What “Biologically Secondary” Means for Literacy Instruction (featuring Dr. Pamela Snow)

The idea that exposing kids to enriching literacy and play-based experiences will effectively teach them to read and write sounds nice on paper.

Unfortunately, it’s not in-line with the large and growing body of evidence that suggests that kids need direct, explicit instruction to learn to read, write, and spell. 

Sure, a select group of fortunate students will learn to read and write implicitly through exposure alone. But curricular decisions shouldn’t be based on what benefits a small percentage of their student population. 

That’s why in this episode, I share a clip and my commentary on my interview with Dr. Pamela Snow. 

Pamela Snow is a Professor of Cognitive Psychology in the School of Education at the Bendigo campus of La Trobe University, Australia. She is also Co-Director of the Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) Lab. Pamela is a registered psychologist, having qualified originally in speech-language pathology and has taught a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate education and health professionals. Her research has been funded by nationally competitive schemes such as the ARC Discovery Program, ARC Linkage Program, and the Criminology Research Council, and concerns the role of language and literacy skills as academic and mental health protective factors in childhood and adolescence. She has conducted research on the profiles and needs of high-risk groups such as youth offenders, children and adolescents in the state care system and flexible education systems, as well as research advancing evidence in the language-to-literacy transition in the early years of school. 

In this conversation, we discuss the need for nuance as it pertains to practices such as play-based instruction and project-based learning, and why these methods should be used in conjunction with direct reading instruction, not instead of. 

Dr. Snow also explains the difference between biologically primary and biologically secondary skills, and why this distinction matters when it comes to literacy instruction.

Discussion points from this episode:

✅ Play-based learning vs. early reading instruction: Why they aren’t in opposition.

✅ Using explicit instruction to build skills needed for problem-solving and successful project-based learning.

✅ Whose job is it to work on reading? How much is the responsibility of the schools, and what is the parent’s job?

You can listen to my original interview with Dr. Snow on the De Facto Leaders podcast here: EP 158: Literacy and background knowledge: Essential skills for life (with Dr. Pamela Snow) Link here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-158-literacy-and-background-knowledge-essential-skills-for-life-with-dr-pamela-snow/

You can connect with Dr. Snow on X (formerly Twitter) @pamelasnow2 (https://twitter.com/PamelaSnow2) or on her blog at: http://pamelasnow.blogspot.com/

You can also learn more about her work on her La Trobe University page at: https://scholars.latrobe.edu.au/pcsnow

You can learn more about the Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) lab at: https://www.latrobe.edu.au/school-education/about/spotlight

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs and other service providers create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/