Beyond the Basics of the Science of Readingīut there is more to the reading story. However, both sources are changing as colleges feel increasing pressure to teach, and schools to use, research-based strategies. Other influences include the training that educators received and the curriculum that their school district purchases. The child’s mother reacted, “Why aren’t you just sounding it out?” Obviously, she was taught phonics, while her daughter was being taught balanced literacy. When the child came to a word she didn’t know, she started looking at the pictures to determine what the word was. A friend recently told me that she was listening to her seven-year-old read. So how do teachers choose one method over the other? One influence is how educators were taught to read themselves. That’s what makes the reading wars a war: there can only be one victor. “One negates the other,” a literacy coach states. As Hanford reports, balanced literacy strategies like “three-cueing” are fundamentally at odds with teaching phonics. What’s more, including some phonics is not only less effective-it’s not effective at all. This method has been popular with many educators since they believe it builds a love of books and reading.Īlthough balanced literacy programs now typically claim to incorporate some phonics, they usually do not align with the more sequential approaches of a phonics-based program. This strategy evolved from the earlier whole language approach, which assumed that children learn to read if they are given good books and taught cues and strategies to support their reading, such as looking at the pictures or using context. On the other side of the reading wars is the balanced literacy approach. The phonics approach teaches children to begin reading by manipulating the sounds in words, or “sounding out” words.Versus the Balanced Literacy Approach The key differentiator between the science of reading approach and alternatives is phonics. The Phonics Approach.īased on the science of reading, the 2000 National Reading Panel Report stated that students need explicit instruction in the essential components of reading: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. This body of knowledge, over twenty years in the making, has helped debunk older methods of reading instruction that were based on tradition and observation, not evidence. The term “science of reading” refers to the research that reading experts, especially cognitive scientists, have conducted on how we learn to read. So, what should educators and parents know about the science of reading? Here is a basic summary, plus two important beyond-basic facts to inform educators’ choices of reading programs. Such legislation lands squarely on one side of the reading wars: the side backed by the science of reading. Now, states are taking notice and passing new laws to ensure that schools are using research-based reading instruction. This new iteration of the long-running reading wars was ignited by journalist Emily Hanford, who began arguing in 2018 that reading is being taught the wrong way (see here, here, and here). If you have been keeping up with education listservs, you’ve most likely seen the recent explosion of articles on the science of reading and the push for teachers to learn more about it.
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