The Future of Everything Best of: The future of reading
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Aug 29, 2025 Rebecca Silverman, a Stanford University professor specializing in literacy and child development, dives into the intricacies of learning to read. She discusses the complex relationship between decoding and comprehension, highlighting the hurdles new readers face. Silverman emphasizes the persistent challenges in improving reading comprehension and the vital role of educators in this process. She also addresses how technology and cultural factors influence literacy, advocating for effective teaching practices and family involvement to nurture young readers.
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Reading Is A Complex, Non‑Natural Skill
- Reading is a highly complex skill that is not natural and is among the hardest things children learn in school.
- Mastering reading unlocks access to all other subjects because students must read to learn across the curriculum.
Two Core Components Of Reading
- Reading splits into two core components: decoding (letters to sounds) and linguistic comprehension (understanding meaning).
- We mostly know how to teach decoding, but comprehension remains complex and less well solved.
Comprehension Requires Long-Term Support
- Improving reading comprehension requires building many layered skills: word meanings, sentence structure, text structure, and background knowledge.
- Effective change for comprehension often requires long-term, year-after-year support rather than short interventions.