The Big Six of Reading

1. The Fogarty Learning Centre The Big Six in SA Schools The Big Six of Reading Assoc Prof DesleaKonza

2. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Purpose • Topresent a framework of the reading process that is based on research • To provide some strategies for implementing the Big Six

3. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Your role • Engage and participate • I’ll let you know when you really have to listen • Ask questions if there’s anything you don’t understand

4. The Fogarty Learning Centre First some definitions… • Phonological awareness • Phoneme • Phonemic awareness • Phonics/alphabetic principle/letter-sound knowledge • Orthographic skills • Morpheme • Grapheme • Digraph • Blend (n) • Diphthong • Automaticity • Coarticulation • Sight word • Sight vocabulary • Onset • Rime

5. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Approaches to teaching reading… Essentially two theoretical approaches… • A decoding, phonics or skills-based approach vs • A meaning first, look-say or whole language approach • Over a century of debate

6. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 In the beginning…a decoding approach • Children were taught the alphabet before engaging in reading • Reading was seen as a hierarchy of skills, whereby ~ reader analysed letters, then words, etc ~ higher order comprehension processes then engaged to integrate meaning

7. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Weaknesses of decoding or bottom-up model • Explanation is too simplistic • Decoding doesn’t necessarily lead to understanding • Good readers read more quickly than decoding alone suggests • Beginning of sentence would be forgotten before end of sentence reached • Context often decides pronunciation and comprehension • It can be taught in a really boring manner!

8. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Top-down “whole language”approach… • Learning to read is as natural as learning to speak • Good readers don’t decode – they use background knowledge and context to predict text and “sample print” to confirm their predictions • Decoding is the least useful reading strategy • Children should skip words they don’t know, or put in another word that makes sense

9. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Top-down “whole language”approach… • Teaching phonics systematically decreases enjoyment of reading • Letter-sound knowledge can be embedded at “teachable moments” Goodman (1968, 1976); Smith (1978) • Children learn to read by reading high quality children’s literature, gradually building up knowledge of words, predicting what will appear and monitoring text to confirm predictions (some do but most do not)

10. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Top-down “whole language”approach… • Great enthusiasm for the approach among teachers • Brought attractive and well-written books into classrooms to replace primers and graded readers • Had great intuitive appeal • Whole language greatly influenced university education programs from late seventies

11. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Weaknesses of Top-down approach… • Research evidence has overtaken a number of the top down assumptions • Learning to read is as natural as learning to speak(history of language development vs writing development; brain research; Watt’s poem) • Good readers don’t decode (Van Orden) • Readers only sample print (Rayner’s eye movement research) • Good readers use context (multi-age group research) • Embedded phonics instruction OK if necessary (synthetic vs analytic phonics research) • Use of high quality literature (some students need controlled vocabulary texts)

12. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Brush up your English – T.S. Watt I take it you already know Of tough and bough and cough and dough? Others may stumble, but not you, On hiccough, thorough, lough and through. Well done! And now you wish, perhaps To learn of less familiar traps? Beware of heard, a dreadful word, that looks like beard and sounds like bird. And dead: it’s said like bed not bead – For goodness sake don’t call it deed. Watch out for meat and great and threat (They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).

13. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Brush up your English – T.S. Watt A moth is not a moth in mother Nor both in bother, broth in brother. And here is not a match for there, Nor dear and fear for bear and pear. And then there’s dose and rose and lose – Just look them up – and goose and choose, And core and work, and card and ward. And font and front and word and sword. And do and go and thwart and cart – Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start! A dreadful language? Man alive, I’d mastered it when I was five!

14. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 How important is context? • The knight leaped upon his horse and drew his _______. • A good reader can easily insert the correct word “sword”. Poor readers usually cannot. This has been interpreted as poor readers not being able to use context. Let’s examine how a poor reader might approach the above sentence…

15. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 A poor reader’s actual atempt The knight leaped upon his The king leg up his horse and drew his ______. house and do his _______. This is not a context problem!!

16. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 This is not a context problem! • use of context demands about 90% word recognition to provide context • beginning/poor readers do not have sufficient word recognition skills to use context • use of context demands word recognition skills

17. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Interactive model (Rumelhart, 1977) • Reading combines both bottom-up and top-down processes, interacting within working memory • Without decoding skills/rapid word recognition, too much attention has to be focused on this aspect • Little cognitive capacity left to focus on meaning

18. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Interactive/Compensatory Model (Stanovich, 1980) • When reader can't use bottom-up processes, will rely more heavily on top-down • When reader can't use top-down, will rely more heavily on bottom-up • Beginning/poor readers need focus on word recognition skills to facilitate context, which then facilitates meaning

19. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Research into reading acquisition… • Learning to Read: The Great Debate (Chall, 1967) - Examined hundreds of studies 1910-1965 - Concluded that alphabetic knowledge is required to develop independent reading • Becoming a Nation of Readers (Anderson, 1985) - Differentiated between “emerging literacy” (5-8 yr) and “extending literacy” (8 yrs on) - Highlighted importance of preschool years and oral language • Project Follow Through (1967-1995) - Highly explicit approach proved to be superior approach for struggling readers

20. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Research into reading acquisition… • Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print (Adams, 1990) - Sponsored by US Dept of Educto survey “the entire body of reading research” - Concluded “deep and thorough knowledge of letters, spelling patterns and words… are of inescapable importance to both skilful reading and its acquisition.” Also that phonics instruction is “necessary but not sufficient” for reading acquisition. - So need both!

21. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Research into reading acquisition… • Report of the National Reading Panel (2000) - Largest, most comprehensive evidence-based review of reading research ever conducted; appointed by US Congress - Included representatives from all “sides”; • Concluded effective reading instruction required explicit instruction in • phonemic awareness • phonics • vocabulary • fluency • comprehension

22. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Research into reading acquisition… • National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy (Rowe, 2005) • Reiterated findings of NRP • Emphasised the need for explicit instruction of alphabetic knowledge • Also emphasised need for teacher training and teacher professional development to reflect scientific evidence regarding beginning reading

23. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Research into reading acquisition… • Review of the Teaching of Early Reading (Rose, 2006) • Highlighted the need for • well-trained teachers • systematic instructional programs • strong supportive school leadership • Supported use of synthetic phonics approach plus exposure to high quality children’s literature; embedded approach too random

24. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Summarised in a simple framework …the Big Six • Oral language and early literacy experiences • Phonological Awareness • Letter-sound Knowledge (Phonics) • Vocabulary • Fluency • Comprehension

25. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 The Big Six Comprehension Fluency Oral language & early literacy experiences Vocabulary Phonological awareness Letter-sound knowledge (phonics)

26. 1. Oral Language and Early Literacy Experiences

27. The Fogarty Learning Centre Early language and literacy experiences • Interactions with significant • people in a child’s life shape the • development of language • Some features of these • interactions are very important • ~ the frequency of interactions • ~ the responses the child receives • ~ the language structures, the number and variety of words used • ~ the reading aloud of story books

28. The Fogarty Learning Centre Early language and literacy experiences • Enormous differences at school • entry between children from • different language backgrounds • (Beck & McKeown, 2002) • Bottom 25% of students begin school with 1000 fewer base word meanings than top 25% (Biemiller, 2005) • Gap never completely closes • Need to directly teach vocabulary • especially to those who read little

29. The Fogarty Learning Centre Developing oral language skills • • Speak accurately, emphasise • important words • Use precise terminology • Verb at beginning of directions • Add visual or written cues (underline important words; number instructions; place vertically not embedded in sentence) • Provide many opportunities for small group interaction

30. 2. Phonological Awareness

31. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 2. Phonological awareness • Significance only recognised in mid 1980s • Children have to learn what a “sound” is • Sounds (phonemes) are compressed (10-15/sec) so we can process them; receive words as one pulse • Disguises segmental nature of words • If children can’t hear separate sounds, they can’t attach a letter to a sound • They can’t “map” sounds onto paper • Alphabetic system doesn’t make sense to them

32. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Phonological awareness assessment • Not related to intelligence! • About 20% of people have some difficulties • Strongly related to early literacy experiences • Essentially nothing to do with phonics but phonics builds on p.a. • Relates to soundsof language • If the sounds the child is hearing are not Standard English, s/he will be disadvantaged from beginning • Now for an empathy task

33. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Phonological awareness • Skills develop in broad sequence • Word awareness • Syllable awareness (rhythm) • Awareness of onset/rime division • Awareness of individual phonemes – phonemic awareness (alliteration, isolation, segmentation) • Ability to blend and segment phonemes • Ability to manipulate phonemes

34. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Developing phonological awareness • Word awareness • Point to words as they are read • Ask chn to count words in sentences • Syllable awareness • Clap beats in chn’s names • Clap beats in multisyllabic words • Use compound words first if children have difficulty • Count chin drops

35. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Developing phonological awareness • Awareness of rhyme • Model which part of word is important for rhyming • Read traditional nursery rhymes • Read modern stories that incorporate rhyming • Awareness of onset • Add an adjective, occupation to names (Energetic Emily, Amazing Amanda, Jolly Jack, Andrew the astronaut, Lainey the lion tamer

36. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Developing phonological awareness • Begin using letters at this stage to develop both phonicand phonemic skills together • Concentrate on blending of sounds at beginning, end and middle of CVC words wherever possible; teach continuous sounds first • Use magnetic letters to practise blending and segmenting

37. 3. Letter-Sound knowledge (Phonics)

38. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 3. Letter-sound knowledge (phonics) • Builds on phonemic awareness • The English language is a coded system • The alphabet is the code • Without knowledge of the code one can never be an independent reader • Some children build knowledge of this code easily • Others require a great deal of explicit teaching

39. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Letter-sound knowledge (phonics) • A difficult language - different spellings of “or” (20) - different pronunciations of “ough” (8)

40. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Letter-sound knowledge (phonics) • Different spellings of “or” • or, more, poor, roar, four, saw, awe, warm, broad, talk, water, bought, sure, caught, Boer, author, dinosaur, rapport, Moore, abattoir (some SA) • Different pronunciations of “ough” • cough, tough, bough, although, thought, thorough,through, lough. • Too complicated for random approach to teaching for most students

41. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 To be independent, readers need to know • Letter sounds and letter names • When should you begin? • How quickly should you go? • Should letter shapes be related to animals, etc? • Should sounds be related to actions and songs? • How should they be taught?

42. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Synthetic, Analytic and Embedded approaches… • Embedded/analytic/ approaches entail • Looking for common patterns in words read in stories • Analysing patterns in words • Synthetic (synthesising) approaches entail • explicit and systematic instruction of letters and their sounds in an order that promotes blending • Emphasis on blending very early • Using knowledge in reading asap, so practice with cvc words in simple stories, etc

43. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Synthetic, Analytic and Embedded approaches… • Explicit, systematic instruction in letter-sound knowledge has been demonstrated in many studies to be more effective than embedded or analytic approaches for beginning (R/1) and struggling readers (Johnston & Watson, 2003, 2005; NRP, 2000; Rose Review, 2006)

44. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Synthetic, Analytic and Embedded approaches… Gender differences disappear (Johnston & Watson, 2003)

45. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 To be independent, readers also need to know… • Common letter combinations – digraphs, prefixes (esp. un-, re-, in-, dis-), suffixes • High frequency sight words

46. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 To be independent, readers also need to know… • Common letter combinations – digraphs, prefixes (esp. un-, re-, in-, dis-), suffixes • Base words and how to build on them • Etymological roots • High frequency words • Oxford Word List …TO THE POINT OF AUTOMATICITY… IN ORDER TO BUILD A LARGE SIGHT VOCABULARY

47. 4. Vocabulary

48. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 4. Vocabulary • Vocabulary has the highest correlation with intelligence than any other measured factor (Manzo, Manzo & Thomas, 2006) • One of the best predictors of educational achievement in children, especially reading accuracy and comprehension (Beck, 2007, Irvin, 2001, Nash & Snowling, 2006)

49. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Vocabulary • Beginning readers have a much more difficult time reading words that are not already part of their oral vocabulary. • Very important to reading comprehension - chn cannot understand what they are reading without knowing what most of the words mean

50. The Fogarty Learning Centre Module 2 Levels of word knowledge… • Have never seen or heard it • Have seen or heard it but unsure of meaning • Vaguely know meaning; can associate it with concept or context 4. Know meaning well enough to explain it interlocutor acclivity fudiciary osculate