VIBES ABOUT THE 'SCIENCE OF READING' - learning to read after Grade 3

Learning to Read After Grade 3

Stephen Krashen

Submitted to the Statewide Literacy Task Force, Dec. 6, 2021

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Thurmond has begun an initiative to insure that all children can read by grade 3 (https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr21/yr21rel75.asp). Several aspects of the initiative are, in my opinion, excellent (Krashen, 2021), but there is now evidence that learning to read after grade 3 is quite possible, we are beginning to understand how it can be done, and how it can be done easily.

Let’s look at the research.

Fink (1995/6) studied 12 people who were considered dyslexic when they were young, who all became “skilled readers.” Eleven reported that they finally learned to read well after grade 3, between the ages of 10 and 12 (p. 273), and one did not learn to read until the 12th grade. Out of the 12, nine published creative scholarly works as adults and one was a Nobel laureate.

These readers had this in common: “As children, each had a passionate personal interest, a burning desire to know more about a discipline that required reading. Spurred by this passionate interest, all read voraciously, seeking and reading everything they could get their hands on about a single intriguing topic" (pp. 274-275).

Krashen and McQuillan (2007) describe a number of additional cases, children who learned to read well after grade 3 (Mason, 1993 a,b) : They conclude that “These cases have several features in common: Little or no formal instruction was required, the parents put no pressure on the child, and all of the children made rapid progress once they began reading material they were genuinely interested in of their own volition. Finally, all had the advantage of having access to a great deal of reading material.”

The formula for success seems to be (1) access to “a great deal of reading material” and (2) self-selection. Libraries and librarians can supply both, ordering the right books, providing access, and helping connect readers with books that are of interest and comprehensible.

Kachel (2013) provides an impressive amount of research supporting this formula. Students in schools with quality libraries (large collections) and the services of a certified school librarian have higher scores on tests of reading comprehension.

The combination of access and self-selection might insure that all children learn to read, regardless of age.

Sources:

Fink, R. (1995/6). Successful dyslexics: A constructivist study of passionate interest reading. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 39, 268-280.

Kachel, D.E. (2013). School Library Research Summarized: A Graduate Class Project. Mansfield, PA: Mansfield University. https://keithcurrylance.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/MU-LibAdvoBklt2013.pdf

Krashen, S. 2021. California’s commitment: Literacy, biliteracy, and libraries. Language Magazine 21,3:41-43. Comments on “California commits to literacy and bets on biliteracy” (Language Magazine, Oct.2021.) http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/committment_to_literacy_biliteracy_and_libraries.pdf

Krashen, S. and McQuillan, J. 2007. Late intervention. Educational Leadership 65 (2): 68-73. http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/late_intervention.pdf

Mason, J. (1993a). Without a curriculum. Growing without Schooling 94: 28

Mason, J. (1993b). Reading at 10. Growing without Schooling 91:11

Krashen 7 December 2021 response to a year 3 panel re Science of Reading

An ironic comment…science of reading is obviously correct, they love gimmicks where children play games and get rewards, have a special "word of the day" etc. Most of their opinions are based on rumour and fads.

Followed up by,

Rosen, Michael, 8 December 2021

Science of reading…advocate a rapid-fire, short-term stimulus-response-reward... It was taken up by some of our British phonics geniuses who advocated a strange robotic positive and negative hand-movement to be used to inform the child that they had got their letter-sound correspondence right or wrong. (I learned how to do it, along with the strange glazed look that the teacher should use. I do it in my shows. )

The idea that the human mind reflects on what it perceives and reaches understanding through synthesising perception and reflection horrifies [science of reading advocates].