Literacy That Lasts: The Double Helix Model For Teaching Phonics, Reading & Writing [Listen Along]
By Charlotte Hacking and Prof Dominic Wyse - You Can Listen To Me Read This Article!
Hey PLAY People,
This month, Professor Dominic Wise and Charlotte Hacking have written a brilliant article all about teaching phonics and writing. They call it ‘The Double Helix’ model, and it’s something I’m really keen to share and explore with The PLAYlist community.
You might recognise Dominic and Charlotte if you’re a long-time PLAYlist subscriber, as they did a fantastic interview with me allll the way back in January, so it’s great to bookend the year with great reading and writing provision.
If you’re one of our paid PLAYlisters, you can watch my interview with both Dominic and Charlotte HERE.
Dominic and Charlotte’s new book ‘The Balancing Act’ is available here:
Without any further ado, here's Professor Dominic Wyse and Charlotte Hacking explaining The Double Helix. Enjoy!
Introducing the Double Helix of Reading and Writing (DHRW)
By Professor Dominic Wyse & Charlotte Hacking
All of us working as teachers want to ensure that every child leaves primary school as a competent and confident reader, and every parent wants this for their child as well. But how do we ensure that this happens for every child?
Introducing the Double Helix of Reading and Writing (DHRW).
As a first step, it is paramount that, whatever age and stage of development of the children you work with, you know and understand how to teach a child to read and write and the multiple processes, skills and strategies that are involved. Our new evidence-based theory the Double Helix of Reading and Writing (DHRW) (Figure 1) was created as the result of a series of research projects that are part of the UCL’s Balancing Act initiative, aiming to improve policy and practice in the teaching of reading and writing. The theory and visual image were created as a result of work carried out for a research paper Decoding, reading and writing: the double helix theory of teaching (Wyse and Hacking, 2024) and the book The Balancing Act: An Evidence-Based Approach to Teaching Phonics, Reading and Writing (Wyse and Hacking, 2024), which detail the evidence base and teaching practices that inform and are informed by the DHRW.
Starting From the Child
Unlike other reading models which preceded it, such as the Simple View of Reading and the Reading Rope, the DHRW centres the interrelationship between language, reading and writing. It places the child, their language(s) and their environment at its heart, and emphasises the importance of motivation and meaning in children’s use of language, reading and writing. The visual model is based on a living phenomenon and the essence of life – the double helix that is part of human DNA. This is a deliberate reminder that using language, reading and writing are uniquely human phenomena. It includes the idea that all processes of oral and written language start to develop in embryonic and emergent forms as soon as children are born, based on brain, eye, ear and limb development prior to birth.
At the centre of the DHRW is the child – their language(s) and their environment, including texts encountered at home and at school. Learning must always start with the child and our knowledge of them, so it is paramount to gain as much information as we can about all of our children and their families, so that we build on prior learning and understanding in planning for their continued progress. This should include: languages spoken at home; whether the child has experience of reading or writing in these languages, as well as speaking; their access to texts and reading role models; their engagement in drawing, mark making and writing and any concerns families have about children’s development and progress.
A Balanced Approach to the Teaching of Literacy
The theory and model necessitate a balanced approach to the teaching of phonics, reading and writing, in which the focus is first and foremost on the balance between teaching based on whole texts as models for language, reading and writing, and systematic teaching about the alphabetic code and other linguistic features. With this approach, the importance of comprehending and composing written language is carefully balanced with the acquisition of a range of skills and knowledge.
As evidenced in the model, we strongly believe that it is important for children to learn phonics in a systematic way; it is an essential ingredient in the process of learning to read English but must be done in ways that are both pedagogically and developmentally appropriate for young children. This begins with activities to develop early phonological awareness which include listening to and discriminating sounds in the environment, rhythm and rhyme, voice sounds and alliteration.
As children’s knowledge of the relationship between spoken sounds and the letters that represent them develops, it is important that we support our children to become skilled and well-rounded readers and writers, not just through phonics but also through the provision of high-quality books and playful and exploratory activities that enable children to explore and enrich language and expect that the words on the page will carry meaning.
The Balancing Act book offers many examples of how to teach a systematic programme of phonics in a contextualised way linked to high-quality real books, so that children understand from the beginning of learning the alphabetic code how the related knowledge and skills support them in both reading and writing for themselves, building their identities as readers and writers.
Building Motivation and Meaning
To maintain a lifelong love of reading and writing, children need to be engaged and aware of the pleasures they can bring and also their purpose. Without this, reading and writing can become a chore or a struggle, and without seeing the pleasures, there is no impetus to overcome the challenges. Real, high-quality books support children’s enjoyment of and engagement in reading, so it is important that we know the interests and preferences of our children so that we can select appropriate books throughout the reading experiences on offer to motivate them.
These rich texts also offer models and inspiration for children’s writing, teaching them about the different purposes, forms and audiences for writing and igniting their imaginations for writing of their own. There are a number of places that support teacher’s knowledge of texts, including literacy charities like the CLPE and BookTrust alongside booksellers.
Alongside these rich, high-quality real books, we may also want to draw on decodable and levelled readers to support children in gaining security of specific skills and strategies as a step towards independent reading. It is important to apply the same criteria to choosing decodable and levelled readers as you would with regular children’s literature. There are a range of these kinds of books available with more satisfying storylines, and quality illustrations that take children far beyond the limited text on the page, providing children with more engaging and purposeful reading experiences.
Ensuring Success for All
Reading and writing are not easy processes, they are amongst the most difficult things a child will have to learn in their primary school experience, but when a child becomes fully literate, it unlocks doors.
What we have learnt throughout our work is that to teach children to become independent readers and writers, teachers do need a clear understanding of the alphabetic code and also what progression in the whole process of reading and writing looks like.
While no model can transform education on its own, the DHRW offers a new, holistic, research-based alternative to more narrow models of literacy. If implemented with sufficient professional development for teachers, we predict that it would result in even better outcomes for children.
Figure 1: The Double Helix of Reading and Writing
Thank you, Dominic and Charlotte!
You might recognise Dominic and Charlotte if you’re a long-time PLAYlist subscriber, as we did a great interview allll the way back in January, so it’s great to bookend the year with great reading and writing provision.
If you’re one of our paid PLAYlisters, you can watch my interview with both Dominic and Charlotte here:
Dominic and Charlotte’s new book ‘The Balancing Act’ is available here:
