Which of the following is an evidence-based method for improving decoding skills in students with dyslexia?

• A. Silent reading practice
• B. Multisensory phonics instruction
• C. Whole-language instruction
• D. Independent vocabulary study

Answer: (B)

Explicit, systematic phonics instruction delivered in a multisensory way directly teaches how sounds map to letters, how to blend those sounds into words, and how to segment words into phonemes. By engaging visual, auditory, and tactile-kinesthetic channels, students repeatedly practice decoding skills, strengthening phoneme–grapheme connections and overall word-reading ability. This approach aligns with structured literacy principles and has strong research support for improving decoding in learners with dyslexia.

Other approaches like silent reading practice, which doesn’t provide explicit decoding instruction; whole-language instruction, which emphasizes meaning and context over systematic phonics; and independent vocabulary study, which targets word knowledge but not the decoding process, do not reliably build the decoding skills dyslexic students need.