Effects of word boxes on improving students’ basic literacy skills: A literature review

AbstractWord boxes (also referred to as Elkonin or sound boxes) are used to teach basic literacy skills to children. However, there has not been a review of studies reporting on the effects of word boxes on students’ reading achievement. The purpose of this review was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the effects of word boxes on students’ reading performance. Several experimental studies reporting on the effects of word boxes were identified through database searches followed by an ancestral search. Findings from this review revealed that there was evidence to support the use of word boxes for helping preschool to elementary students acquire phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondences, and spelling. Limitations and directions for future research are presented.