Module 1 The science of learning: transcripts and audio descriptions

1. How children learn to read - the evidence

Video: Research base for the science of reading

Slide 1: Quotation from Louisa Moats

[Image: Shows a quote by Louisa Moats: ‘The body of work referred to as the “science of reading” is not an ideology, a philosophy, a political agenda, a one-size-fits-all approach, a program of instruction, or a specific component of instruction. It is the emerging consensus from many related disciplines, based on literally thousands of studies, supported by hundreds of millions of research dollars, conducted across the world in many languages. These studies have revealed a great deal about how we learn to read, what goes wrong when students don’t learn, and what kind of instruction is most likely to work the best for the most students.’]

Presenter speaking: Jocelyn Seamer

This is the beautiful Louisa Moats. She has this amazing quote that I think lays it out so well. Essentially, the science of reading is the emerging consensus from many related disciplines based on literally thousands of studies. These studies have revealed what kind of instruction is most likely to work the best for the most students.

We can't go into our local university and find the Science of Reading Faculty, it's not a thing, but what we can do is understand that the research evidence comes from so many different areas and has been conducted for so long, that there are some things that we can be quite certain and comfortable are the best way to go in our instruction. 

Now as a teacher, we're not going to be able to find all that research and read it for ourselves, we don’t have to. We are incredibly lucky to have some reports that share the fundamental research findings with us.

Slide 2: Reading studies

[Image: shows the covers of three studies into reading:

National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read

Teaching Reading: Report and recommendations

Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading]

Presenter speaking: Jocelyn Seamer

The first one is the National Reading Panel report from the US and this one was released in 2000.

The second one is the Teaching Reading Report. It’s the reported recommendations from Australia and it’s from the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, this one is from 2005.

In 2006 England released their own report, often called the Rose Report, which is the Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading.

Now while the dates on these are getting on a little bit, we can be sure that the bulk of what we see in these reports is still very reliable. 

I was listening to a podcast today talking about the fact that the researchers think that there are not going to be major shifts. There will be tweaks and there will be new research that comes up and we need to be ready to respond, but we are not going to in five years all of a sudden discover, 'Oh! All this research is wrong, and we have to do things differently now.' So, rest assured that what you read about in these reports is reliable and you can have confidence that it will steer you in the right direction. 

2. Reading models

Video: The Simple View of Reading

Slide: The Simple View of Reading

[Image: The slide shows a diagram divided into four quadrants. The x-axis is labelled ‘Word recognition processes’ and runs from ‘poor’ on the left side of the axis to ‘good’ on the right side of the axis. The y-axis is labelled ‘Language comprehension processes’ and runs from ‘good’ at the top of the axis to ‘poor’ at the bottom of the axis. The top right quadrant is labelled ‘Good word recognition; good language comprehension’. The bottom right quadrant is labelled ‘Good word recognition; poor language comprehension’. The bottom left quadrant is labelled ‘Poor word recognition; poor language comprehension’. The top left quadrant is labelled ‘Good language comprehension; poor word recognition’.]

Presenter speaking: Jocelyn Seamer

This is the Simple View of Reading. You have likely seen it before and heard about it, but I’ll run through it for you.

It was first proposed in 1986 by Gough and Tunmer, yes that long ago, and essentially it says that reading comprehension is made up of really good language comprehension and sound word recognition processes.

Now, let’s not misunderstand. Word recognition doesn’t mean that children have 150 sight words by the end of the Foundation year. It’s about how they are able to automatically lift words from the page to decode. Now that doesn’t come about by viewing words as whole words and whole units. It actually comes through the alphabetic principle.

But the Simple View of Reading still holds true despite its age. Just like that evidence from those reading panel reports, we can rely on it as a great source of a framework for us to think about reading instruction.

Video: The Simple View of Reading diagram skills assessment

Students can be plotted on the Simple View of Reading quadrants according to the reading skills they display or results from reading assessments.

Let’s imagine that students have been assessed in two ways.

First, their decoding (word recognition) is assessed by students reading a list of 10 non-words.

[Image: A box appears on the 'Decoding' x-axis with the text 'D = students' ability to decode a set of 10 non-words.']

Non-words (that is, words that can be decoded but are not real words) are used so that students’ true decoding skills can be assessed, as none of the words will be recognised or known already. Using the Literacy Hub’s Year 1 Phonics Check is one way to assess students’ decoding of non-words.

Second, language comprehension is assessed by having the students answer 10 comprehension questions on a familiar topic.

[Image: A box appears on the 'Language comprehension' y-axis with the text 'LC = students' ability to answer 10 comprehension questions when a text on a familiar topic is read to them.']

The text on this topic is read to the students before the questions are asked, so that any reading difficulties are taken away. Students can show their understanding of the text just by listening to it.

The results of these two assessments when multiplied together will give a predicted outcome for the students' reading comprehension.

For example, a student who achieves 10 out of 10 for each test has a 100% reading comprehension score.

[Image: the number 10 appears next to the language comprehension axis; and again next to the decoding axis. In the top right quadrant, the following sum appears: 1.0 x 1.0 = 1.0, 100%, indicating 100% reading comprehension.]

A student who scores 3 out of 10 for both assessments, has a reading comprehension score of 9%.

[Image: the number 3 appears next to the language comprehension axis; and again next to the decoding axis. In the bottom left quadrant, the following sum appears: 0.3 x 0.3 = 0.09, 9%, indicating 9% reading comprehension.]

Now, let’s compare the results of two students who both scored a reading comprehension of 30%.

[Image: 30% appears in the top left quadrant and the bottom right quadrant, indicating 30% reading comprehension.]

At first glance these two students may appear to have similar difficulties due to achieving the same score. However, the Simple View of Reading helps teachers to understand that, in fact, these two students have very different strengths and areas that need support.

One student has excellent language comprehension skills but needs a lot more explicit teaching and support with decoding.

[Image: the number 10 appears next to the language comprehension axis; the number 3 appears next to the decoding axis. In the top left quadrant, the following sum appears: 0.3 x 1.0 = 0.3, 30%, indicating 30% reading comprehension.]

Whereas the other student received a perfect mark for decoding, but needs extra teaching and support with their language comprehension skills.

[Image: the number 3 appears next to the language comprehension axis; the number 10 appears next to the decoding axis. In the bottom right quadrant, the following sum appears: 1.0 x 0.3 = 0.3, 30%, indicating 30% reading comprehension.]

This student's reading comprehension is impacted by poor decoding skills. Intervention will therefore be provided in decoding.

[Image: the top left quadrant is highlighted, showing the student with a score of 10 for language comprehension and 3 for decoding; 30% reading comprehension. Boxed text appears: Intervention = decoding.]

This student's reading comprehension is impacted by poor language comprehension. Intervention will therefore be provided for this student in developing language comprehension skills.

[Image: the bottom right quadrant is highlighted, showing the student with a score of 3 for language comprehension and 10 for decoding; 30% reading comprehension. Boxed text appears: Intervention = language comprehension.]

This student's reading comprehension is impacted by poor decoding and poor language comprehension. Intervention will therefore be provided in both areas.

[Image: the bottom left quadrant is highlighted, showing the student with a score of 3 for language comprehension and 3 for decoding; 9% reading comprehension. Boxed text appears: Intervention = decoding and language comprehension.]

This student's reading comprehension is developing well and is not impacted by decoding or language comprehension difficulties. At this point, no intervention is required for this student.

[Image: the top right quadrant is highlighted, showing the student with a score of 10 for language comprehension and 10 for decoding; 100% reading comprehension.]

Image: Reading Rope model

Heading reads: The many strands that are woven into skilled reading (Scarborough, 2001). An infographic below shows two strands (language comprehension; word recognition) weaving together to make a larger rope (skilled reading). The top strand is ‘Language comprehension – increasingly strategic’, made up of 4 areas: background knowledge (facts, concepts, etc); vocabulary (breadth, precision, links, etc); language structures (syntax, semantics, etc); verbal reasoning (inference, metaphor, etc); literacy knowledge (print concepts, genres, etc). The bottom strand is ‘Word recognition – increasingly automatic’, made up of 3 areas: phonological awareness (syllables, phonemes, etc); decoding (alphabetic principle, spelling-sound correspondences); sight recognition (of familiar words). Skilled reading is explained as fluent execution and coordination of word recognition and text comprehension. Scarborough, 2001. Reproduced with permission of Guilford Press. 

Video: Scarborough's Reading Rope

Slide: The many strands that are woven into skilled reading

[Image: The slide has a heading that reads The many strands that are woven into skilled reading (Scarborough, 2001). An infographic below shows two strands (language comprehension; word recognition) weaving together to make a larger rope (skilled reading). The top strand is ‘Language comprehension – increasingly strategic’, made up of 4 areas: background knowledge (facts, concepts, etc); vocabulary (breadth, precision, links, etc); language structures (syntax, semantics, etc); verbal reasoning (inference, metaphor, etc); literacy knowledge (print concepts, genres, etc). The bottom strand is ‘Word recognition – increasingly automatic’, made up of 3 areas: phonological awareness (syllables, phonemes, etc); decoding (alphabetic principle, spelling-sound correspondences); sight recognition (of familiar words). Skilled reading is explained as fluent execution and coordination of word recognition and text comprehension. Scarborough, 2001. Reproduced with permission of Guilford Press.’]

Presenter speaking: Jocelyn Seamer

Language comprehension is about so much more than just vocabulary; background knowledge is critical. Language structures, verbal reasoning, literacy knowledge, all of those things that we’ve known to be good practice around this area, they are still good practice.

Where our thinking has shifted quite a bit though is in this word recognition part. Now in the early years the evidence is pretty clear that the child’s capacity to understand what they read comes predominantly from their decoding. That is because children come to school with (for the most part) the language skills required to understand the level of text that they are accessing. So, while we want to support the top of the rope, it is the bottom of the rope where we need to spend most of our time.

We can see there are three strands in word recognition: phonological awareness (that does include phonemic awareness); decoding; and sight recognition. Again, sight recognition is not just flashcards with sight words, it’s around lifting the words from the page automatically.

3. The Big Six

Video: The Big Six of reading instruction

Slide: The Big Six of reading instruction

[Image: Icons and labels of the following areas:

Phonemic Awareness

Phonics

Vocabulary

Fluency

Comprehension

An icon and label for Oral language is added during the video.

Included on the page are covers of:

the National Reading Panel report

Australian Journal of Teacher Education article ‘Teaching reading: Why the “Fab Five” should be the “Big Six”’]

Presenter speaking: Jocelyn Seamer

You will have heard of the Big Six of Reading – and this is not a mistake in the slide, there are actually only five parts here. Now, the National Reading Panel came up with these five components, and in 2014, Deslea Konza published a paper called Teaching Reading: Why the Fab Five should be the Big Six. Her reasoning around this was that oral language is so very important. There are interactions between oral language and every one of these five areas, and so the "Fab Five" became the "Big Six". Whether you see five components or six, it’s still the same thing, just usually, with oral language, if you’re only seeing five, it’s presented as an umbrella that sits over everything. But we often refer now to the Big Six.

Review activity

Decide whether each of the following statements is true or false. The statements appear in a different order each time the review is conducted.

Statement 1: Oral language underpins the development of all literacy skills.

True or false?

Statement 2: Phonemic awareness involves isolating single speech sounds.

True or false?

Statement 3: Writing forms one of the Big Six areas.

True or false?

Statement 4: Instruction in all areas of the Big Six will help improve reading comprehension.

True or false?

Statement 5: Phonological awareness and phonics refer to the same area of the Big Six.

True or false?

Answers

The correct answer for Statement 1: Oral language underpins the development of all literacy skills – true.

The correct answer for Statement 2: Phonemic awareness involves isolating single speech sounds – true.

The correct answer for Statement 3: Writing forms one of the Big Six areas of literacy – false.

The correct answer for Statement 4: Instruction in all areas of the Big Six will help improve reading comprehension – true.

The correct answer for Statement 5: Phonological awareness and phonics refer to the same area of the Big Six – false.

4. Cognitive load theory

Video: Cognitive load theory

Slide: Cognitive load theory

[Image: a cylinder is split into three segments: the top segment makes up half of the cylinder and is labelled ‘germane’; the middle segment makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘extraneous’; the bottom segment makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘intrinsic load’.]

Presenter speaking: Jocelyn Seamer

Cognitive load theory is a game changer. It helps us understand how we process, and the considerations we have to provide when we are in the classroom. Cognitive load is, in essence, the amount of information that working memory can hold at one time, and you will have a different level of cognitive load capacity than the person next to you. It’s part of our individual difference and the diversity that exists within our population. 

Intrinsic load is the inherent complexity of the thing we are asking the child to learn compared with their prior knowledge. So, you can present one task to five children and each child will view that or experience that as having a different level of intrinsic load because of their processing capacity, the way that they hold things in memory and work with it, and also the background knowledge and skills that they possess. 

Extraneous load is any extra pressure that takes our attention away from the thing that we are trying to learn. So, if the vocabulary is really complex or if we've not provided enough support, that can put extraneous load on the child and make it harder for them to learn.

Then we get to the good stuff. This is the germane or generative load. This is the good load that actually makes learning happen. It’s where we are able to build connections and say, 'Oh! OK, I know how to do that. Now I can build on it.'

Video: Reducing cognitive load

Cognitive load

[Image: On the left is an empty basket and text that reads ‘Cognitive load: relates to the amount of information working memory can hold at one time’. On the right a cylinder is split into three segments: the top segment makes up half of the cylinder and is labelled ‘germane’; the middle segment makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘extraneous’; the bottom segment makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘intrinsic load’.]

Each person’s capacity for holding information in working memory is different. Everyone has a different-sized basket, if you like, which represents our working memory capacity.

We can’t change the size of our students’ baskets, but what we can do is help to manage what is being put in their baskets in terms of the quantity of new information and the explicitness with which it is given.

Germane load

[Image: On the left is an image of some unwrapped chocolate Easter eggs sitting in an egg carton with text that reads ‘Germane load: mental resource used for integrating new information into existing schema in long term memory’. On the right is an image of a cylinder split into three sections: the top section makes up half of the cylinder and is labelled ‘germane’; the middle section makes up quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘extraneous’; and the bottom section makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘intrinsic load’.]

Now, let’s imagine that we want to put chocolate Easter eggs into our baskets.

We can think about germane load as the space in our Easter basket that is dedicated to the chocolate eggs, which represent the new skill or understanding we are teaching.

If your Easter basket represents your working memory capacity, and the new information going into the basket is represented by the Easter eggs, then we can say that most people’s baskets can hold five to seven eggs. That is, five to seven pieces of information can be held in their working memory. But some students may only have baskets big enough for one egg.

Extraneous load

[Image: On the left is an image of a basket full of brightly coloured chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies sitting on some grass. The text reads ‘Extraneous load: mental resource taken up by things that distract from core learning’. On the right is an image of a cylinder that is split into three sections: the top section makes up half of the cylinder and is labelled ‘germane’; the middle section makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘extraneous’; the bottom section makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘intrinsic load’.]

Extraneous load is the attention or space that gets taken up by all the extra bits in the basket such as decorations, shredded paper or extra toys.

The more we put in, the prettier it looks and the more attractive it may initially be but the less space there is for the eggs.

We might not want to take the extra bits away entirely as they can be useful for capturing initial attention. But the extra bits and pieces, the extraneous load, could even tip the basket over if we aren’t careful and then we lose all the eggs!

Intrinsic load

[Image: On the left is an image of some Easter eggs wrapped in different coloured foil, and text reads ‘Intrinsic load: the complexity of a task when compared with the students’ background knowledge and skill’. On the right is an image of a cylinder split into three sections: the top section makes up half the cylinder and is labelled ‘germane’; the middle section makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘extraneous’; and the bottom section makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘intrinsic load’.]

When we think about intrinsic load, we consider what skills students will need to get to that chocolatey goodness.

Have they mastered the skills necessary to access the eggs easily?
Have the students seen an Easter egg before?
Do they know that the shiny bit is the wrapping?
Do they know that there is chocolate inside and the goal is to eat it?
Do they have good fine-motor skills?
Do they know to be gentle so as not to break the eggs?

Intrinsic load can also relate to the amount of information we are giving students. The more information we give, the more complex a task can become.

Managing cognitive load

[Image: On the left is an image of an empty basket with text above it that says ‘Managing cognitive load’. Below the basket a label reads ‘Cognitive load’. On the right is an image of a cylinder split into three sections: the top section makes up half of the cylinder and is labelled ‘germane’; the middle section makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘extraneous’; and the bottom section makes up a quarter of the cylinder and is labelled ‘intrinsic load’. To the right of the cylinder are three images; the first image is next to the ‘germane’ label and shows six unwrapped chocolate Easter eggs in an egg carton; the second image is next to the ‘extraneous’ label and shows a basket of brightly coloured Easter eggs and bunnies sitting on some grass; the final image is next to the ‘intrinsic load’ label and shows 7 to 8 brightly coloured Easter eggs.]

Our job is to manage what we’re putting in our students’ Easter baskets.

Choose the best quality eggs and don’t give too many. Give bite-sized new skills along a developmental continuum.

Limit the decorations. The extra bits we put into our instruction can distract from and take up precious egg room.

An example of extraneous load that takes away from a learning focus could be having a student play a spelling game that is new to them. Is the student able to focus on the spelling rule they have been taught, or are they focusing their attention on how to play the game?

Using overly complicated or unfamiliar vocabulary is also a form of extraneous load that distracts attention from the core learning intention of a lesson.

Audio: Cognitive load theory and reading

Experienced readers

An understanding of cognitive load theory allows us to reflect on our teaching practices and to think about the load we are placing on our students. For example, we all use our working memory when we read. Experienced readers have word recognition skills (decoding) that are highly automatic, so our working memory can be used to make meaning of the text we are reading.

Beginning readers

Beginning readers need to use their working memory to decode texts, so asking them to decode and comprehend the meaning of a text can easily overload them. That is why the Simple View of Reading model is such a useful framework for reading instruction.

Teacher’s role

Our goal is for new learning to become cemented in the students' long-term memory. By providing opportunities for repeated practice and reviewing of skills, we are supporting students to commit new information to their long-term memory. This frees up the students’ working memory to learn more new information and skills.

Reviewing skills also provides students with the opportunity to practise the retrieval of stored information from their long-term memory.

Review activity

Choose which of the seven sentence-starters matches the definitions given.

Sentence-starters:

Germane load is:
Intrinsic load is:
Cognitive load theory is:
Reducing cognitive load is:
Working memory is:
Extraneous load is:
Long-term memory is:

Possible definitions:

a model that explains how we learn and process new information.
where we hold new information as we are learning it.
where we store information we have learnt, ready to be retrieved and used when needed.
the level and difficulty of new information that is being learnt.
the connection made between new information and prior knowledge.
the attention given to information that is not related to new learning.
a way to make learning easier and more productive.

Answers

The correct answer to sentence-starter 1: Cognitive load theory is a model that explains how we learn and process new information.

The correct answer to sentence-starter 2: Working memory is where we hold new information as we are learning it.

The correct answer to sentence-starter 3: Long-term memory is where we store information we have learnt, ready to be retrieved and used when needed.

The correct answer to sentence-starter 4: Intrinsic load is the level and difficulty of new information that is being learnt.

The correct answer to sentence-starter 5: Germane load is the connection made between new information and prior knowledge.

The correct answer to sentence-starter 6: Extraneous load is the attention given to information that is not related to new learning.

The correct answer to sentence-starter 7: Reducing cognitive load is a way to make learning easier and more productive.

5. Explicit instruction

Infographic: What is explicit instruction?

Infographic showing 8 aspects of explicit teaching in a table of two rows and four columns. Each aspect also includes a small simple graphic representation. The 8 aspects from left to right across the first then second row are:

Teacher directed: The teacher directs the learning by planning the content, teaching it explicitly, and ensuring all students understand it.

I do, We do, You do: Teaching and learning follows the gradual release of responsibility model. The teacher begins by fully directing the learning (I do) and gradually, through guided practice (we do), the students become more independent (you do).

Spaced reviews: Students regularly revise what has been learnt through daily, weekly and monthly reviews.

Small chunks of new content: In line with cognitive load theory, new content is introduced and skills are built in small, manageable chunks.

Highly interactive: Students are actively involved in the lesson, with constant interaction between the teacher and students.

Routines-based: The lesson structure remains consistent, with only the content changing. The lesson incorporates lots of worked examples with many opportunities for practice, using the gradual release of responsibility approach.

Constant monitoring and feedback: Feedback is provided to students at the point of need to reinforce new skills and knowledge, and to correct any errors or misconceptions.

Simple to complex: Content is taught in a systematic and sequenced way, building knowledge and skills from simple through to complex.

Image: Gradual release of responsibility model

Infographic showing the Gradual release of responsibility model. A chart shows three columns: I do, We do, and You do. To the left, an arrow points downwards accompanied by the text: Level of teacher support (indicating this gradually goes down). To the right, an arrow points up accompanied by the text: Level of student control (indicating this gradually goes up). A line bisects the three columns diagonally from top left corner to bottom right corner. The lower section shows level of support from greatest to least from the teacher, described in the ‘I do’ column as Teacher-led explicit instruction, then the ‘We do’ column as Teacher provides scaffolding and support, and finally the smallest section of teacher support in the ‘You do’ column, described as Teacher provides feedback. The upper section shows level of student control as it gradually shifts from least to most, described in the ‘I do’ column as Active engagement with explicit instruction, then the ’We do’ section, described as Guided practice, then the largest section, the ‘You do’ section, described as Independent task application.

Image: Phonics instructional model

Diagram of phonics instructional model on left accompanied by summary text to the right. Diagram shows phonics instructional model in two parts, review and explicit teaching. The review starts with phonemic awareness, which leads to grapheme level (read and spell), word level (read and spell), sentence level (read and spell). These are next to a 'You do' icon (teacher provides corrective feedback). The summary text to the right reads Review of previously learnt content involves: students independently reviewing material as prompted by the teacher; teacher providing corrective feedback. The explicit teaching section of the phonics instructional model diagram starts with phonemic awareness, which leads to learning intention and success criteria, which leads to grapheme level (read and spell), word level (read and spell), sentence level (read and spell). These are next to an 'I do' icon and a 'We do' icon. This leads to check for understanding, which leads to either 'You do' (independent practice) or ‘teacher focus group’. The summary text to the right reads Explicit teaching of new content involves: teacher modelling and guided practice; checking for student understanding before students apply their learning independently.

Review activity

Decide which component of explicit instruction (‘I do’, ‘You do’ or ‘We do’) best matches each of the following statements.

Statement 1: Student practises the skill with teacher support.