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This is the reading instruction show.

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I'm your host, as always, Dr.

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Andy Johnson, the title of today's podcast clarifying a couple more

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ununderstandings about whole language reading instruction.

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Three things up front.

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Cuing is not an approach or method of reading instruction.

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That is an ununderstanding.

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Two, we don't teach children to guess at words.

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That also is an ununderstanding of whole language reading instruction.

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And third, tinfoil hats do not keep the FBI from reading your mind.

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That is an ununderstanding as well.

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So let us look at number one, not an approach.

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Now, you'll have to admire the penguins who are so incredibly adamant in their

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opposition to whole language, who continue to insist that whole language does not work,

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who declare publicly and without shame that whole language has been debunked.

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They never let a lack of knowledge get in the way of coming to conclusions about things.

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There is a sort of gritty determination on display here that at some level,

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you'll have to appreciate.

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They never seem to tire.

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They are continually trying to jam the square peg of their belief system into the round

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hole of reality.

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It may be displaced fortitude, but it is fortitude nonetheless.

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So here is a bit of penguin based clownery I recently came across.

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The writer was very adamant in her view, stating that the queuing approach to reading

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instruction doesn't work.

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The queuing approach to reading instruction, she said, has been debunked.

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It doesn't work.

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It doesn't work. The queuing approach.

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Now, I have no idea what she's talking about here and obviously neither does she.

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The queuing approach.

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If you're going to insist that something doesn't work, you should at the very least know what

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that something is that doesn't work.

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There is no such thing as a queuing approach.

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The three queuing systems is what I think she was referring to, but this is not an approach

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to teaching reading.

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It's also not a method nor is it a technique.

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It's not even a strategy.

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So what is this thing that is said not to work?

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The three queuing systems in reading refers to three systems the brain uses to recognize

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words during the act of reading.

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As we encounter text, we use three queuing systems to recognize words.

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Our brain does this, the phonological, the semantic and the syntactic.

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These systems work together to enable us to quickly and efficiently recognize the words

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on the page.

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Now, more on this in a bit, but first word recognition and word identification are not

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the same thing.

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This could be the basis of some of this confuser eight and going on.

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So let me clarify this again.

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Recognizing words is different from identifying words.

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The three queuing systems work together to recognize words, not identify words.

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Now, recognizing words is when we encounter a word in print and we automatically know

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what it is.

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We recognize it instantly.

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We don't have to process the individual letters and put them together in short term

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memory to form words.

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We don't.

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Identifying a word on the other hand is when we encounter a word in print and we don't

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recognize it.

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It's in the dictionary in our head or at lexicon, but we don't immediately know what

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it is.

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We don't recognize it.

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So we have to consciously employ a strategy to identify it.

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We have to intentionally decide to use some sort of method to identify words.

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We have to intentionally decide to use some sort of plan or tactic to figure out what

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in the heck that word is.

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There are four word identification strategies.

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Word parts or analogy, that's looking for familiar parts within a word, sometimes

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known as large unit phonics.

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Morphemic analysis is looking for familiar prefixes, suffixes and roots.

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Context clues is looking to see what makes sense within a sentence.

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And letter clues, sounding out the letters and putting the letter sounds together to

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create words.

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Those are four ways to identify words.

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Now, unless you're playing golf, bigger numbers are usually better than smaller numbers.

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Having four strategies to employ is better than having only a single strategy.

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We should develop students ability to use all four word identification strategies,

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not just a single strategy.

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Students should be taught all four strategies for identifying unknown words.

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So we teach the strategy to develop the skill.

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We teach these four strategies explicitly using very direct and very, very explicit

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instruction.

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We teach the strategy to develop the skill.

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We teach and practice these four strategies and eventually these four strategies.

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And eventually these cognitive operations are internalized and automaticity is achieved.

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Now, a strategy in the cognitive sense is something we consciously employ.

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A skill on the other hand occurs automatically.

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So let's take a look at the three queuing systems.

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Queuing systems, the three queuing systems, as I said earlier, is not an approach to reading

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instruction.

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It's an understanding that the brain uses three interconnected systems to recognize words

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during the act of reading.

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Semantic, syntactic and graphophonetic.

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Now, the research supporting these is pretty overwhelming and taken from a variety of fields

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including linguistics, psycholinguistics, neuroscience, cognitive science, eye movement

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and miscue analysis as well as reading instruction among others.

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So let's look at the first one, semantic.

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The semantic queuing system is the most efficient of the three in terms of speed and space

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required in working memory to recognize words.

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Semantics refers to meaning.

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As you read, you use context and background knowledge to identify words and figure out

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what the next word might be.

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For example, if I saw the sentence, the monkey ate a blank.

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You most likely know what the next word is or might be.

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As your brain reads the sentences, it focuses on the word monkey and ate.

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This narrows the possibility of the word to something monkeys eat.

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Based on your knowledge of monkey stereotypes, cartoons and Tarzan movies, you most likely

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inserted the word banana.

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If you did not immediately insert the word banana, your brain would have used the first

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letter to figure it out.

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If the word banana fit with what went in before and after, you would have continued.

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We use the knowledge in our head to predict the meanings and confirm meetings or make

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revisions during the reading process.

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The syntactic queuing system is the second queuing system syntax has to do with the grammatical

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structure of the language. As your brain reads, you also use your knowledge of grammar, sentence

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structure, word order, tense and plurality and function words such as prepositions and

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pronouns to recognize words.

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This is the second most efficient queuing system.

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For example, in the monkey sentence previous, you focused on the word monkey, which is a

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noun and eight, which is a verb.

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Your brain knew the missing word had to be a noun of some sort.

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It narrowed the possibilities using syntax together with semantics.

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You are able to easily fill in the missing word.

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This is how reading works.

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Your brain works holistically to create meaning with print to recognize words.

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Grapho phonetic refers to symbols, phonos, sound.

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The grapho phonetic queuing system uses letter sounds to predict what the next word might be.

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Of the three queuing systems, this one is the least efficient.

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Why? Because it focuses on individual letters and letter patterns instead of words and ideas.

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Your working memory has a very limited capacity.

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You can try to stuff in a few letters in there or a few words or a few ideas.

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But which would be the most efficient in terms of creating meaning with print?

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Let me give you a hint.

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An idea is much bigger than a letter.

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There are far more things contained in an idea than in a letter.

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Therefore, carrying ideas is more efficient than letters.

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Reading programs that use only a phonics-based approach to develop the least efficient queuing system

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while ignoring the development of the other two queuing systems are not good.

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This actually makes it harder for children to learn to read.

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If they focus only on phonics and let the other two queuing systems actrify,

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you are asking students to create meaning with print using only one third of their word recognition brain.

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All students benefit most from instructional programs that develop all three queuing systems simultaneously.

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However, students with reading difficulties usually are force-fed, a steady diet of pure phonics.

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And when this does not work as indubitably, it will not.

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They are given more phonics so that they cannot succeed at an even higher rate.

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And when this still does not work, they are sent out of the classroom for special remedial help

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or to a special education teacher where they get even more lower level instruction

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at a slower pace with the idea that they will someday be able to catch up with their peers.

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But the question is, do they ever catch up?

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In what universe would you tell somebody to slow down so they could catch up?

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This sounds more like a Buddhist Cohen.

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What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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And by the time schools realize that this uber-phonics approach doesn't work

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with students with reading difficulties, it's time for them to graduate from high school.

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Or in most cases, it's time for them not to graduate from high school.

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Abraham Maslow once said, if the only tool you have is a hammer, all the world becomes a nail.

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If the only tool you have in your toolbox for teaching reading is phonics,

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all the world becomes one giant phonics worksheet.

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Phonics instruction is necessary but far from sufficient.

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Again, phonics instruction is necessary but far from sufficient.

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Alright, let's get to the next big understanding, guessing at words.

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You whole language teachers you.

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You teach children to guess at words.

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What's wrong with you?

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They say to me as they shake their finger in my face.

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Now, I wonder if this silly idea will ever go away.

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This is the idea that whole language teachers teach children to guess at words.

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Now, what would that instruction even look like?

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Would I use a directed instruction with input?

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Would I break down the desinat word steps?

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Would I demonstrate using cognitive modeling?

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Would I use guided practice with gradual release of responsibility to provide scaffolding?

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And would I then provide independent practice to reinforce and practice this word guessing learning?

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Would I have guessing at word practice?

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Would I offer up lists of words every day and make students practice their word guessing skills?

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Real whole language teachers do not teach students to guess at words.

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That's a simplistic notion and a massive understanding.

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Good whole language teachers do not teach students to guess at words.

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Now, here's a true story.

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One that has occurred countless times.

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I was tutoring a third grade girl.

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It was an online tutoring session and we were reading out loud.

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When she came to a word she didn't recognize, she stopped.

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And what do we do when a student stops?

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They don't recognize it.

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We say, uh, sound it out.

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Duh, as if they hadn't thought of that.

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If they could sound out the word, they wouldn't have stopped in the first place, would they?

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So I watched this young lady struggle to sound out each individual letter.

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It took her about 10 seconds to sound out all the letters and put them together and to make a guess as to what the word was.

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And at the end of all this sounder out and then guessing and stuff, she still didn't know what the word was.

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She pronounced it incorrectly and continued on.

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In the meantime, it had taken her about 10 seconds to sound out each of the letters and put them together.

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Instead of focusing on ideas, on ideas, she was focusing on letters and sounds.

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This briefly moved her offline, interrupted the meaning making comprehension process.

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So I taught her a little trick. I said, say blank and let your eyes bounce on both sides of the words to look for clues.

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And we did practicing sentences with a blank and clue words on each side.

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She would say blank and continue on down the sentence.

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And usually within two to four seconds, she'd identify the word, go back and fill it in.

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And she said to me, Dr. A, that's what she called me.

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Your magic. The word just pops into my head.

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10 seconds versus two or four.

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Hmm. Am I magic? Well, perhaps I am.

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Did I abandon phonics? Nope. Not at all.

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We included synthetic phonics, analytic phonics and large unit phonics.

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As well, we taught all four word identification strategies and we engaged in activities to develop all three queuing systems.

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So the lesson here, four lessons.

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First, understanding how the brain creates meaning with print versus simply sounding out words is essential in understanding and designing effective reading instruction and interventions.

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Yes, direct instruction in phonics must be used along with activities and instruction to develop the semantic and syntactic queuing systems.

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Limiting instruction to just phonics impedes rather than enhances students ability to create meaning with print.

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Second, we must differentiate between recognizing words and identifying words.

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Third, queuing is not an approach or a method.

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And fourth, whole language teachers do not teach children to guess at words.

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This is a simplistic, ununderstanding.

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This has been the Reading Instruction Show. I am your host, Dr. Andy Johnson.