Publications
and Materials
Text-only version
of the "Teaching Children to Read" Video, 2nd Edition
Teacher:
Let’s go back through those again
one more time. What was this one?
Children:
Mitt.
Teacher and Children:
Tail. Mail.
Narrator:
In modern society, reading opens
the door to a child’s future. Therefore, it’s critical
that our children get the right start in learning to
read. Not all kids do. Parents and other adults see
their first, second, and third graders struggling with
basic reading materials and lacking beginning reading
concepts such as how sounds relate to letters, and they
wonder if our schools are failing in their most basic
mission.
To answer these questions, Congress
requested that the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development consult with the Department of
Education to create a National Reading Panel whose members
were charged to review the research on reading to determine
the effectiveness of approaches to teaching children
to read.
Duane Alexander, M.D.:
The National Reading Panel was
established by the Congress of the United States largely,
I believe, in response to concerns that were presented
to them by their constituents. Parents, school teachers,
administrators all were increasingly concerned about
the problem that we have with teaching reading to children
in the United States.
Narrator:
The panel was asked to prepare
a report that would first develop a set of rigorous
scientific criteria for evaluating reading research,
apply these criteria to existing reading research, identify
the most effective methods for teaching different reading
skills, and make their findings accessible and useful
for both teachers and parents. The goal of the National
Reading Panel’s work is to guide effective instruction
of reading in America’s classrooms. The panel’s work,
over a year-and-a-half, focused on research of the following
topics:
- How important is phonemic awareness
in learning to read and how is it most effectively
taught?
- Does phonics instruction enhance
children’s success in learning to read and how should
it be most effectively taught?
- What methods are most effective
in developing reading speed and accuracy and the ability
to read with proper expression?
- What role do vocabulary development
and vocabulary instruction play in helping children
understand what they’ve read?
- What do teachers need to know
in order to teach and model the use of these strategies?
- How can the research be integrated
into pre-service and in-service education of teachers?
- How successful is computer
technology in teaching reading?
- What are the gaps in what we know
about how children learn to read and the methods to
teach them?
Teacher and Students:
Teachers and students say letters:
I E B.
Narrator:
Phonemes are the smallest sound
in the English language. The National Reading Panel
found the most effective way to teach children to read
is through systematic and explicit manipulation of phonemes
in words in a balanced reading program. The panel also
found that children as young as those in preschool and
kindergarten are capable of learning the sounds of their
language and how the sounds relate to print. This knowledge
of phonemes, as part of the beginning literacy program,
is critical in early reading development.
While the development of phoneme awareness
is critical to reading and spelling development, it
is not sufficient. Once children become aware that the
words they hear are made up of sounds, they must learn
to link those sounds to the letters of the alphabet
as they begin to actually read and spell. This linking
of letters and sounds is the foundation for phonics
instruction, which helps beginning readers recognize
new and unfamiliar words in print.
Teacher:
Two letters making one sound.
CH, CH, CH.
Narrator:
The panel found that systematic
phonics instruction is effective for students in kindergarten
through sixth grade and for those who are having difficulty
learning to read. It’s most effective when it is integrated
with instruction in phonemic awareness, reading fluency,
and reading comprehension. The panel concluded that
systematic phonics instruction integrated in a total
reading program should become part of the reading curriculum.
Fluent readers are able to read orally
with speed, accuracy, and expression while understanding
what they’re reading. Practice in reading orally and
with the teacher’s guidance and feedback helps children
recognize words, become fluent, and comprehend what
they’re reading.
What seems clear is that independent
silent reading in the classroom should not be used as
the only type of reading instruction to develop fluency
and other reading skills.
Reading comprehension is critically
important for students in order for them to acquire
information and knowledge from text. Student achievement
is linked to children’s ability to understand and enjoy
what they read. To improve reading comprehension, children
must also learn vocabulary, a series of strategies to
gain meaning from text, and be instructed by teachers
who have had formal training in these strategies.
Teacher:
Now why should I bother to stop
and survey a protected set of purpose? Matthew?
Matthew:
So you’re actually involved in
the book.
Narrator:
It’s clear that more research
is needed to address how much pre-service and in-service
education is optimal, how to assess teachers’ effectiveness,
and what support teachers need over the long term to
be most successful in helping students learn.
The National Reading Panel explored
research of various technologies to understand how these
tools can help teach reading.
Computerized Voice:
Listen to it sizzle.
Boy:
The butter is sizzling.
Narrator:
The use of computers to teach
reading is relatively new to our classrooms. The panel
found that speech synthesizers, hypertext, and word
processors have real promise in teaching reading. However,
more research is needed.
Donald N. Langenberg, Ph.D.:
No report ever by itself solves
a problem or changes the world. But you can look back
on reports that have started actual efforts to do something
about the issue.
Duane Alexander, M.D.:
This is a landmark study in many
ways because of what it has to tell. It’s up to us now
to make sure that the information that’s been gathered
diligently by this panel and critically evaluated is
spread around the country so that we can put it into
practice in our Nation’s classrooms as the Congress
asked us to do.
Narrator:
The President has established
a goal of every child being able to read by third grade.
We now know how to make that goal a reality. This is
the time for all of us to use these valuable findings
to help every child become a skilled and fluent reader.
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