The Five Critical Elements of Reading Instruction
By William Eckenwiler, Ed.D.
Experts in any field are always looking for the most effective way to master the skills necessary to succeed. We start children in music lessons or gymnastics at an early age, hoping that the earlier we start the greater the chance of success. If they cannot yet hold the musical instrument, then we will at least have them listen to lots of music. We wonder what the research has to say about the best age to begin something or what skills should be emphasized first. These same sorts of questions have been asked about learning to read.
We have nearly a century of authentic research on how children learn to read. Much of it is all but hidden from common view in scholarly journals. Occasionally an idea will reach a more popular audience and we go through a period of emphasis on one concept or another. For example, some of us have witnessed the move away from phonics, and back again. And so, in spite of all this research, we hear a rather unrelenting concern about too many of America’s children not learning to read....
