Early Reading Early Reading Fluency: Rationale Fluency: Rationale and Insights from and Insights from

cognitive cognitive neuroscienceneuroscienceThe view from theThe view from the

Independent Evaluation Independent Evaluation GroupGroup

Helen AbadziIndependent Evaluation GroupWorld BankMarch 2008Habadzi@worldbank.org

Independent Evaluation Group Independent Evaluation Group (IEG)(IEG)

Project Performance Assessment Project Performance Assessment ReviewsReviews

in primary educationin primary education

Comoros 1997Comoros 1997 Burkina Faso 2000Burkina Faso 2000 Chile 2000Chile 2000 Madagascar 2001Madagascar 2001 Senegal 2001Senegal 2001 Maldives 2002Maldives 2002 Brazil 2002Brazil 2002 Romania 2002Romania 2002 Guinea 2003Guinea 2003

Honduras 2003Honduras 2003 [Panama 2003 – [Panama 2003 –

observations]observations] Niger 2004Niger 2004 Yemen 2004Yemen 2004 Uruguay 2005Uruguay 2005 Argentina 2006Argentina 2006 Mozambique 2007Mozambique 2007 Egypt 2007Egypt 2007

IEG - formerly OEDIEG - formerly OED

Broad findings of PPARs: Broad findings of PPARs: Enrollments increased Enrollments increased

everywhere everywhere but….but….

(a) The schools of the poor may teach very little(a) The schools of the poor may teach very little

Some schools closed Some schools closed about 30% of the time in Mali -1999about 30% of the time in Mali -1999

Teachers often absent Teachers often absent Few if any books in class Few if any books in class Class time spent in little activityClass time spent in little activity

copyingcopying engaged in incomprehensible materialengaged in incomprehensible material playing outsideplaying outside Many principals, ministry officials, supervisors Many principals, ministry officials, supervisors

complacentcomplacent

(b) Poorer students cannot read well until the end of (b) Poorer students cannot read well until the end of primary (if then)primary (if then)

The neuroscience The neuroscience of readingof readingMemory principlesMemory principles

Letters = Object recognitionLetters = Object recognition

Visual complexity in Visual complexity in languages and scriptslanguages and scripts

The fluency paradox:The fluency paradox:Minimum reading Minimum reading speed needed for speed needed for comprehensioncomprehension

If you don’t read fast enough, If you don’t read fast enough,

by the end of a sentence you by the end of a sentence you forget the beginning!forget the beginning!

Short-term memory

Crucial for reading comprehension

Long-term memory

12 seconds at mostAbout 7 items4 pictures

To read an average To read an average sentence in an ‘average’ sentence in an ‘average’

language roughly..language roughly..7 items in 12 seconds…7 items in 12 seconds…

students must read at least a word students must read at least a word per 1-1.5 secondper 1-1.5 second

with 95% accuracy (correlates .87 with 95% accuracy (correlates .87 with speed). with speed).

45-60 words per minute minimum45-60 words per minute minimum

7 words in 12 seconds equals 45-60 words 7 words in 12 seconds equals 45-60 words per minute!per minute!

To get through the narrow To get through the narrow opening opening

the mind creates chunks of the mind creates chunks of informationinformation Letters and other small items becomeLetters and other small items become larger larger

pieces that pass as one through working memorypieces that pass as one through working memory small items must be chunked and practiced to small items must be chunked and practiced to

the point of fluent performancethe point of fluent performance We must act in milliseconds!We must act in milliseconds! Vast implications for reading, math calculations, Vast implications for reading, math calculations,

motor skillsmotor skills

This is how children decode ever larger units – This is how children decode ever larger units – from syllables to wordsfrom syllables to words

How do students get to fluency?How do students get to fluency?

Sophisticated skills, higher-level knowledgeare created from ever-larger chunks practiced to the point of automatic recall

Brain imaging changed the landscape of reading assessment

Brain imaging techniques(since about 1995 )

Example:

Brain activation patterns of literates and illiterates

A special brain area gets activated (fusiform gyrus, occipitotemporal lobe)

3 primary reading areas in the brain:2 for single letters, slow reading1 for automatic reading

All 3 are used simultaneously

The brain becomes “programmed” for automatic reading

Nerve “wiring” develops in children’s brains (“White matter” needed for reading and larger working memory-Nagy et al. 2005)

The occipito-temporal pathway gets activated The brain identifies entire words rather than single

letters Long and short words are read equally fast

(silently) each word or phrase becomes an item Speed rises to 250+ words per minute People can’t help but read Pay attention to message rather than the print

Reading automaticity: (the literacy vaccine!)

Almost an ‘on-off” switch

Only through consistent pairing of sounds and letters

• Textbooks

• Feedback

• Homework

• Class time

• With practice children may pass from the off state to on in 6 weeks

Word superiority effect:we read faster the letters of words we knowbut…People become a fluent readers without knowing the language

Reading sacred texts

To the brain, To the brain, letters are just objectsletters are just objects

Brain has rules for processing Brain has rules for processing shapesshapes

• Some characters are more visually complex than Some characters are more visually complex than

othersothers• Some languages have more letters than othersSome languages have more letters than others• Some letter combinations are more complex Some letter combinations are more complex

(psycholinguistic grain size)(psycholinguistic grain size)

Various languages-scripts have different Various languages-scripts have different implications for reachingimplications for reaching automaticity automaticity

Automatic readers use rules that to Automatic readers use rules that to beginners are incomprehensiblebeginners are incomprehensible

And instructional time must be used And instructional time must be used efficiently!efficiently!

We always need lettersWe read by recognizing letters in a row,with known words and context hints handled separately

Letters account for 62% of the adult reading rate Words 16%, context 22%, individual variance 6% The processes are not redundant, they work on different words.

• Like computer technicians fixing problems – letters are generalists Words are not usually recognized as wholes, the visual system

must isolate and recognize the individual letters to get the word

Implications: Methods that get children to read whole words are not efficient If the children read in one language, they can read in another (in

same script).

Pelli, Dennis and Katharine Tillman. Parts, wholes, and context in reading: A triple dissociation. PLoS ONE, August 2007, e 680.

Visual complexity of characters

Number of characters to automatize…

probably affects the time needed to acquire

automaticity

Dhivehi – possibly the simplest functioning alphabet in the world

Amharic

Exact spelling but much larger matrix with some pattern irregularities

More time needed to acquire automaticity, fluency

Kannada – high error ratescomplex forms, multiple visual patterns

Half-consonant combinations and vowel combinations result in a matrix of about 300 characters that must be automatized

Some are unpredicatable

Hebrew voweled (small grains)and unvoweled (large grains)but the letters are separate

Kol benei ha'adam noldu benei xorin veshavim be'erkam uvizxuyoteihem. Kulam xonenu batevuna uvematspun, lefixax xova 'aleihem linhog ish bere'ehu beruax shel axava.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and

should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Voweled Arabic – small “grains”Unvoweled Arabic – large “grains”connected letters with rules about connections (and lack thereof)

=ع9ار9 ن ش? ر=ض?9 أ ف?ي E ه=ال س9 و9ج9دKوا E قا ر= ش9 Kوا ل 9ح9 ت ار= ?ذ? و9إ

9اك9 هKن Kوا 9و=ط9ن ت .ف9اس= : E Zا و?ي م9ش= E طKوبا K9ع 9ص=ن ن bا »ه9ي e9ع=ض ?ب ل 9ع=ضKهKم= ب ف9ق9ال9

. ، ?الطoوب? ب ة9 =ح?ج9ار9 ال Kوا =د9ل 9ب ت ف9اس= »tي ش9 9ح=س9ن9 أف=ت? yالز? ب و9الطyين9

Egypt: Grade 1 whole-word reading“active learning” class(without vowels children may identify entire words as particular shapes)

Urdu – multiple issues Urdu – multiple difficulties

Few vowel signs even in grade 1

Vowels are not predictable as in Arabic

Dots separated from the main body of letters

Topological imprinting

Need to learn the visual pattern of each word separately

Urdu, Farsi, Dari, Pashto

Devanāgarī alphabet for Hindi

African languages have regular spelling can be automatized in a few monthsFluency to other languages transfers within the same script

Englishthrough, caught, bake, often, saw, sew

FrenchIls etaient, oiseau, mois, etant

Bengalijomi – earth

boithak – meeting

koThin - difficult

Complex visual patterns in various languages and scripts(Psycholinguistic grains)

The brain‘s rules for recognizing object similarity

Mozambique and Angola teach calligraphy early on.

Calligraphic and printed letters cannot be seen as equivalent initially, only after extensive practice

e= E =

Result: Students just “sketch” letters (Mozambique)

The child tried to draw an O: “O sapo”

Some grade 1 textbooks don’t teach reading!Misguided belief that text interpretation will lead to recognition of letters (Mozambique)

MozambiqueGrade 1 outside Nampula

When should students be able to read?

OECD reading study of 16 countriesLatin and Greek scripts

Seymour et al. 2003

Middle-class studentsBest-case scenario

But..the more complex the visual recognition or spelling the longer it takes to automatize

Automatizing large visual patterns (psycholinguistic grains) – takes longer,

• may “trick” some brains students depend more on language knowledge And if they don’t know the language? (English,

French, Portuguese, Urdu) Learning to read in a complex system without

knowing the language is a job for geniuses!

• And if school time is also wasted?

• See test results all over Africa

Reading level after 1 year of instructionReading level after 1 year of instruction

0102030405060708090

100

% c

orre

ct

Reading lists of words

Seymour et al. (2003), British Journal of Psychology`

Germ

an

Austri

an

Finn

ish

Span

ish

Greek

Dutch

Italia

n

Danish

Norweg

ian

Swed

ish

Icelan

dic

Portu

gues

e

Fren

ch

Engl

ish

Items per minute when reading word lists

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Germ

an

Austri

an

Finn

ish

Span

ish

Greek

Dutch

Italia

n

Danish

Norweg

ian

Swed

ish

Icelan

dic

Portu

gues

e

Fren

ch

Engl

ish

r accuracy/speed = .87 Seymour et al. (2003), British Journal of Psychology

U.S. Oral Reading Fluency Norms

connected text - Spring Hasbrouck and Tindal (2006)

Grade 50th %ile 25th %ile 10th %ile1 53 28 152 89 61 313 107 78 484 123 98 725 139 109 836 150 122 937 150 123 988 151 124 97

“Oral Reading Fluency Norms: A Valuable Assessment Tool for Reading Teachers.” The Reading Teacher, 59, 2006

Without fluency and accuracy there is no comprehension (Peruvian data)

Relación observada entre fluidez y comprensión

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0

Fluidez (palabras por minuto)

Co

mp

ren

sisó

n (

resp

ues

tas

corr

ecta

s d

e 3

pre

gu

nta

s)

Correlación 82%

2002 NAEP fluency study,

p. 30

100

110

120

130

Cor

rect

Wor

ds p

er M

inut

eC

orre

ct W

ords

per

Min

ute

140

150

6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade

F W S F W S F W S

Correct Words per Minute on Grade Level Text

160

18 WPM difference

22 WPM difference

23 WPMdifference

Tindal, Hasbrouck, & Jones, 2005

US students

Text difficulty Text difficulty increasesincreases

Text difficulty Text difficulty increasesincreases

Tor

Fall, winter, spring

Torgesen, 2006

20

30

40

50

Cor

rect

Wor

ds p

er M

inut

eC

orre

ct W

ords

per

Min

ute

60

70

80

90

100

1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade

W S F W S F W S

110

120

Correct Words per Minute on Grade Level Text

Good, Wallin, Simmons, Kame’enui, & Kaminski, 2002

US students

45 WPMdifference

33 WPMdifference

27 WPMdifference

Torgesen, 2006 winter, spring, fall

New monitoring indicator from neurocognitive research

60 words per minute for all• In just about every language and script:

By the end of grade 1 students should “crack the code”

By the end of grade 2 at the latest students should read common words fluently

Students in grade 7 (1st secondary year) should read about 120-150 words per minute and give a summary of what they read

When visual patterns are complex, basic reading needs more time and money

(psycholinguistic grain size theory) English reading takes 2.5 times longer to acquire over

German, Turkish, Spanish (4 months or so needed)

French and Portuguese also take longer. Indian languages – regular spelling, complex scripts

• High error rates in south Indian scripts Arabic – easy with vowels, difficult otherwise

• Perennially slower reading, high error rates Urdu, Persian problematic for the poor

Sound (OLE2)

35 words per minute

How children should read – Cuba grade 2

Reading fluently enough to understand?

60 wpm correctly?

Rural Indonesia grade 2 • simple spelling rules, good class time use

Rural Niger – best 6th grader, graduating in 3 weeks• Study only in French, time use uncertain

Oral reading samplesMozambique

A familia do meu melhor amigo Overage student end of grade 3

One of 2 students who could read fluently in the class

70 words per minute

Periurban 5th graders - Maputo

Students becoming fluent late may always read slowly

have limited comprehension

• If they finally learn reading in grade 6– They may read 70 wpm in grade 8– They get no more books by grade 8

• They will read little secondary school– university or teacher training colleges– They cannot read fast enough to consult

sources– Or read volumes of text– At 110 words per minute, it takes 5 minutes per page

Can this 3rd grader in Panama solve the problem he is reading?

How to teach complex scripts in 1-2 years to the poor? Lots of practice, build up letter recognition speed - phonics Automatize the common patterns that enable students to read

most material

• Students in English learn the most common words Teach the more rare signs later

• E.g. postpone certain half-consonants of Indian languages (or use “halant”?)

• Keep Arabic, Urdu, Farsi voweled throughout primary school• Keep the Arabic letters on a straight line

Get children practice with feedback! • E.g. read 1 minute a day with every child

Textbooks to take home with much text for all• Not just a few ‘generative words’ to bring from home

Teaching fluent reading to the poor takes more effort child and family characteristics predict initial

reading skills • Though not reading development over time.

High percentage of poor students in a class is often associated with lower student reading performance after accounting for socioeconomic and instructional variables.

How does this happen day to day in class?

Kainz, Kirsten and Lynne Vernon-Feagans.2007. The ecology of early reading development for children in poverty. The elemenary school journal, 107, 407-427

Teach decoding strategy Analogies to automatize small units Brain takes this up well

a e i o u

B ba be bi bo bu

C ca ce ci co cu

D da de de do du

F fa fe fi fo fu

G ga ge gi go gu

H ha he hi ho hu

Etc

Letter Fatha Qasra Dhamma

ض9 ض ضK ?ض

ص9 ص ?ص? Kص

Kث ث? 9ث ث

قK ?ق 9ق ق

د? 9د د Kد

شK ?ش 9ش ش

Kس ?س 9س س

cte

Mozambican NGO Progresso “Eu leio”: Literacy through phonics

How not to teach?

Is it possible to learn reading or other skills as time is used in many countries?

Only a fraction of the countries’ investment is actually converted into learning time

Class time as allotted by a government (e.g., 200 days, 1000 teaching hours)

Remaining after school closures (strikes, weather, teacher training, extra holidays)

Remaining after teacher absenteeism and tardiness

Remaining after student absenteeism

Class time devoted to any learning task

Learning time relevant to curriculum

Instructional time loss in a sample of countries

Pernambuco

(Brazil) Ghana

Morocco

Tunisia

School Year (Days) 200 197 204 190

School Closures (Days) 4.79 3.17 1.38 5.15

Days after Closures 195.21 193.83 202.62 184.85

Teacher Absence (Days) 12.76 43.01 13.36 11.55

Teacher Delays 5.50 39.75 6.94 1.27

Early Class Dismissals 2.31 2.43 6.68 1.22

No. days schools operated 174.65 108.6 175.6 170.8

% Year available for teaching 87.3% 55.1% 86.1% 89.9% Engagement Rate in Interactive or Passive Classroom Tasks 72.1% 70.2% 82.6% 86.7%

School Days Devoted to Learning 125.9 76.3 145.1 148.1 School Year % Spent Engaged in Learning Tasks 63.0% 38.7% 71.1% 77.9%

Student off Task Rate 19.3% 21.1% 9.2% 9.9%

Instructional Efficiency Given Off-Task Rate 50.8% 30.5% 64.6% 70.2%

Student Absence (Days) 7.82 9.04 4.30 3.35

Student Delays (Number of Times) 5.64 10.61 5.187 2.63

Grade-wise time use

Teachers of lower grades spent more time on organization

younger children - higher off-task rates, given a briefer attention span.

Older grades - less reading aloud and drill, increase in lecturing and discussion• Morocco: reading activities 17% of the time in grades

1 and 4, 2.5% in grade 5 (and 15.1% in grade 6, possibly to prepare for exams).

• Brazil: in grade 8 copying time increased because secondary students lack textbooks.

Percentage of Time Spent in Instructional Tasks

Instructional Strategy

% of time

U.S Classroom

Criteria

Brazil Ghana Morocco Tunisia

Interactive instruction 50% or more 52.4 59.9 62.8 61.2

Oral Reading 6.7 8.7 15.7 15.3

Teaching, Explanation 32.8 19.9 26.7 27.9

Discussion 6.3 24.1 6.6 6.2

Practice Drill 1.4 6.5 12.3 11.3

Passive instruction 35% or less 19.6 10.3 19.9 25.6

Seatwork 16.3 7.4 14.8 22.9

Copy 3.0 2.9 5.0 2.7

Total Instructional Time 72.1 70.2 82.6 86.7

Organizing/Management 15% or less 27.9 28.0 17.8 13.3

Student Off Task Rate 6% or less 19.3 21.1 9.2 9.9

Examples of time loss Class starts late (Honduras, Brazil)

Book distribution (Argentina, Honduras)

Slow motion, limited activity (Niger-Tilabery)

One student on the board – (Indonesia, Yemen)

Copying – (Guinee)

Secondary activities (Brazil, Argentina)

Group interactions (Argentina, Brazil)

Teachers doing other things – everyone off task (Brazil)

Conclusions

How to educate the poor most efficiently?

Get results efficiently given time and money

Explicit, systematic instruction for the poor and those who know less• Use software for multiple repetitions that tire teachers

practice to automatize “low-level” processes that the middle class takes for granted• much feedback, extensive practice with books - phonics• Use easily spelled African languages before reading

English• Speed and fluency in basic calculations• Focus investments in grades 1-2 – before the students fall

behind

We need much more and more specific research on various scripts

Some syllabic scripts may not be viable in the long run as currently used and taught

Arabic printing and vowel inclusion – for use by all Some scripts need to be reformed

• Which bodies are responsible in each case?• Eg. South Indian scripts?

Controversies and concerns

Educational philosophy vs. neurocognitive research outcomes

How to disseminate the lines of reasoning?• Philosophical debates – needed but they delay decisions

Reading automaticity sounds too mechanistic to some How to monitor these ‘concrete’ benchmarks and learning

outcomes early on Should the poor be taught differently from the middle class? How to undertake necessary research on memory effects

in classroom?

Alternative measurements

Wordchains• Piloting needed for this paper-and-pencil

predictor of reading fluency

We’d better hurryEFA is ending in 7 years

Thank you for listening!

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