The present study investigated the effects of daily phonics and decoding instruction on Newcomer English Language Learners (ELL). Participants (n = 10) were identified as first year students in the United States, attending the same elementary school in Iowa. Participants’ literacy scores were measured using the FAST Early Reading Letter Sounds assessment, FAST Early Reading Nonsense Words assessment, and the FAST CBMReading assessment. Upon receiving their scores on the assessments, participants received fifteen minutes of explicit instruction each day, in their respective ELL class, for eight weeks. Results from the dependent samples two-tailed t-test revealed that there was not a significant difference between the pretest and posttest on any of the three assessments. While, on average, students did improve from the pretest to the posttest, there was not a significant difference following the intervention. More research is needed to better understand which instructional materials are most effective at improving literacy skills in Newcomer ELLs
