The science of reading, beyond phonetics

Key points:

Schools across the country have been changing their reading strategies to incorporate knowledge and best practices they have learned from the science of reading. More than 30 states have written laws requiring schools to use scientifically researched instructional strategies.

The biggest change most states will see as a result is a dramatic increase in explicit phonics instruction. As a result, an increasing number of students will be able to access grade-level texts.

I predict this will be reflected in the summative and baseline scores. However, selecting words from the page is only part of what is measured in benchmarks. If we want to see continued success, we will need to take everything the science of reading has taught us and provide students with a healthy diet of explicit literacy instruction that includes foundational skills like decoding, as well as developing content knowledge and higher order understanding. strategies.

While I think there will be some adjustments to find the right mix, I don't think the best literacy outcomes from aligning instruction with the science of reading will be cyclical or short-lived. The schools are on the right track; They just need to find the right balance between instruction and reading experiences.

Combining phonetics and previous knowledge.

The science of reading is not a program, a curriculum, or something you can buy. It is a collection of scientific research from a variety of fields, including cognitive psychology, education, and neuroscience, that helps us understand how we acquire written language.

Instruction aligned with the science of reading is sequential and explicit. Today, it may seem like the science of reading focuses solely on phonics. Perhaps this is an overcorrection in response to several popular reading programs that place too little emphasis on phonics. However, the science of reading includes much research on the importance of skills such as prior knowledge, vocabulary, and print concepts.

In fact, prior knowledge can even make phonics teaching more effective. If a student spends 80 percent of her mental energy trying to figure out what the words on the page mean, she only has 20 percent left to decode. The more prior knowledge they have, the more vocabulary they will use in the task and the more they can focus on applying their phonics skills.

Prior knowledge and vocabulary also allow students to self-assess while reading. If a student decodes the word “pie” but has never encountered it before, she has no way of knowing whether she actually applied her decoding skills correctly. If you were at a birthday party a few days ago and you know what a cake is, you will have immediate confirmation that you got the word right when you decoded it.

The need for authentic texts

To be truly skilled readers, students need diverse experiences and a varied vocabulary. I live in Connecticut, and if a teacher here asked his students to read about college football on an assessment, he wouldn't do as well as students in Texas, where college football is much more relevant. Reading a variety of texts on topics they are already interested in will help students expand their background knowledge and vocabulary naturally over time, adding to what they already know and are excited about.

The instructional material for student reading is usually very didactic. It is intended for a teacher to use to give examples of different elements of writing, and it is usually highly structured so that those elements, such as a main idea or a conclusion, are relatively easy to distinguish. Text in the real world is not structured the same way. It is more complicated and is not always arranged in the same way. To improve their reading and comprehension skills, students need access to authentic texts whose primary purpose is to entertain and inform.

Libraries designed to be enjoyed (whether traditional libraries, digital libraries, or classroom libraries) motivate students to read. When I was in school, one of my teachers singled me out as a reluctant and struggling reader. Every time it came time to pick up our copy of Blue Dolphin IslandHe seemed, at best, distracted and, at worst, like he'd rather be anywhere else. However, when we started the next book, a fantasy novel, I finished it independently that same day. Access to books that students enjoy can make the difference between doing everything in their power to avoid reading and sitting at their desks during recess because they can't put the books down.

Ideally, a teacher provides explicit instruction, models the new skill, does it with his or her students, and then sends them out to practice the new skill in something similar to a real-world context. If students don't have engaging material to read, they will only practice their new reading skills when prompted, and that's not enough.

Reading as a springboard to greater literacy skills

A good library will offer students not only texts that they are eager to read, but also writings that expose them to things outside their typical experience. This helps expand prior knowledge and generate engagement. Today, digital libraries offer a supportive reading experience by providing features such as the ability to hear a fluent reader reading aloud. Many of them offer a glossary, so that students can look up unknown words as they read, increasing their vocabulary naturally from examples in context. Once a student finishes reading an article about axolotls, for example, she can move on to another article about reptiles and see many of the same vocabulary words in slightly different contexts.

Unfortunately, instead of receiving accessible texts with supports to back them up, what struggling or disengaged students often receive are watered down texts at a lower level of difficulty. Reading a book for younger children can make an already discouraged student feel even worse, and those simpler texts won't push them to develop their comprehension skills to the appropriate level, which they need to do if they want to catch up.

My hope for the future is that educators don't let the pendulum swing too far in the direction of phonics. Students are finally getting the kind of explicit reading instruction they need and deserve, but they also need plenty of opportunities (and motivation!) to practice this critical academic skill along the way. Whether you graduated from teacher preparation in 1950 or 2023, one universal truth that all teachers know is that students become good readers by reading and great readers by enjoying authentic, engaging texts.