Teaching reading is a crucial aspect of education, as it is the foundation for success in many other subjects. As such, researchers have conducted extensive research on the most effective methods for teaching reading.
One of the most widely studied approaches to teaching reading is phonics, which involves teaching children to decode words by breaking them down into individual sounds and blending those sounds together. This approach has been found to be particularly effective for beginning readers, as it helps them to develop the skills they need to sound out unfamiliar words.
Another approach to teaching reading is whole language, which emphasizes the importance of understanding the meaning of text and encourages students to use context clues and their prior knowledge to make sense of unfamiliar words. While whole language has been controversial in the past, recent research suggests that it can be an effective approach when combined with phonics instruction.
In addition to these approaches, researchers have also studied the impact of various other factors on reading ability, including the role of parental involvement, the use of technology, and the importance of providing a rich literacy environment at home and in the classroom.
One important aspect of teaching reading is ensuring that students receive instruction that is tailored to their individual needs. This can involve differentiating instruction for students who may struggle with reading, as well as providing advanced instruction for students who are excelling in reading.
Overall, the research on teaching reading suggests that a combination of phonics and whole language instruction, along with individualized support and a rich literacy environment, can be effective in helping students develop strong reading skills.
What Research Really Says About Teaching Reading (Even Beyond ILA 2019)
Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Reading Research Quarterly, 15, 481-533. The reading strategiesthat teachers foster can often be broken into two fundamental categories: one approach is phonics, and the other is called whole language. As noted in all of the NAEP reading results for the past quarter of a century, reading failure is most prevalent among children from disadvantaged environments. In 2000, a national panel convened by Congress to review the evidence on how to teach reading came out with a report. Has the program or approach been proven scientifically to work with students like mine? If something is confusing to them, they use their background knowledge to try to clarify the meanings of words and phrases.
Reading Research by Topic
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8, 293-316. ELLs' prior educational experiences may have been substandard or interrupted, so reading texts that assume certain prior knowledge becomes difficult. Available at: August, D. The research shows that not only do phonics and phonemic awareness need to be taught using a bottom-up approach, but it also needs to be explicit, systematic, and sequential. The group began the panel by discussing what research tells us about teaching and facilitating in the early years. Goodman's proposal became the theoretical basis for a new approach to teaching reading that would soon take hold in American schools. Substantial research carried out and supported by NICHD indicates clearly that without this systematic and intensive approach to early intervention, the majority of at-risk readers rarely catch up.
New Research and Applications for Teaching Reading
The panel's charge was to review existing studies, choose those that were well designed and well implemented, and synthesize their findings. What Is Scientific Evidence? The results showed that, when the goal is to maximize learning for all individuals, the like-skilled grouping strategy works best. By about second grade, a typically developing reader needs just a few exposures to a word through understanding both the pronunciation and the spelling for that word to be stored in her memory. I heard this from other educators. The class was reading a book together and the teacher was telling the children to practice the strategies that good readers use. Susan Garni Masullo, Ph. For whole language supporters, the fundamental belief is that the process of reading happens naturally when students are exposed to rich literature and participate in learning that requires reasoning and favors higher order thinking skills.
The Science of Reading Research
She's on the path to skilled reading. They often are not familiar with the vocabulary they encounter, and have trouble determining word meanings. Vocabulary development, phonological sensitivity, and alphabetic skills are extremely strong predictors of later reading proficiency; typically, children from low socioeconomic backgrounds lag woefully in these abilities Snow et al. In addition, the U. The research clearly shows that readers use all of these cues to understand what they're reading. ELLs need instruction in different vocabulary words than their native-speaking peers.
The Latest Research on Teaching and Learning • TechNotes Blog
Quantitative researchers look for findings that they can generalize to similar settings using statistical analyses. Department of Education funded the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority and Youth to survey, select, and synthesize research on teaching language-minority students to read and write. They often begin to read without setting goals. ELLs lack many of the basic words that native speakers know, so just teaching the vocabulary words that are suggested in the reading materials you are using will not be sufficient. Although there are journals that publish editorials or opinion pieces Educational Leadership and Phi Delta Kappan, for example and provide valuable information, these periodicals are not designed to evaluate and publish the results of original scientific studies. The Final Project is also due before the Workshop closes on July 30th, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST.