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Alex Quigley's avatar

I'd make two comments:

- I think the NRP report does in part takes vocabulary as a proxy for the type of background knowledge you present ('knowledge' is a slippy term in research - given there are so many different types!). It is quite common for them to be used interchangeably, though it is fair to say vocabulary may be a narrow conception of background knowledge.

- The key issue is that the NRP had to include high quality experimental studies on knowledge building curricula leading to reading comprehension gains, but it is an area that doesn't have a lot of good empirical evidence. Cabell and Hwang (2020) put it really well: "Well-established theoretical models and a body of empirical research elucidate the critical role of content knowledge in comprehending texts. However, the potential of supporting knowledge in service of enhancing linguistic and reading comprehension has been a relatively neglected topic in the science of reading."

Of course, any significant research finding from two decades ago should be updated and our views and insights should evolve. I suspect a systematic review today would throw up similar challenges re: 'knowledge building/knowledge rich' curricula and instruction. We still don't know a great deal how operationalise knowledge building in the curriculum to consistently improve reading outcomes, though we recognise the vital role of declarative knowledge and vocabulary to comprehension.

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Mark R. Shinn, Ph.D.'s avatar

It takes a model or, to me, a heuristic to be able to reduce complex bodies of knowledge and/or theories in a way to be understood or at least serve as an entry point to a profession--or at least serve as an argument or counter argument. I believe the rope and/or the simple view served such a purpose. To reduce some (but not all) of the findings of the NRC and the NRP into something that could serve to (a) counteract the widespread cult so to speak of whole language at the time--which indeed morphed into balanced as a result, and (b) serve as an organizer for persons trying to articulate a more scientific perspective. Of course, the positive organizing/communicative features of models/heuristics also have negatives, like oversimplification and deification, which we all have seen as well. The so call "strands" are not at all "separate" and are highly correlated. As a measurement person and as an early contributor to DIBELS I cringed at efforts to develop measures to fit into each strand and thus into a "box" for each. I also cringed at instructional efforts to develop interventions to fit into a box for each strand, and as noted, "comprehension" is not one that fits easily into a box. Notably, neither does "fluency." Fluency is NOT the same as "automaticity." Still, to me, it is not worth SMASHING a heuristic, but instead to promote a richer one for comprehension. Joe Torgesen hit me with his long ago that was so RICH in communicating the complexity, that includes factors like Reading Skills, Language Skills, Knowledge, and Meta-Cognitive, all with subcomponents like...motivation and interest! Life experience! Fix up skills! Vocabulary. That heuristic, to me, is one that should be promoted (or a similar one) when one talks about comprehension because it identifies the things that can be taught--and the things that maybe can't be taught. How does a teacher get a 9th grader interested in the Odyssey? Doug Fisher knows some strategies I'll bet! Sorry for the long posting. I do believe past models/heuristics have/are served their purposes, but we need to know the advantages and disadvantages and not deify them and be aware of the dangers.

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