Language & Reading Study Group: A Recap | Fall & Winter 2020/21
Each month, since November, The Language & Reading Study Group hosted a thoughtful group of teachers, administrators, and SLPs ready to discuss reading research.
Knowledge of this vast field of study will be the key to a sweeping change heading our way, as we start to consider how to best meet the needs of all children when teaching reading.
The Fall/Winter series of meetings were an opportunity to dip our toes into the world of reading science and discuss the basic frameworks and introduce a few (of the many) leading researchers and experts in the field.
Educators are asking, "What is the science of reading?"
And "How do I know if what I'm doing aligns with the research?"
This brings us to a definition about the science of reading. What is it? Why should we consider looking at the research behind how children become skilled readers?
From the Reading League’s whatisthescienceofreading.org, they indicate:
“The Science of Reading is a vast, interdisciplinary body of scientifically-based research about reading and issues related to reading and writing.
This research has been conducted over the last five decades across the world, and it is derived from thousands of studies conducted in multiple languages. The science of reading has culminated in a preponderance of evidence to inform how proficient reading and writing develop; why some have difficulty; and how we can most effectively assess and teach and, therefore, improve student outcomes through prevention of and intervention for reading difficulties.
The Science of Reading is derived from researchers from multiple fields:
cognitive psychology,
communication sciences,
developmental psychology,
education,
implementation science,
linguistics,
neuroscience,
school psychology”
There are literally thousands of studies from many different disciplines who have come to the same consensus of how children learn to read.
The objective of the Language and Reading Study Group is to shine a light on some of this information.
The goals of the study group include highlighting the importance of language development in learning to read, providing information about what the “Science of Reading” means, and familiarizing ourselves with the application of evidence-based models to our teaching and clinical practices.
The fall/winter series of the Language & Reading Study Group covered topics from the bottom of Hollis Scarborough’s Reading Rope (2001) to the top of her reading rope.
We began our series discussing Emily Hanford’s editorial, Hard Words and then moved to discussing the cognitive-linguistic skills required for word-level reading and further explored Dr. David Kilpatrick’s work around phonemic proficiency in word-level reading.
Our third session, we learned from Dr. Louisa Moats regarding the importance of structured literacy practices and explicit and systematic instruction. Finally, we moved to the top of Scarborough's Reading Rope and discussed the role of language and listening comprehension and how development of those strands helps lead to comprehension (the goal of reading).
We are currently in the process of collecting feedback from our participants to help make decisions around the next set of topics. The Language & Reading Study Group: Spring Series will run for three sessions and will include the following dates: April 14th, May 12th, and June 9th (7-8pm MST).
