What is the simple view of reading?

The simple view of reading is a formula that says that students need strong decoding skills and strong language skills in order to achieve strong reading comprehension. In the picture above, you can see two different components twisting together to form one rope. One strand is language comprehension. The smaller strands making up this larger strand include developing background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge. The second strand is word recognition. This strand is made of the smaller strands of phonological awareness, decoding, and word recognition. Examples of each area are shown in the diagram below. As students become more strategic in their understanding and more automatic in their word recognition, they become skilled readers who comprehend.

When you look at the formula below and think of it like a math problem, you can see how both parts are needed to develop reading comprehension.

For example: 0 X 1 = 0 So, 0 word recognition x 1 language comprehension = 0 reading comprehension.

Likewise, 1 X 0 = 0 So, 1 word recognition x 0 language comprehension = 0 reading comprehension.

As you can see, both pieces are extremely important to reading comprehension.