As educators, our ultimate goal is to help students acquire, develop, and apply new skills with confidence and independence. One powerful tool to guide our instructional practice is the Instructional Hierarchy, a model of skill acquisition that has been researched over the past few decades. By understanding and applying this model, we can align our teaching strategies with students’ current levels of proficiency, making our instruction more effective and impactful.
What is the Instructional Hierarchy?
The Instructional Hierarchy outlines the stages of learning that individuals go through when mastering a new skill. These stages—Acquisition, Fluency, Generalization, and Adaptation—represent predictable phases of skill development. Each stage requires specific types of instruction and support to ensure students progress effectively.
The Stages of the Instructional Hierarchy
Acquisition
What it looks like: Students are learning the skill for the first time. They may perform it inaccurately or require significant guidance.
Instructional strategies: Explicit and systematic instruction is key during this phase. Provide immediate feedback and guided practice to help students develop accuracy.
Example: A student is learning that the long “a” sound can be spelled “-ay.” To support them, the teacher provides targeted practice decoding words with the grapheme “-ay” in isolation and controlled contexts.
Fluency
What it looks like: Students perform the skill accurately but may do so slowly or with effort. They need more practice to build automaticity.
Instructional strategies: Increase the intensity and repetition of practice. Use timed activities, goal-setting, and scaffolded routines to enhance fluency.
Example: A student can read words accurately but struggles with speed when reading connected text. Their teacher uses a repeated reading routine with scooped phrases to improve her fluency.
Generalization
What it looks like: Students begin to use the skill in new but related contexts. They can transfer their learning across different materials, settings, or subject areas.
Instructional strategies: Offer varied practice opportunities and include prompts that help students make connections between what they’ve learned and how it can be applied elsewhere.
Example: A student who can fluently decode words in isolation begins to apply that skill when reading short paragraphs, including unfamiliar vocabulary and varied sentence structures.
Adaptation
What it looks like: Students apply the skill flexibly and independently in complex, novel, or unfamiliar situations.
Instructional strategies: Reduce scaffolding, increase task complexity, and provide constructive feedback. Encourage students to evaluate their own performance and adjust as needed.
Example: A student fluently spells words using common inflectional morphemes. The teacher supports adaptation by incorporating sentence-combining tasks, allowing him to apply this knowledge in writing sophisticated, varied sentences for different purposes.
Why Should Educators Care?
Matching instruction to a student’s current stage in the Instructional Hierarchy maximises learning efficiency. If we provide advanced tasks to students still acquiring a skill, they may become frustrated or overwhelmed. Conversely, drilling students on skills they’ve already mastered can lead to disengagement and stagnation. By tailoring our approach, we can ensure that every student experiences meaningful growth.
Practical Applications for Literacy Instruction in Ontario
The Instructional Hierarchy aligns closely with the principles of explicit and systematic instruction emphasised in the new Ontario Literacy Curriculum. These principles ensure that students build strong foundational skills and progress toward fluency, generalisation, and adaptability in literacy tasks.
Acquisition in Literacy: Explicitly teach phonemic awareness, decoding, and other foundational skills. Use clear modelling, guided practice, and immediate corrective feedback. For example, a teacher might model blending sounds to form words and guide students through practising this skill in controlled activities.
Fluency in Literacy: Focus on developing reading fluency through repeated readings, phrase-cued texts, and scaffolded practice. Timed activities can help students build speed while maintaining accuracy.
Generalization in Literacy: Help students apply skills across contexts, such as reading different types of texts or applying decoding strategies in unfamiliar reading material. Provide varied practice opportunities and prompts to encourage transfer.
Adaptation in Literacy: Encourage students to apply their skills independently in new and complex situations—such as writing for different audiences or analyzing advanced texts. Gradually reduce scaffolding while providing feedback to foster independence and confidence.
Why This Matters for Ontario Educators
Literacy is foundational to all learning, and the Instructional Hierarchy provides a structured approach to ensure all students progress effectively. By aligning literacy instruction with students’ current proficiency levels and employing explicit and systematic methods, Ontario educators can meet the ambitious goals of the new curriculum and prepare students for lifelong success.
Practical Steps for Ontario Teachers
Assessment: Regularly assess where students are in the hierarchy for specific literacy skills. Use formative assessments to identify whether they are in the acquisition, fluency, generalisation, or adaptation stage.
Differentiation: Design literacy instruction that meets students where they are. Group students by their proficiency levels for targeted support.
Progress Monitoring: Track student progress and adjust instruction as needed. Celebrate milestones as students move through the hierarchy.
References
Haring, N. G., & Eaton, M. D. (1978). The Instructional Hierarchy. VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Burns, M. K. (2023). Evidence-Informed Practices for Skill Acquisition.
The Instructional Hierarchy, ONlit resource
