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Variability in Text Features in Six Grade 1 Basal Reading Programs
Abstract
California and Texas mandate 75% to 80% decodable texts for first-grade reading programs, yet these percentages have no empirical base. This study examines the text selections in 6 first-grade programs from the perspective of lexical, semantic, and syntactic features. The composition of text differed across the 6 programs with respect to length, grammatical complexity, the number of unique and total words, repetition of words, and coverage of important vocabulary. Potential decoding accuracy rates, as computed by a relational database program created for this project, varied widely across the 6 programs and often depended heavily on holistically taught words. Moreover, the majority of words appeared only once in each 6-week instructional block across the year. Implications are discussed for (a) learning to read from basals, (b) design of basal reading programs, and
... Similarly, an evaluation of best-selling sixth-and 11th-grade texts, including reading texts, literature anthologies, grammar and composition textbooks, and history textbooks from the 1940s through the mid-1970s, revealed signs of decreasing challenge over the period (Chall, 1977). However, for 258 third-and sixth-grade reading textbooks from the 1890s to 2008, some decline was evidenced at third grade during the early decades of the century, but a steady increase in difficulty was noted over the past 70 years (Gamson, Lu, & Eckert, 2013 ), although sixth-grade difficulty tended to be stable since the 1940s. Notably, the evidence for declining text complexity at the early grade levels is particularly scant, and discerning an overall trend for early grades' text complexity across the 20th century and into the 21st century is quite difficult due to variation in years, programs studied , and variables examined. ...
... However, by the third period, the difficulty increased, indicating more challenging lexical difficulty of content words in texts (−50.30). Many of the analyses of first-grade reading texts that followed Chall's (1967) study compared texts of different programs from a particular era on a specific feature, particularly orthographic regularity of words (e.g., Beck & McCaslin, 1978; Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004; Stein, Johnson, & Gutlohn, 1999). The analyses provided snapshots of textbook features at particular points in time but failed to provide an understanding of the changes over time. ...
... Across the six decades the seven published programs were most likely continuously among the top best-selling series in the United States (cf. Chall, 1967Chall, , 1983 Education Market Research, 2014; Foorman et al., 2004). Scott Foresman was selected for the current study because it was one of the core reading programs examined by Chall (1967Chall ( , 1983) in her landmark exposition about the " great debate, " and Scott Foresman is the only one of the publishers in that study that is still active; also, the publisher's programs are typical of current best-selling core reading programs (Foorman et al., 2004; Hiebert, 2005). ...
The purpose of the study was to address possible text-complexity shifts across the past six decades for a continually best-selling first-grade core-reading program. The anthologies of one publisher’s seven first-grade core-reading programs were examined using computer-based analytics, dating from 1962 to 2013. Variables were Overall Text-Complexity Level and nine text-characteristic operationalizations: for word structure—number of Syllables in words and Decoding; for word meaning—Age of Acquisition, Abstractness, and Word Rareness; discourse level—Intersentential Complexity, Text Density, Phrase Diversity, and Non-Compressibility. Multilevel modeling was conducted. The main conclusions were: (a) Overall Text-Complexity levels trended toward more complexity in more recent years. (b) For four of the nine text characteristics, program years were different in the text characteristic progression from beginning to the end of the first-grade year. Initially in the fall, programs of later years exposed children to word structures (Syllables and Decoding) that were as easy or easier than earlier years, but there was intense, and incomparable, control over gradually increasing the complexity of word structures throughout the year, ending the first-grade year with the most complex word structures of any year. Simultaneously, as compared to earlier years, in the later program years, there was a pronounced diminished emphasis on selected aspects of repetition and redundancy (Text Density and Phrase Diversity) across the first-grade year. (c) Two of the six text characteristics, Age of Acquisition and Word Rareness, trended toward more complexity on average in the later program years.
... Many of the analyses of first-grade reading texts that followed Chall's (1967) study compared texts of different programs from a particular era on a specific feature, particularly orthographic regularity of words (e.g., Beck & McCaslin, 1978;Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004;Stein, Johnson, & Gutlohn, 1999). The analyses provided snapshots of textbook features at particular points in time but failed to provide an understanding of the changes over time. ...
... Across the six decades the seven published programs were most likely continuously among the top best-selling series in the United States (cf. Chall, 1967Chall, , 1983Education Market Research, 2014;Foorman et al., 2004). Scott Foresman was selected for the current study because it was one of the core reading programs examined by Chall (1967Chall ( , 1983 in her landmark exposition about the "great debate," and Scott Foresman is the only one of the publishers in that study that is still active; also, the publisher's programs are typical of current best-selling core reading programs (Foorman et al., 2004;Hiebert, 2005). ...
... Chall, 1967Chall, , 1983Education Market Research, 2014;Foorman et al., 2004). Scott Foresman was selected for the current study because it was one of the core reading programs examined by Chall (1967Chall ( , 1983 in her landmark exposition about the "great debate," and Scott Foresman is the only one of the publishers in that study that is still active; also, the publisher's programs are typical of current best-selling core reading programs (Foorman et al., 2004;Hiebert, 2005). The seven years were selected to represent the earliest years of a decade, with the exception of 2007. ...
The purpose of the study was to address possible text-complexity shifts across the past six decades for a continually best-selling first-grade core-reading program. The anthologies of one publisher’s seven first-grade core-reading programs were examined using computer-based analytics, dating from 1962 to 2013. Variables were Overall Text-Complexity Level and nine text-characteristic operationalizations: for word structure—number of Syllables in words and Decoding; for word meaning—Age of Acquisition, Abstractness, and Word Rareness; discourse level—Intersentential Complexity, Text Density, Phrase Diversity, and Non-Compressibility. Multilevel modeling was conducted. The main conclusions were: (a) Overall Text-Complexity levels trended toward more complexity in more recent years. (b) For four of the nine text characteristics, program years were different in the text characteristic progression from beginning to the end of the first-grade year. Initially in the fall, programs of later years exposed children to word structures (Syllables and Decoding) that were as easy or easier than earlier years, but there was intense, and incomparable, control over gradually increasing the complexity of word structures throughout the year, ending the first-grade year with the most complex word structures of any year. Simultaneously, as compared to earlier years, in the later program years, there was a pronounced diminished emphasis on selected aspects of repetition and redundancy (Text Density and Phrase Diversity) across the first-grade year. (c) Two of the six text characteristics, Age of Acquisition and Word Rareness, trended toward more complexity on average in the later program years.
... Then, there is the fact that almost one in five U.S. residents has a first language other than English. Last, empirical research reveals that up to 50% of words in early-grade text may be unknown to children (Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004). Foorman et al.'s (2004) analysis of the first-grade basals that were on Texas's textbook adoption list in 2000 compared words in text with Biemiller and Slonim's (2001) validation of The Living Word Vocabulary levels (Dale & O'Rourke, 1981). ...
... For example, the phonetically regular words in decodable books (e.g., pigs with wigs eating figs and doing jigs) are often unfamiliar to first graders, and in the case of leveled books, there are also unfamiliar terms (e.g., doodles, tugboats, ferries, tea, swapping socks). Layered upon the large percentage of potentially unknown words is the fact that a significant percentage (46%) of words is not repeated (Foorman et al., 2004). Together, these facts suggest that early-grade students encounter many words in text for which they do not know the meanings and will likely not see again. ...
... 305), resulting in a three-week unit that usually presents three to five different letter-sound relationships. Programmatically, repetition occurs only at the letter/ sound level and not at the whole-word level, as evidenced by the Foorman et al. (2004) study wherein over 50% (and often 70%) of words in first-grade materials appeared only once in a unit. Students reading these materials must depend on the instruction that precedes the text to support them because they have little chance of seeing all but the most common words more than once. ...
In this conceptual essay, we offer rationales and evidence for critical components of a working model of text complexity for the early grades. In the first three sections of the article, we examine word-level, syntax-level, and discourse-level features of text, posing questions for future research. In the fourth section, we address elements of text treatmentsthe collection of texts with which beginning readers will interact longitudinally over the course of their early literacy development. This conceptual essay produces a unified treatment of the complexities of early grade text through the introduction of a theoretical framework, assimilating the extant research into a theory of early grade text and delineating a theoretical and empirical strategy for transforming the framework into a mature model.
... The reading elements of 4 Blocks resemble guided reading and emphasize the use of leveled text and literature (Cunningham, Hall, & Defee, 1991). Success for All, a school reform model, uses decodable texts, some in first grade (Foorman et al., 2004; Slavin, Madden, Dolan, & Wasik, 1996). Direct Instruction, a synthetic reading program created for special education, also relies on decodable text (Carnine, Silbert, Kame'enui, & Traver, 2004). ...
... For instance, although decodable texts can have predictable elements, their distinguishing characteristic is an overriding attention to regular letter–sound relationships. Second , and more important, publishing companies use these labels to differentiate text types within the Year 2000 basals (see Foorman et al., 2004; Hiebert et al., 2005; Stein et al., 1999). Thus, despite the theoretical complexities, schools and teachers are using these labels. ...
... Vocabulary-controlled materials systematically introduce and repeat words within and across texts. These materials often limit words to the most frequently occurring in English (Foorman et al., 2004; Hiebert & Fisher, 2002; Hiebert et al., 2005). At this time, there are few books or basal reading series with vocabulary control. ...
This study examined the opinions of more than 300 primary teachers. The first pur- pose of the study was to investigate the reported frequency with which teachers used various beginning reading materials (e.g., literature, basals, workbooks, predictable text, leveled text, decodable text, and vocabulary-controlled text). The second pur- pose of the study was to inspect how instructional purposes, state text policies, pro- grams, grade levels, and freedom of choice influenced reported uses. The results sug- gested that teachers of beginning readers use many different types of materials and are guided primarily by instructional purposes rather than programs or grade levels. Teachers reported using decodable text and literature for very particular instructional purposes but reportedly used other materials less specifically. Respondents in states with strong text mandates, like Texas and California, did differ from respondents in other states. In sum, the results suggested that teachers believed that different materi- als can serve different purposes with different readers.
... For instance, a number of programmes have been found to differ in terms of their relative emphasis on teaching consonants and vowels as well as the number of words they introduced (Meyer et al., 1987). Similarly, beginning instructional programmes have also been reported to differ with respect to the amount of decodable text they contained as well as their length, grammatical complexity, vocabulary features and decodability (Foorman et al., 2004). Indeed, some reviewers have concluded that many programmes did not include enough decodable text or sufficient guidance on how to teach the decodable elements that were included (Foorman et al., 2004). ...
... Similarly, beginning instructional programmes have also been reported to differ with respect to the amount of decodable text they contained as well as their length, grammatical complexity, vocabulary features and decodability (Foorman et al., 2004). Indeed, some reviewers have concluded that many programmes did not include enough decodable text or sufficient guidance on how to teach the decodable elements that were included (Foorman et al., 2004). ...
The purpose of this meta-analysis is to synthesise the research evidence on the use of decodable texts in the teaching of word reading and pseudoword decoding to determine their effectiveness in facilitating the development of reading skills in children without reading disabilities. A total of 821 articles were identified in the initial search. The search resulted in 16 articles that met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analyses. The results of the risk of bias assessment revealed that the majority of the studies had a moderate to serious bias. The average standardised mean difference for word reading was small g = 0.20 and moderate g = 0.30 for pseudoword decoding. This finding highlights how using decodable texts can facilitate word reading and decoding to some degree, but they need to be used in combination with other reading instructional materials.
... Similarly, Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, and Griffin (2004) examined all words in all text components (including phonics minibooks, big books, and anthologies) of six first-grade basal readers published from 1995 to 2002 using a scheme of: (1) decodable now, (2) decodable later (later instruction will make it readable), (3) holistically taught (word taught as a sight word), or (4) never decodable (neither letter-sound nor holistic information was given). When the decodable-now and holistically taught classifications were collapsed, the words in the most decodable basals were within a range of 51-85% decodable. ...
... Such studies are hampered by the frequent changes that characterize programs from one copyright period to the next. For example, the Open Court program that Stein et al. (1999) and Foorman et al. (2004) identified as high in potential for accuracy has been replaced by 2000 and 2002 copyright versions. When state mandates vary in requirements from one textbook adoption to the next, the results of analyses of a publisher's program from one decade to the next can similarly vary (see, e.g., Hoffman et al., 2002). ...
In this chapter, we review theory and research on schemes that are used currently to determine the difficulty of texts at the beginning levels of reading. In doing so, this chapter builds on and extends the work of Hiebert and Martin (2001), which reviewed the features of words and how they are learned. The three primary text-difficulty methods—readability, guided reading levels, and task-based systems—apply particular assumptions about what is critical in beginning reading acquisition. As a result, each yields a different index on beginning reading texts. To illustrate the data that the text difficulty systems produce, we have chosen a prototypical text that exemplifies a second-trimester, first-grade text from a program based on the text-difficulty system. Following the scheme’s ratings of the five texts, three aspects of a text difficulty method are described: (1) its rationale and a brief history, (2) a review of empirical investigations on the reliability and validity of the system, and (3) conclusions about its strengths and weaknesses. The principle that drives the latter discussion is the usability of the information that a system supplies for teachers’ use in knowing what to teach their students.
... The other is via lesson-to-text match (LTTM; Beck, 1997;Stein et al., 1999), in which a high percentage of words in instructional texts follow taught phonetic patterns or were included as sight words in previous lessons. There is no established definition of the "high" in "high percentage," although states have adopted their own standards without evidence (Foorman et al., 2004): California mandated that texts include 75% decodable words to be considered decodable; Texas mandated 80%. By contrast, researchers have explored the association between the level of decodability and student achievement to establish a research-based recommendation. ...
... Yet it is unclear how beginning readers distinguish between words for which they are expected to apply decoding skills and those that they have been guided to remember by sight. Leveled texts may provide a context, however, in which young readers can read high-frequency words without encountering the many unique words that are typical of LTTM-aligned decodable texts-that is, readers may be exposed to more word repetitions and fewer unique words in leveled texts (Foorman et al., 2004). Descriptive analyses of leveled texts have suggested a relatively higher percentage of highly frequent and familiar words than texts based on the LTTM model (Hiebert & Tortorelli, 2022). ...
Researchers disagree about the value of controlling the decodability of texts for students with reading difficulty, specifically what type of text they should read: decodable texts (words limited to taught patterns), nondecodable texts (those not limited by instruction), or both . We analyzed the effects of reading intervention for elementary‐age students with reading difficulty ( k = 119) to determine whether effects varied by the type of texts students read—decodable, nondecodable, or both—compared with interventions without text reading. Inadequate information was available to code text type for 22 interventions including text reading; effect sizes were calculated for 97 studies. Effects for interventions with decodable or nondecodable reading did not differ from no‐text interventions . For both types of interventions, the effect ( g = 0.28) approached significance versus no‐text, 95% CI [−0.09, 0.65]. Disaggregating effects by whether the measures were standardized or researcher‐designed showed a significant both‐types effect, g = 0.45, 95% CI [0.02, 0.89] relative to no‐text. Disaggregating by whether outcomes were for word recognition or reading comprehension showed a positive both‐types effect for word recognition outcomes; data were inadequate to examine comprehension. A possible confounding effect of time spent reading was tested but was uncorrelated with the intervention effect. The both‐types finding suggests the possible value of varied reading experiences in intervention, but this analysis did not account for other factors that might be correlated with text type and the intervention effect. Furthermore, more comprehensive reporting about text types is important for replication and meta‐analytic review.
... These views of text allow for varied elaborations (Bloome & Egan-Robertson, 1993;Fairclough, 1992;Kristeva, 1989). Early work on text in literacy education included research on readability formulas (Brewer, 2019;Fry, 1977), and on instructional texts based on a succession of assumptions about the requirements for necessary reading skills in early readers, leading to a focus on predictable texts (Williamson, Fitzgerald, & Stenner, 2014;Hoffman et al., 1994), decodable texts (Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, M. W., & Griffin, 2004), word recognition texts (Hiebert, 2006), and enriched texts, among others (Hiebert & Mesmer, 2013). Notably, when one of these fragmentary conceptions of text take hold in policy prescriptions, entire programs of reading instruction can come to prohibit complementary approaches (Greenleaf & Hinchman, 2009). ...
... When the prominence of whole language instruction was displaced by a code view of reading, decodable texts became common (e.g., "The fat cat sat on the mat."; Karlin & McInerney, 2011;Foorman et al., 2004). When word meaning began to be emphasized as a crucial gateway to comprehension, enriched texts came to the fore (repeatedly using target words in a text to demonstrate their range of meaningful uses). ...
Published in Ubiquity: The Journal of Literature, Literacy, and the Arts, 6(1), 8-43.
In this article, we explore some of the challenges and trade-offs of defining and conceptualizing instructional text. A richer and more complex definition of literacy requires a complex theoretical framing of the “multiple realities” that exist within this framing of text as it exists in educational research and practice. This theoretical exploration is provided by the framing of text as provided by eight educators and researchers in literacy education. Across their collective definitions of instructional text, there are tensions exposed that impact literacy and pedagogy.
... A substantial change occurred in perspectives on beginning texts, however, in the early 1990s, when large states mandated use of authentic texts rather than texts with controlled vocabulary [10]. As Foorman et al. [11] showed in their analysis of first-grade reading programs published after this change, even texts designed to promote decodable words have a variety of word types. To date, empirical investigations have not documented the words that students recognize in texts at different points in their learning progression. ...
... Even so, in that automaticity with words is viewed as a function of exposure [9], the influence of frequency of appearance in written language merits attention in establishing the words beginning readers are familiar with in the context of texts. This variable may assume an especially critical role in the texts currently used for beginning reading instruction in that repetition of words does not appear to be a criterion for text selection and design [11,39]. ...
This study describes the features of words known and unknown by first graders of different proficiency levels in six instances of an oral reading fluency assessment: three in winter and three in spring. A sample of 411 students was placed into four groups (very high, high, middle, and low) based on their median correct words per minute in spring. Each word in the assessment was coded on 11 features: numbers of phonemes, letters, syllables, blends, morphemes, percentages of multisyllabic and of morphologically complex words, concreteness, age of acquisition, decodability, and U function. Words were classified as known if more than 50% of the students within a group were able to correctly read those words. Features of known and unknown words were contrasted for all but the highest group, which made no errors, at each point in time. An analysis of the patterns of known words across groups from winter to spring shows that students followed a similar general progression in the number and type of words recognized. The most prominent feature of unknown words in winter and spring for the middle group of students was the presence of multiple syllables. The lowest-performing group of students continued to be limited by word length and frequency in their recognition of words, but on both features, their proficiency increased from winter to spring. The discussion addresses several critical issues, most notably the relationship of words in oral reading assessments to the word recognition curriculum of many beginning reading programs.
... The Scott Foresman publisher has continuously held one of the United States top-selling positions for decades (cf. Chall, 1983;Education Market Research, 2014;Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004), and Scott Foresman programs are typical of best-selling core-reading programs (Foorman et al., 2004;Hiebert, 2005b). The seven years represented the earliest years of a decade, with the exception of 2007 which was the most recent publication prior to the release of the Common Core State Standards. ...
... The Scott Foresman publisher has continuously held one of the United States top-selling positions for decades (cf. Chall, 1983;Education Market Research, 2014;Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004), and Scott Foresman programs are typical of best-selling core-reading programs (Foorman et al., 2004;Hiebert, 2005b). The seven years represented the earliest years of a decade, with the exception of 2007 which was the most recent publication prior to the release of the Common Core State Standards. ...
The purpose of the present study was to examine possible shifts in the presence of academic vocabulary across the past six decades for a continually best-selling first-grade core reading program. Seven program years dating from 1962 to 2013 were examined. Four categories of academic vocabulary (science, mathematics, social studies, and general academic) were computationally determined in each program. The primary research question was: Did the volume of academic words in a program year rise with advancing years? A secondary supplementary question was: Did the propensity toward academic affinity of a program considered as a whole rise with advancing years? Two types of academic word measures were employed: (a) a word was deemed to be academic or not, and if it was academic, it was assigned to one of the four academic categories, and then academic words were counted; and (b) a novel measure, academic affinity, was a continuous measure of the probability that a word was academic (in each of the four academic vocabulary categories). Poisson regression modeling and Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling were conducted. The main conclusions were: Later first-grade core reading program years included a moderately higher volume of science, social studies, and total academic words as compared to earlier years. The science, social studies, and general academic affinity of the program as a whole was statistically higher in later years, but in practical terms the change was not remarkable.
... The guided reading programs that form the primary competitor to core reading programs, however, have considerable similarity to the texts in the anthologies of core reading programs in the rate at which new words are introduced and the level of repetition of new words (Murray, Munger, & Hiebert, 2014). Additionally, these core-reading programs vary little from one another in either philosophy or components (Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004). For this reason, the analysis in this section focuses on the texts contained in one program. ...
... For this reason, the analysis in this section focuses on the texts contained in one program. This specific program was chosen for two reasons: (a) of the two core reading programs reviewed by Chall (1967Chall ( , 1983a in her landmark study, it is the only one still published, and (b) it is typical of current core reading programs (Foorman et al., 2004;. ...
Over the past 50 years, substantial changes have occurred in the texts used for the instruction for beginning reading. This article analyzes four prominent perspectives that have most influenced beginning reading instruction texts in the United States over this period. This article examines changes in beginning reading texts in relation to changes in the nation's demographics and young children's literacy-related experiences, including media exposure, availability of children's books, and time spent in nonparental care. These analyses are followed by an examination of the research underlying three assumptions that shape the reading instruction found in all current core reading programs: (a) earlier is better, (b) word repetition is not a factor in learning to read, and (c) one size fits all. The review ends with a call for the careful design and selection of texts for students whose literacy levels are impacted greatly by the quality of their school experiences–-children in high-poverty communities.
... Due to the large number of passages, a "passage effect" was possible (i.e., some passages could be more difficult than others). To prevent passage effects, text structure, vocabulary, and overall readability levels were controlled to ensure the same level of difficulty among the passages (Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004). ...
... The process followed to develop the passages was in line with past recommendations. Foorman et al. (2004) andHiebert (2002) have showed that vocabulary, number of syllables per sentence, and variations in text characteristics are related to the readability of a passage. In the current project, great effort was taken to follow these recommendations and yet the desired comprehension scores were not obtained. ...
... According to Hiebert and Fisher (2002), the practice of using readability formulas in basal reading programs was largely abandoned between the late 1980s and early 1990s, when publishers, under pressure to make their literature selections more engaging and "authentic," began to replace their controlled vocabulary texts with children's literature (Hoffman et al., 1994). Understandably, real children's literature contains many more content words -many of them multi-syllabic -than does controlled vocabulary text (Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2002;Hayes, Wolfer, & Wolfe, 1996). ...
Researchers and practitioners have begun to focus
increased attention on fluency and its contribution to reading success. The purpose of this report is to take a look at what research tells us about the importance of fluency and the factors that affect its development, as well as what is now known about effective fluency instruction.
... Several reviews describe the changes in fi rstgrade texts that started in the late 1980s and remain prominent regardless of whether the texts come from leveled books, decodables, or trade books. 6 In the texts of the 2010s, beginning readers must process large numbers of new words-typically 25 or more new words for every 100 words of text (regardless of the program's philosophy). The majority of words in today's beginning reading programs are included among the 300 most-frequent words in written English. ...
(Published in Reading Today, 29(3), p26-27)
Argues that the text difficulty levels of primary-level texts do not need to be increased, contrary to the Common Core State Standards recommendations. Discusses historical changes in the difficulty of primary-level texts. Discusses evidence linking the ability of exiting third graders to read texts in the 540L-585L to future school success. Questions whether evidence exists supporting the assertion that exiting 3rd graders must proficiently read texts at the 790L recommended by the CCSS in order to be on track for college and career reading at high school graduation. Instead of raising the difficulty of texts at the third grade level, argues that the focus should be on why so many exiting third graders are not reading proficiently with texts current levels of text complexity--levels that are linked with to future academic success.
... There may be numerous reasons why such informational contents were not deemed as useful by participants: the nature of the text, its inherent level of complexity, specific lexical, semantic, and syntactic features [57,58], the display format (i.e., font size, form and type, presence of colored design elements and pictures), or individual differences in the ability of participants to comprehend reading material (e.g., see [59]). It should also be noted that the types of effects examined in this study have been almost exclusively tested using news articles. ...
Background: Summaries of systematic reviews are a reference method for the dissemination of research evidence on the effectiveness of public health interventions beyond the scientific com-munity. Motivated reasoning and cognitive dissonance may interfere with readers’ ability to process the information included in such summaries. Methods: We conducted a web experiment on a panel of university-educated North Americans (N = 259) using a systematic review of the ef-fectiveness of bicycle helmet legislation as a test case. The outcome variables were the perceived tentativeness of review findings and attitude toward bicycle helmet legislation. We manipulated two types of uncertainty: (i) deficient uncertainty (inclusion vs. non-inclusion of information on limitations of the studies included in the review) and (ii) consensus uncertainty (consensual findings showing legislation effectiveness vs. no evidence of effectiveness). We also examined whether reported expertise in helmet legislation and the frequency of wearing a helmet while cy-cling interact with the experimental factors. Results: None of the experimental manipulations had a main effect on the perceived tentativeness. The presentation of consensual efficacy findings had a positive main effect on the attitude toward the legislation. Self-reported expertise had a significant main effect on the perceived tentativeness and exposing participants with reported expertise to results showing a lack of evidence of efficacy increased their favorable attitude toward the legis-lation. Participants’ helmet use was positively associated with their attitude toward the legislation (but not with perceived tentativeness). Helmet use did not interact with the experimental manip-ulations. Conclusions: Motivated reasoning and cognitive dissonance influence reader's ability to process information contained in a systematic review summary.
... Recently, the significance of learning materials has been disregarded (Chingos, & Whitehurst, 2012), and instructional connection between learning outcomes and learning resources is rarely coherent (Foorman et al., 2004). Instructional resources are tools that the teacher needs to provide assistance and motivation to students' learning activities (Ema & Ajayi, 2004). ...
Learning materials aid in conceptual retention, stir learning motivation, increase academic engagement, and enhance student achievement. This study is a descriptive-evaluative research that described the science teachers’ assessment of the Grade 8 Science K-12 learner’s material produced by the state education department. The study was conducted in three government-owned secondary schools in Zambales, Philippines. The science teachers used a modified Learning Resource Assessment Tool developed by Prince Edward Island (2008) in evaluating the K-12 material. Results revealed that the learner’s material is satisfactory in terms of content, instructional design, and technical design. However, the teachers cited some problems encountered such as inadequacy of the materials for the learners, incongruence of the topics to the learning competencies, and lack of instructional time to cover all the topics. The teachers also laid some recommendations that can be forwarded to the Department of Education to review, refine, revise and re-align the learner’s material to make it research-based, relevant, and responsive to the learners' needs.
... For example, an 80% decodable text meant that 80% of words had GPCs or were high-frequency words that had been taught in lessons. Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, and Griffin (2004) applied this metric to determine whether texts adopted for use in Texas fit the state's requirement for a 75% LTTM. Potential decoding accuracy rates varied widely across the six programs and often depended heavily on holistically taught words. ...
The Common Core State Standards emphasize the need for U.S. students to read complex texts. As a result, the level of word complexity for primary‐level texts is important, particularly the dimensions of and changes in complexity between first grade and the important third‐grade high‐stakes testing year. In this study, we addressed word complexity in these grades by examining its dimensions and differences in the texts in three widely used U.S. reading programs. Fourteen measures of word complexity were computed, and exploratory factor analysis established that four dimensions—orthography, length, familiarity, and morphology—characterized word complexity. As expected, the third‐grade texts have more complex words than the first‐grade texts have in the four dimensions, with the greatest differences in length and familiarity. More surprisingly, the words in the first‐grade texts increase in complexity over the year, but overall, the words in the third‐grade texts do not. Polysyllabic words are common in texts in both grades, comprising 48% of unique words in first‐grade texts and 65% in third‐grade texts. Polymorphemic words comprise 13% of unique first‐grade words and 19% of third‐grade words (for derived words, 3% and 6%, respectively, of all words). Results show that word complexity changes markedly between grades as expected, not only in length and familiarity but also in syllabic and morphemic structure. Implications for instruction and future word complexity analyses are discussed.
... Examples are continuing to teach phonological awareness skills once students in kindergarten or grade 1 can already decode words or measuring words correct per minute as a substitute for reading comprehension. Yet, well-designed phonics programs that provide a scope and sequence of alphabetic instruction and practice in decodable text, with sufficient opportunities to differentiate instruction so that all students can progress to text that can be read independently with accuracy and comprehension, are a valuable instructional support (Chingos & Whitehurst, 2012;Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004) and can promote achievement gains if well implemented (Foorman et al., 2003;Foorman, Francis, Fletcher, Schatschneider, & Mehta, 1998;Kim et al., 2016). ...
Some environmental influences, including intentional interventions, have shown persistent effects on psychological characteristics and other socially important outcomes years and even decades later. At the same time, it is common to find that the effects of life events or interventions diminish and even disappear completely, a phenomenon known as fadeout. We review the evidence for persistence and fadeout, drawing primarily on evidence from educational interventions. We conclude that 1) fadeout is widespread, and often co-exists with persistence; 2) fadeout is a substantive phenomenon, not merely a measurement artefact; and 3) persistence depends on the types of skills targeted, the institutional constraints and opportunities within the social context, and complementarities between interventions and subsequent environmental affordances. We discuss the implications of these conclusions for research and policy.
... As seen in the column "all" for the sum of tokens across the grades, the largest program difference was between Mathematics Program 4 (n ϭ 133,679) and Mathematics Program 5 (n ϭ 348,433). The difference in program within domain types and tokens counts is consistent with program differences noted in a few prior studies involving textbooks for token counts and occasionally for type counts (e.g., Brenner & Hiebert, 2010;Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004). ...
Academic vocabulary networks were examined in three elementary grades textbook programs (first through fifth grade) in three domains—science, mathematics, and social studies. Within each program, a given network consisted of a focal domain-specific academic word and the collection of words from all grades that overlapped in meaning with the focal word. Academic words and the networks for each domain-specific academic word were computationally determined. For each network, the time at which the first network word appeared represented the inception of the network. The network’s expansion across the grades was tracked as additional words appeared. The main research questions were: Did network growth patterns across grades vary according to domain; and within domain, did network patterns vary according to two focal domain-specific academic word characteristics. The two focal word characteristics were the age at which the focal word’s meaning was typically known and the timing of the introduction of the focal word. Multilevel growth model analyses were conducted. The dependent variable was number of words, called nodes, in a network at each time point across the grades. Main conclusions were the following. 1. Network patterns varied across domains, with social studies networks most different from those in the other two domains. 2. Network growth pattern varied according to selected focal word characteristics, and the focal word characteristic effect varied by domain.
... Still, some comparisons can be made. In one study, Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, and Griffin (2004) investigated six first-grade basal reading programs. Unlike the present study, they counted only tokens in the reading selections themselves, and like the present study, they did not consider any accompanying supplementary readers. ...
This study described and analyzed the vocabulary of 4 current, best-selling core reading programs and developed word lists based on these analyses. Results showed a good deal of similarity but also some significant differences among the programs. Across grades 1–6, all of them included a substantial number of tokens (approximately 380,000–660,000) and a substantial number of types (ap-proximately 18,000–21,000). Approximately 90% of words were quite frequent, among the 4,000 most frequent English words. Most words were not repeated frequently; about 45% occurred only once or twice. Approximately 3,500 words were identified as relatively frequent and widely dispersed and about 1,000 words as relatively frequent, widely dispersed, and likely to be unknown. The lists developed include types in the programs, word families in the programs, frequent word families, general-utility word families, and challenging general-utility words families. The discussion centers on educational uses of the findings and the lists.
... Both Gibson and Venezky explicitly link this strategy to the variation associated with the variable pronunciation of common vowels in English. This approach has been incorporated into established intervention programs (Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004;Lovett, Lacerenza, & Borden, 2000). Recently, Steacy, Elleman, Lovett, and Compton (2016) isolated the more specific effects of attention to the variable pronunciations of vowels and other taught word reading strategies, showing improved reading of closely related experimental items with variant vowels at post-test compared to a phonics control group that learned about GPCs but did not learn about processing variable vowels. ...
We evaluated two experimenter-delivered, small group word reading programs among at risk poor readers in Grade 1 classes of regular elementary schools using a two-arm dual site matched control trial intervention. At-risk poor word readers (n = 201) were allocated to either a) Direct Mapping and Set-for-Variability (DMSfV); or b) Current or Best-Practices (CBP) small group reading programs, typically for 10-11 hours over 10 weeks. Students were matched on baseline reading and language abilities, parent demographic measures, and on observed regular classroom teaching quality. Results of hierarchical data modeling showed advantages for the DMSfV program (p < .05 for word reading and spelling at post-test and word reading and sentence comprehension at 5-month delayed post-test), with discernible valued added for the DMSfV condition across all follow-up measures. Results support the use of small group preventative literacy intervention models that teach both direct mapping of grapheme-phoneme correspondences in text and set-for-variability.
... Indeed, analyses such as that of Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, and Griffin (2004) have shown that the texts of the primary grades have accelerated in difficulty since Becoming A Nation of Readers (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985) called for an end to vocabulary control in reading textbooks. ...
The aim of this chapter is to provide teachers with an understanding of why and how movement up the Common Core’s staircase of text complexity begins with a focus on the current texts of the elementary school. To accomplish this aim, the chapter addresses three topics: (a) the distribution of vocabulary in texts, (b) students’ performances with the core vocabulary, and (c) scaffolds that support students’ reading of current texts.
... With regard to first grade, the first study cited in the CCSS is Chall's 1967Chall's /1983 reports on first-grade texts that summarized the features of texts in core reading programs with copyrights from 1956 to 1962. Massive changes occurred in first-grade texts in the subsequent decades (Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004), including the elimination of controlled vocabulary in first-grade texts that resulted in substantial increases in the number of unique and rare words. ...
In this chapter we consider three assumptions about the view of text complexity as operationalized by the CCSS. We are concerned that these assumptions, if left unexamined, could increase the achievement gap as they become part of state and national policies. At the outset, we emphasize that we support strongly the goal of increased reading of complex texts and accompanying reading practices. A complex view of text complexity, however, is needed to ensure that appropriate texts and instruction are provided to students in order to increase their capacity to engage with complex texts. Before addressing the three assumptions and their potential consequences, we describe why text complexity is included as a distinct standard within the CCSS.
... Research indicates that the material the participant is asked to read is a major determinant of the inference that is made about the quality of comprehension (Pretorius, 2000;Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm & Griffin, 2004;Deane, Sheehan, Sabatini, Futagi & Kostin, 2006;Francis, Snow, August, Carlson, Miller & Iglesias, 2006;Rayner, Chace, Slattery & Ashby, 2006). Primary grade children mostly read narratives. ...
A number of assessment studies in recent years have shown that the educational achievement of learners in South African schools is unacceptably poor. The Department of Education’s systemic evaluations, conducted in Grade 3 (first cycle in 2001, second cycle in 2007) show very low levels of literacy among learners. Reading comprehension and writing scores averaged 39% for the first and 36% for the second cycle. Research indicates that less attention has been given to children’s reading comprehension skills compared to decoding skills. Teacher preparation programmes should provide candidates with a rigorous, research-based curriculum and opportunities to practise a range of predefined skills and knowledge. The demands of competent literacy instruction and assessment, and the training experiences necessary to learn it, have been seriously underestimated by universities. Teacher education programmes should ensure that teachers, amongst other crucial aspects, know how to assess the progress of every student and change instruction when it is not working and also know how to communicate results of assessments to various stakeholders, especially parents. The purpose of this article is to report on the training that pre-service teachers receive, related to reading comprehension assessment practices, within a BEd foundation phase teacher preparation programme.
... These "omnibus" measures are readily obtained and give a straightforward designation of a text's complexity. But these results should be thought of as policies underlying large-state textbook adoptions around 1990 (Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004;Hiebert, 2005). ...
This article is designed to provide teachers with guidelines on what to consider when evaluating whether texts are at appropriate levels of complexity for purposes and students in their classrooms. Specifically, the question addressed is: What should teachers be looking for in selecting texts that are appropriate in complexity for their students?
... There is a clear need for text that provides students, particularly students with LD, with opportunities to apply decoding skills to develop facility with the alphabetic principle (Foorman & Moats, 2004;Hiebert, 1999; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHHD], 2000;Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Although there is no consensus in the field of education regarding the minimum percentage of words that must be phonetically regular for a text to be considered decodable (Allington & Woodside-Jiron, 1998), California and Texas set this criterion at 75% to 80% (Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004). In addition to phonetic regularity (or partial regularity), the degree to which the phonics lessons match the skills required to read the text is another component of decodable text, and is referred to as lesson-to-text match (Mesmer, 2001a). ...
This study examined the impact of independent practice of multiple-criteria text that targeted high-frequency words, decodability, and meaningfulness. Second-grade students, including at-risk students, were randomly assigned within classroom to a treatment group that read multiple-criteria text (n = 34), or contrast group that read authentic literature (i.e., children's books without intentionally imbedded scaffolds; n = 28) during daily 30-min independent reading sessions for 10 weeks. Pre-post data analysis indicated no statistically significant group differences, though a moderate effect size of .67 was found for the word reading of developing decoders in the treatment group. HLM analyses also provided preliminary evidence that practice with multiple-criteria text may be more effective than practice with authentic literature for developing decoders but not advanced decoders.
... Fourth, there is a question about whether primary-grades texts are currently more difficult than in the past, and if they are, then increasing their complexity even further may do little more than frustrate students and educators. Some evidence suggests that the reading demands of kindergarten and primary-grades texts have increased exponentially in past years, especially during the past decade (Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004). The number of unique words and rare words in early-grades texts significantly increased when large states (California and Texas) abandoned controlled vocabulary in first-grade texts. ...
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) establish a challenging text-complexity standard for all high-school graduates to read at college and workplace text-complexity levels. We argue that implementation of the CCSS standard requires concurrent examination of historical student reading-growth trends. An example of an historical student average reading growth curve is presented, along with growth curves for quartile subgroups. Next, a strategy is illustrated for exploring potential alternate student reading paths if students are to attain the CCSS goal. Finally, implications derived from the student growth illustrations are discussed in relation to the Common Core text-complexity standard and its implementation.
... The importance of knowing key meanings in texts has been well substantiated in relation to its impact on comprehension (e.g., Stanovich, 1986), and some evidence suggests that young students may benefit from texts with easier and more familiar vocabulary (e.g., Hiebert & Fisher, 2007). However, current-day early-grades texts may contain a fairly large amount of challenging word meanings (e.g., Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004). In general, words that occur with higher frequency are processed more quickly and tend to be associated with networks of knowledge (Graesser, McNamara, & Kulikowich, 2011). ...
The Common Core set a standard for all children to read increasingly complex texts throughout schooling. The purpose of the present study was to explore text characteristics specifically in relation to early-grades text complexity. Three hundred fifty primary-grades texts were selected and digitized. Twenty-two text characteristics were identified at 4 linguistic levels, and multiple computerized operationalizations were created for each of the 22 text characteristics. A researcher-devised text-complexity outcome measure was based on teacher judgment of text complexity in the 350 texts as well as on student judgment of text complexity as gauged by their responses in a maze task for a subset of the 350 texts. Analyses were conducted using a logical analytical progression typically used in machine-learning research. Random forest regression was the primary statistical modeling technique. Nine text characteristics were most important for early-grades text complexity including word structure (decoding demand and number of syllables in words), word meaning (age of acquisition, abstractness, and word rareness), and sentence and discourse-level characteristics (intersentential complexity, phrase diversity, text density/information load, and noncompressibility). Notably, interplay among text characteristics was important to explanation of text complexity, particularly for subsets of texts.
... Just as researchers claiming textbook simplification studied trends in SAT test results and textbooks (e.g., Chall, 1977), researchers need to examine adaptations in instruction practices and student performances on a variety of literacy tasks as states implement the Common Core. How recommendations for accelerated levels are reflected in the texts purchased by schools also requires attention, similar to the analyses that Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, and Griffin (2004) conducted of reading programs following the decodable text policies of the past decade. ...
The Common Core Standards for the English Language Arts (CCSS) provide explicit guidelines matching grade-level bands (e.g., 2–3, 4–5) with targeted text complexity levels. The CCSS staircase accelerates text expectations for students across Grades 2–12 in order to close a gap in the complexity of texts typically used in high school and those of college and career. The first step of the band at second and third grades is examined because it marks the entry into the staircase and a critical developmental juncture. In this article, we examine the theoretical and empirical support for three assumptions that underlie the acceleration of text complexity in Grades 2–3. Then we identify patterns in American reading achievement and instruction to illustrate the potential and far-reaching consequences of an increase in the first step of the CCSS staircase.
... The number of total words in text decreased while the number of unique words increased (Hoffman et al., 1994). Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, (2002) found that a first-grade text continued to feature high numbers of unique words, many of which appeared a single time. ...
This study investigated the effects of repeated reading of decodable and less decodable text on oral reading fluency, specifically accuracy and correct words read per minute. In addition the study sought to determine if a particular text type facilitated oral reading fluency for good, average, or poor readers. Participants read either decodable or less decodable texts or received regular classroom instruction. The two treatment groups reread two narrative and one informational text using four different techniques, (e.g. echo, choral and two variations of partner reading). The comparison group read a different leveled text each week as part of their regular classroom instruction. The leveled text was not reread. Treatment and comparison groups did not differ on post measures on nonsense word fluency or passage reading. Both treatment groups regardless of ability level increased significantly in words read correctly for each story. Thus, the repeated reading of text did have an effect on correct words read per minute. There was no significant difference between the groups reading decodable and less decodable text for two of the three stories read, regardless of reading ability. There was a significant difference between the two groups of low ability readers on one story, with the students reading decodable text making a significant gain in oral reading fluency.
... Analyses of sequential texts from widely adopted first-grade programs indicate that, whatever their philosophy, relatively large numbers of new words are introduced. Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, and Griffin (2004) analyzed six first-grade programs, including programs on the 2000 Texas textbook adoption list. In four of the six programs, an average of 84 new words per week was introduced. ...
The Critical Word Factor, based on word recognition demands of texts, is a measure of text difficulty designed specifically for texts used by beginning readers. The measure is a function of the number of new, unique words per 100 running words of text that fall outside a designated curriculum. The authors investigated the validity of the Critical Word Factor from data on beginning readers' speed, accuracy, and comprehension after students read texts with different numbers of critical words. Analyses of variance indicated significant main effects for the Critical Word Factor on reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Mean differences on the 3 variables were in the predicted direction; results for speed and accuracy were stronger than were those for comprehension. Additional analyses showed that words predicted by the model to be hard were hard, and those predicted to be easy were easy.
... There is also evidence that researchers, policymakers, and textbook publishers have not been concerned with the repetition of words in texts for beginning readers over the past two decades. For example, Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, and Griffin (2004) reported percentages as high as 70 of single-appearing words in the units of current first-grade textbooks. A response to this finding of many single-appearing words in first-grade textbooks is that the word has been replaced by the phoneme as the unit of repetition in first-grade textbooks, according to the policies of America's two largest textbook adoption states, California and Texas (Stein et al., 1999). ...
In this chapter, we review the results of a study (Hiebert & Fisher, 2004) in which groups of predominantly English language learners were involved in repeated reading. The two treatment groups differed in the kinds of texts that they read, but, regardless of text type, they read the texts repeatedly. The students in the control group were exposed to texts that have a high level of potential for accuracy (e.g., Stein, Johnson, & Gutlohn, 1999). However, these students were not asked to reread these texts systematically. We use these findings to suggest features of beginning reading instruction in which first graders become fluent from the start.
... To develop the responsiveness measure, we first derived an optimal learning curve for the decoding-skills program. This learning curve represents the corpus of words that can be accurately decoded as a function of intervention lesson, assuming 100% mastery learning of the intervention skills, a derivative of the lesson-to-text-match procedure (see Foorman, Francis, Davidson, Harm, & Griffin, 2004;Jenkins, Peyton, Sanders, & Vadasy, 2004). We then developed a 50-word assessment that mirrored the optimal learning curve and administered it to the children at equally spaced assessment waves (i.e., every 12 lessons) during the 7 months of PHAST intervention. ...
The authors explored a new means of assessing responsiveness to decoding-skill intervention to model individual differences in the transfer of decoding-skill gains to other aspects of reading acquisition in 35 children, Grades 3 through 5, with reading disabilities. Seven different parameters, representing responsiveness to decoding instruction, were estimated for each child and used to predict gains on standardized reading tests assessing word attack, word identification, and text reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Results indicated that several estimates of an individual's responsiveness to instruction were related to gains in other aspects of reading. Results also suggested that the most appropriate unit of analysis for examining transfer is the individual, not the group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this chapter, we explore the role played by texts in supporting fluent reading in students, especially those with learning disabilities (LD). Our basic premise is that texts have an important role to play in the acquisition of this knowledge and that, until this role is better understood and recognized, interventions will limp along, working hard to make a difference and often failing to do so. The texts of reading instruction, especially for beginning readers, have increased substantially in difficulty over the past two decades. These shifts, we will demonstrate, particularly have consequences for students with LD. The discrepancy between the proficiency of students with LD and the demands of the text are great, setting students up for continued failure. Further, current textbooks are not based upon an empirical understanding of the kinds of scaffolds needed by beginning or struggling readers to acquire the orthographic proficiency needed for becoming proficient and fluent readers. We describe the empirical basis for a model of text that can be supportive of fluent reading in readers with LD.
Different types of texts have important but unique roles in instructional programs. Although trade books develop literary knowledge, texts with high percentages of highly frequent and common decodable words support the development of automatic, meaningful reading for beginning and struggling readers. This chapter is concerned with texts that support the latter goal—the attainment of fluency among beginning and struggling readers.My intent is to portray the background and evidence for the role of a particular type of text in fluency development among beginning and struggling readers by (a) presenting a model of text difficulty that recognizes the role of word-level features, (b) summarizing research and theory on the kinds of texts that promote fluency, (c) presenting the results of a study in which the texts for fluency practice were selections from a literature-based basal series or “scaffolded” texts that emphasized the 1,000 most frequent words, and (d) proposing implications of the foregoing for classrooms.
Technical documentation of research design, data collection, analysis, and results associated with the Early Bird Dyslexia Risk and Early Literacy Risk Screener.
The science of reading has made genuine progress in understanding reading and the teaching of reading, but is the science of reading just the science of reading English? Worldwide, a majority of students learn to read and write in non‐European, nonalphabetic orthographies such as abjads (e.g., Arabic), abugidas/alphasyllabaries (e.g., Hindi), or morphosyllabaries (e.g., Chinese). Over a decade ago, I argued that the extreme inconsistency of English spelling–sound correspondence had confined the science of reading to an insular, Anglocentric research agenda addressing theoretical and applied issues with limited relevance for a universal science of reading. Here, I ask if the science of reading has moved forward. Acknowledging some limited progress over the past decade, it is evident that even today, mainstream reading research remains entrenched in Anglocentrism, Eurocentrism, and another form of ethnocentrism that I call alphabetism. Even the two dominant theoretical frameworks for describing cross‐script diversity, orthographic depth and psycholinguistic grain size theory, give little or no consideration to non‐European alphabets or nonalphabetic scripts, promoting a one‐dimensional view of script variation (i.e., spelling–sound consistency). Consideration of the full spectrum of the world’s languages and writing systems reveals multiple dimensions of writing system complexity, each liable to create obstacles for the developing reader. If the science of reading is to contribute meaningfully to assessment, diagnosis, instruction, and intervention for all readers around the world, then we must extricate our field from entrenched ethnocentrism and embrace global diversity.
Thoth is a tool designed to combine many different types of speed reading technology. The largest insight is using natural language parsing for more optimal rapid serial visual presentation and more effective reading information.
The objective of this article is to describe seven elements important to successful implementation of early literacy intervention. The seven elements are drawn from research as well as from the authors' recent randomized controlled trial of effective early literacy interventions in kindergarten through second grade in 55 schools across Florida. The seven elements are (a) the importance of researcher-practitioner partnerships; (b) determining the need for early intervention; (c) assessment selection and data use; (d) evaluating curriculum and instructional materials for use in early intervention; (e) scheduling time for intervention; (f) selecting, training, and supporting interventionists; and (g) locating space and maintaining open communications among interventionists, teachers, and parents. Finally, school leaders must provide early intervention with sufficient intensity and duration to accelerate students' catch-up growth in order to meet grade-level proficiency benchmarks.
Recent international studies of reading have expanded our understanding of how writing systems (orthographies) map onto spoken language (phonology) and the processes by which understanding of written language occurs (Rayner, Foorman, Perfetti, Pesetsky, & Seidenberg, 2001; Snowling & Hulme, 2005). From an international perspective, the teaching of reading is first and foremost a matter of grain size — the size of the orthographic unit that maps to the relevant phonological unit. Ziegler and Goswami (2005) argue that in English alphabetic letters map to multiple phonological units — whole words, onsets and rimes, and phonemes, and that, consequently, learning to read in English is more complex than learning to read in languages with a match in grain size, such as Finnish, Italian, Spanish, German, and Greek (Seymour, Aro, & Erskine, 2003).
In the United States, the teaching of reading has become a matter of public policy with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB; Public Law No. 107–110) and its provisions for closing the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children by holding schools accountable for achievement results and requiring that teachers be highly qualified (Foorman, Kalinowski, & Sexton, 2007). The Reading First component of NCLB targets beginning reading instruction and is based on consensus documents summarizing over 30 years of research (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000; National Research Council, 1998; RAND Reading Study Group, 2002). In this chapter we have two broad objectives to (a) explain what is known scientifically about learning to read English, and (b) summarize research on reading instruction.
How well students respond to reading instruction in the classroom is instrumental in determining their academic outcomes. This chapter explains why this first tier of instruction in the classroom is at a critical juncture with the adoption of rigorous college and career readiness standards (e.g., the common core state standards in English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects; ELA CCSS for short). First, the ELA CCSS is overviewed and the key constructs of academic language, text complexity, and perspective taking are discussed. Second, the research-based practices in primary-grade reading instruction for teaching academic language skills, providing explicit instruction in the alphabetic skills, teaching word analysis skills, and ensuring daily practice in text reading with and without feedback in order to build accuracy, fluency, and comprehension are reviewed. Third, the research-based practices for content-area tier 1 reading instruction in the secondary grades are discussed. Specifically, the chapter focuses on providing explicit vocabulary and comprehension instruction, ensuring opportunities for extended discussion of text, and increasing student motivation and engagement in literacy learning. The authors conclude with a table summarizing best practices for tier 1 reading instruction.
In this study, the student texts and teacher guides of two
reading intervention programs for at-risk, first-grade
students were analyzed and compared: Fountas and Pinnell’s
Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) and Scott Foresman’s
My Sidewalks (MS). The analyses drew on the
framework of available theory and research on beginning
texts developed by Mesmer, Cunningham, and
Hiebert in 2012. This framework includes attention to
word-level, text-level, and program-level features. The
student texts of the two programs had similar average
percentages of single-appearing words and words that
can elicit a mental picture (concrete words); however,
LLI texts featured more repetition of words, a slightly
higher percentage of highly frequent words, and a considerably
higher percentage of multisyllable words. MS
texts contained a higher percentage of phonetically regular
words and a higher lesson-to-text match between
phonics elements in teacher guides and the words in student
texts. Instructional implications and future research
directions are discussed.
Since the late 1980s, reading reform efforts in California and Texas have led to changes in beginning reading textbooks. This article examines the effects of these policies on the task that current (2000/2001) texts pose for beginning readers. I begin by reviewing trends in textbooks over the past 80 years and continue by identifying cognitive and linguistic dimensions of the beginning reading task. These dimensions, such as word repetition, are used to describe the beginning reading task of current and historical textbooks. Analyses showed that 41% of the unique words in current textbooks appear once in 10 consecutive texts. Further, between 1962 and 2000, the number of unique words increased substantially, whereas word repetition was curtailed. One conclusion from these data is that current entry-level first graders are expected to acquire new words at the same pace as exiting seond graders.
In this review, texts used in the research on which the National Reading Panel based its conclusions in its 2000 report about the role of fluency in reading and its sensitivity to practice were grouped in 4 categories. Three of these text categories (pre-1990 basals, skill builders, and high-interest/low- vocabulary texts) used controlled vocabulary and accounted for approximately 75% of all texts used in the studies reviewed by the panel. When various features of these controlled vocabulary texts were compared with those in current, mainstream textbook programs, the primary difference was the treatment of rare words. Compared to controlled texts, current mainstream textbook programs have substantially more rare words, and approximately 70% of these words appear a single time.
At-risk 1st graders were randomly assigned to tutoring in more or less decodable texts, and instruction in the same phonics program. The more decodable group (n = 39) read storybooks that were consistent with the phonics program. The less decodable group (n = 40) read storybooks written without phonetic control. During the first 30 lessons, storybook decodability was 85% versus 11% for the 2 groups. Tutoring occurred 4 days per week for 25 weeks. A control group did not receive tutoring in phonics or story reading. Both tutored groups significantly surpassed the control on an array of decoding, word reading, passage reading, and comprehension measures. However, the more and less decodable text groups did not differ on any posttest.
Core reading programs provide the curriculum and guide the instruction for many classroom teachers. The purpose of this study was to conduct a curriculum analysis of comprehension instruction in the five most widely used core reading programs. The recommended comprehension instruction in grades 3, 4, and 5 was examined to answer four questions: (1) What skills and strategies are recommended to be taught? (2) How are these skills and strategies recommended to be taught? (3) What instructional designs do the programs employ? and (4) How do the spacing and timing of comprehension skills and strategy instruction in core programs compare with how these skills were taught in original research studies? The results of the authors' analysis revealed that core reading programs recommend teaching many more skills and strategies than the researchers recommend and may dilute the emphasis on critical skills and strategies. In addition, comprehension strategy instruction does not meet the guidelines of explicit instruction as recommended in a number of research studies. Rarely do the five core programs follow the gradual release‐of‐responsibility model nor do the programs provide the amount of practice for skills and strategies that were employed in original research studies.
[Note: Peter Dewitz discusses the research presented in this article in a podcast presented by the “Voice of Literacy”: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts31236 ].
ملخص البحث: توفّر برامج القراءة الأساسية المنهاج الدراسي وتوجّه التعليم لكثير من معلمي الصفوف. ولقد هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى أن تقوم بتحليل المنهاج الدراسي لدى تعليم الاستيعاب في خمسة من برامج القراءة الأساسية الأكثر شائعاً. وتم الاستقصاء في تعليم الاستيعاب المقترح للصفوف الثالث والرابع والخامس من أجل إجابة عن الأسئلة الأربعة التالية: 1) ما هي الملكات والاستراتيجيات المقترحة أن تُعلَّم؟ و2) ما هو الاقتراح لتعلّم هذه الملكات والاستراتيجيات؟ و3) ما هي التصاميم التعليمية المستخدمة في البرامج؟ و4) كيف يقارن التنظيم والتوقيت بخصوص ملكات الاستيعاب وتعليم الاستراتيجيات بالطريقة التي تم فيها تعليم هذه الملكات في الدراسات البحثية الأصلية؟ وقد بيّنت نتائج تحليلنا أن برامج القراءة الأساسية تقترح تعليم أكثر ملكات واستراتيجيات مما يقترحها الباحثون بكثير الأمر الذي قد تضعف التركيز على الملكات والاستراتيجيات النقدية. بالإضافة إلى ذلك لا يفي تعليم استراتيجيات الاستيعاب بالدلائل الإرشادية لدى التعليم المباشر كما هي مقترحة في عدد من الأبحاث الدراسية. ونادراً ما تتبع البرامج الأساسية الخمسة نموذج التنازل التدريجي عن المسؤولية ولا توفّر البرامج كمية الممارسات والاستراتيجيات التي قد استخدمت في الدراسات البحثية الأصلية.
[Podcast: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts31236 ].
核心阅读计划为许多课室教师提供其课程及教学指引。本研究的目的是对五个最常为教师所采用的核心阅读计划中的阅读理解教学进行课程分析。研究者考查核心阅读计划所推荐的三、四及五年级阅读理解教学，并探讨以下四个问题：1.这些核心阅读计划推荐什么阅读技巧与策略以供教学之用﹖2.这些阅读技巧与策略是如何推荐给教学使用的﹖3.这些核心阅读计划是使用什么教学设计的﹖4.与原来研究里所采用的阅读技巧教授方法相比之下，这些核心阅读计划是如何编排教授阅读技巧及策略的间距与时间的﹖研究分析结果显示：这些核心阅读计划所推荐的阅读技巧与策略，远多于原来研究里所推荐的，而且有可能淡化了关键阅读技巧和策略的重要性。此外，阅读理解策略教学的设计并没有符合为众多研究所推荐有关显式阅读教学指引的要求。这五个核心阅读计划很少采用渐进式责任解除模型，更没有给学生提供足够原来研究里所使用的阅读策略和技巧的练习。
[Podcast: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts31236 ].
Les programmes de lecture de base fournissent le contenu à apprendre et guident l'enseignement de beaucoup d'enseignants. Le but de cette étude était de réaliser une analyse du contenu de l'enseignement de la compréhension dans les cinq programmes de lecture de base les plus utilisés. On a examiné l'enseignement de la compréhension qui est recommandé pour les classes de troisième, quatrième et cinquième année en vue de répondre à quatre questions: 1) Quelles compétences et quelles stratégies recommande‐t‐on d'enseigner ? 2) Comment recommande‐t‐on d'enseigner ces compétences et ces stratégies ? 3) Quelles modalités didactiques utilisent ces programmes ? et 4) Comment comparer le rythme et le temps de l'enseignement des compétences et des stratégies de compréhension dans ces programmes en comparaison avec la façon dont ces compétences étaient enseignées dans les recherches initiales ? Les résultats de nos analyses ont montré que les programmes de lecture de base recommandent d'enseigner beaucoup plus de compétences et de stratégies que n'en recommandent les chercheurs, ce qui peut diluer l'accent mis sur les compétences et les stratégies critiques. En outre, l'enseignement des stratégies de compréhension ne correspond pas aux directives d'un enseignement explicite qui est recommandé par de nombreuses recherches. Les cinq programmes de base respectent rarement le modèle de prise en charge progressive de responsabilité ni ne comportent la quantité de pratiques des compétences et des responsabilités qui étaient ceux des recherches initiales.
[Podcast: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts31236 ].
Базовые программы по чтению, которыми пользуются многие учителя, оговаривают содержание обучения и предлагают подходы и методы. Цель данного исследования состояла в том, чтобы проанализировать пять наиболее часто применяемых программ с точки зрения понимания прочитанного. В программах по чтению для третьего, четвертого и пятого классов проверялась часть, посвященная пониманию прочитанного текста. Авторы искали ответы на четыре вопроса: Какими навыками и приемами должны овладеть ученики? Как рекомендуется обучать этим навыкам и приемам? Какие учебные подходы отражает данная программа? Какое время отводится на выработку у учащихся навыков понимания и на овладение необходимыми приемами в рамках базовой программы? Ответы на последний вопрос сравнивались с тем временем, которое отводилось на овладение навыками и приемами изначально – в тех исследованиях, которые легли в основу той или иной программы. Результаты анализа показывают, что программы перегружены: они рекомендуют намного больше методов и приемов, чем изначально рекомендовали исследователи, но пренебрегают навыками и стратегиями критического мышления и чтения, которые ученые предлагали развивать. Кроме того, работа над пониманием прочитанного не опирается на те принципы прямого поддерживающего обучения, которое рекомендуют многие исследователи. Рассмотренные пять базовых программ не следуют принципу постепенного переложения ответственности с учителя на ученика и не обеспечивают необходимый объем практики для становления целевых навыков и обучения приемам, хотя именно на этом строились исследования, на которые опираются данные программы.
[Podcast: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts31236 ].
Programas básicos de lectura establecen el plan de estudio y guían la instrucción de muchos maestros escolares. El propósito de este estudio era el de realizar un análisis del plan de estudios de la enseñanza de la comprensión en los cinco programas de lecturas básicas más extensamente usados. Se examinó la enseñanza de comprensión recomendada el tercer, cuarto y quinto grado para contestar las siguientes cuatro preguntas: 1) ¿Cuáles destrezas y estrategias recomiendan que se enseñen? 2) ¿Cómo se recomienda que se enseñen estas destrezas y estrategias? 3) ¿Cuáles diseños de enseñanza utilizan tales programas? y 4) ¿Cómo se comparan los intervalos y el ritmo de la enseñanza de las destrezas y las estrategias de comprensión en los programas básicos a cómo se enseñaron tales destrezas en los estudios de investigación originales? El resultado de nuestro análisis reveló que los programas básicos de lectura recomiendan enseñar muchas más destrezas y estrategias que las recomendadas por los investigadores diluyendo de esta forma la importancia que se les debería dar a las destrezas y estrategias críticas. Además, la enseñanza de estrategias de comprensión no cumple con las pautas de instrucción explícita que se han recomendado en varios estudios de investigación. Han sido pocas las veces que los cinco programas básicos han seguido el modelo del transferencia gradual de responsabilidad. Los programas tampoco han contado con la cantidad de práctica en las destrezas y las estrategias que fueron usadas en los estudios originales.
[Podcast: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts31236 ].
The authors claim that assessing spelling in Grades 3—12 has utility. They base their claim on data from 875,040 students in Grades 3—12 in 52,923 classes in 840 Florida schools who took the Reading Comprehension, Maze, and Word Analysis spelling portions of the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading during the 2009—2010 school year. The importance of instruction to spelling ability was evident in (a) the large intraclass correlations at the class relative to the school level, (b) the greater variability in spelling at the class level rather than at the student level, (c) the greater role of demographics at the class level compared to the student level, and (d) the role of high ability spelling classrooms compared to low ability spelling classrooms in differentiating Reading Comprehension and Maze performance. Growth in spelling was evident in the elementary grades but stagnant above Grade 7. The authors conclude with the hope that secondary teachers will include spelling instruction as part of their goal to engage students in reading for understanding.
In this study, two groups of second graders participated in Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (FORI) but their repeated reading experiences used different kinds of texts. One group—the Literature group—read texts from the district's literature-based, basal reading program. The second group—the Content group—read from a set of science and social studies texts that were written to have few rare, multisyllabic, single-appearing words. Control-group students read from the district's literature-based program. Both intervention groups made greater gains in reading rate than Control group students and Content students made greater gains in reading rate than Literature students. Content and Literature groups outperformed Control students on the comprehension measure but did not perform significantly differently from one another. The gains made by the Content classrooms were made in approximately half the amount of time allocated to reading instruction as by Literature classrooms.
This study examined first graders' accuracy and reading rate in highly decodable and qualitatively leveled texts. The study inspected accuracy and rate by different levels of practice (practiced vs. unpracticed) and at different times of the year (October, January, and May). Seventy-four first graders read both leveled and decodable texts with and without practice and then reread the same texts throughout the year. The accuracy results were inconclusive, favoring decodable texts in one analysis and leveled texts in another analysis. However, participants were significantly more fluent (words per minute) in practiced readings of leveled texts. Across the first-grade year, first graders were also more fluent in leveled texts although differences diminished throughout the year. Specific text features that facilitated fluency in leveled texts are discussed.
This chapter examines current definitions of text difficulty and how they are expressed in standards and assessments. Research on and designations of text difficulty in standards and assessments are examined with reference to third grade, in particular, because of the focus in national and state contexts on this grade level. This attention to definitions of grade-appropriate text at the third-grade level does not exclude interest in other levels. The emphasis that third- grade attainment has received from policymakers suggests that, if grade-appropriate levels have been identified at any grade level, the process should be expressed most clearly with third-grade text.
Fulfilling a need for careful and thorough synthesis of an extensive body of findings on reading, this report presents leading experts' interpretations of both current knowledge of reading and the state of the art and practice of teaching reading. The introduction contains two claims: (1) the knowledge is now available to make worthwhile improvements in reading throughout the United States, and (2) if the practices seen in the classrooms of the best teachers in the best schools could be introduced everywhere, improvement in reading would be dramatic. The first chapter of the report stresses reading as the process of constructing meaning from written texts, a complex skill requiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information. The second chapter, on emerging literacy, argues that reading must be seen as part of a child's general language development and not as a discrete skill isolated from listening, speaking, and writing. The third chapter, on extending literacy, stresses that as proficiency develops, reading should not be thought of as a separate subject, but as integral to learning in all content areas. The fourth chapter concerns the teacher and the classroom and notes that an indisputable conclusion of research is that the quality of teaching makes a considerable difference in children's learning. The next two chapters note that standardized reading tests do not measure everything, and that teaching is a complex profession. The last chapter contains seventeen recommendations for conditions likely to produce citizens who would read with high levels of skill and do so frequently with evident satisfaction. In the afterword, Jeanne Chall comments on the history of the report, and three appendixes contain 260 references and notes plus lists of project consultants and the members of the National Academy of Education. (HOD)
This study examined the reading skills of children who have deficient decoding skills in the years following the first grade and traced their progress across 20 sessions of a decoding skills intervention called Word Building. Initially, the children demon- strated deficits in decoding, reading comprehension, and phonemic awareness skills. Further examination of decoding attempts revealed a pattern of accurate decoding of the first grapheme in a word, followed by relatively worse performance on subsequent vowels and consonants, suggesting that these children were not engaging in full al- phabetic decoding. The intervention directed attention to each grapheme position within a word through a procedure of progressive minimal pairing of words that dif- fered by one grapheme. Relative to children randomly assigned to a control group, children assigned to the intervention condition demonstrated significantly greater im- provements in decoding attempts at all grapheme positions and also demonstrated significantly greater improvements in standardized measures of decoding, reading comprehension, and phonological awareness. Results are discussed in terms of the consequences of not fully engaging in alphabetic decoding during early reading expe- rience, and the self-teaching role of alphabetic decoding for improving word identifi- cation, reading comprehension, and phonological awareness skills.
Book reviewed in this article:
Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children . Catherine E. Snow, Susan Burns, and Peg Griffin (Eds.). 1998.
A connectionist model of reading development previously used to simulate detailed aspects of devel- opmental dyslexia (Harm & Seidenberg, 1999) was used to explore why certain classes of interven- tions designed to overcome reading impairments are more effective than others. Previous research has shown that interventions targeting the development of spelling-sound correspondences are more effective at promoting generalization skills than ones designed solely to increase phonological aware- ness. The simulations broadly replicate the patterns of success and failure found in the developmental literature, and provide explicit computational insights into exactly why the interventions that include training on spelling-sound regularities are more effective than those targeting phonological develop- ment alone. The number of studies of interventions targeting de- velopmental reading impairments is growing at a rapid rate (see Bus & Ijzendoorn, 1999, for a recent review). Such studies typically involve testing one or more inter- ventions with children; outcome measures indicate the rela- tive strengths and weaknesses of the different interventions being considered. The benefits of such work are obvious: they give direct evidence for which of the tested interven- tions provide a more effective use of time and resources for the particular population of children studied. The dif- ficulty is that such studies are very demanding to conduct, and generally involve researchers working with children in school environments, removing children from their normal schoolwork, and obtaining consent materials from parents and school officials. Further, the studies often examine in-
Keeping important text ideas in focus and scaffolding children's responses and ideas are keys to successful read-alouds.
Traces research citations noted in advocacy and policy documents to their original sources to determine whether use of"decodable text" in early reading instruction is research-based. Researchers could locate no reliable, replicable research to support policy assertions that using decodable text, as defined in California and Texas policy documents, enhances children's reading achievement. (27 references) (MLH)
Root word vocabulary was studied in 2 normative samples (English-speaking, wide socioeconomic range) and in an advantaged sample. The authors estimated that in 2nd grade, the mean normative vocabulary was 5,200 root words, increasing to approximately 8,400 root words by 5th grade. During grades 3–5, the lowest quartile added about 3 root words a day, whereas the highest quartile added about 2.3 words a day. However, by 5th grade, children in the lowest quartile had only reached average 4th-grade level because they had such a small vocabulary in 2nd grade. There is evidence that words are learned in roughly the same order. The implications of these findings suggest (a) that greater efforts should be made to foster vocabulary acquisition in the primary years and (b) that a rough vocabulary curriculum sequence can be identified for the elementary years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
First and 2nd graders (
N = 285) receiving Title 1 services received 1 of 3 kinds of classroom reading programs: direct instruction in letter–sound correspondences practiced in decodable text (direct code); less direct instruction in systematic sound–spelling patterns embedded in connected text (embedded code); and implicit instruction in the alphabetic code while reading connected text (implicit code). Children receiving direct code instruction improved in word reading at a faster rate and had higher word-recognition skills than those receiving implicit code instruction. Effects of instructional group on word recognition were moderated by initial levels of phonological processing and were most apparent in children with poorer initial phonological processing skills. Group differences in reading comprehension paralleled those for word recognition but were less robust. Groups did not differ in spelling achievement or in vocabulary growth. Results show advantages for reading instructional programs that emphasize explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle for at-risk children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
We develop a formal grammatical system called a link grammar, show how English grammar can be encoded in such a system, and give algorithms for efficiently parsing with a link grammar. Although the expressive power of link grammars is equivalent to that of context free grammars, encoding natural language grammars appears to be much easier with the new system. We have written a program for general link parsing and written a link grammar for the English language. The performance of this preliminary system -- both in the breadth of English phenomena that it captures and in the computational resources used -- indicates that the approach may have practical uses as well as linguistic significance. Our program is written in C and may be obtained through the internet.
The development of reading skill and bases of developmental dyslexia were explored using connectionist models. Four issues were examined: the acquisition of phonological knowledge prior to reading, how this knowledge facilitates learning to read, phonological and nonphonological bases of dyslexia, and effects of literacy on phonological representation. Compared with simple feedforward networks, representing phonological knowledge in an attractor network yielded improved learning and generalization. Phonological and surface forms of developmental dyslexia, which are usually attributed to impairments in distinct lexical and nonlexical processing "routes," were derived from different types of damage to the network. The results provide a computationally explicit account of many aspects of reading acquisition using connectionist principles.
This monograph discusses research, theory, and practice relevant to how children learn to read English. After an initial overview of writing systems, the discussion summarizes research from developmental psychology on children's language competency when they enter school and on the nature of early reading development. Subsequent sections review theories of learning to read, the characteristics of children who do not learn to read (i.e., who have developmental dyslexia), research from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience on skilled reading, and connectionist models of learning to read. The implications of the research findings for learning to read and teaching reading are discussed. Next, the primary methods used to teach reading (phonics and whole language) are summarized. The final section reviews laboratory and classroom studies on teaching reading. From these different sources of evidence, two inescapable conclusions emerge: (a) Mastering the alphabetic principle (that written symbols are associated with phonemes) is essential to becoming proficient in the skill of reading, and (b) methods that teach this principle directly are more effective than those that do not (especially for children who are at risk in some way for having difficulty learning to read). Using whole-language activities to supplement phonics instruction does help make reading fun and meaningful for children, but ultimately, phonics instruction is critically important because it helps beginning readers understand the alphabetic principle and learn new words. Thus, elementary-school teachers who make the alphabetic principle explicit are most effective in helping their students become skilled, independent readers.
© 2001 Association for Psychological Science.
This monograph discusses research, theory, and practice relevant to how children learn to read English. After an initial overview of writing systems, the discussion summarizes research from developmental psychology on children's language competency when they enter school and on the nature of early reading development. Subsequent sections review theories of learning to read, the characteristics of children who do not learn to read (i.e., who have developmental dyslexia), research from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience on skilled reading, and connectionist models of learning to read. The implications of the research findings for learning to read and teaching reading are discussed. Next, the primary methods used to teach reading (phonics and whole language) are summarized. The final section reviews laboratory and classroom studies on teaching reading. From these different sources of evidence, two inescapable conclusions emerge: (a) Mastering the alphabetic principle (that written symbols are associated with phonemes) is essential to becoming proficient in the skill of reading, and (b) methods that teach this principle directly are more effective than those that do not (especially for children who are at risk in some way for having difficulty learning to read). Using whole-language activities to supplement phonics instruction does help make reading fun and meaningful for children, but ultimately, phonics instruction is critically important because it helps beginning readers understand the alphabetic principle and learn new words. Thus, elementary -school teachers who make the alphabetic principle explicit are most effective in helping their students become skilled, independent readers.
The development of reading skill and bases of developmental dyslexia were explored using connectionist models. Four issues were examined: the acquisition of phonological knowledge prior to reading, how this knowledge facilitates learning to read, phonological and nonphonological bases of dyslexia, and effects of literacy on phonological representation. Compared with simple feedforward networks, representing phonological knowledge in an attractor network yielded improved learning and generalization. Phonological and surface forms of developmental dyslexia, which are usually attributed to impairments in distinct lexical and nonlexical processing "routes," were derived from different types of damage to the network. The results provide a computationally explicit account of many aspects of reading acquisition using connectionist principles.
This study examined the role of various word features (e.g., versatile letter combinations) and basal text factors (e.g., word repetitions) in the developing word recognition skills of 93 first-grade students. The relative influence of the word characteristics in two different types of basal series on the acquisition of word identification skills was evaluated several times during the first-grade year. Results indicate that the text children are exposed to early in first grade may differentially shape their word identification strategies. /// [French] Cette étude a examiné le rôle de diverses caractéristiques de mots (ex: combinaisons de lettres versatiles) et les facteurs de textes de base (ex: répétitions de mots) dans le développement des compétences de reconnaissance de mots parmi 93 élèves de cours préparatoire. On a evalué plusieurs fois durant l'année de cours l'influence relative des caractéristiques de mots dans deux types différents de séries de base sur l'acquisition de compétences d'identification de mots. Les résultats ont indiqué que le texte auquel on expose les enfants tôt en cours préparatoire peut former de manière différentielle leurs stratégies d'identification de mots. /// [Spanish] Este estudio examinó la función de varias características de palabras (v.g.: combinaciones versátiles de letras) y de factores de texto básico (v.g.: repeticiones de palabras) en el desarrollo de las destrezas de reconocimiento de palabras de 93 alumnos de primer grado. La influencia relativa de las características de palabras en 2 diferentes series de textos básicos sobre la adquisición de destrezas de identificación de palabras, fue evaluada varias veces durante el año de primer grado. Los resultados indican que el texto al que son expuestos los alumnos a principios del primer grado, puede diferenciar el desarrollo de las estrategias de identificación de palabras.
At-risk 1st graders were randomly assigned to tutoring in more or less decodable texts, and instruction in the same phonics program. The more decodable group (n = 39) read storybooks that were consistent with the phonics program. The less decodable group (n = 40) read storybooks written without phonetic control. During the first 30 lessons, storybook decodability was 85% versus 11% for the 2 groups. Tutoring occurred 4 days per week for 25 weeks. A control group did not receive tutoring in phonics or story reading. Both tutored groups significantly surpassed the control on an array of decoding, word reading, passage reading, and comprehension measures. However, the more and less decodable text groups did not differ on any posttest.
Recent consensus documents are reviewed to define research-based practices in early reading instruction. Examples of professional development that incorporates research-based practices are provided, with particular reference to the Texas Reading Initiative and the authors' research project in Houston and in Washington, DC. Data relating gains in teacher knowledge, ratings of teaching effectiveness, and student achievement are presented. Conditions essential to sustaining and scaling research-based reading instruction are discussed and major obstacles identified.
This article bridges the gap between research and practice in beginning reading instruction by applying research-based evaluation criteria in a systematic analysis of recently published curriculum materials. Through a review of research on beginning reading instruction, the authors derived two instructional features characteristic of effective reading programs: explicit phonics instruction and a strong relationship between that phonics instruction and the words of the text selections in student reading materials. This article describes a curriculum analysis of several commercially published first-grade basal reading programs, which reveals significant discrepancies between the instructional strategies supported by the literature and the strategies endorsed by many basal reading programs; cautions are included. The authors conclude with recommendations for educators involved in evaluating, selecting, and modifying beginning reading curriculum materials.
The eight popular commercial reading programs examined in this study were selected on the basis of their use with compensatory education students and the fact that they represent different instructional approaches. The study examined how readers are taught to break the letter/sound code, what correspondences are taught, and how correspondences are sequenced and taught in each program. The methodology found in the code-emphasis programs was judged to be appropriate for compensatory education students. The phonics instruction offered by the four basal programs, however, is inappropriate for compensatory readers, since it assumes a sophisticated phonemic analysis ability. The study concludes that the ability to read new words is enhanced by direct letter-sound training rather than by whole word training. A direct instruction model is recommended, containing the following: direct instruction in letter-sound correspondence making these relationships obvious to students, a definite instructional strategy for teaching blending, and repeated opportunities to apply learned correspondences and blendings to the reading of words in connected text. Facility in word recognition is developed through repeated exposure to the same words in different texts. (Tables and references are included.) (DF)
Applies principles of cognitive psychology to the processes of reading. Topics include the nature of perceptual learning, the development of cognitive strategies, the nature of writing systems, acquisition of initial reading skills, reading processes in adults, reading disorders, cross-cultural variations in reading achievement, and the higher-level mental processes that are involved in reading (e.g., discovery of rules and order). (53 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
how does the child mentally represent printed words at each point of reading development / how does the child access these representations during encounters with print / how do word representation and word access change with experience and instruction
restricted-interactive model / acquiring functional lexical representations / acquiring an autonomous lexicon (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This investigation examined the extent to whichcurricular choice and incorporation of phonemicawareness (PA) into the kindergarten curriculumaffects growth in kindergarten literacy skillsand first-grade reading and spelling outcomesin 114 classrooms in 32 Title 1 schools for4,872 children (85% African American). Literacy curricula were described as havingmore or less teacher choice and more or less PAand were implemented with ongoing professionaldevelopment. Observations of curriculumfidelities and ratings of student behavior werealso obtained. Alphabetic instruction withoutPA was not as effective as alphabeticinstruction with PA. However, effectiveinstruction in PA and alphabetic codingappeared to be as much a consequence of ongoingprofessional development as it was a functionof prescribed PA activities. Results providelarge-scale classroom support for findings onPA reported by the National Reading Panel[(2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-basedassessment of the scientific research literature onreading and its implications for reading instruction.Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health andHuman Development].
Connectionist models of reading, in particular Seidenberg and McClelland's (1989) parallel distributed processing model of word recognition, are described and contrasted with the top-down, bottom-up, and interactive models of reading from the traditional, symbol-manipulation paradigm of information processing. Connectionism emphasizes: (1) a single, rather than dual, mechanism for processing words, and (2) distributed representations and weighted connections between units rather than symbolic rules for mapping letters and sounds. Implications for the teaching of reading are discussed.
Three experiments using beginning Dutch readers (7 and 8 years of age) as subjects provide evidence that visually recognizing the unique graphemic structure of words is an important component in word identification, even at rather early stages in learning to read. Only a moderate amount of practice in reading strings of letters was necessary for young children to read the regular spelling faster than an altered spelling that preserved the word sound. In normal beginners this effect appeared regardless of their ability to identify the words the first time; in learning-disabled children, matched in overall reading speed, learning about the graphemic compositions of words seems to proceed at a much slower rate. The results are discussed with regard to the importance of building accurate graphemic entries in the mental lexicon for acquiring fluency in reading.
There is a consensus among researchers about the critical elements for effective reading instruction. These elements are the integration of explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle, reading for meaning, and opportunity to learn. These critical elements are present in classroom instruction that prevents reading difficulties as well as effective small-group and one-on-one interventions. Research on effective classroom instruction and reading interventions is described, and the case is argued that the most effective intervention is provided early--in kindergarten through 2nd grade--rather than after 3rd grade, and allows for sufficient intensity, duration, and supportiveness that no child is left behind. Policy implications for changes in (a) the way learning disabilities are identified and (b) the content of professional development of teachers are discussed.
Reading today and tomorrow: Teachers' editions for Grades 1 and 2
- I Beck
Beck, I. (1989). Reading today and tomorrow: Teachers' editions for Grades 1 and 2. Austin, TX: Holt.
Beginning reading module
- I Beck
- R Hamilton
Beck, I., & Hamilton, R. (2000). Beginning reading module. Washington, DC: American Federation of
Teachers. (Original work published 1996)
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- E Dale
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Dale, E., & O'Rourke, J. (1981). Living word vocabulary. Chicago: World Book/Childcraft International.
Reading development and the teaching of reading: A psychological perspective
- L C Ehri
Ehri, L. C. (1999). Phases of development in learning to read words. In J. Oakhill & R. Beard (Eds.),
Reading development and the teaching of reading: A psychological perspective (pp. 79-108). Oxford, England: Blackwell.
A vocabulary enrichment program for third and fourth grade African American students: Description, implementation, and impact
- B R Foorman
- L M Seals
- J Anthony
- S Pollard-Durodola
Foorman, B. R., Seals, L. M., Anthony, J., & Pollard-Durodola, S. (2003). A vocabulary enrichment
program for third and fourth grade African American students: Description, implementation, and
impact. In B. Foorman (Ed.), Preventing and remediating reading difficulties: Bringing science to
scale (pp. 419-441). Timonium, MD: York.
VARIABILITY IN TEXT FEATURES
Interest and ability in reading
- A I Gates
Gates, A. I. (1930). Interest and ability in reading. New York: Macmillan.
Word decodability as a function of context and repetition. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading
- J Griffin
- J Anthony
- B R Foorman
- C Schatschneider
- D J Francis
Griffin, J., Anthony, J., Foorman, B. R., Schatschneider, C., & Francis, D. J. (2002, June). Word
decodability as a function of context and repetition. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for
the Scientific Study of Reading, Chicago.
Modeling reading development from first-grade text
- M W Harm
- M S Seidenberg
Harm, M. W., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2002, April). Modeling reading development from first-grade text.
Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans,
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Pronlex transcription. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
- B Martin
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Linguistics Data Consortium. (1995). Pronlex transcription. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
Martin, B., Jr. (1967). Brown bear, brown bear. New York: Holt.
Causes and consequences of predictability. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading
- J Van Dyke
- C A Perfetti
- B R Foorman
Van Dyke, J., Perfetti, C. A., & Foorman, B. R. (2002, June). Causes and consequences of predictability.
Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Chicago.
Living word vocabulary. Chicago: World Book/Childcraft International
- E Dale
- J O'rourke
Brown bear, brown bear
- B Martin
- Jr