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Why Should We Focus on Reading Instruction?

Reading may be the most important skill we teach children. The process of learning to read begins before kindergarten and influences students' lives long after high school graduation.

Fortunately, after decades of heated and polarizing debate over the "right" approach to reading instruction, research is beginning to pull together information about the balance of elements necessary for an effective reading program. The following components are taken from several recent summaries of the research. Both educators and parents can look for these components to asses whether their schools are providing the kind of instruction needed to help all students come good readers.

What Are the Elements of a Good Reading Instruction Program for Beginning Readers?

Beginning readers (in kindergarten and first grade) need formal instruction that focuses on comprehension skills and word recognition skills. Good reading instruction for beginning readers involves:

• both direct instruction in sound-symbol relationships and exposure to motivating, interesting reading materials;
• a focus on the relationships between letters and sounds and the process of obtaining meaning from print;
• high-quality instructional materials, including materials that students can read to themselves easily and more difficult texts that a child can learn to read with the teacher;
• frequent and sustained opportunities for students to read both aloud and to themselves;
• practice recognizing and producing letters;
• practice emphasizing the sound structure of words;
• additional instruction through supplementary reading programs for students who fall behind expected levels.

For Intermediate Readers?

Intermediate readers (in the second and third grades) need to learn how to analyze, critique, and reflect on text. Reading instruction for intermediate readers should involve:

• assessment of students' reading ability (both fluency and word recognition) and strategies to help struggling readers catch up;
• modeling of reading and comprehension strategies;
• opportunities for students to build fluency through frequent practice reading different types of text such as stories, reports, letters, newspapers, and magazines;
• activities that require students to obtain meaning from print;
• access to good libraries.

Reading instruction should not end when elementary school ends. In fact, some of the most important reading instruction takes place in middle and high school. Even students who can read well may find their skills challenged by the dense textbooks they will encounter in the content areas, and struggling readers may find it almost impossible to make sense of complex passages without strategies to help them understand what they are reading. Content-area teachers as well as English and Language Arts teachers can teach metacognitive skills that will help students improve their reading and learning skills. For example, students can be taught to:

• Set a purpose for reading.
• Recall background knowledge and apply it to the text.
• Scan material before reading.
• Use text features such as titles, bold print, italics, pictures, and graphs to predict what the reading will be about.
• Summarize main ideas.
• Identify key terms.
• Make text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections.
• Stop periodically to summarize what has been read and how it connects with previous paragraphs.
• Monitor their own understanding.
• Make visual representations to help them understand text, such as charts, webs, and graphs.

How Can We Help Struggling Readers?

The ultimate goal of reading instruction is to make sure that every student becomes a competent reader, able to make sense of the high volume of information they will need to deal with on an everyday basis as an adult. This kind of instruction requires constant vigilance to make sure students do not fall behind and to provide extra instruction for students who are struggling. Every school should offer many types of interventions for struggling readers, including individual or small-group tutoring, after-school assistance, and summer programs. In the most effective intervention programs:

• Students receive individualized or small-group instruction.
• There is opportunity for repeated reading of passages.
• Books that contain predictable vocabulary and sentence structure are used.
• Students are taught reading strategies to help them decipher text.

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ERS Informed Educators on related topics: The following are just a few recent publications in the ERS Informed Educator series dealing with topics related to effective reading instruction. ERS Informed Educators are 8-12 pages in length. Each issue provides a concise, yet comprehensive and balanced summary of information on a priority topic in education. ERS Informed Educators are available for purchase in quantities of 10 copies or more only (any combination of titles). Base price per copy: $9.60. ERS Comprehensive subscriber price: $4.80. ERS Individual subscriber price: $7.20.

• Beginning Reading Instruction: Research and Practice (1998; Stock #0310). Looks at some recent developments in research conducted on how children learn to read. As a result, education leaders can do work in developing a balance in reading programs that is beneficial to all children.

• Reading at the Middle and High School Levels (1998; Stock #0291). Discusses such topics as: Important Issues in Secondary School Reading Instruction, Strategies for Engaging Middle and High School Students in Reading, and Encouraging Students to Read More and Read Widely.

• Early Literacy Assessment (2001; Stock #0435). Addresses assessment as just one component of an effective reading program for beginners. This Informed Educator looks at the goals of assessment and the roles of formal and informal assessment as a measurement to meet these goals. Examples of specific assessment methods are provided.

• Helping Struggling Readers at the Elementary and Secondary Levels (2001; Stock #0429). Helps education leaders design ways to meet the challenge of struggling readers. Provides a summary of what good readers and struggling readers look like through grades k-12. It touches on the importance of recognizing this problem early on and ways to prevent it. Also suggests questions that both districts and schools can ask when evaluating the current reading problems within their schools.

• Early Reading Interventions (#305). Presents various methods of early intervention in reading for at risk children. Discusses proven practices and effective programs.

• Phonemic Awareness (#320). Provides research on the relationship between phonemic awareness and learning to read. Gives suggestions and teaching methods for increasing phonemic awareness in beginning readers.

• Reading Assessment (#356). Outlines various methods educators may use to assess elementary and secondary school students' reading skills and progress. Includes discussion on alternative assessments and information reading inventories.

• Assessing Young Children (#217). Covers various issues related to assessing young children, pre-kindergarten through the primary grades. Addresses standardized testing, alternatives to standardized testing, developmentally appropriate assessment, the Work Sampling System, kindergarten entrance assessment, and assessment of social behavior as well as academic skills.

References

Anderson, Margaret A., Nona A. Tollefson, and Edwyna C. Gilbert. 1985. "Giftedness and Reading: A Cross-Sectional View of Differences in Reading Attitudes and Behaviors." Gifted Child Quarterly (Fall 1985): 186-189.

Center for English Learning and Achievement. 2001. "Participating in Classroom Dialogue Helps Struggling Readers." Online: cela.albany.edu/newslet/spring01/struggling.htm

Denton, David R. 1999. Reading Reform in the SREB States: Early Assessment. Atlanta, GA: Southern Regional Education Board.

Donnelly, Deborah. 2000. Making Sense of Reading. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Online: www.sedl.org/reading/topics/makingsense.pdf

Education Commission of the States. 1998. What Policymakers Need to Know about Student Reading. Online: www.goldmine.cde.ca.gov/cilbranch/beachrd.html

Greene, Jane Fell. 1998. "Another Chance: Help for Older Students with Limited Literacy." American Educator (Spring/Summer 1998): 1-6.

Greenleaf, Cynthia L. et al. 2001. "Apprenticing Adolescent Readers to Academic Literacy." Harvard Educational Review (Spring 2001): 79-129.

Harvey, Stephanie and Anne Goudvis. Strategies That Work. York, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2000.

International Reading Association. 1998. Phonemic Awareness and the Teaching of Reading: A Position Statement. April 1998. Newark, DE: Author.

Kame'enui, Edward J. and Deborah C. Simmons. 1998. Beyond Effective Practices to Schools as Host Environments: Building and Sustaining a School-Wide Intervention Model in Beginning Reading. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon.

Learning First Alliance. 1998. "Every Child Reading: An Action Plan of the Learning First Alliance." American Educator (Spring/Summer 1998): 52-63.

Learning First Alliance. 2000. Every Child Reading: A Professional Development Guide. Online: www.learningfirst.org/readingguide.html

Lemann, Nicholas. 1997. "The Reading Wars." The Atlantic Monthly (November 1997): 128-134.

Lyon, Reid. 1997. "Testimony of G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D. on Children's Literacy." Statement made before the Committee on Education and the Workforce. United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.: July 10, 1997. Online: www.apa.org/ppo/lyon.html

Lyon, Reid. 2001. Measuring Success: Using Assessments and Accountability to Raise Student Achievement. Statement made to Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on Education and the Workforce, United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.: March 8, 2001.

Moats, Louisa Cook. 2000. "Whole Language Lives On: The Illusion of 'Balanced' Reading Instruction." Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. Online: www.edexcellence.net/library/wholelang/moats.html

Moats, Louisa Cook. 2001. "When Older Students Can't Read." Educational Leadership (March 2001): 36-40.

Murphy, Sandra. 1998. "Remembering That Reading is 'A Way of Happening.'" The Clearing House (November/December 1998): 89-96.

Newmann, Fred M., BetsAnn Smith, Elaine Allensworth, and Anthony S. Bryk. 2001. School Instructional Program Coherence: Benefits and Challenges. Chicago: Consortium on Chicago School Research.

O' Sullivan, Julia T. 1992. "Reading Beliefs and Reading Achievement: A Development Study of Students from Low-Income Families." Report Number 6. Summary Reports of Paths to Literacy and Illiteracy in Newfoundland and Labrador. Newfoundland: Memorial University, St. Johns. ERIC Document Number 354 505.

Riggs, Ernestine, and Ana Gil-Garcia. 2001. What We Know About: Hepling Middle and High School Readers-Teaching and Learning Strategies Across the Curriculum. Arlington, VA: Educational Research Service.

Rose, Adrienne. 2000. "Literacy Strategies at the Secondary Level." Leadership (November-December 2000):12-16.

Santa, Carol M. 1988. "Changing Teacher Behavior in Content Reading Through Collaborative Research." In Changing School Reading Programs: Principals and Case Studies. Ed. S. Jay Samuels and P. David Pearson, editors, pp. 185-206. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Snow, Catherine E., M. Susan Burns, and Peg Griffin, Editors. 1998. Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Steinberg, Adria. 1998. "Reading Problems: Is Quick Recovery Possible?" Harvard Education Letter (September/October 1989). Reprinted in Reading and Literacy. Nancy Walser, editor. Cambridge, MA: The Harvard Education Letter.

The Special Edge. 2000. "Why Children Succeed or Fail at Reading." (Autumn 2000): 1& 6.

Valencia, Sheila W. 1997. The Goal of Assessment Has to Be, Above All, to Support the Improvement of Learning and Teaching. Online: www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/litass/

Wasik, Barbara A. 1998. "Using Volunteers as Reading Tutors: Guidelines for Successful Practices." The Reading Teacher (April 1998): 562-570.

WestEd. 1999. "Reading for Understanding: A Modern Urban Success Story." R&D Alert (Summer 1999). Online: web.wested.org/RD_alert/9909/welcome.shtml

Wilson, Elizabeth A. 1999. Reading at the Middle and High School Levels: Building Active Readers Across the Curriculum. Arlington, VA: Educational Research Service.

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