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The Economist:
How phonics took over English schools

18 July 2019

Last year research by academics at the LSE's Centre for Economic Performance found that phonics improved children's reading. Sandra McNally, one of the authors, notes that, whereas the boost faded with time for better-off children, who would have eventually learned to read well anyway, it persisted for poor readers and those without English as a first language. "Other approaches rely on existing child vocabulary and life experiences," says Lydia Cuddy-Gibbs, head of early years at Ark, a charity which runs 38 state schools. "Phonics helps to put children on a level playing field."

Changing How Literacy Is Taught: Evidence on Synthetic Phonicss, Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally, Martina Viarengo. AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL: ECONOMIC POLICY VOL. 10, NO. 2, MAY 2018, (pp. 217-41).