Reading is the act of understanding the meaning of symbols, usually those used in written language, through sight or touch.

For teachers and researchers, reading is a complex process that includes skills such as recognizing words, understanding spelling, using punctuation, knowing the alphabet, learning phonics, identifying sounds in words, building vocabulary, understanding what is read, reading smoothly, and being motivated to read.

Other forms of reading and writing, like pictograms (for example, a warning sign or an emoji), do not rely on spoken language systems. The main idea is interpreting symbols to understand meaning from visual images or touch-based signals, such as braille.

More and more research shows that reading for enjoyment is important for learning and personal growth.

Overview

Reading is usually a personal activity done quietly, though sometimes people read aloud for others or for themselves, such as to help understand better. Before spaces were added between words in the late Middle Ages, reading silently was seen as unusual.

The ability to read both alphabetic and non-alphabetic writing systems is strongly influenced by skills like speaking, understanding sounds in language, quickly naming things, and verbal intelligence.

Many people read for fun, whether they are children or adults. In 2022, it was reported that fewer than half of U.S. adults read a book in the past year. Only 38% read fiction or short stories, a number that has dropped by 17% over the last decade. About 5% of adults read more than 50 books yearly. People in the U.S. read more if they have higher education, read easily, are female, live in cities, or have higher income. Children improve their reading skills when they know more about the world and see reading as enjoyable rather than a task.

Reading is a key part of literacy, which historically meant being able to read and write. Since the 1990s, some groups have expanded the definition of literacy to include skills beyond reading and writing, such as understanding digital materials, using visual or audio tools, or applying knowledge in real-life situations. Examples include:

• "The ability to read and write in all forms, like print or digital, including digital skills."
• "Understanding information in different contexts using written materials."
• "The ability to read, write, speak, and listen."
• "Using skills to create and understand meaning through reading, writing, and speaking."
• "Communicating using visual, audio, and digital tools."
• "Using written information to function in society, achieve goals, and grow knowledge." This includes three types: reading prose (like a newspaper article), documents (like a bus schedule), and quantitative skills (like math in ads).

In education, some experts think of literacy as "multiliteracies," which includes skills for using modern technology and multimedia. They say this change reflects how technology has influenced how people use and create texts. Some educators have shifted focus from reading and writing to broader "literacy" skills. Others may include numeracy (math skills) and technology skills alongside literacy.

Since the 1940s, "literacy" has also been used to describe knowledge or skills in specific areas, such as computer literacy, health literacy, or media literacy.

To understand a written text, it is usually necessary to know the spoken language it uses. Writing systems often change more slowly than spoken language and can preserve words or phrases no longer used in speech. A major advantage of writing is that it records information permanently, allowing it to be accessed later without needing the original speaker.

Reading for fun has been linked to better vocabulary and math skills during adolescence. People who read a lot over their lifetime often achieve higher academic success. Studies show reading can improve stress management, memory, focus, writing, and imagination. These benefits continue into middle age and old age. Reading and writing are activities that may help slow mental decline in older adults.

On April 23, 1968, UNESCO’s Director-General, Mr. René Maheu, said, “One must first be able to read.” In 1969, James Allen, the U.S. Commissioner of Education, stated, “The right to read for all is the highest education priority.” At that time, UNESCO estimated 750 million people globally could not read or write. In 2017, UNESCO reported that 250 million children lack basic literacy skills, calling it a social justice issue. Groups like the South African Human Rights Commission have addressed the right to read and write.

In 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that learning to read is a basic human right, not a privilege. This decision led to the Right to Read inquiry in Ontario, Canada.

State of reading achievement

Reading has been studied and reported on for many years. Many groups track and share information about how well children and adults can read (e.g., NAEP, PIRLS, PISA, PIAAC, and EQAO). For more details, see National and International reports below.

Neuroscientist Mark Seidenberg explains that low English reading levels may result from three factors:
1) The English language has a complex spelling system (some sounds have many spellings),
2) Differences in how people speak, which can affect reading achievement gaps between groups in the U.S., and
3) How reading is taught.

Regarding teaching methods, researchers note three issues:
• Scientific research on reading has not been widely used in schools, partly because of a gap between science and education.
• Current teaching methods rely on old ideas that make learning to read more difficult than it needs to be.
• Using proven reading methods in schools would help, but many teachers lack training in reading science.

Studies show that about 95% of students can learn to read by the end of their first or second year of school. However, in many countries, 20% or more students do not meet this goal.

A 2012 U.S. study found that 33% of third-grade students had low reading scores. These students were more likely to not graduate from high school. Poverty also reduced high school graduation rates.

According to the 2013 Nation's Report Card in the U.S., 32% of fourth-grade students could not read at or above the basic level. By 2019, this rose to 34%. There were large differences by race and ethnicity (e.g., 52% of Black students and 23% of White students). By 2022, this increased to 37%, and by 2024, it reached 40%. Students who read below basic levels often struggle with schoolwork. This problem is worsened because many special education teachers leave their jobs for general education roles.

A 2023 California study found that only 46.6% of third-grade students met English reading standards. Another report noted that many teenagers in juvenile detention facilities earn high school diplomas with reading skills similar to younger students. In a five-year period starting in 2018, 85% of these graduates did not pass a 12th-grade reading test.

In 2025, 58.3% of Tennessee third-grade students did not pass their reading test, though there was some improvement from the previous year.

The pandemic caused major disruptions in education, leading to significant learning gaps in reading and other subjects. This impact was especially strong for children from low-income families. In the U.S., studies show that without extra help, about 90% of poor readers in first grade may remain poor readers. By 2026, children born during the pandemic will be in kindergarten. Teachers reported that these students had weaker phonemic awareness compared to students five years earlier. Another study found a one-month drop in reading results for first- and second-grade students, showing larger problems in education systems.

In Canada, 26% of Ontario third-grade students and 51% of those with special education needs did not meet reading standards in 2025. Nova Scotia reported 26% of third-grade students did not meet standards. New Brunswick found 39.5% of fourth-grade and 21.7% of sixth-grade students did not meet reading comprehension levels. Newfoundland and Labrador reported 44% of third-grade students fell below expected results. Prince Edward Island had 26% of third-grade students not meeting reading expectations.

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) reports reading achievement for fourth graders in 50 countries. The top five countries are the Russian Federation, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, and Finland. Others include England (10th), the U.S. (15th), Australia (21st), Canada (23rd), and New Zealand (33rd).

Many older students struggle with reading but are not easily noticed. A RAND Corporation study found that 44% of teachers in grades 3–12 say their students often have trouble reading class material. Ninety-seven percent of teachers adjust their lessons to help. Teachers note that 28% of students lack motivation to read, and 19% do not read fluently enough. In 2025, 58% of U.S. teachers said 25% or more of their middle and high school students struggled with basic reading. Reports also show 10% of students have trouble decoding single-syllable words, and 40% of middle schoolers struggle with complex decoding.

Middle school English teachers often lack training in foundational literacy skills. Few resources exist for teaching decoding to older students. A survey found that only one-third of high school educators say their schools provide time for reading support.

This issue, where students struggle to read grade-level text, may be linked to the "Decoding Threshold," meaning some students lack basic reading skills needed to decode words. Researchers suggest using screening tests to identify students needing extra help. If needed, these students may require reading support up to grade 8 or beyond.

Between 2013 and 2024, 40 U.S. states and the District of Columbia passed laws or policies promoting evidence-based reading instruction. In 2023, New York City required schools to focus on phonics. Less than half of third- to eighth-grade students scored as proficient on state reading tests. Over 63% of Black and Hispanic students did not meet standards. By 2025, reading scores improved: 56.3% of all students in grades 3–8 met proficiency levels, with 47% of Black students and 43.5% of Hispanic students reaching this goal.

In response to the need for older struggling readers, many organizations have provided resources.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) measures the reading, math, and science skills of 15-year-olds. Critics argue that PISA has flaws in how it views education, how it is implemented, and how it is interpreted.

International research reports about best practices

In 2000, several studies about reading instruction were published, each explaining the best methods for teaching reading. The National Reading Panel (NRP) found that effective reading instruction includes five key parts: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. It also concluded that teaching phonics in a clear and organized way works better than teaching phonics in a random way or not teaching phonics at all.

This study supports teaching phonics in a systematic way.

The Rose Report also supports teaching phonics using a method called synthetic phonics.

The R2R report from the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) states that teachers should be trained in methods proven by research to be effective. It concludes that structured literacy is the most effective way to teach early reading.

Learning to read

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Learning to read, or reading skills acquisition, is the process of gaining and practicing the skills needed to understand the meaning of printed words. For a skilled reader, reading seems simple, easy, and automatic. However, learning to read is a complex process that builds on cognitive, linguistic, and social skills that start developing from a very young age. Reading is one of the four core language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), and it is essential for learning to use written language effectively.

In the United States and other countries, it is widely believed that students who are not reading well by the end of third grade may face challenges in school for the rest of their education. For example, it is estimated that these students may not be able to read about half of the material they will face in fourth grade.

In 2019, among American fourth-graders in public schools, only 58% of Asian, 45% of Caucasian, 23% of Hispanic, and 18% of Black students performed at or above the proficient level on the Nation's Report Card. Also, in 2012, it was reported in the United Kingdom that 15-year-old students were reading at the level expected of 12-year-old students.

Because of this, many governments have created programs to help students read at grade level by the end of third grade. One example is the Third Grade Reading Guarantee created by the State of Ohio in 2017. This program helps identify students from kindergarten through third grade who are struggling with reading and provides support to help them succeed. This kind of support is also called remedial education. Another example is the policy in England, which requires that students who are having trouble decoding words by year three must receive help through a structured and systematic phonics program.

In 2016, out of 50 countries, the United States ranked 15th in grade-four reading ability. The ten countries with the highest average reading scores were the Russian Federation, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, Finland, Poland, Northern Ireland, Norway, Chinese Taipei, and England (UK). Other countries and their rankings include: Australia (21st), Canada (23rd), New Zealand (33rd), France (34th), Saudi Arabia (44th), and South Africa (50th).

Spoken language is the foundation for learning to read, even before children see any letters. A child's understanding of the sounds in language is a good predictor of how well they will learn to read early on. Spoken language is dominant for most of childhood, but reading eventually becomes more advanced than speech.

By their first birthday, most children have learned all the sounds in their spoken language. However, it takes longer for them to understand the structure of words and to build a spoken vocabulary.

Children learn spoken language over a few years. By the time they are five to six years old, English-speaking children usually have vocabularies of 2,500 to 5,000 words, and they add about 5,000 words per year for the first few years of school. This fast rate of learning cannot be fully explained by the instruction they receive. Instead, children often learn the meaning of new words by understanding the context in which they are used. As British linguist John Rupert Firth said, "You shall know a word by the company it keeps."

The environment in which children live can affect their ability to learn to read. Children who are regularly exposed to loud and continuous noise, such as from highway traffic, may have trouble distinguishing between sounds in spoken language and may also have lower reading scores on tests.

Children learn to speak naturally by listening to others. However, reading is not a natural process, and many children need help from teachers and other adults to learn how to read. This help usually involves teaching in a planned and organized way with feedback.

So, "reading to children is not the same as teaching children to read." Studies with young children show that having them read on their own, rather than just being read to, helps improve their reading skills.

However, some research suggests that "shared reading" can help improve reading skills if children pay attention to the words on the page as they are being read.

Even though reading to children may not teach them to read directly, it is still important. Reading to children helps them become familiar with the activity of reading, keeps them interested, helps them learn more spoken language, and improves their understanding of new words and grammar.

There is some debate about the best age to start teaching children to read.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative in the United States includes standards for reading skills in kindergarten and first grade. These standards focus on print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency. However, some critics argue that these standards may require too much time spent on drills and worksheets, which could reduce time for other subjects like math, science, and art.

Data from the PISA 2007 OECD study of 54 countries showed no connection between the age students start school and their reading ability at age 15. A German study of 50 kindergartens compared children who, at age 5, had spent a year in either an "academically focused" or "play-arts focused" environment. The study found that over time, the two groups had similar reading skills. The researchers concluded that early reading instruction is like watering a garden before a rainstorm—too early, and the effort is wasted.

Some scholars support a developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), where formal reading instruction begins when children are about six or seven years old. Finland, for example, starts school at age seven and ranked fifth in the 2016 PIRLS reading test for fourth graders. Professor David Elkind has argued that there is no strong evidence that early academic training is better or worse than traditional, hands-on learning models, and that educators should focus on developmentally appropriate approaches that allow young children to explore the world on their own terms. He emphasized that early education should begin with the child, not with the subject matter to be taught.

In response, Grover J. Whitehurst, Director of the Brown Center on Education Policy, argued that Elkind is relying too much on educational philosophies and not enough on scientific research. He said that education practices need to be based more on evidence-based methods.

Regarding Finland's academic success, some researchers note that Finnish children must attend one year of free pre-primary education before starting school, and many are already reading before they begin school. The National Association for the Education of Young Children released a draft position paper in 2019 stating that the idea that young children are not ready for academic subjects is a misunderstanding of developmentally appropriate practice. It said that in grades 1 through 3, almost all subjects can be taught in ways that are meaningful and engaging for each child.

Some researchers and educators support limited academic instruction for young children, but the debate continues.

Stages to skilled reading

Learning to read well involves understanding several key skills: the alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

British psychologist Uta Frith created a three-stage model to explain how people learn to read. In the first stage, called the logographic or pictorial stage, learners treat words like pictures, trying to recognize them as whole objects. In the second stage, the phonological stage, learners begin to understand how letters (graphemes) connect to sounds (phonemes). In the third stage, the orthographic stage, learners read familiar words quickly and no longer rely on word length to recognize them.

Another expert, Harvard professor Jeanne Sternlicht Chall, wrote a book in 1983 called Stages of Reading Development, which described six stages of reading growth. Later, in 2008, Maryanne Wolf, a professor at UCLA, published Proust and the Squid, which outlined five stages of reading development. Children usually progress through these stages at different speeds, though typical ages for children in the United States are listed below.

The emerging pre-reader stage, also called reading readiness, lasts for the first five years of a child’s life. Before age one, children often say their first words. Adults and teachers help children develop skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Reading to children helps them build vocabulary, a love of reading, and phonemic awareness—the ability to hear and play with individual sounds in spoken language. Young children often "read" stories they have memorized. However, in the late 1990s, researchers in the United States found that simply reading to children did not always improve their future reading skills, as children often looked at pictures instead of text. In shared reading programs with four-year-olds, teachers found that pointing to letters and words helped children learn to read, spell, and understand stories better.

Novice readers continue to develop phonemic awareness and learn how letters connect to sounds, a process called decoding, phonics, and the alphabetic principle. They may memorize common letter patterns and high-frequency words that do not follow simple rules (e.g., "have" and "who"). However, simply decoding a text does not mean a child understands its meaning. Vocabulary and oral language comprehension are also important for understanding text, as explained in models like the Simple View of Reading, Scarborough’s Reading Rope, and The Active View of Reading. Reading and speaking are connected: reading helps build vocabulary, and a strong vocabulary helps improve reading skills.

The transition from the novice reader stage to the decoding stage happens when children read more smoothly and confidently. During this phase, readers learn at least 3,000 new words. For example, in English, learners study vowel-based rimes (e.g., "sat," "mat," "cat") and vowel pairs (digraphs) (e.g., "rain," "play," "boat").

As readers advance, they learn about morphemes—parts of words like stems, roots, prefixes, and suffixes. They recognize common morphemes like "s" and "ed" as "sight chunks." For example, a child who quickly recognizes that "beheaded" is "be" + "head" + "ed" becomes a more fluent reader.

At the beginning of this stage, children may focus so much on decoding that they do not understand the words they read. However, this stage is important because it helps children become fluent and automatic readers.

During the decoding phase, readers begin to understand the main idea of a story and re-read passages when needed for full understanding. The goal is to "go below the surface" of the text and build spelling knowledge.

Teachers and parents may mistakenly think a child understands a text if they read it fluently. As reading material becomes more complex, skilled readers learn to understand figurative language and irony, which helps them find new meanings in texts.

Children improve comprehension by using tools like connecting past knowledge, predicting outcomes, making inferences, and checking for gaps in understanding. A powerful moment happens when fluent readers imagine themselves in the lives of characters in stories.

Educational psychologist G. Michael Pressley suggests that teaching decoding, vocabulary, word knowledge, active comprehension strategies, and self-monitoring is important for improving reading skills.

By the end of this stage, many reading processes become automatic, allowing readers to focus on meaning. Decoding becomes nearly automatic, and the brain integrates metaphorical, inferential, background, and experiential knowledge. This stage often lasts until early adulthood.

At the expert stage, readers can recognize almost any word in less than half a second. How much expert reading changes over time depends on what and how much a person reads.

Science of reading

The Science of Reading (SoR) is a group of research from different fields that is based on science. It includes areas like cognitive science, developmental psychology, education, special education, and more. Foundational skills such as phonics, decoding, and phonemic awareness are important parts of the science of reading, but they are not the only parts. SoR includes any research and evidence about how humans learn to read and how reading should be taught. This includes areas like oral reading fluency, vocabulary, morphology, reading comprehension, text, spelling and pronunciation, thinking strategies, oral language proficiency, working memory training, and written language performance (e.g., cohesion, sentence combining/reducing).

In cognitive science, the study of reading is one of the most successful areas of research. However, in many countries, reading levels are considered low. In the United States, the 2019 Nation's Report Card showed that 34% of grade-four public school students performed at or above the NAEP proficient level (solid academic performance) and 65% performed at or above the basic level (partial mastery of the proficient level skills). According to the PIRLS study, the United States ranked 15th out of 50 countries for reading comprehension levels of fourth-graders. Additionally, the 2011–2018 PIAAC study found that the United States ranked 19th out of 39 countries for literacy levels of adults aged 16 to 65. In the United States, 16.9% of adults read at or below level one (out of five levels).

Many researchers believe that low reading levels are due to how reading is taught. They point to three areas:

• Contemporary reading science has had little impact on educational practice, mainly because of a "two-cultures problem" separating science and education.
• Current teaching practices rely on outdated assumptions that make learning to read harder than it needs to be.
• Connecting evidence-based practices to education would help, but it is very difficult to achieve because many teachers lack proper training in the science of reading.

Foundational reading skills are usually taught from kindergarten to grade three. However, 30% or more of U.S. students up to grade 12 failed to perform at or above the basic reading level of the Nation's Report Card (e.g., grade 4 – 37% in 2022, grade 8 – 30% in 2022, and grade 12 – 30% in 2019). As a result, many secondary school teachers spend some class time on activities related to foundational reading skills.

The simple view of reading is a scientific theory about reading comprehension. According to this theory, students need both decoding skills and oral language (listening) comprehension to understand what they are reading. Neither skill alone is enough.

This relationship is shown in this equation: Decoding × Oral Language Comprehension = Reading Comprehension.

The relationship is a product (multiplication) because a reader with strong decoding but poor vocabulary cannot understand text, just as a reader with strong vocabulary but no decoding skills cannot understand text.

Hollis Scarborough created the Reading Rope infographics in 2001. The infographic uses strands of rope to show the many parts needed to become a skilled reader. The upper strands represent language comprehension and support each other. The lower strands represent word recognition and work together as the reader becomes accurate, fluent, and automatic through practice. The upper and lower strands all combine to create a skilled reader.

More recent research by Laurie E. Cutting and Hollis S. Scarborough has shown the importance of executive function processes (e.g., working memory, planning, organization, self-monitoring, and similar abilities) to reading comprehension.

The active view of reading (AVR) model (May 7, 2021), created by Nell K. Duke and Kelly B. Cartwright, offers an alternative to the simple view of reading (SVR) and updates Scarborough's reading rope (SRR). This model is more complete than the simple view of reading and better explains knowledge about reading developed over the past decades.

The following chart shows the ingredients in the authors' infographic. The authors also note that reading is affected by text, task, and sociocultural context.

In psychology, automaticity is the ability to perform tasks without focusing on the details, allowing the task to become automatic. When reading is automatic, working memory can focus on understanding the meaning of a text.

A surprising finding from cognitive science is that practice does not always make perfect. For a new skill to become automatic, continued practice beyond mastery is needed.

Several researchers and neuroscientists have studied how the brain reads. They have written articles, books, and created websites and videos to explain their findings.

A study at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in 2022 found that "greater left-brain asymmetry can predict better or average performance on a foundational level of reading ability, depending on whether the analysis is conducted over the whole brain or in specific regions."

Although not included in most studies, the sensorimotor cortex is the most active part of the brain during reading.

The occipital and parietal lobes, specifically the fusiform gyrus, include the brain's visual word form area (VWFA).

The two major brain regions linked to phonological skills are the temporal-parietal region and the Perisylvian Region.

The Perisylvian Region, which connects Broca's and Wernicke's areas, is highly active during phonological activities where people are asked to say known and unknown words.

The inferior frontal region is a complex part of the brain, and its connection to reading is not always straightforward, as it is active in many reading-related activities.

The cerebellum, which is not part of the cerebral cortex, is also believed to play an important role in reading.

Reading is an intensive process where the eye moves quickly to interpret text. Understanding visual perception and eye movement is important to understanding how reading works.

When reading, the eye moves along a line of text but makes short, quick movements (saccades) and short stops (fixations). Fixations and saccades vary between readers and even for the same person reading the same text. When

Teaching reading for alphabetic languages

Educators have long discussed the best way to teach reading in English. Three main methods are commonly used: phonics, whole language, and balanced literacy. Other practices, such as phonemic awareness, fluency, reading comprehension, sight words, the three-cueing system (also called the searchlights model in England), guided reading, shared reading, and leveled reading, are also used. These methods are applied differently depending on the country and school system.

In 2001, researchers found two key points: 1) understanding the alphabetic principle is essential, and 2) teaching this principle directly through phonics is more effective than other methods. While they disagree with some whole-language ideas, they acknowledge that some whole-language principles, like encouraging students' interest in books, are valuable.

Phonics focuses on the alphabetic principle—the connection between letters (graphemes) and speech sounds (phonemes). It is taught in different ways. Unsystematic phonics introduces phonics as needed without a set order. Systematic phonics uses a planned, step-by-step approach with clear teaching and practice. The National Reading Panel (NRP) concluded that systematic phonics instruction is more effective than unsystematic phonics or non-phonics methods.

Phonics methods include analogy phonics, analytic phonics, embedded phonics with mini-lessons, phonics through spelling, structured literacy, and synthetic phonics.

A 2018 review found that phonics training improves literacy skills, especially reading fluency and accuracy with irregular words. Phonics helps all beginning readers, with the greatest benefits for students at risk of reading difficulties. While some children can learn phonics rules on their own, others need direct instruction. Phonics also helps expand vocabulary. Children who are directly taught phonics tend to perform better in reading, spelling, and comprehension.

Teaching phonics can be challenging because English has complex letter-sound rules. For this reason, teachers are advised to start with common sounds and spellings, such as /s/ and /t/, and save less common ones, like /v/ and /w/, for later.

Phonics is taught in many ways and is often combined with skills like oral language, print concepts, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, syllables, comprehension, spelling, word study, cooperative learning, multisensory learning, and guided reading. It is also discussed in the science of reading and evidence-based practices.

The National Reading Panel (U.S. 2000) states that systematic phonics should be combined with other reading instruction to create a balanced program. It suggests teaching phonics alongside phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Timothy Shanahan, a researcher, recommends 60–90 minutes of daily literacy instruction for primary students, divided equally among word parts, fluency, comprehension, and writing. He highlights that segmenting and blending phonemes are the most helpful phonemic awareness skills for young learners.

The Ontario Association of Deans of Education (Canada) published a guide for parents and teachers to support early language and literacy. It includes topics like letter names, phonics, conversation, play-based learning, print, phonological awareness, shared reading, and vocabulary.

Some studies show that not teaching phonics can harm many students, but not all phonics programs are equally effective. Success depends on using the right curriculum, teaching methods, classroom management, and grouping strategies. Louisa Moats, a teacher and researcher, supports direct, explicit, and systematic instruction covering phoneme awareness, decoding, comprehension, literature appreciation, and daily reading. She believes most children can learn to read if taught early with research-backed methods.

Interest in evidence-based education is growing. In 2021, the Best Evidence Encyclopedia (BEE) reviewed 51 programs for struggling readers. Many used phonics-based methods or included cooperative learning, technology-supported instruction, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, multisensory learning, spelling, guided reading, and structured curricula. The review found that one-to-one tutoring had the most positive outcomes, followed by small group tutoring. Technology-supported instruction did not show benefits, but whole-class and whole-school approaches, including tutoring, helped many students. Combining classroom improvements with tutoring for at-risk students showed the greatest potential.

Robert Slavin of BEE suggests hiring thousands of tutors to support students far below grade level, especially in early reading. He notes that tutoring in reading and math has the largest positive effects. Well-trained teaching assistants using structured materials can achieve results similar to certified teachers.

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) provides data on the effectiveness of specific programs. As of 2020, it had information on 231 literacy programs. Filtering by grade 1 shows 22 programs (with other filters set broadly). The WWC system offers details about each program and comparisons. Evidence for ESSA (C) is also referenced.

Teaching reading for logographic languages

Languages like Chinese and Japanese often use logograms (called hanzi in Chinese and kanji in Japanese) to write words. Each logogram is a single character that stands for a whole word or part of a word. There are many logograms, and their sounds must be learned directly or through hints in other characters. For example, in Japanese, the kanji 民 has an On-reading of "min," and the kanji 眠 also has the same On-reading. The right side of 眠 gives a clue about its pronunciation. However, not all logograms follow this pattern. Kun readings, which are different ways to pronounce kanji, must be memorized because they cannot be guessed from the characters themselves.

Ruby characters are used in books to help learners understand the sounds of logograms. These small characters are written in a smaller size using an alphabet or syllable-based script. In Japanese, hiragana is often used for this purpose, while in Chinese, the pinyin system (which uses the Latin alphabet) is used.

The word "kanji" itself is made up of two logograms: 漢 (kan, written in hiragana as かん) and 字 (ji, written in hiragana as じ).

Some textbooks are organized so that students only see logograms they are expected to know for their grade level. This helps them learn gradually without being overwhelmed.

Requirements for proficient reading

According to a 2000 report by the US National Reading Panel, reading alphabetic languages well requires five key skills: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. In non-Latin languages, such as Chinese or Japanese, reading does not always depend on phonemic awareness. Instead, learners focus on understanding parts of speech, which may involve recognizing whole words (like Chinese characters) or syllables (like in Japanese), depending on the writing system used.

The Rose Report, published by England’s Department for Education, states that systematic phonics, especially synthetic phonics, is the most effective method for teaching children to read. This approach is now required by law in England. In 2005, Australia’s government reported that direct, systematic phonics instruction is essential for teaching children to read. Many other countries have also adopted phonics as a key reading strategy, as shown in the "Practices by country or region" section.

Other important factors for reading include rapid automatized naming (RAN), understanding a language’s orthography, and regular practice.

• Rapid automatized naming (RAN): The ability to quickly name letters, objects, and colors is linked to reading success. This skill may relate to how quickly a person can recall sounds from memory and use brain areas responsible for recognizing words.
• Orthography: This refers to the symbols and rules used to write a language, such as spelling conventions. As people learn to read, their understanding of orthography becomes more complex. Early learning includes knowing how to read from left to right and recognizing different letter styles, such as uppercase and lowercase letters. In the United States, spelling is taught up to 4th grade, and reading widely after that helps build orthographic expertise.
• Practice: Reading regularly improves many reading skills, especially word recognition. It helps readers identify common words faster, which increases fluency. Practice also supports orthographic development, comprehension, and vocabulary growth. Research shows that reading words both alone and in sentences has benefits. Reading words alone improves spelling and speed, while reading them in context helps with understanding their meanings.

Reading difficulties

Difficulties in reading often involve problems with one or more of the following: decoding, reading speed, reading fluency, or understanding what is read.

Brain activity in young and older children can help predict how well they will read in the future. The connection between parts of the brain that process written words and sounds is important for reading. For example, how much a certain area of the brain, called the left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus, is active during reading tasks can help predict future reading skills. Young children who process the sounds in words well tend to have better reading abilities later than older children who focus more on recognizing whole words.

Decoding difficulties occur when a person has not learned how to match sounds (phonemes) with written letters (graphemes). A common decoding problem is dyslexia, a brain-based learning disability that makes it hard for people to read. People with dyslexia often read at levels much lower than expected, even though they have normal intelligence. Dyslexia can run in families, and some genes may increase the risk of developing it. Common signs include trouble with spelling, working with sounds, and quickly recognizing and responding to visual and spoken information. Adults may have dyslexia that started in childhood or developed after brain injuries, strokes, or dementia.

Treatment for dyslexia should include lessons that focus on recognizing sounds in words, learning how letters and sounds connect, improving understanding, reading smoothly, and spelling.

People with reading speed problems usually recognize words correctly and understand what they read, but they read much slower than expected for their grade level. Practices like guided reading, where a teacher helps a student read aloud repeatedly, can help improve reading speed.

Studies show that faster reading often leads to better understanding. Reading speed takes time to improve and grows throughout school years. On average, children's reading speed increases by about 14 words per minute each year from second grade through college, where each word is six characters long, including spaces and punctuation.

Scientific research shows that reading faster than 900 words per minute is not possible because of how the eye works.

People with reading fluency problems struggle to read smoothly and at a steady pace. Strategies that help with reading speed can also help with fluency.

People with reading comprehension problems often have trouble understanding what they read, even though they can decode words and read at a normal speed. The simple view of reading explains that comprehension requires both decoding and understanding spoken language.

Teaching new vocabulary, improving listening skills, and teaching basic comprehension methods can help improve reading comprehension. Students should get clear, short lessons on how to understand what they read, including learning new words, checking if they understand, and connecting ideas.

Models like Scarborough's Reading Rope and The active view of reading describe important parts of how reading comprehension works.

In some countries, radio reading services help blind people and others who want to hear printed materials read aloud, often by volunteers. For example, Australia has a radio service called the Radio Print Handicapped Network, which broadcasts in major cities and other areas.

History

The history of reading began with the invention of writing around 4,000 years ago. Today, reading printed text is a common way for people to learn and find information, but this was not always true. Before the Industrial Revolution, only a small number of people in many countries could read and write. Some ancient societies, like classical Athens and the Islamic caliphate, had higher literacy rates.

Experts believe that in ancient times, people often read aloud, while reading silently was less common. Saint Augustine, writing around 400 AD, noted that Saint Ambrose, a famous religious leader, read in silence, which was unusual at the time.

Michel de Certeau suggested that during the Age of Enlightenment, reading was seen as less important than writing. Social leaders believed writing showed creativity and initiative, while reading was viewed as simply absorbing information. Readers were considered passive, rather than active participants.

In England, children’s books before the mid-1700s focused on teaching lessons or religious ideas. Over time, more books were written to entertain children, such as novels. By 1800, children’s literature was growing, with as many as 50 books printed each year in major cities.

In 18th-century Europe, reading alone in bed was sometimes considered dangerous or immoral. Some people worried that reading in bed could cause fires from candles or that it might distract people, especially women, from their family duties. Reading novels was also criticized as a waste of time compared to reading history, poetry, or classical works.

Chapbooks were small, inexpensive books sold on the streets. They covered many topics, such as ghost stories, politics, and disasters. They were popular among poor people and middle-class children from the 1600s to the 1800s.

In the 1800s, printed materials like public notices, broadsides, and songs became common street literature. They shared news and entertained people before newspapers were widely available. Advertisements and local news, such as rewards for finding criminals, appeared on handbills. Cheaply printed sheets, like broadsheets and ballads, reported events such as crimes, trials, and disasters.

Technological advances during the Industrial Revolution, such as better printing and paper production, made reading materials more accessible. Improved roads and railroads helped distribute books more widely. At the same time, more people received education, especially in the middle and working classes, which increased demand for books. The introduction of gas and electric lighting allowed people to read at night without candles or oil lamps.

In 19th-century Russia, people from different social classes read a wide variety of texts, including both high literature and simple stories called luboks. Readers like Andrei Chikhachev showed that people of modest means often read both fiction and nonfiction.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, audiobooks became more popular. Some people argue that audiobooks are not the same as reading because they do not involve looking at written words. However, many see audiobooks as a way to continue oral traditions and help visually impaired people access stories. The rise of audiobooks in the 21st century may be due to technology that allows people to download them easily, often through public libraries.

History of learning to read

The history of learning to read began when people first created writing around 4000 BC.

In the United States, the phonics method of teaching reading was introduced by John Hart in 1570. He suggested that reading should focus on the connection between letters (now called graphemes) and sounds (now called phonemes).

During the colonial times of the United States, reading materials were not written specifically for children. Instruction materials mostly included the Bible and patriotic essays. The most important early textbook was The New England Primer, published in 1687. At that time, there was little attention to the best ways to teach reading or test reading ability.

Phonics was widely used to teach reading in the 1800s. William Holmes McGuffey, an American educator and writer, created the first four books of the McGuffey Readers in 1836.

The whole-word method was introduced by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, the director of the American School for the Deaf. He designed the method to help deaf children by pairing words with pictures. In 1830, Gallaudet described teaching children to recognize 50 sight words on cards. Horace Mann, a Massachusetts education official, supported the method for all children. By 1837, the method was used in Boston schools.

By 1844, Boston teachers noticed problems with the whole-word method and asked the education board to return to phonics. In 1929, Samuel Orton, a doctor in Iowa, concluded that the whole-word method caused reading difficulties in children. His findings were published in the Journal of Educational Psychology.

By the early 1900s, the meaning-based curriculum became the main way to teach reading. In the 1930s and 1940s, reading programs focused on understanding text and teaching children to recognize whole words by sight. Phonics was taught only when other methods failed.

Edward William Dolch created a list of sight words in 1936 by studying the most common words in children’s books. Teachers encouraged children to memorize these words to improve fluency. Many teachers still use this list, though some researchers argue that sight word reading is not the best method. They suggest phonics is more effective.

In 1955, Rudolf Flesch wrote a book titled Why Johnny Can't Read, arguing strongly for phonics instruction. This sparked debate among educators, researchers, and parents.

In the 1960s, government-funded research on reading instruction began in the United States and other countries. Studies in the 1970s and 1980s showed that phonics helps children learn to read early on. However, these findings had little impact on public school teaching methods.

In the 1970s, the whole language method was introduced. This method avoids teaching phonics in isolation and encourages guessing words using context, meaning, and sentence structure. It became the main teaching method in the 1980s and 1990s but is now less popular. Neuroscientist Mark Seidenberg calls it a "theoretical zombie" because it is still used despite lacking strong evidence. Methods like sight words, the three-cueing system, and balanced literacy often include elements of whole language.

According to a 2010 survey, 75% of U.S. teachers use the three-cueing system, which teaches children to guess words using meaning, syntax, and letter clues. While this helps with simple words, it does not prepare children for more complex vocabulary. Researchers like Mark Seidenberg and Timothy Shanahan do not support this method. In England, synthetic phonics is being promoted to replace the three-cueing system.

In the 1990s, balanced literacy emerged as a teaching theory. It combines elements like phonics, word study, and sight words but is not clearly defined. Some say it balances whole language and phonics, while others argue it is mostly a whole language approach. In 2010, 68% of U.S. teachers used balanced literacy, but only 52% included phonics in their definition.

In 1996, the California Department of Education began emphasizing phonics in schools. In 1997, the department required first-grade lessons on print concepts, phonemic awareness, decoding, and vocabulary.

By 1998, whole language instruction and the searchlights model were still common in the U.K. However, phonics was increasingly taught in early grades, as seen in the National Literacy Strategies.

For more information, see the article History of learning to read. For details on reading education by country, see Phonics practices by country or region.

Other terms

Reading that combines silently reading words with mentally hearing them. Some people who support speed reading say this habit can slow down reading and understanding, but other researchers argue this is not true because no actual speaking happens. Instead, this method may help skilled readers by using how words sound to understand them (e.g., the difference between PERmit and perMIT).

Methods that claim to increase reading speed without greatly reducing understanding or memory. These methods include grouping words together, quickly scanning text, and others. However, scientists like Stanislas Dehaene and Mark Seidenberg say claims of reading 1,000 words per minute are impossible and should not be believed. Most adults read English at speeds between 175 and 320 words per minute.

A type of reading used to find mistakes in written text. This is not typical reading because the person checking may not focus on understanding the meaning while doing this.

Reading a book more than one time. "One cannot read a book: one can only reread it," said Vladimir Nabokov.

Popularized by Mortimer Adler in How to Read a Book, analytical reading is mainly used for non-fiction works. It involves analyzing a text by examining three things: 1) the structure and purpose of the work, 2) the ideas or arguments presented, and 3) how well the arguments and conclusions are made. This method requires avoiding judgment of the work until it is fully understood.

A common method taught in schools, this involves reading to prepare for teaching others. It is useful for teachers who need to teach material without using notes.

A method where words in a sentence are shown one at a time on a screen at the same spot, used to study how vision works over time.

A method used to better understand a text, find detailed information for assignments, and read very difficult parts of a text. Strategies include RAP, RIDA, the Five S method, and SQ3R. Exploratory reading helps groups of people focus on understanding specific ideas or arguments in a text.

Gallery

• Girl Reading (1889), an oil painting on canvas by Fritz von Uhde
• Young Girl Reading (1924), a painting by George Goodwin Kilburne
• Young Girls Reading (1891), a painting by Auguste Renoir
• A Young Girl Reading (c. 1770), an oil painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
• Miss Auras, a painting by John Lavery that shows a woman reading a book
• A girl reading from the public domain image book titled What Shall We Do? "Five Hundred Games and Pastimes", written by Dorothy Canfield and published in 1907 by Frederick A. Stokes Company of New York
• Youth reading, a Persian miniature painting by Reza Abbasi (1625–26)
• Reader, a painting by Honoré Daumier

• Three girls reading (1880)
• Girl reading a book with the title The Children's Hour and a photograph of a hippopotamus at Thebarton Primary School, South Australia (1945)
• Students reading during leisure time at Government Primary School Asir, Sirsa, Haryana province in India