A key element in early reading development is phonological and phonemic awareness, and explicit instruction is necessary to the development of these sound-based skills (National Reading Panel, 2000). The goal of this review was to examine the effects of interventions for K-3 students to determine the instructional characteristics and features that are effective in building phonological and/or phonemic awareness skills for early elementary students. Data were collected and analyzed from 35 experimental, quasi-experimental, or single case primary studies and found multimodal explicit instruction delivered daily for 20-30 minutes in whole-class settings for students in general education classrooms had effective outcomes for early literacy skills. When multimodal, explicit, and systematic instruction targeted code-based skills in small groups or one-on-one settings for 20-30 minutes each day, multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and at-risk students achieved phonological, phonemic awareness, or word decoding skills. Computer-based instruction for early literacy skills also produced effective results across all student groups.
