Fredy P.

Avellano 11-ARION

Effective strategies for the teaching of

reading: What works, and why
Australian Journal of Learning Disabilities Volume 10, Numbers 3 & 4, 2005, pp. 11-17 LA
Effective Strategies for the Teaching of Reading: What works, and why Marion de Lemos Honorary
Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research Introduction Teaching children how to read and
write has always been the primary objective of schooling. However, in recent years there has been a
question about the effectiveness of different approaches to teaching reading, as well as concerns that
many students fail to achieve effective literacy skills by the end of the compulsory years of schooling.
This has led to a renewed focus on teaching reading in the early years of schooling, and the
introduction in Australia of new policies and practices aimed at improving literacy outcomes. At the
same time, there have been significant advances over the past two decades in the research on
reading and on the processes underlying the acquisition of reading. This research has led to the
questioning of some of the assumptions on which current teaching practices have been based and
has identified some of the critical factors associated with the acquisition of reading skills. Research on
the Acquisition of Reading The basic model of reading and writing that underlies much of the current
scientific research on the acquisition of literacy is most easily understood in terms of the simple
model described by Juel, Griffith, and Gough (1986). According to this model reading and writing are
each composed of two distinct abilities; decoding (or word recognition) and comprehension in the
case of reading, and spelling and ideation (or the generation and organization of ideas) in the case of
writing. Thus word recognition combined with the skills involved in listening comprehension provides
the basis for reading comprehension, while spelling combined with the generation of ideas provides
the basis for writing. Knowledge of the cipher is therefore seen as critical to the acquisition of literacy
since it is a basic component of both decoding, which underlies the acquisition of reading, and
spelling, which underlies the acquisition of writing. Knowledge of the cipher is in turn dependent on
two main factors: phonemic awareness, or the knowledge that the spoken word can be broken down
into a series of specific sounds; and exposure to print, which provides models of written text and
specific letters and words which can then be connected to specific sound sequences. Phonemic
awareness and exposure to print are the two factors most critical to the acquisition of literacy. While
word recognition and spelling are essential to the ability to read and write, these abilities do not in
themselves ensure comprehension of the complex text or the production of coherent and well-
organized writing. These higher-level skills are dependent on a range of factors, including vocabulary
knowledge, familiarity with particular areas of knowledge, knowledge, and values associated with
membership in a particular social or cultural group, and critical thinking skills. However, these higher-
level skills apply equally to the effective use of spoken language. What distinguishes reading and
writing skills from listening comprehension and speaking skills is the fact that these skills are
expressed through the medium of written text rather than through the medium of spoken language.
Once children have acquired an understanding of the alphabetic principle, and are able to translate
print to sound through the process of phonological recoding, this provides a basis for self-teaching
based on the independent generation of target pronunciations for novel orthographic strings. That is
to say, as children encounter new words or letter cluster strings, they are able to apply phonological

Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19404150509546796?journalCode=rald19
Fredy P. Avellano 11-ARION
recoding to generate the sound equivalents of the unfamiliar words or strings, and in this way to
acquire the detailed orthographic representations that are necessary for rapid, autonomous visual
word recognition (see Share, 1995). Thus the more a child reads, the greater the number of words
that they will be able to recognize visually, thus enabling more fluent reading and freeing up the
cognitive demands of the task to allow for more cognitive While the specific skills underlying the
acquisition of reading and writing are different, both share a common denominator, in that both are
dependent on the set of spelling-sound correspondence rules of the language or what is termed in
the literature the orthographic cipher. Correspondence: Dr. Marion de Lemos, 846 Toorak Road,
Hawthorn East, Vic 3123. Email: delemos@acer.edu.au ISSN 1324-8928 2006 Learning Difficulties
Australia Published by Learning Difficulties Australia

Summarized
The Australian Journal of Learning Disabilities Volume 10, Numbers 3 & 4, 2005, pp. 11-17,
discusses the effectiveness of teaching children how to read and write. This has led to a renewed
focus on the teaching of reading in the early years of schooling and the introduction of new policies
and practices aimed at improving literacy outcomes. Research on the acquisition of reading has led to
the questioning of some of the assumptions on which current teaching practices have been based
and has identified some of the critical factors associated with the acquisition of reading skills. The
acquisition of literacy is dependent on two main factors: phonemic awareness and exposure to print.
Word recognition and spelling are essential to the ability to read and write, but these abilities do not
guarantee comprehension of the complex text or the production of coherent and well-organized
writing. Reading and writing skills are expressed through the medium of written text rather than
through the medium of spoken language. Phonological recoding provides a basis for self-teaching
based on the independent generation of target pronunciations for novel orthographic strings.

Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19404150509546796?journalCode=rald19