Explicit Reading Instruction Research Articles

Predictive factors of reading in children with developmental language disorder

The current study aimed to fill the gap in research on factors predictive of word reading in French-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD) by finding out whether the same predictors of written word recognition evidenced in typically developing children would be retrieved in children with DLD or if some predictors could be specific to children with DLD, especially in the phonological domain. In total, 38 children with DLD and 44 control children were followed from 6 to 8 years in a longitudinal design including two time points: (1) just before explicit reading instruction, where potential predictors of reading were assessed (oral language skills and reading-related skills), and (2) after 2 years of learning to read, where isolated word reading and text reading were assessed in addition to the assessment of oral language skills and reading-related skills. The study mainly showed that the predictors of reading identified in typically developing children are retrieved in children with DLD except for phonemic awareness; the latter result was probably explained by a floor effect. Among the predictors in the phonological domain, phonological instability appeared as a promising predictor of reading irregular words. These results are consistent with the findings of many previous studies and tend to confirm the idea of a strong link between oral phonological skills and written word recognition skills; they also call for attention to specific features in the phonological development of children with DLD when learning to read, particularly phonological instability as a direction for future exploration.

Differentiated instruction in reading in elementary schools: a systematic review

<span lang="EN-US">Increasingly diverse learners in today’s classroom might require teachers to implement differentiated instruction (DI) to create an effective learning process. This systematic review provides an overview of how DI was implemented in reading instruction in elementary education. For this purpose, the researchers systematically searched five databases (APA PsycINFO, Education Research Complete, ERIC, Scopus, and Web of Science). Based on the inclusion criteria, 28 empirical studies from 2002 to 2022 were selected for review. To be included in the review, the studies should be empirical, written in English, peer-reviewed, focusing on reading in elementary education, and include students with or without disabilities. The researchers created content coding in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to extract relevant information from the selected studies. The findings indicated that implementing DI in reading instruction to elementary school students includes differentiation in content, process, and product, increased quality and quantity of explicit reading instruction, assessments informed instructions, and integrating DI with other instructional models. This emphasizes that although differentiation might seem complex, it is possible to implement it in reading instruction.</span>

Examining the generalisability of the simple view of reading comprehension for emergent bilinguals

AbstractReading comprehension depends on oral language competence and word reading ability, as per the simple view of reading. While this theory has been studied in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic contexts, its applicability in different educational settings characterized by multilingualism, a lack of explicit reading instruction, and the challenges of poverty (as in South Africa) remains under‐explored. We use secondary data from approximately 263 emergent bilinguals (approximately one‐quarter isiZulu‐English, three quarters Siswati‐English) from the Second Early Grade Reading Study intervention. Participants completed tests of word reading fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension in both of their school languages. Using within‐language path models, we examine the effects of word reading fluency and vocabulary on reading comprehension and explore whether these relations differ by first language group or intervention group. Thus, we tease out the role of the language and educational context in influencing the skills related to reading comprehension in first language and English additional language.

Exploring Challenges of Dyslexic Students Learning English as a Second Language: Reading Drama Script

This study aimed to explore the reading challenges faced by dyslexic students learning English as a second language and interventions to support their reading skills. A mixed research design (both qualitative and quantitative) was used. Data was collected through a questionnaire, semi-structured interview and observation. A judgmental sampling technique was employed to select dyslexic students and teachers at two public schools in Tiruvallur district. Twenty-six students with English dyslexia and two teachers were selected for this study. Data were collected through the use of schedule questionnaire, interview and classroom observation. Statistical package for social Science Software version 26 was employed to analyze quantitative data, whereas the thematic analysis method was used for interview and classroom observation data analysis. The findings of this study showed that students encounter difficulties in phonological awareness, decoding words, recognizing patterns and comprehension. Besides, the study revealed that employing a multisensory and structured approach to teaching, incorporating visual and auditory, are crucial strategies for enhancing students English reading skills. The research also explored that explicit reading instruction and assistive technology significantly improve students’ reading drama script skills. The findings also identified that early identification, targeted instruction and individualized support for dyslexic students are significant elements in progressing their English reading skills. However, the study also acknowledges the limitations and suggests future researchers investigate the impact of parental involvement on dyslexic students’ English reading drama script skills.

Increasing Secondary Students’ Comprehension Through Explicit Attention to Narrative Text Structure

In spite of the prevailing assumption that formal reading instruction is no longer needed once adolescents reach high school, students at the secondary level still benefit from explicit reading instruction to continue developing advanced literacy skills enabling them to access complex narrative texts. This article argues for the importance of teachers to scrutinize the texts they plan to teach to determine what instruction and supports are needed to promote reading comprehension for students with learning disabilities. Specifically, this article examines how nonlinear text structures can challenge adolescent reading comprehension and illustrates explicit text structure instruction with three exemplar texts which use unconventional narrative patterns. The article emphasizes the importance of considering the qualitative features of texts to inform instruction to support reading comprehension for students with learning disabilities.

Examining the Effect of Explicit Reading Instruction on the Engagement of Elementary Students with Challenging Behaviors

ABSTRACT Providing support to students with challenging behaviors is a critical focus of classroom teachers’ success. Finding ways to prevent and mediate academic and behavioral difficulties is a high priority area for both research and practice. The focus of this study is on the effects of implementation of Orton–Gillingham Reading intervention strategies on active engagement for students with challenging behaviors. Using a single-subject alternating treatments design across 3 elementary school classrooms, increasing the rate of teachers’ positive feedback and opportunities to respond was examined for effect on the engagement of students identified with challenging behaviors. Future research directions and implications for recommended teacher practice are provided.

The Effectiveness of Close and Explicit Reading Instructions to Enhance Reading Comprehension to Highy and Lowly Motivated Students

This study was a quasi-experimental study aimed to find out theeffectiveness of close reading and explicit reading instructions to enhance the students’ reading comprehension to students with high and low motivation. The samples of this research were the second semester students of Islamic Business and Economics Faculty at Public Islamic Institute of Purwokerto in the academic year of 2016/2017. There were nine classes that belonged to Islamic Business and Economics Faculty. For the purpose of this study, there were only two classes selected to be the samples. The first group was the first experimental group in which it was taught by close reading instruction and the other one was the second experimental group taught by explicit reading instruction. The result of this study showed that close reading instruction was not effective to enhance the students’ reading comprehension to students with high and low motivation. In addition, explicit reading instruction was also not effective to enhance the students’ reading comprehension to students with high and low motivation. Therefore, there was no interaction among teaching techniques (close and explicit reading instructions), motivation (students with high and low motivation), and reading comprehension. To sum up, close reading and explicit reading instructions did not contribute a significant difference to enhance reading comprehension to the students with high and low motivation

Parents Using Explicit Reading Instruction with Their Children At-Risk for Reading Difficulties

Kindergarten students at-risk for reading difficulties were selected for participation in a parent implemented reading program. Each parent provided instruction to his or her child using the reading program Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons ( TYCTR ; Engelmann, Haddox, & Bruner, 1983). Parents were expected to use TYCTR with their child 15 minutes a night, five nights a week. The intervention consisted of parents teaching 15 letter sounds and phonemic awareness skills within 30 formatted lessons. The experimenter assessed students daily at the school to measure correct words read on sentence list sheets. The experimenter also recorded categories of parents’ questions and comments. Classification of responses occurred after instruction for the reading program ended and parent teaching of the child had begun. A multi-probe design demonstrated increased words read correctly. Parents had a high rate fidelity following the steps of each lesson with their child. Discussion of the results and implications for future research are presented.

CORI: Explicit Reading Instruction to Enhance Informational Text Comprehension and Reading Engagement for Thai EFL Students

CORI: Explicit Reading Instruction to Enhance Informational Text Comprehension and Reading Engagement for Thai EFL Students

An Examination of Offline And Online Reading Strategies in EFL Contexts

With the increasing use of the internet for reading texts, the habit of reading has been greatly influenced. More and more readers are choosing to read online rather than reading paper texts. In a pedagogical context, some research suggest that an increased number of second language (L2) classrooms are engaging learners through online reading tasks. This paper aims to examine the differences between offline (paper) reading and online (computer-assisted language learning) reading strategies as used by English as foreign language (EFL) readers in higher education in Taiwan. A total of 43 third-year English major university students participated in this study. Tentative findings revealed that students’ reading scores were influenced by their reading strategies and that students’ gender differences also played a minor role in the strategies approaches that were taken. The result shows that there’s a need not only for explicit reading instruction in offline reading practices but also during the online reading that takes place in the EFL reading class.

Improving Adolescent Reading Skills in Rural Areas Using Evidence-Based Practices

Addressing the reading needs of adolescent learners living in rural areas may create challenges for teachers and administrators in the age of accountability. This study addressed this issue by implementing two explicit instructional approaches with struggling adolescent readers (n = 49) in a rural middle school in the southeastern United States. Both programs were commercially available Direct Instruction (DI) programs. The sixth, seventh, and eighth grade participants were 2 or more years behind in reading achievement as measured by an individualized test of achievement. Placement tests for commercially available DI programs were used as decision points for placing participants in 1 of 2 groups. A 2 × 4 multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) revealed significant differences between the two instructional groups in that those with more skills demonstrated more gains on reading measures used in this study. These results indicate that systematic, explicit reading instruction can be delivered successfully in general education settings for middle school students who are struggling readers; however, attention must be given to the initial capabilities of students when evaluating the effectiveness of educational programming.

Evaluating the Effects of a Systemic Intervention on First-Grade Teachers’ Explicit Reading Instruction

This article examines the efficacy of a multitiered systemic reading intervention for increasing the intensity and quality of explicit literacy instruction that teachers provide in first-grade classrooms. Schools ( j = 16) were randomly assigned to the treatment or comparison condition. In both conditions, teachers ( i = 42) provided 90 min of Tier I reading instruction to first-grade students ( n = 883). In the treatment condition, Tier I classroom teachers were trained to enhance their core reading instruction by making instruction more explicit and intensive through standardized protocols and ongoing coaching support. At-risk treatment students ( n = 240) also received an additional 30 min of Tier II supplemental reading intervention that was highly aligned with Tier I instruction. The focus of this study is on the Tier I portion of the multitiered intervention and the impact of the Tier I Enhancing Core Reading Instruction intervention on teacher practices. Results indicate positive effects of the Tier I intervention on the quality of explicit instruction and the frequency and accuracy of group practice opportunities provided to students.

Corrective Reading as a Supplementary Curriculum for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Reading deficits among students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) are well documented. One approach to addressing these deficits has been providing students with intensive and explicit reading instruction. In this study, 31 students with E/BD and reading deficits in self-contained settings were provided with 8 weeks of Corrective Reading plus Language! instruction following a 4-week baseline phase with Language! instruction only. Standardized Reading Fluency, Comprehension, Word Attack, and Letter-Word Identification subtests and general reading achievement results yielded statistically significant reading growth. Weekly oral reading fluency rates grew at a rate of 1.592 words per week during the baseline phase and 3.563 words per week during the intervention phase. Reading achievement gains were consistent across settings (self-contained classrooms and self-contained schools) and the Corrective Reading intervention was perceived as effective and beneficial to teachers and students. Limitations addressed include brief duration of intervention and relatively small sample size. Increasing the length of the intervention and number of participants are presented as future directions for research.

A Qualitative Study of Teacher Perceptions on Using an Explicit Instruction Curriculum to Teach Early Reading Skills to Students with Significant Developmental Disabilities

This study examines teachers’ perceptions about a structured literacy curriculum that uses explicit instruction and teacher script combined with instructional practices common in special education such as time delay, error correction, and prompting strategies. The main research question addressed by this study was “What are the perceptions and beliefs of teachers of students with significant developmental disabilities about the effects of using an explicit reading instruction curriculum?” Three themes or key findings emerged from our analysis of the data regarding teachers’ perceptions of such curricula. These themes suggest that these teachers believe that a structured literacy curriculum has a positive impact on student learning, teacher effectiveness, and teacher self-efficacy.

Evolution of the missing-letter effect among young readers between ages 5 and 8

ABSTRACTIn light of the numerous studies on the detection of target letters among adults, it is generally accepted that the missing-letter effect depends both on a given word's frequency in its language and on its role (function vs. content) in a sentence. Following a presentation of several models explaining these observations we analyze the results of a letter-detection task given to 886 French students from kindergarten to second grade. The purpose of the present study is to determine the moment when the sensitivity to content/function word distinction emerges. The results of this study reveal that even if word frequency plays a role in letter detection, the emergence of an ability to extract sentence structure, along the lines of the structural model of reading, is significantly linked to the initial stages of explicit reading instruction.

Professional Development in Scientifically Based Reading Instruction

This article reviews the literature and presents data from a study that examined the effects of professional development in scientifically based reading instruction on teacher knowledge and student reading outcomes. The experimental group consisted of four first- and second-grade teachers and their students (n = 33). Three control teachers and their students (n = 14), from a community of significantly higher socioeconomic demographics, were also followed. Experimental teachers participated in a 35-hour course on instruction of phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency and were coached by professional mentors for a year. Although teacher knowledge in the experimental group was initially lower than that of the controls, their scores surpassed the controls on the posttest. First-grade experimental students’ growth exceeded the controls in letter name fluency, phonemic segmentation, nonsense word fluency, and oral reading. Second-grade experimental students exceeded controls in phonemic segmentation. Although the teacher sample was small, findings suggest that teachers can improve their knowledge concerning explicit reading instruction and that this new knowledge may contribute to student growth in reading.

Early Reading for Low-SES Minority Language Children: An Attempt to ‘Catch Them before They Fall’

Minority language and low socioeconomic status (SES) students are at high risk for language and learning disabilities. In an attempt to ‘catch them before they fall’, an early reading project was initiated in four kindergarten classes, in a low-SES bilingual school (English/French as a second language), where minority language children form a majority. The project included: (1) teaching reading and writing to kindergarten students, and outcome research: individual pre- and post-treatment assessment using a computer software to measure phonological processing and decoding skills; (2) reading testing of grade 1 students, graduates of traditional kindergartens with no explicit reading instruction programs. Statistical analyses of the pre- and post-tests showed that in only 9 weeks the kindergarten students were able to learn phonological skills critical to the reading process. By contrast, a significant number of the grade 1 students, all graduates of a traditional kindergarten, showed serious reading lags on a group reading test, indicating that early reading instruction is justifiable for this high-risk student population.

Not All Students Learn to Read by Third Grade

Twenty middle school students with reading-related learning disabilities were interviewed on two occasions to better understand their perceptions about (a) their reading ability, (b) procedures used to assist with reading instruction and the extent to which they were perceived as useful, (c) purposes for involvement in explicit reading instruction, and (d) reading instruction that might improve their reading ability. Findings revealed that despite considerable past challenges in learning to read, all of the students indicated willingness to learn to read and recognized the importance of reading to later successes in getting and keeping a job. Many stated that there was something wrong with them and that is why they had difficulty. Also, the students did not mind participating in what might be perceived as elementary or basic work in reading if it would lead to better reading skills for them. They expressed concern that they would be embarrassed if friends recognized that they were learning to read.