Teacher Tea
The Three-Cueing System: A Closer Look
What is “three-cueing” in literacy instruction? The three-cueing system is a teaching method that helps students read by using three types of cues: semantic (meaning), syntactic (structure), and graphophonic (sound-symbol relationships).
In his blog post, “Three-Cueing and the Law,” literacy expert Timothy Shanahan argues that, while three-cueing is a research-based idea, it's often misused and misunderstood. He believes that while relying on semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic cues can be helpful for struggling readers, proficient readers primarily rely on graphophonic cues. He also criticizes recent state laws banning three-cueing in public education systems, arguing that they may inadvertently hinder effective reading instruction by restricting the use of essential decoding strategies. Both decoding and comprehension skills are important, and overly simplistic approaches to reading instruction are ultimately a detriment to overall literacy development.
Teachers who focus on developing literacy should understand the limitations of three-cueing, and its potential drawbacks. While it may seem intuitive, relying heavily on context and guessing can hinder the development of stronger decoding skills. Experts agree that a focus on explicit phonics instruction and systematic decoding strategies is at the foundation of strong reading comprehension.