Chapter 2

Nature of Reading
 Introduction
Historical Context for Models of Reading
Simple View of Reading
Developmental Models of Reading
Adams Cognitive Model of Reading
Information Processing Model of Reading
What Is the Relation Between Reading and IQ?
Transactional View of Reading
Speaking, Reading, and Writing
An Inclusive View of Reading
How Do We Know If a Student Has a Reading Disability?
How Do We Distinguish English Language Learning Challenges from
Disabilities?
Adults with Limited Literacy Skills
The Literacy Instruction Pie
Using Knowledge of Reading to Understand Reading Assessment
 Historical Context for
Models of Reading

Medical Models to Explain Reading Difficulties

word blindness
Within the Individual Etiologies
 Simple View of Reading
RC = D x LC,
RC is reading comprehension
D is decoding
LC is linguistic comprehension
Both can be expressed as a value between 0 (nullity) to 1
(perfection)

Gough and Tunmer (1986) and Hoover and Gough (1990)

Simple
View of
Reading
 Developmental Models of Reading
Challs Stage Model
Spear-Swerling: Off-track: Becoming Disabled
Friths Developmental Model (Sawyer, Kim & Lipa-Wade)
TABLE 2.1 Challs Model of the Developmental Stages of Reading

Stages/Names Age Learning Goals Activities/Tools

Stage 0: Prereading Birth through Relation between alphabet, words, sounds Hearing stories and nursery rhymes read by
and emergent literacy preschool and and meaning, purpose of books caregivers, pretend reading and writing,
kindergarten modeling communications and language from
Sesame Street and similar programs/formats
Stage 1: Initial Grades 1 and 2 Specific linkages between letters, words, Educator-lead reading and phonics using
Reading/Decoding and sounds; start to realize reading preprimers and primers, basic writing
mistakes and rules of spelling instruction, some trade books
Stage 2: Confirmation Grades 2 and 3 Building fluency and automaticity and Reading about known content using basal
and Fluency; ungluing beginning use of context to make meaning readers, trade books, worksheets/workbooks
from print
Stage 3: Reading for Grades 4 through 8 Learning from content text; acquiring Basal readers; novels, dictionaries; textbooks
Learning new vocabulary; developing strategies from content areas
knowledge (from a
single viewpoint)
Stage 4: Appreciating Grades 9 through Appreciate varying perspectives, layers of Textbooks for content areas, reference books
multiple viewpoints 12, technical complexity such as encyclopedias, journals; nonfiction
school, and early biographies
college years
Stage 5:Construction Late college and Reading for targeted detail and purpose Books, journals, reference books in areas of
and ReconstructionA graduate school for complete understanding within world- advanced complexity/expertise
world view wide context
Spear-Swerling
& Sternberg
Developmental
Model (1996)
 Friths Developmental Model
(Sawyer, Kim & Lipa-Wade, 2000)
Adams Cognitive Model of Reading
Adams
Cognitive
Model
(1990)
Information Processing
Model of Reading
 General
Information
Processing
Model
 TABLE 2.2 Cognitive Abilities and Related Reading/Writing Skills

Cognitive Ability Associated Literacy Skill

Long Term Memory/Retrieval
Storage and retention of information Basic Reading Skills
Ability to retrieve and use previously stored information Reading Comprehension
Written Expression

Auditory Processing
Discrimination, analysis, and synthesis of auditory stimuli Basic Reading Skills

Cognitive Auditory attention, perception and discrimination despite

background noise
Phonemic Awareness
Written Expression

Manipulation, analysis and synthesis of discrete sounds Basic Reading Skills

Correlates of Spelling
Written Expression
Basic Writing Skills

Reading Visual Processing

Perception, analysis and synthesis of visual stimuli
Storage and memory of visual stimuli
Not strongly related to
achievement

and Writing Short Term Memory (Auditory)

Processing and holding auditory stimuli in awareness and Basic Reading Skills
manipulating/using it within a few seconds Reading Comprehension
Processing Speed
Rapid cognitive processing without higher order thinking Basic Reading Skills
Attentiveness and fluency in processing Written Expression

Verbal Reasoning
Reasoning and comprehension using language Basic Reading Skills
Verbal expression Reading Comprehension
Vocabulary Written Expression

General Information and Knowledge

Acquired knowledge Basic Reading Skills
Long term memory Reading Comprehension
Written Expression
Fluid Reasoning
Inductive and deductive reasoning Reading Comprehension
Problem solving on novel tasks Written Expression
 What is the Relation
Between Reading and IQ?
Increases with age
IQ is more highly correlated with reading comprehension than
with basic reading skills
When is it helpful to administer IQ/cognitive ability tests to
struggling readers?
 Transactional View of Reading
Reading is transaction, a two-way process, involving a reader
and a text at a particular time under particular circumstances
(Rosenblatt, 1982, p. 269).
 Speaking, Reading, and Writing
Some researchers have argued that vocabulary is more
important than phonological awareness in predicting early
reading skills (see Gee, 2001).
Both writers and readers are drawing on personal
linguistic/experiential reservoirs in a to-and-fro transaction
with a text. Their composing and reading activities are both
complementary and different (Rosenblatt, 1993, p. 384).
An Inclusive View of Reading
Appendix B
How Do We Know If a Student Has a
Reading Disability?
How do we know if a student has a learning
disability in reading?
Learning disability is a valid construct
LD Roundtable, 2004
Dyslexia is the most common type of learning
disability
Weakness in a sea of strengths (Shaywitz, 2003)
Difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition
Deficits in phonological processing &/or rapid automatic
naming
Secondary difficulties in reading comprehension
 Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act (IDEA) 2004
Definition of learning disability did not change
Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more
of the basic psychological processes involved in
understanding or using language, spoken or written, that
may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think,
speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations,
including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain
injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and
developmental aphasia.
 IDEA 2004 contd
Does not include learning problems that are primarily the
result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, or mental
retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental,
cultural, or economic disadvantage
 IDEA 2004 contd
Changes in identification procedures for specific learning
disabilities
States
1) Must not require the use of a severe discrepancy between
intellectual ability and achievement for determining whether
a child has a specific learning disability, as defined in
300.8(c)(10)
2) Must permit the use of a process based on the childs
response to scientific, research-based intervention; and
3) May permit the use of other alternative research-based
procedures for determining whether a child has a specific
learning disability, as defined in 300.8(c)(10)
 What are areas of Specific Learning
Disability (SLD)?
Basic reading skills (decoding and word recognition)
Reading fluency (added in 2004 regulations)
Reading comprehension
Math problem solving
Math computation
Written expression
Oral expression
Listening comprehension
 Why Focus on Reading?
8090% of all students identified with SLD exhibit weaknesses
in reading
Students with SLD comprise about half the Special Education
population
Students in other disability categories (e.g., intellectual
disabilities, emotional disturbance) typically have reading
difficulties
Reading proficiency is critical for academic and vocational
success
 IDEA (2004) Definition of Specific
Learning Disability in Reading
Historically included:

Basic Reading Skills

Phonetic decoding (nonsense words, phonics)
Sight recognition (automatic recognition of letters and sight words)

Reading Comprehension
Vocabulary (synonyms, antonyms, analogies, fill-in-the blank,
definitions, context)
Comprehension (answering questions, cloze, maze, retelling)
 IDEA (2004) Definition of Specific
Learning Disability in Reading
Now includes Reading Fluency
Fluency-accuracy, rate, and prosody
Most measures are oral
A few measures are silent
Measures include passages, sight and nonsense
words, phonemes, and retelling
 Alphabet Soup: Alternate Definition
DSM-5* (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)

Specific Learning Disorder with Impairment in Reading

Word reading accuracy
Reading rate or fluency
Reading comprehension
Difficulties learning and using academic skills, as indicated by the
presence of at least one of the following symptoms that have persisted for
at least 6 months, despite the provision of interventions that target those
difficulties:
1. Inaccurate or slow and effortful word reading (e.g., reads single
words aloud incorrectly or slowly and hesitantly, frequently guesses
words, has difficulty sounding out words).
2. Difficulty understanding the meaning of what is read (e.g., may read
text accurately but not understand the sequence, relationships,
inferences, or deeper meaning of what is read).

*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual

 Ways to Determine SLD:
IQ-Achievement Discrepancy Model
Attempts to assess SLD as a gap between ability and
achievement in a specific academic area such as reading
Criticisms:
Wait to fail model
Yields limited instructional information
 Ways to Determine SLD:
Response to Intervention (RtI)
Students who fail to respond to generally effective (i.e.,
scientifically-based) instruction are referred for comprehensive
assessment to determine SLD
 Ways to Determine SLD:
Pattern of Strengths and Weaknesses
Requires a comprehensive evaluation of both cognitive
abilities and achievement, one that operationalizes the broad
range of intellectual abilities (e.g., working memory, long-term
memory, auditory and visual processing, processing speed,
quantitative reasoning, fluid reasoning) and relevant areas of
achievement (e.g., basic reading skills, reading fluency,
reading comprehension, basic math skills, math reasoning)
Pattern of Strengths and Weaknesses contd
An important distinction between the PSW model and the
ability-achievement discrepancy model is that the PSW
requires that a link be established between achievement
deficits and the specific cognitive weaknesses shown in the
research literature to be related to those achievement deficits.
 How Do We Distinguish English Language
Learning Challenges from Disabilities?

Second Language Acquisition-Associated Phenomena (Brown,

2004)
Consider performance in native language
Does the student perform similarly to other ELL students with
similar background?
Compare BICS (basic interpersonal communication skills)
with CALP (cognitive academic language proficiency)
Compare verbal to nonverbal performance
 Adults with Limited
Literacy Skills
Individuals with disabilities and individuals whose first
language is not English are overrepresented in the adult basic
education population, the population of adults who exhibit
low literacy levels in English and do not hold a high school
diploma.
Not all adults with limited literacy skills are alike.
The Literacy Instruction Pie

Word Fluency
Analysis

Reading Vocabulary
& Writing
Connection

Comprehension
Using Knowledge of Reading to
Understand Reading Assessment
 Whats the connection?
How do the IDEA areas of reading/learning disabilities
related to the National Reading Panel findings?
Comprehension

Vocabulary
Comprehension
(Morphology)

Sight
Basic Reading

Phonics Recognition
Fluency
(Orthography)

Phonemic
Awareness

Areas Recognized by National Reading Panel

 Salient Differences

IDEA identified three areas: Basic

Reading, Reading Fluency, and Reading
Comprehension (and Written Expression)
NRP identified five areas: Phonemic
Awareness, Phonics, Fluency,
Vocabulary, and Comprehension
Why Are the NRP/IDEA Areas Important in
Choosing an Assessment?

Awareness of the areas helps you choose assessments to

administer

If you are unaware of an area, you may not assess it and thus miss
an important factor that may account for difficulties or that may
be a strength to build upon
 Summary
Historical Context for Models of Reading
Simple View of Reading
Developmental Models of Reading
Adams Cognitive Model of Reading
Information Processing Model of Reading
What Is the Relation Between Reading and IQ?
Transactional View of Reading
Speaking, Reading, and Writing
An Inclusive View of Reading
How Do We Know If a Student Has a Reading Disability?
How Do We Distinguish English Language Learning Challenges from
Disabilities?
Adults with Limited Literacy Skills
The Literacy Instruction Pie
Using Knowledge of Reading to Understand Reading Assessment