The Science of Reading is an umbrella term for a interdisciplinary body of scientific evidence that breaks down how children learn to read and what strategies work best.
SCIENCE OF READING RESOURCES
An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction
This Kahoot-style quiz lets you challenge yourself on topics related to the Science of Reading.
This website guides teachers to use evidence-based reading instruction rooted in research on how students learn to read, the essential knowledge and skills for reading, and the most effective teaching methods. The site has sections on Five "Keys" to Reading, Science of Reading, Explicit Instruction, and Evidence-Based Instruction in Reading and Spelling. The site also links to FREE Professional Webinars that viewers can explore and register for.
Access tools and resources to help you understand and explain the science of reading. Suggested viewing includes Primer Parts One and 2, and the Roadmap to the Science of Reading.
Support for explicit, systematic instruction in the five essential components of reading beginning in the first year of school.
Five Pillars of Early Literacy
There are 5 foundational areas of literacy development!
When taught systematically and explicitly, the five pillars of early literacy (phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary) - the foundational components of early reading instruction - will create the groundwork for children’s strong literacy development.
(Source: Arizona Department of Education)
To have complete reading comprehension you must have both great word recognition and language comprehension.
Source: Decoding “The Simple View of Reading” II
Think of skilled reading like a braided rope.
For skilled reading to occur, all of the strands (i.e., literacy areas) must be strong. If one strand is weak, the entire rope is weak. Likewise, if a student is struggling in one literacy area, their ability to read fluently with comprehension is weakened.
Four processes interact and support one another during reading:
The Adams Model of Skilled Reading is also sometimes referred to as the Four-Part Processing Model.
The process flows in a different direction for encoding (spelling) vs. decoding (reading):
|
Encoding (Spelling the spoken word "dog") When you hear the spoken word "dog" and need to write it down (spelling), the following sequence occurs: |
Decoding (Reading the written word "dog") When you see the written word "dog" and read it aloud, the following sequence occurs: |
|
|---|---|---|
| Step 1 |
Phonological Processor: You hear the word "dog" and break it down into its individual phonemes: /d/, /o/, /g/. |
Orthographic Processor: You visually recognize the letters "d-o-g" and their specific order. |
| Step 2 |
Orthographic Processor: You associate each phoneme with its correct written symbol (grapheme): /d/ with "d", /o/ with "o", and /g/ with "g". This system helps you recall the correct letter sequence. |
Phonological Processor: The visual letter patterns are converted into their corresponding sounds (phonemes): /d/, /o/, /g/. These sounds are then blended together to form the spoken word "dog". |
| Step 3 |
Meaning Processor: The sound "dog" activates the mental concept of the animal, ensuring you are spelling the intended word. |
Meaning Processor: The spoken word "dog" activates the associated concept in your mental dictionary—an image of a four-legged, barking pet. |
| Step 4 |
Context Processor: This system helps in situations where multiple spellings might be possible for a sound (e.g., distinguishing between "dog" and potential homophones, if any existed) by using the sentence context to select the appropriate spelling. |
Context Processor: If the word appears in a sentence (e.g., "The dog chased the ball"), this processor uses the surrounding words to confirm that the animal meaning is correct and not another, less common meaning of the sound combination. |
| This chart was created with help from Google AI. | ||
