Explicit Instruction

by Anita L. Archer and Charles A. Hughes (The Guilford Press, 2011)

Three Components

Explicit Instruction details an approach that is sometimes cast as a boogeyman, or perhaps a straw man. The authors describe its basic components as: 1. clear statements of purpose and rationale for learning a new skill, 2. clear explanations and demonstrations of the skill, and 3. practice with feedback and scaffolded support, targeting independent mastery. Their intended population is special education students, and their attitude toward skill acquisition is one of urgency. In reviewing the research supporting explicit instruction, they are careful to note that other approaches work as well.

Two Urgent Goals

The fundamental puzzle of explicit instruction at the community college level is that two types of learning are urgent at once, and they seem to be in tension. On one hand, students must learn specific content skills (e.g., finding the limit of a given expression correctly) to gain entry to higher-level opportunities such as coursework and internships, and to build a sense of competence and identity grounded in genuine mastery. On the other hand, students must become independent learners who have internalized habits of mind that free them from needing to be taught explicitly.

The Question of Time

As Explicit Instruction highlights, time on task is a critical lever and a scarce resource. The tension, then, is that time spent in explicit teaching routines is (seemingly) time not spent in a potentially productive struggle for independence. The word "seemingly" matters: the book's third component already aims at independent mastery, which suggests that explicit instruction and independence need not be opposites. Balancing the two remains a central design question for a community college math course.

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