Is the reading crisis associated with an academic language crisis?

Abstract

Is the reading crisis associated with an academic language crisis? Educators across the globe are trying to solve the reading crisis, as 4th-grade reading scores seem to change annually. Trina D. Spencer, PhD, BCBA-D, an Associate Professor at Rightpath Research & Innovation Center, University of South Florida noticed that reading improvements are rarely observed. Looking at efforts needed to target academic language, two broad repertoires are needed to achieve skilled reading, and both are related to language. First, the phonological aspects of language and second, the broad repertoire is related to the meaning of language. Language that is understood when spoken is easier to understand when it is in written form. Meaning listening comprehension precedes and leads to reading comprehension. Although the science of reading evidence is clear that oral language skills are critical for reading and writing, there is a paucity of guidance on how to teach language in ways that benefit later reading comprehension. Without more attention on classroom-based oral language instruction, educators will continue to focus their attention on teaching word recognition to the neglect of the meaning aspects of language...and the reading crisis will undoubtedly endure.