James W. Cunningham

The National Reading Panel Report

Book reviewed in this article: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. by The National Reading Panel. 2000. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups. By The National Reading Panel. 2000.

What happens to reading between first and third grade? Implications for students who use AAC

School-age students who use AAC need access to communication, reading, and writing tools that can support them to actively engage in literacy learning. They also require access to core literacy learning opportunities across grade levels that foster development of conventional literacy skills. The importance of the acquisition of conventional literacy skills for students who use AAC cannot be overemphasized. And yet, one of the critical challenges in supporting the literacy learning of students who use AAC has been a lack of knowledge about literacy curricula and supports to literacy learning for these students. Most students who use AAC do not become conventionally literate and few of those who do achieve literacy skills beyond the second grade level. This article will provide an overview of the most frequent reading instructional activities in first and third grade classrooms. To better understand the foundational experiences important to literacy learning, the results of a survey project that examined the reading activities of general education students and teachers during primary grade instruction are presented, and critical shifts in instruction that occurred between first and third grade are highlighted. The primary instructional focus of core reading activities is also examined, along with adaptations for students who use AAC.

The Relationship between Wide Reading and Listening Comprehension of Written Language

This study was the first to examine the relationship between wide reading and listening comprehension in the first language. It answered two questions concerning this relationship. First, higher levels of wide reading were associated with stronger listening comprehension ability. Second, there was indirect evidence to suggest that wide readers may be increasing their listening comprehension ability. One hundred and twenty fourth graders were measured on general language ability, estimated amount of wide reading, and reading-related language ability. A hierarchical regression logic was used to isolate the relationship between wide reading and reading-related language development. Further research that more directly investigates the relationship between wide reading and reading-related language development is called for.

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF WIDE READING ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Previous research on the relationship between wide reading and listening comprehension provided indirect evidence that wide reading may be impacting childrens listening comprehension. In the present study we looked at growth in listening comprehension of 146 children from third grade to fifth grade and their fifth-grade estimate of accumulated wide reading as measured by an instrument using a checklist-with-foils logic, the Title Recognition Test. Employing hierarchical multiple regression, we isolated the relationship between wide reading and listening comprehension. The results indicated that individual differences in growth of listening comprehension from third grade to fifth grade were significantly related to wide reading. These findings imply that reading a lot may influence listening comprehension, thus adding support to the educational practice of providing time for children to read independently and encouraging more and varied reading outside of school.

BALANCE IN TEACHING READING: AN INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH BASED ON A PARTICULAR EPISTEMOLOGICAL OUTLOOK

The purpose of this article is to explore the epistemological underpinnings of a widely advocated approach to the teaching of reading called the balanced approach. In recent years, primary education has seen a renewed emphasis on “balanced” approaches to teaching reading. We summarize the differences and commonalities in different approaches that have been labeled “balanced.” From this analysis, we formulate a preliminary epistemological theory of balance in reading. Finally, the benefits of considering balanced reading approaches as emanating from an epistemological perspective are explored, and future work is suggested.

Assessing Decoding from an Onset-Rime Perspective.

This study investigated decoding assessment from an onset-rime perspective, and consistent with an interactive model of cognitive constructs underlying silent reading comprehension. Participants were 128 first and second graders in a public elementary school. Two kinds of decoding items were examined: one-syllable words and nonwords, each comprised of a high- to moderate-utility onset and a high-utility rime. Data were analyzed mainly with stepwise multiple regression and conditional probability analyses. The principal finding was that the construct validity of decoding items varied, depending on whether they were words or nonwords. Tests of knowledge of onsets and rimes accounted for 14% more variance in real-word test than nonword test scores. The superior construct validity of words over nonwords as decoding items seemed to occur because decoding nonwords requires an additional ability that decoding real words does not.

Validating a Limited-Cloze Procedure.

Data from two studies were used to compare a limited-cloze procedure with the regular cloze procedure. The limited-cloze procedure differed from the regular cloze in one feature: the words deleted were randomly ordered and placed at the top of the test. For both studies the same passage was used to construct a regular cloze passage and an identical limited-cloze passage with the deleted words at the top. Subjects in each study were randomly assigned to two groups, one of which completed the regular cloze and the other which completed the limited-cloze. The limited-cloze was found to be as valid, reliable, objective, and practical a test as regular cloze, but less interpretable.

Quantitative Measurement of Text Difficulty

Common Core Reading Standard 10 not only prescribes the difficulty of texts students should become able to read, but also the difficulty diet of texts schools should ask their students to read across the school year. The use of quantitative text-assessment tools in the implementation of this standard warrants an examination into the validity of that use. To do so, we concentrate entirely on the criterion variable that ultimately is the goal of reading instruction and learning: reading comprehension performance. We examine whether the comprehension criterion variables for today’s quantitative tools validate how their text-difficulty estimates are being used. We conclude that the Common Core State Standards’ new text-difficulty grade bands are inadequate to serve as a criterion variable for quantitative text tools because the data on which these bands are based did not compare comprehension growth for various groups of students reading different difficulty diets over a school year.

Automatic word recognition: The validity of a universally accessible assessment task

In the current study, the validity of a task designed to assess the automatic word recognition skills of persons with complex communication needs was investigated. A total of 78 students without communication impairments in kindergarten through second grade completed a standard automatic word recognition task requiring oral reading of words presented for less than 0.25 s. The same students completed an experimental word recognition task that did not require a spoken response. Results support the validity of the experimental task. For example, the mean performance scores on both tasks decreased in the expected direction, and there was a significant correlation between the standard and experimental tasks. Other results suggest that the same trait was being measured by both tasks. The data highlight directions for future research and development of the experimental task, while leaving us enthusiastic about the future of the experimental task as a valid means of assessing automatic word recognition for persons with complex communication needs.

Improving Listening in Content Area Subjects

The ability to listen attentively and critically, the authors state, is crucial. In the following article they describe two techniques for improving listening skills.