We know what happens during the reading process because of scientific research. Research supports what some psychologists and educators call the Simple View of Reading. The Simple View of Reading says that to read well, you must first recognize (or decode) words and then understand the meaning of those words.
IMAGINE A MATH EQUATION…
IT CAN HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE SIMPLE VIEW OF READING
You may notice that the two main components of this reading “equation” are multiplied, not added. That’s because good decoding skills and wide knowledge of vocabulary dramatically improve reading comprehension. In other words they……. MULTIPLY READING COMPREHENSION
One thing we can learn from this model is that a dedicated phonics program with systematic and explicit phonics at their foundation, is the best way to help students improve their reading.
The Simple View of Reading can also help us understand the challenges beginning readers face. We can pinpoint these challenges by noticing the part of the process where the challenges occur.
- Is it a problem with decoding?
- Or is it a gap in a student’s knowledge of language?
- Some students experience both of these difficulties.
Scarborough’s Rope
Scarborough’s Rope reminds us that, even in the Simple View of Reading, there is a lot going on. It also gives us a visual way to understand how reading becomes more automatic and more strategic. Imagining what happens when we tighten the strands of the rope, we can picture how better and better use of reading strategies contributes to overall reading competence.