What's Missing In Reading Instruction - Part 1 in a 3-part series: 'Why current reading comprehension techniques are failing students."

Have you noticed your child using reading comprehension methods like re-reading, making guesses on what's being said, or creating mental pictures in his mind ("visualizing") but still struggling to understand what they're reading?   If so, what's the missing piece.

The above methods are still being broadly taught by "reading specialists" teachers and psychology "experts" with little success.

Unfortunately, vocabulary instruction often takes a backseat to these failing comprehension methods. A study found that less than 1% of literacy lessons involved dictionary work, while only 20% of 4th-grade teachers emphasized vocabulary and dictionary use.

A 1977 Reading Specialist Manual published by the State of California stated that dictionaries were of limited value except for use in crossword puzzles.  I was teaching at the time and was shocked to discover this and the lack of dictionaries in the classrooms.  This was before electronic devices could be used to show definitions of words.

Prioritizing whole-text strategies over word-level mastery will cause comprehension failure.  As literacy expert Steven Zees explains, "Broad comprehension strategies are of little use if readers don't know the meanings of keywords in a text."

Without a solid vocabulary foundation, techniques like re-reading and context clues are of limited benefit. If critical vocabulary remains unclear, repeatedly reading the same passage only reinforces guessing at meanings of words.

Michael Graves A leading expert on vocabulary development, Graves has written: "While context can be used effectively to teach some words, an exclusive context approach is insufficient for developing full understandings of most terms met in instructional materials."

Andrew Biemiller in his research on vocabulary instruction, found: "Children often guess wildly inappropriate meanings from context...and even when they get a partially correct sense of some words' meanings, their understandings are frequently incomplete."

It's time to make vocabulary a priority in comprehension instruction by:

- Explicitly teaching essential words before reading a text

- Modeling skilled use of dictionaries.

- Using a simple effective method of listening and watching your reader.

  This method is fully explained in my blog article, "Full Method Write Up".

Only by directly developing students' word knowledge can we truly foster understanding of texts. Anything less only reinforces the comprehension tangle.

The teaching of definitions has been on the decline.

Sources / Studies / Surveys -  Documentation:

For "A 2014 study by Ralph surveyed":

Ralph, E. G. (2014). A vision for the future of dictionary skills instruction. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 87(4), 138-147.

In the Ralph (2014) study, the survey was sent to 200 teacher education programs across the United States to examine how dictionary skills were being covered in preservice teacher training.

A study by Watts (1995) found that only about 5% of classroom time during reading instruction segments was devoted to word-level skill instruction like dictionary use.

Source: Watts, S.M. (1995). Vocabulary instruction during reading lessons in six classrooms. Journal of Reading Behavior, 27(3), 399-424.

In their observations of 3rd-5th grade classrooms, Misulia et al. (2021) noted "Dictionary work constituted less than 1% of all instructional intervals observed."

Source: Misulia, A.B., Gelcich, C., & Snyder, E. (2021). Classroom observations of reading comprehension instruction. Reading Research Quarterly, 56(4), 603-628.

Research by Hairrell et al. (2011) stated: "Teachers may sacrifice explicit instruction in word meanings and dictionary use in favor of spending more time on comprehension of whole texts."

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bheifler@gmail.com