The Science of Reading

Upskilling of Region and Division Reading

Supervisors/Coordinator on the Early Literacy
and Numeracy (ELLN) with Focus on the Science
of Reading

Prepared by:

Rosalina J. Villaneza, PhD

Chief Education Program Specialist
Bureau of Learning Delivery
Department of Education Central Office
Objectives:

At the end of the session, participants should be able to:

• understand what the science of reading is and is not,

• give importance to the power of science or science of evidence and its
implication to reading instruction,
• understand the development of the Reading Brain,
• understand why reading is not a natural process according to SOR
• use instructional practices that are effective for all children, so teachers can
deliver the promise of ‘literacy for all’

Key Understandings

Learning to speak is a natural process for children, but learning to read is

not. Reading needs to be taught explicitly. Children need to learn the different
sounds in spoken language and be able to connect these sounds to written letters
and make meaning out of print.

All human behavior is mediated by the brain and the central nervous
system. The process of learning is one of the most important activities of the brain.

The human brain is composed of two halves, right hemisphere and the left
hemisphere, which appear on casual inspection to be almost identical in
construction and metabolism. Each hemisphere contains a frontal lobe, a temporal
lobe, an occipital lobe, a parietal lobe, and a motor area. The motor area of each
hemisphere controls the muscular activities of the opposite side of the body.

Right Brain, Left Brain

Differences in Function Although the two halves of the brain appear almost
identical in structure, they differ in function, and these differences appear very
early in life.

Left Hemisphere

Reacts to and controls language-related activities. 90 percent of adults,

language function originates in the left hemisphere, regardless of whether the
individual is left-handed, right-handed, or a combination of the two. Language is
located in the left hemisphere in 98 percent of right-handed people and in a bout
71 percent of left-handed people

Right Hemisphere

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Deals with nonverbal stimuli. Spatial perception, mathematics, music,
directional orientation, time sequences, and body awareness are located in the
right brain.

Right Brain/Left Brain

This duality of the brain has led to speculation that some people tend to
approach the environment in a “left-brained” fashion whereas others use a “right-
brained approach.” Left-brained individuals are strong in language and verbal skills
while “right-brained” individuals have strengths in spatial, artistic, and mechanical
skills...

Concept About Motor Learning

Human learning begins with motor learning. There is a natural sequence of

developmental motor stages. Many areas of academic and cognitive performance
are based on successful motor experiences.

Perception refers to the cognitive ability of the individual to both recognize

and integrate external stimuli. It is a process that occurs essentially in the brain.
Perception is a learned skill, which implies that it can be taught.

Perceptual-Motor System
Basic Rationale: Higher level mental processes for the most part develop out of
and after adequate development of the motor system and the perceptual system..

Auditory Perception
Auditory perception- Interpreting what is heard:
• Phonological awareness
• Auditory discrimination
• Auditory memory
• Auditory sequencing
• Auditory blending

Types of Auditory Discrimination

Auditory Memory: is the ability to store and recall what one has heard. For
example, the student could be asked to do three activities, such as close the
window, open the door, and place the book on the desk. Is the student able to
store and retrieve through listening to such directions?
Auditory Sequencing: is the ability to remember the order of items in a sequential
list. For example, the alphabet, numbers, and the months of the year are learned
as an auditory sequence.
Auditory Blending: is the ability to blend single phonic elements or phonemes
into a complete word. Students with such disabilities have difficulty blending, for
example, the phonemes m-a-n to form the word man.

Visual Perception: Interpreting what is seen

Visual discrimination
Figure-Ground perception

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Visual closure
Spatial relations
Object-letter recognition
Reversals
Whole-part perception

Materials Time Allotment

 PPT 1.5 hrs.
 Lecture video
 Laptop
 Internet Connection Alignment to the PPST
 Zoom

References

Books and Articles

• Barshay, Jill. (2020). Four things you need to know about the new
reading wars. The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/four-
things-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-reading-wars/
• Early Reading Instruction: What Science Really Tells Us about How to
Teach Reading (The MIT Press,
2004) https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/early-reading-instruction
• Hanford, Emily. (2018). At a loss for words: How a flawed idea is
teaching millions of kids to be poor readers. APM
Reports. https://www.apmreports.org/story/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-
how-schools-teach-reading
• Seidenberg, M. (2017). Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read,
Why So Many Can’t, and What Can Be Done About It. New York, N.Y:
Basic Books.
• Maryanne Wolf, Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the
Reading Brain. Harper Perennial, 2008.

Websites:
• https://www.readingrockets.org/
• https://improvingliteracy.org/
• https://dyslexiaida.org/
• https://www.thereadingleague.org/
• https://www.scilearn.com/the-science-of-reading-the-basics-and-
beyond/
• https://hechingerreport.org/four-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-
new-reading-wars/
• https://www.zaner-bloser.com/research/the-science-of-reading-
evidence-for-a-new-era-of-reading-instruction.php
• https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/what-exactly-does-
science-say-about-reading-instruction/
• https://cdn.education.ne.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Nebraska-
Session-1-Phonological-Awareness-and-Phonics-2.pdf
• https://shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/what-is-the-science-of-reading

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Procedure: (for the regionwide conduct)
Introduce the session by saying: “Good ______ everyone. I am _______from
DepEd ______. I will be delivering the session of Dr. Rosalina J. Villaneza, Chief
Teaching and Learning Division, Bureau of Learning Delivery, Central Office on
“The Science of Reading”. Before we start, let us take note of the following session
objectives.”

At the end of the session, teachers should be able to:

• understand what the science of reading is and is not,

• give importance to the power of science or science of evidence and its
implication to reading instruction,
• understand the development of the Reading Brain,
• understand why reading is not a natural process according to SOR
• use instructional practices that are effective for all children, so teachers can
deliver the promise of ‘literacy for all’

Session Proper:

Activity (5 minutes)

Anticipation Guide: (there is an activity sheet for this – annex A)

Directions:

1. Divide the big group into five small groups.

2. Check if they have annex A for this activity.
3. Each group should choose a Facilitator (to facilitate the discussion) a Recorder
(to record the discussion) and a Reporter (to report to the big group the output/s)
4. In their own breakout group, have them discuss their responses to the
statements whether they “agree” or “disagree”.
5. The group should come up with a consensus.
6. The reporter will be given 2mins to report in the big group.

Agree Disagree
The Science of Reading is:
_____ 1. an ideology. _______
_____ 2. not a philosophy _______
_____ 3. a political agenda _______
_____ 4. a one-size-fits-all approach to reading. _______
_____ 5. not a program of instruction or a specific component of _______
instruction
_____ 6. an emerging consensus from many related disciplines _______
Based on literally thousands of studies.

Analysis 1 (5 minutes)
Discuss their answers, have the participants keep their work until after the

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Abstraction.

Possible answers
1. Disagree – SOR is a scientific approach to reading
2. Agree – SOR is based on the science of reading – the study of how the
brain functions in response to learning to read
3. Disagree
4. Disagree – SOR is not an approach in itself
5. Agree –
6. Agree – Is a product of thousands of research conducted across the
world and in many languages.

Abstraction: Deepening of the Concept: Slide Deck

Ask:
1. What does the science of reading tell us?
2. Why reading is not a natural process according to SOR?
3. How do we develop reading literacy in the early years?
4. What are the appropriate pedagogies in developing early reading
literacy?

Discussion: (10 mins)

Go back to the anticipation Guide and discuss, ask if they would like to
change their answers from the given statements.

Reflection Questions

Write a reflection on these statements.

We can’t teach what we don’t know. We can stop doing what doesn’t work,
and we can dismiss outdated practices based on misconceptions about the
process of reading. Instead, we can be guided by the evidence.
(Have the sharing session)

Application/Assignment

Write a reaction paper on this.

• All children deserve to learn to read

• What is known about how children learn to read can inform our work
• What and how we teach really matters
• A focus on prevention will ensure more children learn to read and reduce
the need for intervention

Closing

“It simply is not true that there are hundreds of ways to learn to read. When
it comes to reading, all children have roughly the same brain that imposes
the same constraints and the same learning sequence.”

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- Stanislas Dehaene