NAEP scores and "the science of reading"

Sent to US News. They just informed me that they no longer publish letters to the editor. 

Re: “National reading emergency” November 12

[https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-11-12/national-reading-emergency-educators-sound-the-alarm]

The miniscule changes in reading scores since 2015 are interpreted in “National Reading Emergency” as a reason to embrace “the science of reading,” which is code for heavy phonics instruction. The real “science of reading,” based on a substantial amount of research, consistently shows that intensive phonics instruction produces strong results only on tests in which children pronounce words out of context. It has little or no impact on tests in which children have to understand what they read. 

The best predictor of performance on tests in which children have to understand what they read is real reading, especially self-selected reading. 

We can improve reading in the US by increasing access to books (e.g. supporting libraries, the only source of books for many children living in poverty) not by more hard-core phonics instruction.

Stephen Krashen

Some sources: 

Krashen, S. (2002). The NRP comparison of whole language and phonics: Ignoring the crucial variable in reading. Talking Points, 13(3): 22-28. https://tinyurl.com/ybvlqqwo

Krashen, S. (2009). Does intensive reading instruction contribute to reading comprehension? Knowledge Quest 37 (4): 72-74. https://tinyurl.com/jc6x8mk

Libraries, books and overcoming the effect of poverty

Published in the New York Times, September 20, 2018

To the Editor:

Re “Why libraries still matter.” [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/opinion/sunday/civil-society-library.html (Sunday Review, Sept. 90]

Not mentioned in Eric Klinenberg’s essay is the importance of libraries and books to school success. 

Studies consistently show that children of poverty typically have low levels of literacy development. But research also shows that children of poverty have little access to books at home, in their neighborhoods and at school, and that increasing access to books and other reading material results in more reading. 

Increasing reading increases vocabulary, increases the ability to read and write, and results in better grammar and better spelling.

The library is a major source of reading material for many children of poverty.

Our research, as well as the work of Keith Curry Lance, confirms that more investment in libraries and librarians means better language and literacy development, and that supporting libraries can help overcome the negative effect of poverty on literacy development and school success.

Stephen Krashen

Disrespecting the president?

Published in the Malibu Times, Sept 13, 2018

In a letter to the Malibu Times (Sept 6), Sasha Maslansky states that he is “sick of the disrespect that Arnold York continues to show to our president.”  

I am sick of the disrespect that Mr. Trump has shown to every American, except for extremists who share Trump’s uninformed positions and the super-wealthy who profit from Trump’s “take from the needy, give to the greedy” policies. 

Arnold York is doing what a newspaper editor should do. 

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
- Theodore Roosevelt. 

Stephen Krashen

Brief comments on Hard Words (Why aren't kids being taught to read?)

S. Krashen. Sept 16, 2018Hard Words (https://tinyurl.com/ybgv4742) champions systematic intensive phonics, teaching all the rules of phonics is a strict order to all children. Here are objections to their conclusions.
(1) Researchers admit we have not discovered all the rules.
(2) Even among those rules that have been described, some are extremely complex.
(3) Many children learn to read with little or even no phonics instruction.
(4) Studies show that intensive phonics produces strong results only on tests in which children pronounce words out of context. Systematic intensive phonics has little or no impact on tests in which children have to understand what they read.
(6) The best predictor of performance on tests in which children have to understand what they read is real reading, especially self-selected reading.
(7) “Basic phonics” can be helpful: teaching straight-forward rules that children can learn and can actually apply to texts to make them more comprehensible. Our ability to use complex rules is acquired as a result of reading.
(8) I know of no scholars or teachers who support “zero phonics.”
Supporting bibliography is available for free download at sdkrashen.com, section on phonics and phonemic awareness. Many of these points have been presented by Frank Smith and Kenneth Goodman.
Hard Words strongly supports the report of the National Reading Panel. For another point of view, please see papers in the Phi Delta Kappen by Garan, by Krashen, and by Yatvin. I will supply references if requested.

Some characteristics of a bad research paper.

Stephen Krashen

Journal of English Language Teaching (ELTAI, India 2018.  (60, 3, p. 19). (I was invited to comment on the characteristics of a good ESL research paper, word limit = 500 words.)

1.      Make the paper too long (Krashen, 2012a).   Example: Far too many papers waste space on long and irrelevant literature reviews, designed only to show that the author has done some reading. “When we ask the time, we don't want to know how watches are constructed.”  Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)  

2.      Fill the paper with unnecessary jargon and jibberish (Krashen, 2012b). Incomprehensible papers are a good way of avoiding criticism:“As long as academics write in the tortured vocabulary of specialization for seminars and conferences, where they are unable to influence public debate, they are free to espouse any bizarre or ‘radical’ theory” (Hedges, 2010: p.125).  Such papers do not advance knowledge.

3.     Publish in an expensive journal or an even more expensive book. Prices of journals and books are now outrageous, which means research is not available to most people unless they have access to a first-class university library. Universities make it worse by insisting that professors only publish in these expensive journals or collections. 

Mathematician Tim Gowers, winner of the Fields Medal (math’s Nobel Prize), has led a boycott of the Elsevier publishing company because of their high prices. His solution is open-access journals published on the internet that do not charge readers and that either don’t charge authors or charge only minimal fees to meet some of the journals’ expenses (e.g. not US $600 but US $10). 

Education should be the first field to encourage and accept open access, but instead it seems to be the last. The results of educational research should be made freely available to all teachers, researchers, and interested members of the public.  

Note: Many of my papers and books are available for free download at www.sdkrashen.com. I am gradually adding more, and I intend to add this one. 

Also published here: https://tinyurl.com/yafq7qkb

Gowers, T. 2017. Another journal flips.  https://gowers.wordpress.com/2017/07/27/another-journal-flips/#more-6336

Hedges, C. 2010. Death of the Liberal Class.(New York: Nation Books). 

Krashen, S. 2012a. A short paper proposing that we need to write shorter papers. Language and Language Teaching (Azim Premji University). 1(2): 38-39. http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/a_short_paper.pdf

Krashen, S. 2012b. Academic jibberish. RELC Journal. 43 (2): 283-285. http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/academic_jibberish.pdf

Gates Foundation Ignores Poverty's Hold on Student Performance

Education Week, June 19, 2018

To the Editor:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation wants to "diagnose the root cause of poor performance" by investing $68 million to expand education grantmaking abroad ("The Gates Foundation's Education Plans Go International," Curriculum Matters blog, June 3, 2018). But we already know what causes poor performance. Study after study over many decades has concluded that poverty is the culprit.

Until our country's government and citizens take steps to substantially reduce and eventually eliminate poverty by ensuring every person has full employment at a living wage, we can do a lot to protect students from the negative impact of poverty. Many low-income children suffer from food deprivation, lack of medical care, and lack of access to books&—all of which affect their school performance. We can invest more in food programs, medical care and school nurses, and libraries and librarians.

The Gates Foundation seems to have no interest in doing this. Instead, the foundation seems to be concerned about better data analysis and improving teaching and classroom practice. The best teaching in the world will have no effect if students are hungry, ill, or have nothing to read.

Stephen Krashen 

Professor Emeritus of Education 

University of Southern California 

Los Angeles, Calif.

You can improve in reading at any age

Sent to the AARP Bulletin, June 8, 2018

“You can help students read: (AARP Bulletin, June 2018; https://states.aarp.org/ca_you-can-help-students-read/) seems to accept the conclusion that if children are not “proficient” readers by the end of grade 3, they are more likely to do poorly in school. (“Students who do not reach reading proficiency by the end of third grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school…”).

There are good reasons for rejecting this pessimistic conclusion: First, there is nothing magic about grade 3. The study that the AARP Bulletin cites only examined the relationship between reading ability in grade 3 and eventual high school graduation. There is every reason to expect that the same relationship would hold for reading ability at every other grade. 

But more important, there is no reason to expect that poor reading ability at any age inevitably leads to poor reading forever and school failure. A great deal of research confirms that students can improve in reading at any age, given the right conditions: Access to interesting reading material and a time and place to read them.  Programs such as AARP Experience Corps can be a big help: When children are read and hear stories, they acquire the language they need to understand written texts and develop an interest in reading on their own. 

Stephen Krashen

Professor Emeritus

University of Southern California