THE SCHOLASTIC LITERACY FRAMEWORK
The Scholastic Literacy Framework is built on decades of peer-reviewed research from developmental psychology, educational psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience.
1) Evidence-Based Literacy Classroom Practices
Our brains are not naturally wired to read and write (Gotlieb et al., 2022; Wolf, 2008). “Learning to read is not natural or easy for most children. Unlike spoken language, which is learned with almost any kind of contextual exposure, reading is an acquired skill. Although surrounding children with books will support reading development, and a ‘literature-rich environment’ is highly desirable, it is not sufficient for learning to read. Neither will exposure to print ordinarily be sufficient for learning to spell unless organized practice is provided.” (Moats, 2020, p.6). Given that learning to read is not innate, providing effective instruction that aligns with a child’s developmental processes is critical. Over the past 10 years, 31 states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation that requires reading curriculum and instruction to adhere to research-based, proven principles from psychology and cognitive science for how children learn to read. The Scholastic Literacy Framework aligns with all those principles, as do our products. In order to comprehend well, a reader must accurately and effortlessly decipher the different sounds in spoken language and connect those sounds to written letters. They must draw upon oral language, phonological awareness, phonics knowledge, decoding, and fluency. Readers also need strong language comprehension skills such as vocabulary, content knowledge, literacy knowledge, language structures, verbal reasoning, and strategies to organize and make sense of information to understand the words they read. Executive function skills can also play a role in whether students can read connected text fluently and attend to grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure (Cantor et al., 2018; Duke & Cartwright, 2021; Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Scarborough, 2001). SE believes effective reading instruction should address all these skills since any of these components can derail a reader’s reading ability. Oral Language • Oral language is the spoken language system used to express knowledge, ideas, and feelings. It is made up of five skills (Lindsey, 2022): phonology (the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken language), vocabulary and semantics (understanding the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences and using word meanings correctly), morphology (understanding the smallest meaningful parts of words), syntax (understanding grammar and the rules of language), and pragmatics (understanding the social rules of language).
SCHOLASTIC LITERACY FRAMEWORK EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
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