Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science
If a single image could conjure up ‘education’, it’s probably that of a child learning to read. Teaching reading is both the most researched topic in education and, probably, the most contested. Some decades ago, those disputes may have been more understandable, but the research base has now developed to the point where the evidence in favour of a particular, systematic approach is overwhelming. That body of evidence is now known in the profession as the ‘science of reading’.
Professor Pamela Snow (La Trobe University) explains that unlike oral language, reading (and its corollary, writing) should be explicitly and methodically taught to children from a young age: “Reading, writing and spelling are not biologically natural – they’re human contrivances that we’ve only been doing for about 6000 years.”
The research is widely available in academic journals and there are many helpful articles and overviews for teachers and parents. As Louisa Moats explains, the science of reading is the convergence of extensive international research encompassing thousands of studies, which tell us what works and what matters in reading instruction practice. When many well-designed studies point to a similar result, we should pay attention.
A simple model helps us to make sense of this research:
RC = D x LC
D = Decoding, sounding out and recognising words
LC = Language Comprehension, i.e. making meaning of the words and sentences we hear
The product of Decoding and Language Comprehension is Reading Comprehension (RC).
This strong, core formula describes the ‘how and why’ of reading development.
The squiggles on the page are print representations of speech sounds and, as Snow explains: “The simple view of reading tells us that in order to get meaning out of text, you’ve got to be able to crack the code.”
The basic skills to crack the code and develop reading skills are:
- Phonological awareness (connecting the sounds in words to letters)
- Phonics and word recognition (teaching letter sounds and sound-spelling patterns)
- Fluency (developing automatic word recognition and fluent expression)
- Vocabulary and oral language comprehension
- Text comprehension.
At Queenwood, we have been using this approach for years and it is good to see that the latest update of the NSW K-2 English syllabus will mandate it in all schools from 2023.
What does the science of reading look like in our classrooms?
- A focus on quality spoken language and building oral narrative – as reading development is directly linked to a child’s breadth of vocabulary and clarity of pronunciation.
- Reading is taught deliberately, explicitly and systematically, starting with a small set of letters, dedicating portions of time when phonics is taught sequentially from a scope and sequence.
- We seize, ‘aha! point in time’ teachable moments.
- We focus on decoding - segmenting words into sounds, syllables or chunks – and develop this skill using decodable texts.
- We use rich, complex texts for all students in the class with multiple reads moving from teacher modelling to student practice.
- We partner for repeated readings to develop fluency.
- We promote high quality conversations about texts focusing on language, structure and deepening understanding.
- We concentrate on word building activities using known sounds, beginning with consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) words (e.g. ‘cat’). Letters taught in isolation take too long and this is not an effective way to build the segmenting and blending skills needed for fluency later. Effective instruction uses sets of letters to build words from the beginning.
- We look at easily decoded high-frequency words (and, at, it) and irregularly spelt high-frequency words (said, the) – paying careful attention to the sounds we hear (phonemes) and associated spelling choices (graphemes) in these words – rather than focusing on lists of isolated, whole word ‘sight words.’ By teaching students word attack skills to decode high frequency words systematically, we are enabling them to read far more words than just a hundred words by the end of their first year of formal school.
- Learning to read and reading to learn for all is promoted as a vital and enjoyable daily activity, as exemplified in the Queenwood Just Read program.
- We continually track students’ phonemic awareness skills.
What does the science of reading look like at home?
- Make time for quality conversations, listen carefully, model clarity in speech and encourage your daughter to pronounce words clearly (building oral narrative).
- Read a wide variety of rich literature together at home, making connections between books read and real-life experiences, draw attention to new vocabulary, discuss the text, compare and contrast stories.
- Read the school decodable readers together, developing fluency.
- Identify sounds (phonemes) and spelling choices (graphemes) in words.
- Group words according to phonemes and graphemes (songs and poems are useful here).
- Be seen as a keen reader….our girls are very observant!
Note: The Junior School teachers recently updated their skills through the La Trobe SOLAR (Science of Language and Reading) Lab, online course led by Prof Pamela Snow and additional NESA/AIS K – 2 English syllabus courses in Term, 2022.