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Instructional psychology and teaching reading: Ending the reading wars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2020

Jonathan E. Solity
Jonathan E. Solity*
Affiliation:
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK Optima Psychology, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Jonathan E. Solity, Email: jonathan.solity@optimapsychology.com
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Abstract

This article explores the ‘reading wars’ from the perspective of instructional psychology, which focuses on the environmental and instructional factors that facilitate students’ progress in learning to read. It draws on research (computational analysis and classroom-based experimental studies) to inform a novel intervention that teaches reading through systematic synthetic phonics and real books, rather than the more traditional phonically decodable reading schemes. The article discusses: (1) the criteria that inform curriculum design, (2) the instructional principles that underpin effective teaching, (3) teaching methodology, (4) an instructional analysis that explains why students are perceived to have difficulties in learning to read, and (5) the implications of instructional psychology for educational psychologists.

Keywords

instructional psychologydirect instructionreal booksoptimal teachingsystematic synthetic phonics

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Articles
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The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , December 2020 , pp. 123 - 132
Copyright
© Australian Psychological Society Ltd, 2020

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