Reading Science Insights

Welcome to Reading Science Insights: Unraveling the Literacy Puzzle. your gateway to local professional learning on the science of reading aligned to Governor DeWine's Read Ohio initiative. Our quarterly newsletter serves as an information hub on upcoming learning opportunities within the State Support Team 6, the latest news from the Department of Education and Work, inspiration aligned to literacy for teachers and leaders, and resources aligned to best practice literacy instruction. In future releases, we would like to address questions you have and highlight partner schools in their work aligned to the Science of Reading. We look forward to navigating this journey with you.

Here is a summary of the key roles that vocabulary plays in reading comprehension:

Breadth of Vocabulary

• Students with a wide vocabulary can more easily understand texts across different subjects and genres. A large vocabulary allows readers to have background knowledge on more concepts in a text.

Depth of Word Knowledge

• It's not just knowing a lot of words, but knowing words deeply - their multiple meanings, connotations, idiomatic usages, etc. This deeper knowledge aids comprehension of nuances in texts.

• Much of comprehension involves making inferences about ideas that are implied but not directly stated. A strong vocabulary provides the basis for making meaningful inferences that connect ideas in a text.

In summary, vocabulary is intricately interlinked with reading comprehension. Building breadth and depth of vocabulary pays dividends in enabling students to understand, analyze and critique texts across the curriculum. It is wise for teachers to provide rich and varied vocabulary instruction.

Science of Reading: The Podcast: Season 8 Episode 3

Knowledge and Vocabulary: Two Sides of the Same Coin

In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert interviews Gina Cervetti in a deep conversation involving the connection of expanding vocabulary, building knowledge, and literacy development.

Anita Archer: Dynamic Vocabulary Instruction. This webinar is on the Ohio Department of Education and Work's YouTube page. While it is lengthy, Anita Archer does an excellent job helping practitioners understand how to implement best practices in the classroom. Early on in the video, she reviews how to choose words to explicitly teach with more depth but also discusses which words to quickly "touch" upon to aid in comprehension of the specific text being read. At about minute 50:00 until minute 1:16; she instructs and models an explicit vocabulary routine. Furthermore, she references her work with Charles Hughes. Chapter three of this text, titled "Designing Lessons: Vocabulary and Concepts," focuses on preparing for explicit vocabulary instruction.

Many schools are finding themselves in positions exploring different curricula aligned with the science of reading. The Knowledge Matters Campaign is a non-profit organization committed to ensuring content is at the front line of curricula materials. The campaign has developed a Review Tool for the Curriculum. The review tool states, "This tool is for use by states, districts, and schools when examining an English language arts/literacy (ELA) curriculum to determine the degree to which it is “knowledge-building.” The tool is designed to be used as a plug-in for other evaluation instruments and rubrics, many of which mention knowledge-building but none of which have effectively illuminated in detail how this is accomplished in ELA curricula. We hope publishers will use this tool to guide improvements in their products as well." Please note that this tool focuses on the Language Comprehension aspects of the Simple View of Reading and will not address foundational word recognition skills.

UPDATED: Ohio Department of Education and Work Released Initial List of Approved Curriculum and Instructional Materials.

ARCHIVED EDITIONS

Fall 2023