Evidence-Informed teaching strategies for improved literacy skills

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Contents 1 Summary 2 Key Findings 3 Recommendations for Future Research & Direction 4 What Do You Think?

Professor Robert Savage, McGill University
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Summary

This essay is one in a series of policy background papers. It is trying to describe effective strategies for teaching reading. It is a non-technical overview with implications for wider policy. The information is an analysis of what is known about evidence-based policy and practice in the health and social fields, and relevant work by reading researchers worldwide.

There is strong evidence that phonics helps word reading ability. Systematic teaching of synthetic phonics is best. Spelling does not seem to benefit from a phonetic approach. Phonics does seem to help delayed readers. Preventative early interventions work better than remedial work for delayed or at-risk readers. A home with lots of books, along with shared book experiences, experience and purposeful and meaningful use of language is best. Reading comprehension and fluency have a weak body of evidence to support them. Guided reading seems to help reading fluency. As far as writing is concerned, it would appear that group work and learning of certain strategies are useful.

Research on the social sciences is limited, and research groups operate in limbo. There is no common approach to either research or the findings. Evidence-based research is best. In 1997 the United States Congress decided that more research should be done on early literacy. This was first a systematic review. The panel also used a statistical analysis to evaluate the size and significance the findings and reported these in detail. This report was called the National Reading Panel report. There was a great deal of interest in this report, and some was favourable, some not.

There has been a lot of discussion regarding the benefits of phonics over whole language. It would seem that as far as phonics is concerned, direct teaching is better than incidental teaching. Trained teachers were effective in delivering phonological interventions. Interventions delivered to small groups of children were as effective as one-to-one tutoring. When phonics is introduced early it helps to improve reading comprehension, spelling and word reading. The most effective phonological awareness interventions combined phonological skills training. Whole language can be useful, however it appears to be most useful in kindergarten. Most studies concentrate on children up to the end of grade 2.

It is worth noting that Statistics Canada believes that a 1% increase in literacy would result in an $18.5 billion increase in GDP.

There are different kinds of phonics instruction. Two of these are analytic phonics and synthetic phonics. In the first, teachers show children how to find a common letter. In synthetic phonics ’sounding-out’ is emphasized.

Some more recent studies on reading have been completed, but there have been problems with these as well. Repeated reading was not seen as being worthwhile. The studies have not addressed reading comprehension properly, and the question of reading fluency came up as well. It would seem that fluency was not as important as one would think.

The next item that was looked at was the role of educational technology in supporting reading. At first this seemed very promising, however the current evidence does not support this strongly. One study concluded that current technology-based programs were not effective in developing reading skills in elementary school pupils, and that classroom teaching seem more effective.

It also is worth noting that money previously used for purchasing books has now been reduced as these funds have been redirected to obtain materials for educational technology. A recent study of principals and teachers identified books as being a significant factor in learning to read.

Any intervention is based on the quality of teaching. The highest degree of literacy results from the encouragement of self-regulation, high teacher expectations and expert classroom management skills. It is clear, however, that more work needs to be done in this area.

Children with exceptionalities have specific needs. Additional research is needed in this field. These children need phonics to be taught to them, explicit steps of the writing process explained, guided feedback and the use of writing frames and other structures These children also have personal and interpersonal difficulties that must be recognized and worked with.

Key Findings

• Research in the social sciences is limited.
• Many studies are isolated and therefore may not be reliable.
• Evidence-based research is not the norm.
• Systematic reviews are the gold standard in this field.
• The teaching of phonics is an important tool for teachers.
• Whole language proved to be of limited value.
• Intervention given in pre-school was the most important.
• The National Reading Panel (U.S. 1997) contained a lot of valuable information.
• It interested many people, and some shortcomings of the report were revealed.
• The tutoring of phonics is especially effective.
• Fluency and technology are not as important as one would think.
• Effective teaching is considered necessary, however this needs more study.
• Children with learning disabilities often have personal and inter-personal problems.

Recommendations for Future Research & Direction

• More research needs to be done on literacy
• The research must be completed in a proper manner.
• Research which has been done in the correct manner may be used for additional purposes.

What Do You Think?

1. Were you surprised at the amount of problems with the available research?
2. Did the references to whole-language seem relevant to your own experience?
3. Were you aware of the differences between analytic and synthetic phonics?
4. Did you realize how great the effect would be if a child starting reading were to be exposed to the recommended items ?
5. Were you familiar with the term “repeated reading”?
6. Did you agree or disagree with the repeated reading results?
7. Did you note that there is very little research on phonics programs beyond grade 2?
8. Using technology has not been proven to be very successful in teaching reading. Do you agree or disagree?
9. Did you realize that the number of books on a preschooler’s shelf at home is one of the best early indicators of success in reading?