1. Approaches to Reading Instruction
We are here today to talk about different approaches to reading that you may encounter while you are out in the schools.
Amber Allen
Dawn Hermann
Jamie Milanowski

2. History of Reading Textbooks were created to teach reading
McGuffey Readers – now the basal reading series
Teacher centered – students rote memorization
Progressive Education Movement
Interests of students, science
Dick and Jane books
“Whole Word” approach
1955 Why Johnny Can’t Read (1955)
Attacked the whole word approach
Children’s stories with controlled vocabularies
Children need to be able to sound out words.
Whole Language started in Late 70s
Popular in 80s/90s
Students struggling with Whole Language approach
Decoding of words was not taught
Each child learns differently
Balanced Literacy approach to reading
The history of reading goes as far back as the 15th century. For sake of time, I will begin talking about reading as education shifted from the home into schools in the eighteenth century. During this time textbooks were developed to teach reading. The McGuffey Readers were among the first of these which consisted of a graded series of books that are now called a basal reading series. Teaching in the eighteenth century tended to be teacher-centered with students doing a lot of rote memorization.
At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the Progressive Education Movement pushed for instruction that focused more on the interests of students and , so a more student-centered approach to reading. Between the "Dick and Jane" readers were popular. These books used a "whole word" approach to teaching reading where words were repeated on each page enough times that, according to behaviorist research, students could remember them.
In 1955 the book, Why Johnny Can't Read attacked the whole word approach because it did not get students into reading children's stories that did not have carefully controlled vocabularies like the Dick and Jane books do. So the phonics advocates focused their efforts on the primary grades and emphasized the importance of students being able to sound out words based on how they are spelled.
The Whole language approach began in the late 70s, but was most popular in the 80s/90s. This approach emphasized teaching reading as a whole, not by words or by sounds. Decoding words was never taught and caused some students to struggle. At this time, it was noted that not all children learn the same.
The whole language approach and phonics approach popularity has gone back and forth since the late 90s. The approach that is becoming more popular today is the balanced literacy approach to reading.
Today we will be focusing our discussion on whole language, phonics and the balanced reading approaches to reading.
(Brown, 2011; Reyhner, 2008)

3. Whole Language Approach
Example:
Learning to read through Whole Language approach

4. Whole Language Approach
Focus on meaning and strategy instruction rather than decoding
Looks at language as a whole rather than individual parts
Teaches reading and writing through oral language experiences of the child

5. Components of Whole Language Approach
Top-down approach
Literate Environment
Oral Language and Literacy used across all content areas
Student-Centered
Reading and writing for real purposes
Top down approach
Leterate enviroment-every classroom has library, books, magazines, newspapers, teachers read to students, students read to other students; Establishing a
habit of reading
Student-centered-learning is viewed as a collaborative effort; puplils make choices about what they study/read and curriculumm develops in response to the learners

6. Cons of Whole Language No focus on language structure
Literacy Sub-skills are taught as the need arises
-Whole language focuses on the wholeness of language and on meaning but doesn’t look at structure or language units such as sounds, syllables, words, or grammar (these are viewed as distraction from learning the communicative function of language)----research has shown that good readers are able to attend to both form and meaning and use one to understand the other (ex) if a sentence doesn’t make sense, the student can use grammatical knowledge to discover a misread word or a skipped piece of text); these skills allow readers to understand words that are not known from experience or by context to be analyzed by syllable or by sounds---this does not play a part in whole language teaching
Subskills include sound-letter relationships, sound blending, spelling, punctuation- students learn these skills through their experiences and by asking their teachers what they need to know; phonics is rejected by stict whole language advocates; this will prevent children from having the ability to dealw ith form and to analyze components of literacy when they need to; in order to independently identify new words, readers need to know how letters represent sounds-something that is not used in whole language

7. SLP Role with Whole Language
Provide services consistent with school’s approach to literacy
Ideal program for SLP-Focus on oral language
Assessment procedures-ongoing in natural environment
Service Delivery-classroom based model
Provide teachers with suggestions for using oral language to promote literacy learning
Help students acquire oral language skills
Help students acquire written language skills
Since whole language is largely based on the principles of oral language acqusition, SLPs have the unique opportunity to not only address language needs of their students but could take on a leadership role in the literacy program because of their expertise. Can provide valuble informatio to assist teachers with implementaing of this approach
Evaluation should include discourse analysis and should be done in student’s classroom to gain complete picture of language strenght and challenges in authentic ommunicative events
Pull out method would not be approriate for a whole language program; all aspects of language are integrated with the literacy program so a whole language classroom would be perfect for conducting language intervention, it would also be beneficial to other students to have you present; Whole langauge classrooms can accommodate more than one activity at a time because they are ment to be flexible, work with teacher to develop effective literacy environments for all students and customize for students on your caseload
-ask langauge disabled students questions to allow them to contribue info at more descriptive levels; peers serve as models
-understand language through meaning and purposeful activities based on everyday classroom events and topics; learn language in context makes it easier
-conventions of writing should be not taught as sepearte bodies of knowledge, address areas of deficiency within students’ own writing; using writing for a variety of purposes within the classroom and make decisions and problem solve aloud concerning your own writing to demonstrate to students how to write

8. Phonics Approach
Focuses on the relationship between the letter (or grapheme) and the sound it makes.
Direct, explicit, and systematic teaching
Teaches reading in a hierarchy type of fashion
Teaches each letter sound
Sight words also taught
my, the, at, to
Sentences
Paragraphs
Bottom up approach
A teacher using a phonics, or a skills-based, perspective focuses on the relationships between letters and sounds and teaches them explicitly. Once students begin to recognize letters with greater speed, the students can move up to word recognition. Usually, teachers incorporate sight word instruction early on;
in this method, children are taught to recognize common words such as my, the, and at on sight instead of sounding them out. Once students get faster at both recognizing sight words and sounding out words, they can begin to process sentences and eventually paragraphs. With increased fluency, students have more cognitive ability to devote to comprehension. This is considered a bottom-up approach which is opposite of the Whole Language approach Jamie discussed.
(Byrd, 2008)

9. Phonics Approach Cons No one-to-one sound symbol relationship
English homonyms create difficulties for spelling (even college level)
E.g., to, too, two; Their, there, they’re
“Outlaw words” need to be memorized
About half of the English language cannot be pronounced correctly using phonics
Differing vocabulary sizes
Differing dialects of English that vary in pronunciation (e.g., Minnesota vs. Texas)
Children with articulation disorders struggle
As I said, phonics emphasizes the importance of students being able to sound out words based on how they are spelled. A problem with English is that it does not have a one-to-one sound symbol relationship that would make reading much easier. The many homonyms in English such as to, too, and two create difficulties for students, even at the college level in regard to spelling.
The basic phonetic rules can help students sound out words, however "outlaw words" (e.g., the number eight) still need to be memorized as sight words because they don't follow any rules. It is estimated about half the words in the English language cannot be pronounced correctly using commonly taught phonic rules. Other problems with phonics include the differing size of students' vocabularies and differing dialects of English that vary in their pronunciation rules like Minnesota and Texas)
One last thing to keep in mind is that children with articulation disorders may struggle with this approach when they are not able to produce the correct sounds.

10. Phonics Approach SLP Role Phonological awareness
Teaching specific sounds
Service delivery:
Pull-out
Small groups
Collaboration with teacher or co-teach
Speech groups or whole group teaching
As an SLP, a few of your roles during this approach could include:
Teaching phonological awareness to the classroom, small groups, or during pull-out with individual clients.
You can also teach specific sounds using visuals. Here you can provide the teacher with speech tools to help children struggling with making certain sounds
For service delivery with this approach, you can teach these skills individually during pull-out, within a small group or co-teach with the teacher during whole group instruction.

11. Phonics Example Reading Mastery
Reading Mastery
The first example I would like to show you is just a simple song that teachers use with their students. The some teachers use this as a warm-up activity to get the students engaged. I won’t play the whole thing, but just wanted to give you an idea of what this looks like.
Reading Mastery is a Direct Instruction model of teaching reading. This is what I would consider a modern way of teaching reading with the phonics approach. This book is part of a 3-part series. The books consist of lessons for teaching specific sounds. Each sound has a corresponding symbol. (show chart). These sounds represent all the sounds in the English language. After the sound is introduced in a lesson, they are taught the sound within words. At the end of the lesson, the students read short passages that contain a few words with the new sound. Then the child is given a worksheet to get further practice with the sound. The worksheets may have simple activities where they cross out sounds or circle sounds, match sounds with pictures, and so on, so it also works on comprehension skills as well. The teacher does some activities with the children and then the children do some of the activities on their own.
Let’s go through a lesson. In this lesson the children already know many of the sounds, but the /ai/ sound is being introduced for the first time.

12. The Great Debate Whole-Language vs. Phonics
California implemented whole language in the 1980s, but then offered school districts financial incentives to return to the phonics method in 1996.
The National Research Council made a public statement in 1998, asking to end the “reading wars.” The Council cited for more than two decades bouncing back and forth between the two methods resulted in little academic gain.
Various approaches to reading presume that students learn differently. The phonics emphasis in reading draws heavily from behaviorist learning theory that is associated with the work of the Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner while the whole language emphasis draws from constructivist learning theory and the work of the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky.

13. The Great Debate
The “reading wars” were not just about academics, they were also political.
Conservatives saw whole language as a freewheeling approach that was missing standards and rules needed in education.
Liberals said phonics perpetuated patronizing “drill and kill” strategies which turned kids into reading robots and turned them away from wanting to learn.
Whole language was used in more liberal states, phonics in conservative states.
Some conservatives even called whole language a step closer to teaching ebonics in schools
New York, for example was very focused on whole language
The states in the Deep South stayed focused on phonics instruction

14. Balanced Literacy Approach
In 1997, Congress asked NIH to create the National Reading Panel to consider the debate question. In 2000, the panel released its “meta-analysis” and deduced that all children must master five skills:
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension
phonemic awareness (separating words into distinct sounds, like the c, a, and t in cat),
phonics (learning the sounds letters and letter combinations make),
fluency (the ability to read with speed and accuracy),
vocabulary (learning new words), and c
omprehension (understanding what you’re reading

15. Balanced Literacy Approach
Curricula such as Fountas and Pinnell incorporate all these elements in their numbered reading system.
In their system, the tasks focus on what the reader needs to be able to do at each level to read with accuracy, understanding, and fluency.

16. Balanced Literacy Approach
Children need to learn to both sound out words and look at context to become effective readers.
The 1998 National Research Council report stated, “ If we have learned anything from this effort, it is that effective teachers are able to craft a special mix of instructional ingredients for every child they work with.”

17. Balanced Literacy Approach
In a balanced literacy approach how you teach and what you teach are equally important.
Some sound-letter patterns are more consistent, and should be taught early as a foundation for literacy.
Books such as kindergarten standards like “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” work well to introduce blended literacy.
Even when we look at consonants, some are more consistent than others – for instance /m/ and /v/, while a C may
The book can be shared for content first, and then looked back over to look at the words within the story. Questions such as, “Have you noticed words that begin/end the same way? Let’s look for some.” The aim is for children to eventually start picking these things up and doing it on their own

18. Balanced Literacy Approach
Example:
Word World is a popular PBS Kids show that successfully blends both phonics and whole language to help kids learn to read in an engaging way

19. Children with Language Delays/Disorders
While both methods can be effective with normally-developing readers, choosing one method over the other could harm children’s development, especially those with language impairments (LI).
Children with LI tended to benefit most from phonics, while gifted children did well with the whole language approach.
The whole language approach has been found to be particularly detrimental to children with dyslexia.
In 2006, researchers at the University of Washington found children with dyslexia who were taught phonetic and orthnographic spelling strategies actually changed their brain patterns to the way which resembled activity in the brains of normally-developing spellers.

20. Take Away Points Important to know literacy approach school uses.
To collaborate your services
Not one approach works for all children
Take both interests and skills into consideration

21. References
Brown, E. (2011). History of reading instruction. The Phonics Page. Retrieved on July 27, 2013 from
Byrd, C. M. (2008). Reading instruction beliefs and practices of early elementary school teachers. Psi Chi, The National Honor Society in Psychology, 13(2),
Chaney, Carolyn. (1990). Evaluating the Whole Language Approach to Language Arts: The Pros and Cons. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 21,
Dahms, Joel (2006). Spelling out dyslexia: Northwest researchers shed light on spelling problems in dyslexic children, provide hope for new treatment. Northwest Science & Technology. Retrieved on July 28from
Kolker, Robert (2006). A is for apple, B is for Brawl. New York. Retrieved on July 28, 2013 from
Reyhner, J. (2008). The reading wars: Phonics versus whole language. Retrieved on July 26, 2013 from
Schory, M.E. (1990). Whole Language and the Speech-Language Pathologist. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 21,
Strickland, Dorothy. Practical strategies to help you build a truly balanced classroom literacy program. Scholastic Instructor. Retrieved on July 28, 2013 from
– Reading Mastery