Simple is as Simple Does: An
Introduction to the Simple View of
Reading
Joe Magliano
Department of Psychology
Overview of Discussion
• Simple view of reading, 101
– What is it?
– Why should I believe in it?
• Flies in the ointment
Evidence-Based Instruction and
Assessment
• Ideally, instructional and assessment practices
should be based on theory:
– Cognitively oriented theories of proficiency
– Theories of instruction and measurement
• Are there cognitively oriented theories of
reading proficiency that should inform
instruction and assessment?
– Of course there are, but which one?
A Components Perspective of Reading
• Decoding
– Orthographic processing
– Phonological awareness]
– Fluency
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•
•
•
Lexical access - morphological awareness
Syntactic processing
Inference
Comprehension
Decoding
A Simple View of Reading
(Gough & Tummer, 1986)
Oral Language Comprehension
Reading Comprehension
Reading Comprehension = Decoding X Oral Language comprehension
What is attractive about SVR
• “Old” and “New” skills
– Reading is a newer skill than processing oral
language
• Clear predictions regarding changes in
importance of skills over time.
• Simplifies the instructional and assessment
landscape
Evidence: D X L X T
(Florit & Cain, 2011)
Grade
Dissociable Constructs
(Kendeou, Savage, & van den Broek, 2009)
• Studies using factor analyses support the
assumption that decoding and oral language
comprehension skills are dissociable, latent
constructs
Flies in the Ointment: Over interpretation
of D X L X T interaction
• What is the right dosage of decoding and
comprehension instruction over time?
• Oakhill and Cain have shown convincing
evidence that decoding skills should not be
emphasized at the EXPENSE of comprehension
skills (e.g., causal inference) during early
literacy education.
Flies in the Ointment: Generalizing to Other
Languages and Second Language Learners
• Florit and Cain showed that the D X L X T
interaction is dependent on the orthographic
nature of a writing system.
– Ambiguity of the orthographic system matters
• What about second language learners?
Flies in the Ointment: What is
reading comprehension?
• SVR - comprehension IS performance on a
standardized test.
• Cognitive science
– Simple Comprehension arises from a series of
mental processes and products that lead to a
durable mental model of what a text is about
– Complex comprehension involves reasoning,
critical evaluation, reflects about how a text is
related to a task.
Flies in the Ointment: What is
academic reading literacy?
Flies in the Ointment: The
Common Core Standards
• The common core standards emphasizes both
simple and complex comprehension and as
such, what does this mean for the SVR?
Final Thoughts for Discussion
• There is COMPELLING empirical evidence for
the SVR
• Support for the SVR should have an impact on
educational practices
• But, is that all there is?
• What does this mean for second language
learners