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Language Background, Learning to Read, and “Achievement Gaps”

Mark Seidenberg

University of Wisconsin-Madison

AIM Symposium

AIMIns,tute6thAnnualResearchtoPrac,ceSymposium

I am a scienEst who has studied language, reading, and dyslexia for a long Eme. My concern is that too many people have limited reading skills, or are able to read but avoid the acEvity, or limit their reading to literacy-lite acEviEes (social media, fake news sources, TMZ.com). My quesEon is whether what we’ve learned about how reading works and children learn could be put to bePer use. My argument is that it could but isn’t, because of the longstanding disconnecEon between the cultures of science and educaEon. This has been detrimental to children, teachers, and society.

Mark Seidenberg

Literacy—the ability to reading and write texts in tradiEonal and digital formats for a variety of purposes—is endangered for many reasons, as is our commitment to quality educaEon for all. But educaEonal pracEces could accelerate its decline.

By making it harder for children to succeed. By making it harder for teachers to help children to succeed. By treaEng reading/wriEng as one of several ”literacies”, opEonal rather than essenEal By failing to idenEfy and intervene with children at risk for reading failures

This is not a complaint about teachers. It is about the educators who teach teachers.

They leave new teachers underprepared for a difficult job. They withhold or discount informaEon teachers could use. They prevent scienEsts and educators from collaboraEng on pracEces. They promulgate mistaken theories about reading. They leave teachers vulnerable to unsupported claims, wonky curricula

Mark Seidenberg

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So, I wrote a book about this. • Basic reading science • Debate about how well America reads • Two cultures of science and educaEon • What might be done. Read about it here and on the book website. Now available in convenient “paperback” format.

Mark Seidenberg

Yes, but why should educators bother with the science? Is it really relevant?

People learned to read long before this science existed. Many people sEll manage to become skilled readers. Teachers have much more experience with children than any researcher.

Sure, scienEsts find this stuff interesEng, but why should teachers or anyone else care?

Mark Seidenberg

Because you can’t tell how reading works without it. Most of what goes on in reading is subconscious. We are aware of the result of having read something—what we comprehended Not the mental and neural operaEons that produced that outcome. The science is necessary because it gets at what is going on “under the hood.” This goes far beyond what can be determined from observing everyday behavior. Even many observaEons shared by many people.

Mark Seidenberg

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Seidenberg MS

Whatistherela,onshipbetweenreadingandspokenlanguage?

Oneexample:

Seidenberg MS

Myfirstjournalar,cle!

Seidenberg MS

Dotheyrhyme?(wordsareheard,notread)

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Seidenberg MS

CLONE STONE BLOWN STONE TRAIN STONE Spellingchangesrepresenta,onofspokenlanguage.Readingaffectsspeech.

Dotheyrhyme?(wordsareheard,notread)

AIM

Spokenlanguagedevelopmentaffectslearningtoread

Seidenberg MS

Phonemicawarenessphonemedele,ontaskAgain:readingaffectsspokenlanguage.Phonemesarenotjustunitsofspeech.Phonemicawarenessworkthatconnectstoprint:biggerimpactonreading

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Seidenberg MS

Youcan’treadwithoutusingknowledgeofspokenlanguagePermitmetodemonstratewithaparkingpermit.Freddidn’ttakethetestyesterday.

Whynot?Whodid?Whendidhe?

Iloveyournewsute.Speechandreadingaredeeplyintertwined.

Seidenberg MS

Yesbut….

Brainresearchhasaddedmuchmore.

Seidenberg MS

Remembertherhymingstudy?

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Seidenberg MS

ApplyTranscranialmagne,cs,mula,on(TMS)overSMG,apartoftheneuralcircuitforcomprehendingspeech.Transientdisrup,onofprocessing.Verymild!Impact:peoplecans,lljudgerhymes.Butthespellingeffectgoesaway.Conclusion:spellinghasreshapedknowledgeofspokenlanguage.

Seidenberg MS

Thespellingareaofthebrain:“visualwordformarea”

Lechemispherearea,partofthevisualsystem

Correspondingrighthemispherearea:the“facearea”Twocomplementaryareasofthebrain,specializedfordifferenttypesofvisualinforma,on

The“spelling”areaisaffectedbythesoundsofwordsGreaterac,va,onwhentaskinvolvesreadingaloud(Manoetal.)Speechandreadingareintertwined.

Seidenberg MS

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Seidenberg MS

Shankweileretal.,DevelopmentalNeuropsychology,2008

Integra,onofprintandspeechisgreaterformoreskilledreaders

Seidenberg MS

Rueckletal.PNAS2014

Integra,onofprintandspeechinEnglish,Chinese(Mandarin),Hebrew,Spanish

Seidenberg MS

Readingdependsonspeech.Wri,ngsystemsarecodesforrepresen,ngspokenlanguageSpokenlanguageskillsverystronglyrelatedtoearlyprogress.Spokenlanguagedeficits(experien,al,cons,tu,onal)haveenormousimpactThetwocodesaredeeplyintertwined,fromwri,ngtobehaviortobrain

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morphology

Seidenberg MS

orthography phonology

context

seman,cs

seeing

wri,ng

hearing

speech

There are no “pure” representaEons. The labels are not accurate!

Seidenberg MS

Ifpeoplehadbeenpayingahen,ontothis

science,wouldtherehavebeen“readingwars”

overphonicsvs.nophonics?

AIM

Thestar7ngpointforreadingisspokenlanguage.Individualdifferencesinknowledgeofspeechaffectlearningtoread.

1.  Amount,diversityofspokenlanguage:Hart&Risley,manyotherstudies

Howtopromotelanguagedevelopment?Nooneknows;peoplearetrying.“Somuchtolearn,solihle,me.”Possiblesolu,on:useinsightsfromsta,s,callearningtostructureexperienceOurcurrentwork.

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AIM

2.ThetypeofearlylanguageexperienceHomevs.schooldialectsAAEvs.“standard”dialectResearchbyHollis,Julie,me,andothers.Similartospeakingdifferentlanguagesinhomevs.school:bilingualButbehaviorsareinterpretedverydifferently.”Dialect”iswidelymisunderstoodconcept.

Homevs.schooldialect:notjustaboutAAEvs.mainstreamEnglishScotland:

”nonstandard”dialectOral,notwrihenRecentintroduc,onofnewspaperwrihenindialect.Like”dialectreaders”from1970s

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Mark Seidenberg

Idon’tthinkscienceistheanswertoeveryproblem.Butahugeamountofrelevantsciencehasbeenleconthetable.Becauseofthegulfbetweentheculturesofeduca,onandscience.Thebarriersareextremelydifficulttobreakdown.Thepolariza,onofviewsissimilartowhathashappenedovermanytopics.Factsthatcontradictdeeplyheldbeliefscanresultindeeperentrenchmentratherthanreconcilia,on.America,wehaveaproblem.Whatwillwedoaboutit?

See you there!

Mark Seidenberg

ME!