WEBVTT 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:02.950 This is The Reading Instruction Show. I'm your 00:00:02.950 --> 00:00:07.650 host, as always, Dr. Andy Johnson. Topic of today's 00:00:07.650 --> 00:00:11.890 podcast is academic buzzwords, weasel words, 00:00:12.269 --> 00:00:16.629 propagating lexiconic leucusion, Claude Goldenberg, 00:00:17.170 --> 00:00:20.829 and the International Dyslexia Association. And 00:00:20.829 --> 00:00:23.289 this is an excerpt from my book coming out sometime 00:00:23.289 --> 00:00:27.289 in 2027 called, Making Sense of the Science of 00:00:27.289 --> 00:00:31.089 Reading, Teachers Matter. published by Guilford 00:00:31.089 --> 00:00:35.950 Publishing. Now initially this chapter or podcast 00:00:35.950 --> 00:00:40.390 was going to be about how bad research is conveniently 00:00:40.390 --> 00:00:43.469 misinterpreted within the science of reading 00:00:43.469 --> 00:00:47.869 community in order to make the case that early 00:00:47.869 --> 00:00:51.630 reading instruction should be skills -based instead 00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:56.380 of meaning -based. And I began by this chapter 00:00:56.380 --> 00:00:59.600 by writing the sentence, words are important, 00:01:00.460 --> 00:01:04.939 on top of the page. Then I realized that this 00:01:04.939 --> 00:01:08.040 sentence didn't convey any useful information. 00:01:08.500 --> 00:01:12.359 And it served no real purpose. The words were 00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:17.890 useless. It was this realization. that led to 00:01:17.890 --> 00:01:21.489 the first part of this chapter which looks at 00:01:21.489 --> 00:01:25.450 the words used to convey propositions within 00:01:25.450 --> 00:01:28.709 the science of reading community. So let's look 00:01:28.709 --> 00:01:32.890 at types of words and we begin by defining our 00:01:32.890 --> 00:01:37.930 terms. A word is a grouping of sounds put together. 00:01:39.109 --> 00:01:43.010 These sound groupings are an abstract representation 00:01:43.010 --> 00:01:48.189 of things out in the world. Now these sound groupings 00:01:48.189 --> 00:01:51.890 can help you to think about things and enable 00:01:51.890 --> 00:01:54.849 your thoughts to be transmitted to other heads. 00:01:55.870 --> 00:01:58.569 By making certain sounds, the thoughts in your 00:01:58.569 --> 00:02:02.409 head float out into space and are picked up by 00:02:02.409 --> 00:02:06.790 other heads. It's magic! But wait, there's more! 00:02:08.069 --> 00:02:12.569 Symbols are used to represent sounds. When put 00:02:12.569 --> 00:02:15.969 together in certain ways, sound symbols enable 00:02:15.969 --> 00:02:19.569 the thoughts in your head to travel across time 00:02:19.569 --> 00:02:24.469 and space. And whoever encounters your sound 00:02:24.469 --> 00:02:28.210 symbol groupings, now or in the future, in a 00:02:28.210 --> 00:02:32.870 box with a fox, has your thoughts in their head. 00:02:33.650 --> 00:02:38.460 And that's what a word is. Now, within the science 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:42.360 of reading community, sounding out words is thought 00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:46.639 to be reading. The theory is that when students 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:51.159 see these groups of sound symbols on the page, 00:02:52.020 --> 00:02:55.960 all the sounds slide together and the correct 00:02:55.960 --> 00:03:01.240 word pops into their head. The desire to end 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:04.560 here is for the thoughts created in children's 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:08.479 heads by all the sound symbols on the page to 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.219 match the thoughts in the head of the person 00:03:11.219 --> 00:03:16.219 who sent them. This will enable children to understand 00:03:16.219 --> 00:03:20.000 the author's point of view, to refer to the structural 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.000 elements of a poem, to draw correct inferences, 00:03:24.539 --> 00:03:27.360 to accurately describe characters and events 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:32.080 in stories, and to determine the theme of stories. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:36.080 And this, by the way, are all skills, these things 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:39.219 I just said. All skills included in the Common 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:43.599 Core State Standards and used in part to define 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:49.159 and quantify students' level of literacy. But 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:53.300 ask yourself, how often are these skills used 00:03:53.300 --> 00:03:57.740 by people in the real world? I digress. Words. 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:02.979 Academic buzzwords. A buzzword is a special kind 00:04:02.979 --> 00:04:06.460 of sound grouping. While most sound groupings 00:04:06.460 --> 00:04:12.080 are used to transmit ideas or information, these 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:15.979 sound groupings are used to elicit an emotional 00:04:15.979 --> 00:04:21.019 response. In academia, academic buzzwords are 00:04:21.019 --> 00:04:25.779 commonly used. The overuse of academic buzzwords 00:04:25.779 --> 00:04:32.930 is called propagating lexiconic lucidity. Locution. 00:04:32.930 --> 00:04:37.290 Locution, sorry. Academic buzzwords create the 00:04:37.290 --> 00:04:41.389 illusion of something important. However, the 00:04:41.389 --> 00:04:45.850 information transmitted with these can be inaccurate 00:04:45.850 --> 00:04:52.350 or incomplete. Take, for example, these lists 00:04:52.350 --> 00:04:55.689 of words, and I'll say just a few. Structured, 00:04:56.009 --> 00:04:58.850 evidence -based, systematic, prescriptive, direct 00:04:58.850 --> 00:05:01.829 instruction, explicit, extensive, sequential, 00:05:02.370 --> 00:05:07.110 cumulative, multi -sensory, logical, order, phonological, 00:05:07.430 --> 00:05:10.089 awareness, grasp. All right, these words sound 00:05:10.089 --> 00:05:15.350 important. And everybody is in favor of these 00:05:15.350 --> 00:05:19.779 words. But nobody wants to admit that they don't 00:05:19.779 --> 00:05:24.639 know exactly what all these words mean. If you 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:27.839 want to have some fun, go to a science of reading 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:31.540 convention. Find a room full of people and ask 00:05:31.540 --> 00:05:35.500 them to write out the definitions of these common 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:38.720 academic buzzwords. Of course, this is after 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:42.560 they have sounded them out. Then compare the 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:48.579 lists and what fun you will have. Weasel words 00:05:48.579 --> 00:05:52.439 and cartoons. There's another kind of word used 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:58.720 in academia called a weasel word. These kinds 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.959 of words are used to give the impression of something 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:07.319 without really saying something. Weasel words 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:10.420 come in handy in academic writing as they absolve 00:06:10.420 --> 00:06:14.560 the writer from responsibility for the propositions 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:18.399 put forth on the page. For example, in 2020, 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:25.839 Claude Goldenberg tells us that, quote, and evaluations 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:29.220 of instructional programs and interventions have 00:06:29.220 --> 00:06:32.620 suggested that learning to read in a language 00:06:32.620 --> 00:06:36.279 such as English with an alphabetic orthography, 00:06:36.699 --> 00:06:40.060 i .e. writing system, requires learning the alphabetic 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:43.300 principles. The idea that letters or groups of 00:06:43.300 --> 00:06:46.779 letters, graphemes, represent the speech sounds, 00:06:47.139 --> 00:06:51.879 phonemes, in words, unquote. Now, according to 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:57.019 Claude, this is only a suggestion. They suggest 00:06:57.019 --> 00:07:00.980 these things. And we can suggest a lot of things 00:07:00.980 --> 00:07:04.500 without being held to account. For example, I 00:07:04.500 --> 00:07:09.139 could suggest that Claude purposefully uses overly 00:07:09.139 --> 00:07:13.540 long sentences and propagating lexiconic locution. 00:07:14.620 --> 00:07:17.480 And he also tends to conveniently over -interpret 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:21.819 bad research. This is done to create the illusion 00:07:21.819 --> 00:07:25.759 that its propositions have a strong basis in 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:31.660 research. But that's only a suggestion. I can't 00:07:31.660 --> 00:07:36.500 be held to account for a suggestion. Now words 00:07:36.500 --> 00:07:40.459 by themselves are not weasel -y. Their weasel 00:07:40.459 --> 00:07:44.079 -ness is dependent on the context in which they're 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:49.610 found. Suggested, in Claude's sentence, is a 00:07:49.610 --> 00:07:54.610 weasel word when used in this context. Claude's 00:07:54.610 --> 00:07:57.829 not saying there's a causal relationship here. 00:07:58.129 --> 00:08:00.569 He's not saying that there's research evidence 00:08:00.569 --> 00:08:04.290 to support the idea that learning the alphabetic 00:08:04.290 --> 00:08:07.750 principle is a required prerequisite of learning 00:08:07.750 --> 00:08:13.540 to read. He's merely making a suggestion. But 00:08:13.540 --> 00:08:16.819 the bigger question is, why is he suggesting 00:08:16.819 --> 00:08:21.740 such a thing in the first place? By using propagating 00:08:21.740 --> 00:08:27.060 lexiconic locution to suggest such a thing, Claude 00:08:27.060 --> 00:08:30.060 gives the impression that some place in the world 00:08:30.060 --> 00:08:33.419 there are people who disagree with his proposition. 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:41.210 However, I would suggest that most people already 00:08:41.210 --> 00:08:45.710 agree with his suggestion. Learning that letters 00:08:45.710 --> 00:08:49.250 stands for certain sounds is an important part 00:08:49.250 --> 00:08:54.070 of beginning reading instruction. Everyone agrees 00:08:54.070 --> 00:08:59.610 with this. So why did Claude use 51 words and 00:08:59.610 --> 00:09:02.850 a suggestion to make a proposition that most 00:09:02.850 --> 00:09:07.809 people already know and agree with? Now one cannot 00:09:07.809 --> 00:09:13.700 infer intent. One cannot legitimately suggest 00:09:13.700 --> 00:09:18.440 intent. What one can do, however, is describe 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:23.299 why some people might do this. And by using the 00:09:23.299 --> 00:09:27.120 words describe some people and might, there's 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:29.820 a strong possibility that you might infer that 00:09:29.820 --> 00:09:33.299 this was Claude's intent. But I'm not saying 00:09:33.299 --> 00:09:37.519 this. I'm not describing this. I'm not suggesting 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:43.299 this. And I'm not even inferring this. Inferences 00:09:43.299 --> 00:09:49.440 that are made are on you. Now, Wisa words aren't 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:54.899 always easy to detect. But when you first start 00:09:54.899 --> 00:09:59.679 looking, you have to read carefully to see them. 00:10:00.409 --> 00:10:03.649 But once you start looking, you'll find weasel 00:10:03.649 --> 00:10:07.070 words popping out of the page of academic articles 00:10:07.070 --> 00:10:12.169 like whack -a -mole. So let's look at strawman 00:10:12.169 --> 00:10:16.870 arguments. Weasel words and propagating lexiconic 00:10:16.870 --> 00:10:21.309 locution are sometimes used to create a strawman 00:10:21.309 --> 00:10:25.200 argument. This is where one creates an inaccurate 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:28.059 or cartoonish portrayal of something and then 00:10:28.059 --> 00:10:32.720 makes an argument against the cartoon. This is 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:35.639 done to give the impression that the product, 00:10:35.740 --> 00:10:39.460 service, or idea that one is trying to sell is 00:10:39.460 --> 00:10:44.139 better than something else. By saying that something 00:10:44.139 --> 00:10:47.539 is, has, or does something, you're inferring 00:10:47.539 --> 00:10:52.090 that something else doesn't. For example, to 00:10:52.090 --> 00:10:55.090 make the case that structured literacy is better 00:10:55.090 --> 00:11:00.659 than balanced literacy. In 2019, the International 00:11:00.659 --> 00:11:05.320 Dyslexia Association used this description, quote, 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:08.580 structured literacy is characterized by the provision 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:12.240 of systematic explicit instruction that integrates 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:15.080 listening, speaking, reading and writing and 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:18.019 emphasizes the structure of language across the 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:21.639 speech sound system, phonology, the writing system, 00:11:21.980 --> 00:11:25.580 orthography, the structure of sentences, syntax, 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:29.720 the meaningful part of work, words, morphology, 00:11:30.379 --> 00:11:35.299 the relationship among words, semantics, and 00:11:35.299 --> 00:11:41.039 the organization of spoken and written discourse." 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:46.120 Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, words buzzing 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:52.240 around like swarms of bees around a hive. Now 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:55.610 I would ask you, to go to that same science of 00:11:55.610 --> 00:11:58.009 reading convention that you went to and find 00:11:58.009 --> 00:12:02.250 the same room full of people. Ask them now to 00:12:02.250 --> 00:12:06.289 write a description of each of these elements, 00:12:06.429 --> 00:12:09.370 what they look like in practice, the elements 00:12:09.370 --> 00:12:13.070 described by the International Dyslexia Association. 00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:17.149 What does it look like? What are they actually 00:12:17.149 --> 00:12:22.629 doing? What behaviors do I see? What type of 00:12:22.629 --> 00:12:26.409 pedagogical strategies or practices would I see? 00:12:27.350 --> 00:12:30.330 And if the people in the room are able to do 00:12:30.330 --> 00:12:35.370 this correctly, you'll find that most, if not 00:12:35.370 --> 00:12:39.950 all, of the elements they list are also included 00:12:39.950 --> 00:12:43.049 in balanced approaches to reading instruction 00:12:43.049 --> 00:12:48.289 and interventions. When comparing structured 00:12:48.289 --> 00:12:51.740 literacy to a balanced approach, It's not a matter 00:12:51.740 --> 00:12:56.519 of what, it's a matter of how and how much these 00:12:56.519 --> 00:13:00.960 elements are used. But by creating a list of 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:04.879 buzzwords instead of a description, the International 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:09.600 Dyslexia Association is strongly suggesting that 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:13.720 these are unique to the domain of structured 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:17.000 literacy and their Orton -Gillingham products 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:22.440 and services. But this is conveniently inaccurate, 00:13:23.299 --> 00:13:27.639 and this perhaps was the purpose. This has been 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:30.299 The Reading Instruction Show. I am your host, 00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:31.620 Dr. Andy Johnson.