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How do we learn to read?

Sound Waves Literacy 26/5/23

Is learning to read simple? The Simple View of Reading* outlines the abilities readers need to understand and construct meaning from a text as:

word recognition × language comprehension = reading comprehension

Let’s unpack what word recognition and language comprehension are, and how the mastery of these abilities leads to successful reading comprehension.

Word recognition

Word recognition is the ability to read printed words quickly and accurately. It isn’t about recognising each word as a ‘whole’, but processing all phoneme–grapheme relationships within the word quickly, so it does not consume conscious attention.

Word recognition takes a lot of practice to develop in beginning readers and requires a solid understanding of the following elements:

Element	Explanation
concepts about print	Understanding that sentences run left to right and top to bottom, book pages are ordered left to right, spaces mark word boundaries and words on the page convey meaning. Concepts about print is acquired early in the process of learning to read.
decoding	The ability to map a letter or a combination of letters to phonemes. For example, f for /f/ and igh for /i_e/. Decoding requires knowledge of patterns, position-specific constraints and morphology.
phonemic awareness	The ability to identify phonemes and blend them together to produce words (e.g. blending /s/, /i/, /t/ to produce sit). Phonemic awareness also involves segmenting a word into phonemes and manipulating phonemes to form other words.
letter knowledge	Being able to differentiate each letter of the alphabet from the others (e.g. distinguishing between reversible letters such as b and d) and recognising letters in different fonts and cases.

Language comprehension

Language comprehension is the ability to understand literal and inferred meaning in spoken language. To become a confident reader a student needs to develop the following elements of language comprehension to process meaning and link sentences to gain an overall understanding of a text:

Element	Explanation
vocabulary	A strong vocabulary enables a reader to correctly pronounce words, while also monitoring whether those words make sense within the text. Research estimates that a reader must know the meaning of 90% of the words in a text to be able to comprehend it5.
grammatical knowledge	Knowledge of language structure helps a reader comprehend the meaning that is being conveyed. It requires understanding of the rules and conventions that govern sentence structure (syntax) and parts of speech.
background knowledge	The more you know about a topic, the easier it is to understand. For example, knowing that a flying fox is a bat (and not a fox) is going to greatly improve comprehension. In order to understand text, students need some relevant background knowledge about the topic.
inference skills	Successful language comprehension isn’t just understanding what is being said, but being able to comprehend what isn’t being said. Students need to develop their ability to understand underlying meanings or details that are suggested or implied, but not directly stated. For example, in the sentence, ‘Jai pushed the button and waited for the lights to change,’ we know Jai is at a pedestrian crossing even without direct reference to it.

To understand the Simple View of Reading model, it’s important to consider the integral part played by the multiplication sign:

word recognition × language comprehension = reading comprehension

It indicates that reading is the product, not the sum, of identifying words and understanding texts. If you were to have zero on either side of the expression, your outcome would be zero reading comprehension.

To further illustrate this component of the model, consider an uncommon word like verisimilitude. As an expert reader, you’re able to decode this word. However, you may have limited knowledge of what the word means. Without the language comprehension to know what this word means, reading comprehension is not achieved.

In contrast, most five-year-olds can tell you that a tyrannosaurus is a large dinosaur with powerful teeth and small arms. However, looking at the word tyrannosaurus, they are unlikely to be able to decode or recognise the word. Comprehending language doesn’t mean you will be able to decode words.

How do decodable readers and children’s literature support reading comprehension?

Word recognition and language comprehension are both vital for successful reading comprehension and neither alone is sufficient. So how do we use decodable readers and literary texts to teach and foster these abilities?

Decodable readers are designed to be read by students. As a resource, they strengthen rapid and accurate word recognition, provide opportunities to practise and improve reading fluency, and contribute significantly to language comprehension.

Sound Waves Decodable Readers are available for Foundation and Year 1. Each Decodable Reader has been meticulously written using tightly controlled parameters that adhere to Sound Waves Literacy’s systematic synthetic phonics sequence. The books are available in three levels of difficulty: Support, Core or Extended. Well-written and illustrated Decodable Readers like the Sound Waves Decodable Readers can also develop vocabulary and background knowledge, but this is not their main purpose.

In conjunction with decodable readers, literary texts, that are read to students, are a rich and essential resource in developing language comprehension. Listening to stories enables students to expand their vocabulary and background knowledge while they become familiar with different text types. Reading children’s literature aloud also allows you to model correct reading behaviours, such as phrasing and pace.

As learning to read is an extremely complex process, all educators need an understanding of the skills that underpin reading. A conceptual framework such as the Simple View of Reading, or Scarborough’s Reading Rope⁶, helps teachers understand the reading process, how they can teach their students to read and how to identify where students might experience difficulty.

To learn more about how Sound Waves Decodable Readers can be used to teach and support beginning reading, contact your local Education Consultant or check out our website.

*The Simple View of Reading was proposed by Gough and Tunmer in 1986¹. It was further detailed and tested by Hoover and Gough in 1990² and Hoover and Tunmer in 2018³. In 2019 Tunmer and Hoover⁴ expanded on the Simple View of Reading with their Cognitive Foundations Framework.

References and Further Reading:

1. Gough, P. B., & Tunmer, W. E. (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability. Remedial and Special Education, 7, 6–10.
2. Hoover, W.A., & Gough, P. B. (1990). The simple view of reading. Reading and Writing 2, 127–160.
3. Hoover, W.A., & Tunmer, W.E. (2018). The Simple View of Reading: Three Assessments of Its Adequacy. Remedial and Special Education, 39, 304–312.
4. Tunmer, W.E., & Hoover, W. A. (2019). The cognitive foundations of learning to read: a framework for preventing and remediating reading difficulties. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 24:1, 75–93, DOI: 10.1080/19404158.2019.1614081
5. Moats, L. (2020). Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers. Brookes Publishing Company.
6. Scarborough, H. S. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory, and practice. In S. Neuman & D. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook for research in early literacy, 97–110. Guilford Press.

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