• A. Provide phonics-based instruction on letter-sound patterns and blends
• B. Rely on silent reading without instruction
• C. Memorize sight words exclusively
• D. Focus solely on comprehension questions

Answer: (A)

Explicit instruction on how letters map to sounds and how to blend those sounds is the most effective way to build decoding skills. Decoding means translating printed text into spoken sounds, so students need a solid foundation of letter-sound relationships and patterns they can apply to unfamiliar words. When a teacher provides phonics-based instruction, students learn common sound patterns (like blends and digraphs) and how to combine them to form words. This growing toolkit helps them tackle new words with confidence, improving accuracy and fluency, which in turn supports understanding as they read.

Relying on silent reading without instruction offers no guided practice for decoding, so it doesn’t systematically develop the skills needed to sound out unfamiliar words. Memorizing sight words alone covers many common words but doesn’t teach how to decode new ones, leaving a gap when confronted with unfamiliar text. Focusing only on comprehension questions addresses meaning, but without decoding practice, the student may struggle to access the text itself.