Teaching Children to Read
October 2009 Number 345
TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ
Reading is the gateway to learning; without it, children cannot access a broad and balanced curriculum. Dyslexic difficulties are associated with negative educational, employment and economic outcomes, making reading-related issues relevant to various policy domains. This POSTnote explains the reading process and the underlying basis of specific reading difficulties. It also summarises different methods of reading instruction, and examines their use in the context of current and possible future policy directions. Box 1. The Simple View of Reading2,3,4
The figure below depicts reading comprehension as the product of two necessary components: decoding and linguistic comprehension. Although decoding and reading comprehension are related, they are founded on different oral language skills (in addition to other cognitive skills).5 Decoding is dependent upon speech-sound information (phonology), particularly appreciating that a spoken word is made up of individual sounds (phonemes). Once a word has been decoded, comprehension depends upon broader language skills such as vocabulary, grammar and making inferences. Variations in decoding and linguistic comprehension result in different reading profiles (see figure), which relate to different reading difficulties: • Children with dyslexia have primary difficulties in decoding, typically because of weaknesses in phonology. Children whose reading profiles fall into either the upper or lower left quadrants (poor decoding coupled with either good or poor comprehension) are likely to be experiencing dyslexic difficulties. • Children with reading comprehension impairment can decode print, but have comprehension difficulties that are often related to weaknesses in vocabulary, grammar, and making inferences. Their reading profile falls into the lower right quadrant.
Reading Development and Difficulties
The goal of reading is to extract meaning. This is referred to as
TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ
Reading is the gateway to learning; without it, children cannot access a broad and balanced curriculum. Dyslexic difficulties are associated with negative educational, employment and economic outcomes, making reading-related issues relevant to various policy domains. This POSTnote explains the reading process and the underlying basis of specific reading difficulties. It also summarises different methods of reading instruction, and examines their use in the context of current and possible future policy directions. Box 1. The Simple View of Reading2,3,4
The figure below depicts reading comprehension as the product of two necessary components: decoding and linguistic comprehension. Although decoding and reading comprehension are related, they are founded on different oral language skills (in addition to other cognitive skills).5 Decoding is dependent upon speech-sound information (phonology), particularly appreciating that a spoken word is made up of individual sounds (phonemes). Once a word has been decoded, comprehension depends upon broader language skills such as vocabulary, grammar and making inferences. Variations in decoding and linguistic comprehension result in different reading profiles (see figure), which relate to different reading difficulties: • Children with dyslexia have primary difficulties in decoding, typically because of weaknesses in phonology. Children whose reading profiles fall into either the upper or lower left quadrants (poor decoding coupled with either good or poor comprehension) are likely to be experiencing dyslexic difficulties. • Children with reading comprehension impairment can decode print, but have comprehension difficulties that are often related to weaknesses in vocabulary, grammar, and making inferences. Their reading profile falls into the lower right quadrant.
Reading Development and Difficulties
The goal of reading is to extract meaning. This is referred to as