What is structured literacy in simple terms?

Structured literacy (SL) approaches emphasize highly explicit and systematic teaching of all important components of literacy. These components include both foundational skills (e.g., decoding, spelling) and higher-level literacy skills (e.g., reading comprehension, written expression).

How would you define structured literacy in your own words?

Structured literacy is based on the science of how kids learn to read. Skills are taught in a direct way and a logical order. It's especially helpful for kids with reading challenges like dyslexia.

What are the 3 principles of structured literacy?

According to the International Dyslexia Association, there are three principles that go into Structured Literacy instruction. Structured Literacy is defined by its systematic & cumulative, diagnostic, and explicit methodology. Systematic means the organization of the material follows the logical order of language.

What is an example of a structured literacy practice?

Three examples include sound drills, phoneme manipulation exercises, and multisensory instruction. Sound Drills: Sound drills involve the direct teaching of phonemes, where the teacher models the correct pronunciation of sounds and asks students to repeat them in unison.

What are the 5 areas of structured literacy?

The Science of Reading identifies five essential components of the Simple View of Reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Structured Literacy incorporates all five.

An Overview of Structured Literacy

How do you explain structured literacy to parents?

Structured Literacy instruction is systematic and cumulative. Systematic means that the organization of material follows the logical order of the language. The sequence must begin with the easiest and most basic concepts and elements and progress methodically to more difficult concepts and elements.

Is structured literacy the same as phonics?

From a theoretical perspective, a Structured Literacy approach aligns with the Simple View of Reading (SVR; Hoover & Gough, 1990) that holds that reading comprehension is the product (not sum) of decoding ability and language comprehension skills. It is not a “phonics only” approach.

What is a typical structured literacy lesson?

Structured literacy (SL) approaches emphasize highly explicit and systematic teaching of all important components of literacy. These components include both foundational skills (e.g., decoding, spelling) and higher-level literacy skills (e.g., reading comprehension, written expression).

How do you teach structured literacy?

For educators: How to teach structured literacy

You directly model a skill using multiple examples, and you verbalize your thought process at the same time. For example, you could use explicit instruction to show students how to segment a one-syllable word into individual sounds.

What are the 6 pillars of structured literacy?

Because of the importance of these components, they have become known as the 'Big Six': oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.

Is structured literacy the same as Orton-Gillingham?

The board chose a name that would encompass all approaches to reading instruction that conform to IDA's Knowledge and Practice Standards. That name is “Structured Literacy.” Today, our successful approach to reading instruction goes by many names: Orton Gillingham, Multi-Sensory, Explicit Phonics.

What is an example of structured literacy most effective?

Lessons embody instructional routines, for example, quick practice drills to build fluency, or the use of fingers to tap out sounds before spelling words. The student applies each new concept to reading and writing words and text, under direct supervision of the teacher who gives immediate feedback and guidance.

What are the criticism of structured literacy?

Critics of Structured Literacy believe that limiting students to phonemes initially and then to decodable texts stifles the development of fluency and prosody.

How long should structured literacy lessons be?

Research shows that students need at least 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading instruction each day to become strong readers and that this instruction must be systematic, explicit, scaffolded, and differentiated across the classroom.

Why is structured literacy better?

Structured Literacy uses assessments to drive instruction and groups them based on their skill gaps (and strengths) in both phonics and comprehension skills as opposed to a more arbitrary grouping by “levels” in Balanced Literacy.

What does a structured reading lesson look like?

It follows a sequential order of skill introduction - all the concepts are organized ahead of time including the order in which you introduce sounds, the order in which you introduce rules, and the order in which you build onto higher-level skills.

What is the Simple View of Reading and structured literacy?

The Simple View formula makes clear that strong reading comprehension cannot occur unless both decoding skills and language comprehension abilities are strong. We must teach students to decode expertly as early as possible.

What is Orton Gillingham structured literacy approach?

Orton–Gillingham, or OG, was the first teaching approach specifically designed to help struggling readers, by explicitly teaching the connections between letters, and sounds. It has been used to teach children with dyslexia since the 1930s, and underpins todays science-based methodology.

What does a good literacy lesson look like?

It should be systematic in that it follows a scope and sequence that builds in level of difficulty and complexity while also building in time for review for students to practice skills they have already learned. It should also be explicit.

What are two characteristics of a structured literacy approach?

Is Fountas and Pinnell balanced literacy?

Fountas and Pinnell (1996), early proponents of balanced literacy, define the method as a “philosophical orientation that assumes that reading and writing achievement are developed through instruction and support in multiple environments using various approaches that differ by level of teacher support and child control ...

What is the three cueing system?

The three cueing system is an approach to foundational skills instruction that involves the use of three different types of instructional cues: semantic (gaining meaning from context and sentence-level cues), syntactic or grammatical features, and grapho-phonic (spelling patterns).

Is direct instruction the same as structured literacy?

Direct Instruction employs a Structured Literacy approach which is explicit and systematic. The Direct Instruction model provides a structured curriculum to support reading and spelling programs that serve learners with dyslexia, in addition to those with other special needs.

What are key components of structured literacy?