What the Cognitive Research says about Reading

1. Reading is an interactive process involving many components and different parts of the brain. The phonological processor associates sounds and words, an extension of oral language. The orthographic processor connects letters to sounds. The meaning processor activates knowledge of what words mean and activates reasoning to make sense based on the context (Seidenberg & McClelland, 1989). The interactive process is not linear, but recursive as each processor helps the others and pulls from prior knowledge about the world to make meaning (Duke & Cartwright, 2021).

2. Teaching phonemic awareness and phonics explicitly and systematically is essential in early grades. However, teaching phonics is not enough. The National Reading Panel (2000) found phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension are all necessary components of a reading curriculum across developmental levels.

3. Background knowledge has a reciprocal relationship with reading comprehension. In other words, if you have background knowledge about the topic of the text, you will find the text easier to comprehend. At the same time, when you read about a topic, you build knowledge about the topic, which then in turn helps you comprehend other texts on similar topics (Hattan & Lupo, 2021).

4. Teaching reading and writing in an integrated way improves both reading and writing (Graham et al., 2017; Graham, 2020). Similarly, discussion supports text comprehension and writing development.

5. When students are having difficulty, they should be provided targeted support. Formative assessments can help educators pinpoint the difficulty a student is having in order to provide the needed support (Spear-Swerling, 2016).