Our Phonics Obsession Means We’ve Been Ignoring The Beating Heart Of The Reading Process
Let's rethink comprehension, says Judy Clark
- by Judy Clark
What is reading to you?
Discussing this question with a group of pupils tells you much about the philosophy and approach to the teaching of reading in a school.
What we hope to hear is an animated talk about a sense of wonder, inquisitive curiosity, an opening up of other worlds, a passion for knowledge, a thirst for enquiry.
Too often, though, what I hear is the word ‘phonics’ and, if I’m lucky, a treatise on the latest David Walliams release. I have no problem with the latter, but our preoccupation with the role of phonics in the teaching of reading needs rethinking.
Echoes of that phrase ‘the sick man of Europe’ from old history lessons comes to mind when I think about reading comprehension and its place in the profile of reading in many schools.
For so long, our obsession with phonics and then a huge (and much-needed) push to embed reading for enjoyment has dominated policy, training and resourcing around reading. Comprehension – the beating heart of the reading process – has often been confined and relegated to the confines of strangely formulaic, strictly timetabled guided reading sessions whose content does little to bring alive this complex, engaging and vital area of education.
Rather than the linchpin of reading success, and of course wider educational success, it has become the ‘sick man’ of reading. If we haven’t done so already, it’s time to rethink reading comprehension.
Is comprehension the ‘sick man’ of reading in your school? A few simple audit activities can highlight much:
- Map out the time spent in CPD, staff meetings, new resources and support staff training between phonics, reading for enjoyment and reading comprehension over the last few years.
- Survey your whole staff (teaching and support staff) in their confidence and skill in teaching phonics and then comprehension.
- Ask staff to write a short paragraph outlining the teaching of reading at school. Compare and discuss the paragraphs – how would you describe the overall balance between the three major components; word recognition, comprehension and reading for enjoyment? Now do the same with focus groups of pupils. Then, if you’re brave, ask the parents their perception.
Unpicking comprehension
Comprehension is a complex construct. It is not linear in nature and is made up of so many multiple components – a definition is tricky to craft. What is absolutely vital is to have a whole school consensus of the following:
- What we mean by comprehension – a whole school agreed definition.
- What we consider to be its core component parts.
- A collaborative understanding of how these components are taught across the school through explicit exploration of strategies in a range of engaging and creative ways.
For too long, comprehension has been reduced to tiresome sets of literal, inferential and evaluative questioning. What we need is for pupils and teachers alike to unpick and explore the process of meaning making together. What do we do as good readers, what strategies do we like to use, how do we approach a text, a film, an image and begin to make sense of it? We need to make the reading process visible, explicit and give pupils the tools and awareness to consider, develop and improve the way they comprehend.
The latest literacy guidance reports from the Education Endowment Foundation reinforce this premise. To improve literacy, one of their core recommendations is of course to teach specific reading comprehension strategies, including prediction, questioning, clarifying, summarising, inference and activating prior knowledge.
Out of their seven recommendations for KS2, this is the only one described as having ‘very extensive’ evidence strength. However, for high impact, pupils not only need to have knowledge and understanding of these strategies but be able to select and apply them with growing confidence and independence.
Back at the ranch
Audit and reflect on your whole school teaching of comprehension. It is worth noting that the EEF list of strategies is not necessarily definitive. With the national curriculum requirements as a core, many schools’ lists look and sound a little different.
- In each year group and class, can they identify and list the key strategies taught for comprehension?
- Across the school is there consistency in the strategies taught?
- What terminology is used for each one? Is this consistent?
- How effectively are the strategies communicated to pupils? Is this supported by visuals/icons/mnemonics etc?
- How embedded are the strategies? Can pupils explain them, do they understanding their part and use in the meaning making process?
- In terms of metacognition, how are pupils encouraged to take ownership of the strategies for their own learning, choosing how and when to apply different ones?
Breaking free
Modelling, scaffolding and externalising the process of meaning making is our first step and the clue is in the title.
Naturally there is a place for ‘guided’ reading – a small group environment is perfect for sharing and exploring our reading process through guiding pupils through the journey a reader takes, identifying their strengths and addressing weaknesses. But teaching comprehension cannot sit in guided groups alone, isolated and often disconnected from the rest of the curriculum.
Many schools have found that breaking out of guided groups into whole class comprehension lessons mixed with reciprocal and small group sessions along with drama and even drawing have raised the profile of comprehension. Comprehension has become relevant, engaging and visibly transferable across the whole curriculum – teaching inference in history, visualisation in geography, empathy in RE. Suddenly comprehension takes on a new and vibrant life in school and its rewards are rich.
The evidence is clear that effective comprehension is a game changer in terms of education, its impact far reaching. As schools we need to take control of this sick man and give it some care and attention, bringing it alive once again and restoring it back to its proper place alongside reading for enjoyment and word recognition at the heart of the reading curriculum.
Comprehending with Dahl
Literacy improvement company ReadingWise has opened the door to the world of reading for over 10,000 learners. A new comprehension programme – built on evidence and grounded in engagement – seeks to support schools in developing and embedding whole school comprehension strategies.
Partnering with the Roald Dahl Literary Estate, the programme uses extracts from ten of Dahl’s best-loved books and seeks to help pupils embed and apply strategies through online ‘mega-skills’.
Sessions integrate metacognition and group discussion, helping to make the reading comprehension process visible with pupils taking control of their own learning. To celebrate, a free sample pack is available for Teach Primary readers. Just click here to visit readingwise.com/products/dahl.
Judy Clark is a freelance primary literacy consultant and primary adviser for ReadingWise.
