What is “the science of reading?”
By now, everyone who has an interest in the teaching of reading has heard the term “the science of reading.”
Unfortunately, what the term means is not clear to many teachers and parents.
Not a method of beginning reading instruction
Some parents and educators seem to think that the science of reading is an instructional program, like the phonics-based Spalding Method, or the whole-word method, Edmark.
Not so.
The science of reading refers to a body of research on the subject of how children learn to read.
The central finding of all this research—which has been growing for several decades now—is that phonics is central to effective beginning reading instruction.
This finding flies in the face of the ineffective “whole word” method of instruction that has dominated US reading instruction for more than half a century.
Not phonics alone
Another misconception about the science of reading: it suggests that phonics instruction alone enables children to learn to read.
Not so.
The research shows that instruction in the sound/symbol system of English is essential to effective learning, but it also shows the importance of vocabulary and listening skills. The ability to decode words is not much help to beginning readers whose parents have not been talking to them or reading to them during the preschool years.
Reading is a by-product of speech.
Children who have been talked to, read to, played with and taught the alphabet, nursery rhymes, and tongue twisters will possess the necessary foundation for reading success.
Reading teachers teach differently
Although the science of reading is getting a lot of attention, most reading teachers in the classroom were trained in the old whole word approach.
These teachers were persuaded that learning to read is as natural as learning to speak.
It is not.
Learning to speak is instinctive. All babies will learn to speak and understand the language that surrounds them.
Learning to read is something that must be taught. Reading requires a knowledge of abstract symbols that represent speech sounds.
The old method presumed that merely exposing a child to books and reading would result in the ability to read. The whole word method minimizes phonics and encourages the child to guess at the meaning of words according to their shape, the letters that begin or end them, the meaning of surrounding words, and pictures that illustrate the text.
Parents cannot know how their child’s first teacher will approach the teaching of reading.
Parents can protect their child from ineffective teaching by sending them to school furnished with the language experience needed for reading success.
Reading First Aid
Parents of newborns may not realize how important it is to surround a child with language beginning at birth.
A helpful guide for the new parent is Reading First Aid.
This little book shows parents of children under the age of five how to build the vocabulary and the ability to hear individual sounds in spoken words needed for reading success.
Designed for the busy parent, Reading First Aid shows how to teach language skills while going about the daily routine of child care.