Abstract

Accurate decoding is an essential process that needs occur before a child can read for meaning and comprehend the text in front of them. The UK’s education system is very focused on synthetic phonics ‘training’ in the first couple of years of school. Whilst it is well recognised and mostly agreed that this strategy is a successful one, conclusions from previous research would suggest that decoding by a method of converting and linking letters to sound is only employed by children for a relatively short time and then the task is assessed differently – children look for meaning in what they have read. Using the famous Stroop Task, this study explores the decoding strategies of children aged 4-8years, with results suggesting a shift from phonological to visual reading styles between the ages of 5 and 6 years. The methodology of this study will be outlined and implications of the results discussed.