The Need to Change the Way Children Are Taught to Read

By: Susan Brady and Louisa Moats (1997)

As the scope of reading failure in the United States becomes increasingly apparent, calls for improved standards in teacher preparation and in classroom achievement are being urged by growing numbers of educators, parents and politicians. Their recommendations stem from recognition of the need to eliminate the personal and social costs of literacy problems and to prepare our young people for the global economy of the 21st century. Yet specification of what the new standards should include is missing from the calls for change: we need to be doing something differently, but what?

This critical paper, "Informed Instruction for Reading Success," provides a much-needed answer. Drawing on solid scientific research, this article bridges the gap between research and practice and delineates an informed approach to reading instruction, clearly detailing what teachers need to know in order to teach children to read and how teachers should be prepared. If the recommendations in this paper are adopted and implemented nationwide, we can become a "nation of readers" once again.

A sobering percentage of children in the United States encounter difficulty in learning to read. Results from a 1994 national survey of reading achievement by fourth graders (National Assessment of Educational Progress) indicate that 44 percent of school children are reading below a basic level of achievement (described as having "little or no mastery of knowledge and skills necessary to perform work at grade level"). Of those identified as having learning disabilities, at least 80 percent have language-based reading problems.

More than two decades of sophisticated, convergent research funded by the National Institutes of Health has led to the following conclusions about reading acquisition and reading failure.

• Insufficient awareness of the sound structure of words (phoneme awareness) is a central deficit in failing readers.
• Poor and inaccurate decoding of single words (inability to read new words) is a major difficulty for those who struggle with reading.
• Poor decoding in the early grades predicts weak reading comprehension in the later grades.
• In contrast, successful readers are adept at identifying the component sounds of words and at rapid and accurate word identification. Their automaticity at word identification allows good readers to reflect more on the meaning and structure of text.
• Reading problems often have a biological basis and affect individuals of all levels of intelligence and ethnic backgrounds.
• Children from disadvantaged backgrounds where books and word games are less evident are at greater risk for reading failure.
• Failure to provide appropriate reading instruction can exacerbate reading difficulties.
• The majority of children find it easier to learn to read and spell if they are given systematic instruction that matches their current reading level.

http://www.ldonline.org/article/253?theme=print