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EVIDENCE BASED APPROACHES
EVIDENCE BASED APPROACHES
“The Grade 9 English course emphasizes evidence-based, systematic and explicit instruction that supports students in developing and consolidating foundational knowledge and skills, including oral language, reading, writing, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.” (Ministry of Education, ENL1W Curriculum)
Defining Key Terminology
Defining Key Terminology
What is Explicit Instruction?
What is Explicit Instruction?
Explicit Instruction is a direct and structured way of teaching. Explicit lessons are clear, scaffolded, and interactive through the - I Do, We Do, You Do - method. Lessons follow a ‘snappy’ pace and require frequent and constant feedback.
Watch as Dr. Anita Archer models an Explicit Vocabulary Lesson. Do you notice the characteristics of an explicit lesson?
See here for a link to an explicit lesson plan template.
What is Structured Literacy?
Structured Literacy is an evidence-based approach to teaching reading and literacy skills, based on the science of how we learn to read. Structured Literacy follows a clear, cumulative, systematic scope and sequence.
(https://www.orton-gillingham.com/what-is-structured-literacy/)
Structured Literacy programming includes learning in the following areas:
Phonology - the study of sounds in spoken words
Sound/ Symbol Association - how to map sounds (phonemes) to letters (graphemes)
Syllables - syllable types and breaking words apart to decode
Morphology - the study of meaningful word parts
Syntax - sentence structure and phrasing
Semantics - understanding the meaning of words in sentences
If using evidence-based instruction, "researchers now estimate that 95% of all children can be taught to read by the end of first grade." (Teaching Reading is Rocket Science, Moats)
Why Structured Literacy? Reading and the Brain
Learning to read is not a natural process but almost all children can learn to read using a structured literacy approach. See this infographic for The Facts About Reading by Stacey Rickman, a Canadian literacy advocate and Speech Language Pathologist.
Approaches to Reading Instruction: Whole Language, Balanced, and Structured Literacy
Reading experts and researchers have been debating how to teach reading for centuries (The History of the Reading Wars). Although early evidence of phonics instruction dates back to the 1600s, literacy advocates made way for the whole language movement in the 1800s. The whole language approach asserts that children learn to read and develop phonics skills naturally. Whole language relies on the 3-cueing system which involves memorizing whole words and looking for text clues or at the shapes of letters to guess unknown words. In the 1960s, reading researchers began to question the whole language approach and whether it was an effective way to teach reading. Evidence that phonics instruction was more effective began to surface and the Science of Reading (Structured Literacy) movement began. Although there was research to support the need for phonics instruction, many held on to the whole language approach until the 1990s when Balanced Literacy began. Balanced literacy combines some phonics instruction with the philosophies of the whole language approach.
Although many students learned to read with Balanced Literacy, it is not effective for all students. In fact, estimates of 40-50 % of students need explicit instruction to become fully proficient readers (The Ladder of Reading).
For more in-depth learning about evidence-based reading instruction, see our comprehensive Guide to Language Foundations for Reading and Writing. (this resource is available to WRDSB educators only)
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