The simple view of reading is a scientific theory that a student's ability to understand written words depends on how well they ''sound out (decode)'' the words and ''understand the meaning'' of those words. Specifically, their ''reading comprehension'' can be predicted by multiplying their skill in decoding the written words by their ability to understand the meaning of those words. It is expressed in this equation:
Decoding (D) x (Oral) Language Comprehension (LC)= Reading Comprehension (RC)
The parts of the equation are:
:(D) ''Decoding'': the ability of the student to ''sound-out or decode'' the written words using the principles of
phonics
Phonics is a method for teaching people how to Reading, read and write an alphabetic language (such as English alphabet, English, Arabic alphabet, Arabic or Russian alphabet, Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the so ...
(e.g. /k - æ - t/= cat).
:(LC) ''language (listening) comprehension'': the ability of the student to understand the meaning of the words (as if they had been ''spoken out loud'').
:(RC) ''Reading comprehension'': the ability of the student to understand the meaning of the ''written'' words.
To be clear, all of this can be done while doing ''silent reading''.
The equation asserts the following:
* If students can decode (i.e. sound-out) the words accurately (so they make sense) and understand the meaning of those words, they will be able to understand the written words (i.e. reading comprehension).
* If students can decode the words accurately, but do not understand the meaning of the words, they will ''not'' have reading comprehension. (e.g. A reader who can decode the word “etymology” but does not know what it means, will not achieve reading comprehension.)
* If students cannot decode the words accurately, yet understands the meaning of those words, they will ''not'' have reading comprehension. (e.g. A reader who knows what a tyrannosaurus rex is, but cannot decode the words, will not achieve reading comprehension.)
The simple view of reading was originally described by psychologists Philip Gough and William Tunmer in 1986 and modified by Wesley Hoover and Philip Gough in 1990; and has led to significant advancements in our understanding of reading comprehension.
Research basis
First publication
The simple view was first described by Gough and Tunmer in the feature article of the first 1986 issue of the journal ''
Remedial and Special Education''. Their aim was to set out a
falsifiable
Falsifiability is a standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses that was introduced by the philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book ''The Logic of Scientific Discovery'' (1934). He proposed it as the cornerstone of a so ...
theory that would settle the debate about the relationship between decoding skill and reading ability.
They define decoding as the ability to read isolated words “quickly, accurately, and silently” and dependent fundamentally on the knowledge of the correspondence between letters and their sounds.
In setting out the simple view, Gough and Tunmer were responding to an ongoing dispute among psychologists, researchers and educationalists about the contribution of decoding to reading comprehension. Some, such as Ken Goodman (credited with creating the theory of
Whole Language
Whole language is a philosophy of reading and a discredited educational method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and ...
) had downplayed the role of decoding in skilled reading. He believed it was only one of several cues used by proficient readers in a “psycholinguistic guessing game.” He viewed decoding as, at best, a by-product of skilled reading and not at the core of skilled reading as maintained by Gough and Tunmer.
This dispute was one front of what came to be known as the
reading wars, a protracted and often heated series of debates about aspects of reading research, instruction and policy during the twentieth century. In proposing the ''simple view'', Gough and Tunmer hoped that the use of the
scientific method
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific m ...
would resolve the debate about the connection between decoding and comprehension.
Apart from providing a focus for the debate over decoding, the authors felt the ''simple view'' had important insights into reading disability.
If reading ability results only from the product of decoding and listening comprehension, reading disability could result in three different ways: an inability to decode (dyslexia), an inability to comprehend (hyperlexia), or both (which they term “garden variety reading disability”).
Empirical support
The original empirical support for the simple view came from
multiple regression
In statistical modeling, regression analysis is a set of statistical processes for Estimation theory, estimating the relationships between a dependent variable (often called the 'outcome' or 'response' variable, or a 'label' in machine learning ...
studies showing the independent contributions of decoding and linguistic comprehension to silent reading comprehension.
Since first publication, the theory has been tested in over 100 studies in several languages with learners having various disabilities.
In their 2018 review of
the science of learning to read, psychologists Anne Castles,
Kathleen Rastle
Kathleen Rastle is a cognitive psychologist and Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London where she was previously the Head of Department of Psychology (2015-2019). Her research has made fundamental contribution ...
and Kate Nation write that "The logical case for the Simple View is clear and compelling: Decoding and linguistic comprehension are both necessary, and neither is sufficient alone. A child who can decode print but cannot comprehend is not reading; likewise, regardless of the level of linguistic comprehension, reading cannot happen without decoding."
Further, studies show that decoding and linguistic comprehension together account for almost all the variance in reading comprehension and its development.
Visualizations
Quadrants
By placing the two cognitive processes on intersecting axes, the theory predicts four categories of readers:
*Readers with poor decoding skills but relatively preserved listening comprehension skills would be considered 'poor decoders', or dyslexic;
*Readers with poor listening comprehension skills are referred to as 'poor comprehenders';
*Readers with poor decoding skills and poor listening comprehension skills are considered 'poor readers', or sometimes referred to as 'garden-variety poor readers'; and
*Readers who have good decoding and listening comprehension skills are considered 'typical readers'.
The reading rope
The reading rope is a visualization of the simple view published by psychologist
Hollis Scarborough
Dr Hollis Scarborough is an American psychologist and literacy expert who is a senior scientist at Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Connecticut. She has been a leading researcher in the area of Learning to read, reading acquisition since 1981, ...
in 2001, showing the interactivity of decoding and language comprehension (and their sub-components) in producing fluent reading comprehension. By depicting strands winding together to form 'the rope' of skilled reading, the visualization expands the simple view to include the cognitive sub-components as integral to the process of skilled reading.
In education
Psychologist David A. Kilpatrick writes that the simple view of reading is not just for researchers. It is also helpful to school psychologists, teachers, and curriculum coordinators in understanding the reading process, identifying the source of reading difficulties, and developing lesson plans." Others have noted that, by distinguishing the two components of reading comprehension, the simple view assists teachers by showing that their students may differ in their abilities in the two components and therefore require different teaching strategies to support their reading development.
United Kingdom
In 2006, the
Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading (the Rose Report) recommended that the simple view be adopted as the underlying conceptual framework informing early reading instruction in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
for practitioners and researchers." The review recommended that the Simple View be used to "reconstruct" the ''searchlights'' (or cueing) model that had informed the 1998 UK
National Literacy Strategy
The Primary National Strategy document was launched in the UK in May 2003 by Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education. The then-existing National Numeracy Strategy and National Literacy Strategy were taken under the umbrella of the Pr ...
, saying it should incorporate both word recognition and language comprehension as "distinct processes related one to the other."
Limitations
In 2018, Castles, Rastle and Nation noted the following limitations of the simple view of reading:
Although the Simple View is a useful framework, it can only take us so far. First, it is not a model: It does not tell us how decoding and linguistic comprehension operate or how they develop. Second, in testing predictions of the Simple View, the field has been inconsistent in how the key constructs are defined and measured. In relation to decoding, as Gough and Tunmer (1986) themselves noted, it can refer to the overt “sounding out” of a word or to skilled word recognition, and measures vary accordingly. In relation to linguistic comprehension, measures used have ranged from vocabulary to story retell, inference making, and verbal short-term memory. To fully understand reading development, we need more precise models that detail the cognitive processes operating within the decoding and linguistic comprehension components of the Simple View.
See also
*
Dual-route hypothesis to reading aloud
The dual-route theory of reading aloud was first described in the early 1970s. This theory suggests that two separate mental mechanisms, or cognitive routes, are involved in reading aloud, with output of both mechanisms contributing to the pronunci ...
*
Dyslexia
Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
*
Hyperlexia
Hyperlexia is a syndrome characterized by a child's precocious ability to read. It was initially identified by Norman E. Silberberg and Margaret C. Silberberg (1967), who defined it as the precocious ability to read words without prior train ...
*
Learning to read
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spellin ...
Further reading
Books
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Journal articles
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References
{{reflist
External links
Reading Rockets - The Simple View of Reading
Reading (process)
Dyslexia
Learning disabilities
Learning to read
Literacy
Special education