EBLI Program Description
E.B.L.I. is a system of research-based instructional strategies that can be infused within the existing curriculum to assist learners of all ages to reach their highest level of reading ability. Recognizing that the theory of effective reading instruction does not, in and of itself, offer teachers the practical tools needed to effectively implement this theory in the classroom, E.B.L.I. provides teachers with easy-to-use, research-based reading strategies and activities which are effective in any instructional setting.
E.B.L.I. strategies and activities have a strong emphasis on word level instruction, and they are designed to inform, teach, and coach students to understand that every English word is comprised of sounds, that the 43 human sounds are represented by individual letters or letter combinations, and that the English Code is a system of logic. Additionally, E.B.L.I. makes it clear to students that spelling and reading (encoding and decoding) are intricately related, and simultaneous instruction in the reversibility of the English Code is provided.
On a more explicit and fundamental level, E.B.L.I. teaches three facts about the English code to ensure that students are able to read words accurately, develop fluency, and improve comprehension:
I. In English, 1, 2, 3, or 4 letters can represent one sound
| /a/ in at | (TWO letters, two sounds) |
| /oi/ in oil | (THREE letters, two sounds) |
| /igh/ in high | (FOUR letters, two sounds) |
| /eigh/ in eight | (FIVE letters, two sounds) |
II. All sounds in English can be spelled more than 1 way
| For example, the sound ‘a’ can be spelled: | |||
| ay in play | ai in rain | a in paper | ea in steak |
| eigh in eight | ey in they | e in very | aigh in straight |
III. In English, some spellings represent multiple sounds:
| For example, the spelling ‘ou’ can represent many different sounds: | |
| /ow/ in out | /oo/ in you |
| /u/ in tough | /oe/ in soul |
The above skills and information are taught explicitly for a brief time through structured, systematic, multi-sensory activities emphasizing sorting, categorizing, and showing patterns of logic in the English code; phonemic awareness skills of blending, segmenting, and phoneme manipulation are taught in the context of real words and are used in all E.B.L.I activities; instruction them moves quickly to reinforcing the skills and information through the reading of authentic text. In addition, fluency training is provided, as well as reinforcement of vocabulary and comprehension strategies in the process of reading text.
This brief synopsis just touches on some of the high points of our strategies. We encourage you to read our Whitepaper or call us to learn a lot more.