In 1997, US Congress asked the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to work with the U.S. Department of Education in establishing a National Reading Panel that would evaluate existing research and evidence to find the most efficient ways of teaching children to read. The panel considered more than 100,000 reading studies published since 1966 and another 10,000 published before that time. The National Reading Panel's analysis made it clear that the best approach to reading instruction is one that incorporates:
Explicit instruction in phonemic awareness:
- phonemic awareness is the knowledge that spoken words can be broken apart into smaller segments of sound known as phonemes. Children who are read to at home—especially material that rhymes—often develop the basis of phonemic awareness. Children who are not read to will probably need to be taught that words can be broken apart into smaller sounds.
Systematic phonics instruction:
- phonics is the knowledge that letters of the alphabet represent phonemes and that these sounds are blended together to form written words. Readers who are skilled in phonics can sound out words they haven't seen before, without first having to memorize them.
Methods to improve fluency:
- fluency is the ability to recognize words easily, read with greater speed, accuracy, and expression, and better understand what is read. Children gain fluency by practicing reading until the process becomes automatic; guided oral repeated reading is one approach to helping children become fluent readers.
Teaching vocabulary words:
- teaching new words, either as they appear in text or by introducing new words separately. This type of instruction also aids reading ability.
Reading comprehension strategies:
- techniques for helping individuals to understand what they read. Such techniques involve having students summarize what they've read to gain a better understanding of the material.
The Matthew Effect in Reading
In reading (as in other areas), the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. When children fail at early reading, they begin to dislike reading. They read less than their classmates who are stronger readers. These children generally enter school with a good knowledge of the alphabet, have some conceptual knowledge of print and have some level of phonemic awareness. The children who have not developed these skills will have a difficult time learning new skills. As each grade progresses, the gap in reading skills between children with and without these foundation skills grows and it becomes very difficult to close this gap after grade 4. This idea is that children who learn to read in the first three years of their education become fluent readers. They read more, learn more vocabulary which then enables them to read more and comprehend more advanced texts and so they advance further. The children who fail to learn to read, read less, are less fluent, have a poorer vocabulary, comprehend less and the gap just keeps on growing.