Month: May 2014

Jeanne Chall · readability · Should Textbooks Challenge Students

Why can’t children read… Dickens?

John6 Comments

This post arose out of a tweet I read this morning which said that ‘a friend had to read the first page of Oliver Twist aloud to university students because it was too difficult for them’. Thinking back to the time I was teaching literature courses at university, I also found that my students in… Continue reading Why can’t children read… Dickens?

Journal of Research in Reading · NFER · Phonics screening check

How valid is the phonics screening check?

John4 Comments

The Journal of Research in Reading has just published an important and timely paper on the government’s phonics screening check ‘Validity and sensitivity of the phonics screening check: implications for practice’ (Duff, F.J., Mengoni, S. E., Bailey, A.M. and Snowling, M.J. It asks two ‘critical ‘ questions: First, how well do scores on the screening… Continue reading How valid is the phonics screening check?