Developing Early Reading Skills of Grade 3–4 Pupils in English Language Classes: A Gradual Release Model for a Transparent-to-Opaque Orthography Transition

Primary school pupils in Uzbekistan begin reading English after they have learned to read their native language in the Latin script, an orthography in which letters map onto sounds in a largely one-to-one way. English, by contrast, has one of the least consistent spelling systems among alphabetic languages. This paper examines how reading skills in English can be developed in Grades 3 and 4 when learners move from a transparent to an opaque orthography. Drawing on theories of word reading development, the simple view of reading, scaffolding and the gradual release of responsibility, the study proposes a methodological model in which letter–sound work, decoding, fluency and comprehension are layered across two school years, and teacher support is planned to decrease systematically within each reading cycle. The paper describes a four-step lesson routine for a short text, a weekly reading cycle, a planning guideline for the withdrawal of teacher support and a set of classroom-observable indicators of progress. It argues that the familiarity of Latin letters is both a resource and a source of systematic error, and that reading instruction for young learners of English in Uzbekistan should address this transfer explicitly rather than leave it to chance.