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Reading Theories and Their Relationship to Reading Instruction

• Major Theories– Behaviorism– Cognitivism– Constructivism– Transactionalism

• These theories have neither been proven nor unproven.• They are simply alternative ways of explaining the process

of learning to read.• These theories have led teachers to a variety of beliefs about

instructional choices to help children develop successful reading strategies.

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Behaviorism and a Parts-to-Whole, Bottom-Up Reading Process

• Behaviorism – learning was essentially a conditioned response to a stimulus.

• In reading the stimulus for reading is the print on the page.

• Bottom-up – progressing from the parts of language (letters) to the whole (meaning).

• Reading theorists for this model include:– Holmes; Singer; Gough; and LaBerge and Samuels

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Meaning

Text

Paragraphs

Sentences

Words

Letters

Behaviorist orBottom-up modelOf the reading process

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Sound/symbol relationships

Words

Meaning

Phonics-first or subskills instruction

Teach phonics first with letters of the alphabet and the sounds these letters represent before beginning to read books independently.

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Cognitivism and the Interactive Reading Process

• Cognitive interactive reading theories place equal emphasis on the role of a reader’s schema and the importance of the print on the page.

• Word, sentence, and text meaning are conditioned, influenced, or shaped by the whole set of experiences and knowledge the reader brings to reading, rather than the meaning jumping off the page into the reader’s head based on a verbatim rendering of text.

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Cognitivism: an Hybrid

• Cognitivism is a combination of Gestaltist thinking and

Behaviorism

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KnowledgeExperiences

Emotions

Reader’s Intentions

Meaning

Gestaltist or top-downtheory reflected in a model of the readingprocess.

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ExperiencesKnowledgeEmotions

Reader’s intentions

Meaning

Selectunit of print

Sentences

Words

Letters

Paragraphs

Text

Cognitive or Interactivemodel of the reading process

Strengths of both Gestalt andbehaviorist theories were combinedwhile at the same time minimizingweaknesses associated with eithertheory.

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Vocabulary

Decoding Comprehension

A skills instructional approach to reading is advocated by the interactive model of reading

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Constructivism and the Transactional Reading Model

• Constructivism is a theory of learning that represents the culmination of several distinct lines of research:– Developmental Psychology (Piaget)– Socio-historical Psychology (Vygotsky)– Semiotic Interactionism (Bruner, Gardner, Eisner, &

Goodman)

• Meaningful learning is at the core of constructivist theory.

• Language cueing systems – syntax, semantics, grapho/phonics, pragmatics.

• Reading becomes a whole-to-part-to-whole process.

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Syntax and semantics– word orderthat determines sentencemeaning.

MEANING

Graphophonics – Letters and letter sounds

Social andsituationalcontext and stance

TRANSACTIONAL READING MODEL

Learner constructsa mental version ofthe text by usingtheses cues.

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Views of Literacy

• Learning to read and write begins at 6.5 years of age.

• Reading develops first, and then writing.

• Literacy develops through learning isolated skills, such as phonics and writing the alphabet.

• Experiences of the child before schooling are considered irrelevant.

• Children all pass through a predetermined scope and sequence of readiness and reading skills and their progress should be monitored by periodic formal testing.

• Learning to read and write begins very early in life.

• Reading and writing develop concurrently and interrelatedly in young children.

• Literacy develops from real life situations in which reading and writing are used to get things done.

• Children learn literacy through active engagement.

• Being read to plays a special role in the literacy development of the young child.

• Learning to read and write is a developmental process. Children pass through the stages in a variety of way and at different ages.

Traditional Constructivist (Reading Readiness) (Emergent Literacy)

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Focused/ Explicit Language Instruction

Elements of a Balanced Literacy Program (Holdaway, 1979)

•Reading Aloud

•Shared Reading and Writing

•Guided Reading and Interactive Writing

•Language Experience

•Supported Reading and Writing

•Independent Reading and Writing

•Assessment•Design Literacy Environments

•Instructional Planning

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Syntax– word orderthat determines sentencemeaning.

MEANING

Graphophonics – Letters and letter sounds

Pragmatics - Social andsituationalcontext and stance

TRANSACTIONAL READING MODEL

Semantics – comprehension / meaning

Transactional Literacy Event

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Transactionalism

• Transactionalism is based on the notion that all literacy events are a transaction between the sender and the receiver in which both are changed by the event.

• The stance taken by each is key to the transaction. (Efferent and Aesthetic)

(Rosenblatt)

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Stance

• Efferent – The reader’s expectation is that the reading will be one that informs, gives details, and is usually expository.

• Aesthetic – The reader’s expectsation is tht the reading will deal with feelings, emotions and is usually narrative.