Current Approaches to Reading Instruction

2.1 A Very Brief History of Reading Instruction

Learning Intentions

After viewing this module session participants will be able to: 

• Identify the four basic approaches to teaching reading
  
• Be familiar with the "unity of study" for these four approaches
  

View

Watch the session below. 

*Please see the Transcripts resource folder located in Module 0 for a text copy of the transcript from this video.

Summary

• All the popular, current reading approaches go back well over 100 year
  
• To address weak readers, we need to move beyond the classic approaches
  
• Each reading philosophy approaches reading with a different unit of study
  
• None of the classical approaches adequately address the needs of struggling readers
  

Reflect & Connect

How might the different approaches to reading instruction inform your current work? What might you need to considers when communicating about reading instruction with families with colleagues?

2.2 Why Current Research Instruction Does Not Work Well for Struggling Learners

Learning Intentions

After viewing this module participants will be able to: 

• Identify the classic approaches to teaching reading
• Understand why these classic approaches are typically not effective for nearly one third of the student population

View

Watch Session 2 below. 

*Please see the Transcripts resource folder located in Module 0 for a text copy of the transcript from this video. 

Summary

• The four classical approaches all go back before reading was study scientifically
• The classic approaches do not adequately address the needs of most of the bottom third of readers
• Research in the last 40 years has demonstrated the language/phonology requirements of skilled reading

Reflect and Connect

What makes the classic approaches to teaching reading ineffective for nearly one third of students learning to read? If your school is using a curriculum that is based on one of these classic philosophies, how might you supplement your instruction to reach your struggling readers? 

2.3 Visual Memory Theory of Reading

Learning Intentions

At the end of this session participants will: 

• Define “sight words”
  
• Describe the whole word/sight word teaching approach
  
• Examine the strong intuitive notion that we remember written words based upon visual memory

View

Watch the Session 3 below

*Please see the Transcripts resource folder located in Module 0 for a text copy of the transcript from this video. 

Summary

• Researchers and educators define sight words as known, instantly familiar words that require no effort to read because they are very well secured in memory
  
• Visual memory feels like the way words are stored in memory
  
• This strongly intuitive notion has been shown to be incorrect via multiple lines of independent research
  
• To understand reading we must elsewhere to determine how we remember the words we read
  

Reflect and Connect

If word-reading is not based upon visual memory, what skills is it strongly correlated with? How might this shift in understanding influence a shift in reading instruction?

2.4 Three Cueing System Theory of Reading

Learning Intentions

Participants will be able to: 

• Describe the popular Three-Cueing Systems Model of Reading
• Understand why it does not help close the gap for weak readers

View

Watch Session 4 below.

*Please see the Transcripts resource folder located in Module 0 for a text copy of the transcript from this video. 

Summary

• Three-Cueing Systems approach to reading has influenced our reading instruction for the last three decades
  
• It reflects a theory of reading that seemed promising in the 1960s, but hundreds of studies show that it does not accurately reflect how skilled reading works
  
• Despite this, it is continuously affirmed as being a true and accurate representation of how reading develops.
  
• Studies on its effectiveness continuously show that it tends to have weak long term results with struggling readers.

Reflect & Connect

If you had a conversation with a colleague who insists on using the Three-Cuing Systems approach to reading, how would you explain to them why it is ineffective with struggling readers?

2.5 Phonics- Strengths and Limitations

Learning Intentions

Participants will be able to:

• Describe the phonics approach to reading
  
• Indicate why letter-sound knowledge and “statistical learning” are essential for reading an alphabet-based writing system
  
• Understanding the central but limited role of phonics in reading
  

View

View Session 5 below.

*Please see the Transcripts resource folder located in Module 0 for a text copy of the transcript from this video. 

Summary

• The phonics approach gets superior results to the whole word and whole language approaches
  
• There is still a sizable percentage of students who struggle, even with phonic approach
  
• Phonics skills represent a necessary but not sufficient element in skilled word-level reading

Reflect & Connect

Why might the phonics approach be more effective than other classic teaching methods? Why is it still ineffective for some struggling readers?