How the Brain Learns to Read
Page 29
• Although decoding is an essential skill for beginning readers, acquiring vocabulary is also important so that children can learn the way English words are formed (root words, prefixes, and suffixes). This is particularly crucial for those students with a low-literacy background or whose native language is not English.
• We must identify as soon as possible children who are at risk for reading difficulties and have standardized and scientifically based screening tests for dyslexia. Children with these challenges should get intensive phonological training in small groups.
• Thanks to the brain’s amazing plasticity, dyslexia can be circumvented through research-based programs that develop alternative cerebral pathways for reading.
• Educators, parents, and psychologists can no longer ignore the recent scientific discoveries about how the brain learns to read, especially those that indicate which teaching methods may be more effective, and which ones less effective.
• Neuroscience has made significant contributions to our understanding of the reading process, but it will not solve all language learning problems. That will take the work of dedicated and enlightened educators who arouse a child’s interest in reading, and who employ creative and effective strategies based on updated knowledge of how the brain learns to read fluently and with comprehension.
Teaching children to read is not an easy task. This is especially true in the typical primary classroom where teachers welcome children from an ever-increasing variety of home situations, cultures, and native languages. Given these variables, successful teachers of reading are flexible rather than rigid in their approach, and they know through experience what they need to do to make learning to read exciting and meaningful. They also acknowledge that the findings of scientific studies are clear: Explicit instruction in phonemic awareness is essential because it helps the beginning reader understand the alphabetic principle and apply it to reading and writing. Enriched text complements—but does not replace—this process to provide relevant and enjoyable reading experiences.
This approach recognizes that learning to read and write are complex activities requiring at least seven levels of brain processing that must eventually be integrated:
• Phonological—knowing the sound system of language, phonemic awareness, and sound-letter correspondences
• Graphic—visually perceiving letters and symbols
• Lexical—recognizing words and their component parts, such as prefixes and suffixes
• Syntactic—understanding rules of grammar and discourse
• Semantic—comprehending meaning and detecting thematic structures
• Communicative—expressing purposes and intentions
• Cultural—communicating shared beliefs and knowledge
Effective reading programs and reading teachers should address all these levels of processing because each level supports the others. At the same time, children must be encouraged to use all the resources available to them in their efforts to decode, comprehend, and compose text. During this process, teachers need to have the skills to quickly recognize reading problems that arise and be able to select tested strategies to help students overcome those problems. Studies show that effective classroom instruction alone can substantially reduce reading failure (e.g., Joshi et al., 2009; Podhajski et al., 2009).
There is little doubt that the knowledge, strength, and sophistication of the teacher is what really matters in helping children learn to read successfully. It is to that end that this book was written, and it is my hope that teachers and parents who read it will feel more empowered to help their children gain the literacy skills they need to be productive citizens of the world.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION/REFLECTION
• What are the basics of a successful reading program?
• What do beginning readers need to learn?
• What do teachers need to know about teaching reading?
Resources
Note: All Internet sites were active at time of publication.
All About Adolescent Literacy
Website: www.adlit.org
This site offers information and resources to parents and educators of struggling adolescent readers and writers. It includes research papers and reports, classroom strategies, and other valuable resources on adolescent literacy.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Website: www.asha.org
This association represents speech, language, and hearing professionals. The site provides information for teachers and parents about normal speech development as well as how to detect problems during early childhood.
Content Area Reading Special Interest Group
Website: www.ucmo.edu/carsig
A subgroup of the International Reading Association, this group was formed to provide information on research and successful practices related to content-area reading. The site offers valuable suggestions in several different subject areas.
Council for Exceptional Children
2900 Crystal Drive
Suite 1000
Arlington, VA 22202-3557
Tel.: 1-888-CEC-SPED (888-232-7733)
Website: www.cec.sped.org
The CEC site has many suggestions for teachers and parents of children with learning disabilities as well as those who are gifted.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Website: www.fcrr.org
This center was established by the state of Florida to analyze reading curricula and materials. The site offers assessment reports on various reading programs.
Graphic Organizers
Website: www.graphic.org
This site has examples of different types of graphic organizers and suggestions on how to use them in lessons at all grade levels.
Head Start
Website: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs
Head Start is a federally funded program that promotes school readiness in young children by supporting efforts in language and literacy, cognition and general knowledge, physical development and health, social and emotional development, and approaches to learning.
Inspiration Software, Inc.
Website: http://inspiration.com
This company produces software that helps students construct all types of visual organizers for improving comprehension and building thinking skills. Kidspiration is designed for Grades K–5, and Inspiration is for Grade 6 and higher. Demonstration versions can be downloaded from the site, and it offers activities for tablets.
International Dyslexia Association
40 York Road, 4th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21204
Tel.: (410) 296-0232
Website: www.interdys.org
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) studies the various treatments for dyslexia as well as related language-based learning differences. It is the oldest such organization in the United States serving individuals with dyslexia. Its website offers publications, research references, and other useful information.
International Reading Association
800 Barkdale Road
P.O. Box 8139
Newark, DE 19714-8139
Tel.: 1-800-336-READ (1-800-336-7323)
Website: www.reading.org
The world’s largest association devoted to reading maintains a rich source of information, including useful advice to parents and teachers who are helping children learn to read. This site also offers access to research articles and studies related to reading.
KidsHealth—Understanding Dyslexia
Website: www.kidshealth.org/parent/medical/learning/dyslexia.html
This site offers information on the nature and treatment of dyslexia, written mainly for parents.
Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS, formerly known as the National Institute for Literacy)
Website: www.lincs.ed.gov
This learning community supported by the U.S. government promotes activities to strengthen literacy for people of all ages, and
has several reports available online that review scientific research studies in reading.
Literature Circles Resource Center
Website: www.litcircles.org
Maintained by Seattle University’s College of Education, this site offers educators many resources, suggestions, and sample lessons for using literature circles as part of a balanced literacy program.
National Association for the Education of Young Children
1313 L Street, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005
Tel.: 1-800-424-2460
Website: www.naeyc.org
This long-standing organization supports efforts to improve professional practice and opportunities in the education of children from birth through third grade.
National Center for Learning Disabilities
Website: www.ncld.org
Since 1977, this organization has provided parents and teachers with evidence-based tools, programs, and events that focus on helping individuals with learning disabilities. The site provides links to all these resources along with free e-newsletters with new information.
National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs
Website: www.ncela.gwu.edu
This site has information, articles, and Web resources for reading instruction and other important topics in the education of English language learners.
National Reading Panel
Website: www.nationalreadingpanel.org
The NRP report is available in its entirety or as an abbreviated 33-page summary from the panel’s website.
Organization for Human Brain Mapping
Website: www.humanbrainmapping.org
This organization of scientists and clinicians is involved in using brain imaging to understand more about the structures and functions of the brain. The site provides information about the organization as well as research abstracts from some of their seminars.
Parents as Teachers
Website: www.parentsasteachers.org
This site helps professionals and organizations work with parents to provide developmentally appropriate resources to help their children learn and grow from birth to kindergarten. It lists training programs and resources, and provides research information about the effectiveness of such programs.
Reading Partners
Website: http://readingpartners.org
This national nonprofit organization recruits and trains volunteers to work one-on-one with elementary students who are struggling readers, using research-based strategies.
Reading Recovery Council of North America
1926 Kenny Road, Suite 100
Columbus, OH 43210-1069
Tel.: 614-292-7111
Website: www.readingrecovery.org
The official site of the Reading Recovery program has been used in numerous school districts for nearly two decades to help beginning struggling readers. The site provides information and leads to many resources on reading and literacy.
Reading Rockets
http://readingrockets.org
This site is sponsored by WETA, a Washington, D.C., public television station, and includes lots of information to support struggling readers. It offers research studies, classroom strategies, lessons, and activities to assist teachers, parents, and other educators.
Success for All Foundation
200 West Towsontown Boulevard
Baltimore, MD 21204-5200
Tel.: 1-800-584-4998
Website: www.successforall.org
Here is all the information one needs to understand the history, components, implementation, and effectiveness of the Success for All program.
U.S. Department of Education
600 Maryland Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20202
Tel.: 1-800-USA-LEARN (872-5327)
Website: www.ed.gov
This site includes access to the ERIC databases and the National Center for Education Statistics, as well as descriptions of all the other activities that are the responsibility of the Department of Education.
What Works Clearinghouse
Tel.: 1-866-503-6114
Website: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc
This site is part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. It examines the research on various programs, practices, policies, and products in education, including literacy, to determine if they are of high quality so educators can make decisions based on valid research evidence.
Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity
Website: http://dyslexia.yale.edu
Founded by famed dyslexia researchers Drs. Sally and Bennett Shaywitz, this information-rich site offers advice to parents, teachers, and policy makers on the nature of treatment of dyslexia. It includes stories of famous people with dyslexia and answers many questions that people with dyslexia frequently ask.
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
Listed below are the Common Core Anchor Standards for Reading and the chapters where you can find information and strategies related to each standard.
Key Ideas and Details
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. See Chapters 4, 7, and 8.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. See Chapters 4 and 7.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. See Chapters 4, 7, and 8.
Craft and Structure
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. See Chapters 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8.
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. See Chapters 4, 7, and 8.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. See Chapters 4, 7, and 8.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. See Chapters 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. See Chapters 4, 7, and 8.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. See Chapters 4, 6, 7, and 8.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. See Chapters 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8.
SOURCE: © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Glossary
Academic language. The ability to know, understand, and use subject-area content and skills and communicate these to others.
Acoustic analysis. The process that separates relevant word sounds from background noise, decodes the phonemes of the word, and translates them into a phonological code that can be recognized by the mental lexicon.
Affix. Letters attached to the beginning (prefix) or end (suffix) of a word.
Alphabetic principle. The understanding that spoken words can be broken down into phonemes, and that written letters represent the phonemes of spoken language.
Angular gyrus. A fold at the base of the brain’s left parietal lobe that is involved in semantic processing, number processing, memory, and cognition.
Aphasia. The impairment or loss of language abilities following damage to the brain.
Automaticity. The ins
tant decoding of letters (and other stimuli), such that the brain processing involved in the decoding process is automatic.
Blending. Combining the phonemes of a spoken word into a whole word, as in blending /d/, /o/, and /g/ into dog.
Blocking. A linguistic principle that prevents a rule from applying to a word that already has an irregular form. For example, the existence of stood blocks a rule from adding -ed to stand, thus preempting standed.
Broca’s area. A region of the brain located behind the left temple that is associated with speech production, including vocabulary, syntax, and grammar.
Cerebellum. Meaning “little brain,” this structure at the rear of the cerebrum and above the brain stem is mainly responsible for learning and coordinating voluntary movements, but also plays a role in memory and cognition.
Cerebral cortex. The thin layer of gray tissue covering the outer portion of the cerebrum.
Cerebrum. The largest part of the brain, accounting for about two-thirds of the brain’s total mass. It is involved in thinking, producing and understanding language, perception, planning, and organization, among other cognitive functions.
Chunking. The ability of the brain to perceive a coherent group of items as a single item or chunk.
Collaborative strategic reading (CSR). A technique to improve reading comprehension by using heterogeneous groups in multilevel classes.