Science of Reading: The Podcast

• S10 E6: Understanding assessment, with Melissa Farrall, Ph.D.

  In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Affiliated Scholar at the Stern Center for Language and Learning, Melissa Farrall, Ph.D., to discuss understanding assessment. Melissa explains why it's beneficial for every educator to understand the fundamentals of assessment, especially comprehension assessment. Together, Melissa and Susan discuss the relationship between reading comprehension and language comprehension, why reading comprehension can be challenging to assess, and how, in a perfect world, educators would be trained both in the Science of Reading and assessment.Show notes:Submit your questions on comprehension!Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page.Connect with Melissa Farrall on LinkedIn.Learn more about Chall's Stages of Reading Development.Read The Academic Achievement Challenge: What Really Works in the ClassroomListen to Season 2 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast.Join our community Facebook group.Connect with Susan Lambert. Quotes:"My view of reading comprehension is that it is thinking guided by print." —Melissa Farrall, Ph.D."If we supplement our evaluation with measures of listening comprehension, we can then get a sense of an individual's ability to make meaning." —Melissa Farrall, Ph.D."In a perfect world, we would have not just evaluators, but educators who are trained both in the Science of Reading and in assessment so that we can all sit at the same table and participate." —Melissa Farrall, Ph.D.Episode Timestamps:00:00 Introduction: Exploring comprehension assessment, with Melissa Farrall07:00 The legacy of Jean Chall's research on the developmental stages of reading10:00 "Reading Assessment: Linking Language, Literacy, and Cognition"17:00 Comprehension is thinking guided by print21:00 Different ways of assessing reading comprehension27:00 Kintsch's construction-integration model30:00 Word recognition33:00 Reading comprehension is not easily quantified38:00 How background knowledge affect the meaning-making process41:00 The two modalities of language comprehension45:00 How today's educators might think differently about comprehension instruction48:00 Closing thoughts*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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• S10 E5: Reimagining comprehension assessment, with Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D.

  In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by University of Oregon College of Education Professor and Ann Swindells Chair in Education Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D., to explore how best to assess for comprehension. Gina elaborates on her extensive work developing more precise and informative measurements of reading comprehension and discusses think-aloud research, demonstrating how to infer for coherence, and examining how students who are struggling with comprehension tend to rely too heavily on making inferences or paraphrasing.Show notes:Submit your questions on comprehension!Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page.  Connect with Gina on LinkedIn.Read “Diagnostic and Instructionally Relevant Measurement of Reading Comprehension”Watch Dr. Biancarosa's recent Amplify webinar appearance: Where and How to Measure Comprehension to Drive ImprovementListen to Season 2 of Amplify’s Beyond My Years podcast.Join our community Facebook group.Connect with Susan Lambert.Quotes:"A lot of what we know about reading comprehension comes from think-alouds where you ask someone to tell you what they're thinking as they read." —Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D"To model reading comprehension, [try] thinking aloud in front of a classroom of students in a way that is instructive for them, and also authentic to the reading process." —Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D."Students are making causal inferences in their daily lives, when they watch movies, and when they're hearing stories. And so what we're really trying to do is get them to generalize these behaviors that they engage in outside of the task of reading, during reading." —Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D.Episode Timestamps:02:00 Introduction: Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D. and comprehension assessment08:00 How do we assess comprehension?14:00 Think-aloud research21:00 MOCCA (Multiple-Choice Online Causal Comprehension Assessment)24:00 Causal coherence30:00 Paraphrasers and elaborators33:00 Comprehension assessment research39:00 Professional development and comprehension assessment42:00 Closing thoughts*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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• S10 E4: The science of memory and misinformation, with David Rapp, Ph.D.

  In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Northwestern University Professor of Education, Social Policy, and Psychology David Rapp. David’s research focuses on language and memory, and his conversation with Susan gives insight into how memory is connected to comprehension. The first half of the episode is spent defining comprehension as a process, a product, and a higher-order cognitive process. David then digs into how that definition informs the ways in which educators assess comprehension and where they can look for potential failure points. One of these failure points includes misinformation. David addresses what happens when misinformation is stored in long-term memory. He details the issues this can cause for student comprehension, and he gives guidance on how to prevent and correct them.Show notes:Submit your questions on comprehension! Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page.  Check out David Rapp's lab.Resources:Listen to Season 2 of Amplify’s Beyond My Years podcast.Join our community Facebook group.Connect with Susan Lambert.Quotes: “Once the information is in memory, you can't really get rid of it. What you can try to do is make other memories more powerful, more likely to resonate to things.” —David Rapp, Ph.D.“Sometimes our most effective processes actually lead us to misunderstand. For example, you're really good at encoding information to memory, that's great, except if you're exposed to inaccurate ideas, that's a problem.” —David Rapp, Ph.D.“It feels easy for us to comprehend texts if we're well practiced at it, it feels easy, but it's actually a lot of cognitive operations going on behind the scenes and a lot of years of practice.” —David Rapp, Ph.D.“In terms of being exposed to misinformation, we see even if people have been exposed to inaccurate ideas, even once, it's encoded into memory, it's potentially gonna be there to influence you.” —David Rapp, Ph.D.Episode Timestamps02:00 Introduction: Who is David Rapp?04:00 Defining reading comprehension05:00 Comprehension as a process vs a product08:00 Comprehension as a higher order cognitive process12:00 Coherence18:00 Memory activation and misinformation21:00 Consequences of misinformation25:00 Correcting misinformation28:00 Preventing misinformation36:00 The evolution of thinking on comprehension40:00 Current research45:00 Closing thoughts and encouragement to dig into research*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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• S10 E3: Finding fluency at the heart of comprehension, with Doug Lemov

  In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Doug Lemov,  former teacher and school principal, to discuss how teachers can identify when disfluency is actually the root cause for students’ struggles with comprehension—and what they can do about it. Using his new book, The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading, to guide the discussion, Susan and Doug address building attention stamina, the argument for reading whole books, and the value of expressive read-alouds. Finally, Doug ends the episode asserting that humans are meant to live in community, and that a deeper level of comprehension is unlocked through deep empathic connection to text and the experience of reading with others.Show notes: Listen to Season 2 of the Beyond My Years podcast for solutions to common teaching challenges directly from seasoned educators.Connect with Doug Lemov:X: @Doug_Lemov Resources:Read: The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of ReadingWatch: Gabby Woolf’s Dr. Jekyll Lesson and the Power of Reading FluencyListen: ”Phonology as a settled science”Listen: ”The plea to preserve deep reading, with Maryanne Wolf, Ed.D.”Listen: ”Writing the way to better reading, with Judith Hochman, Ed.D.”Listen: ”The joy of reading aloud, with Molly Ness”Download: cComprehension 101 BundleSubmit your questions on comprehension! Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreadingConnect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/Quotes:  “If you're not a fluent reader, you can't be a deep reader.”—Doug Lemov“The research is clear that when you start to read expressively externally, then your internal reading voice while reading silently is much more expressive and therefore infused with more meaning.”—Doug Lemov Episode Timestamps03:00 Introduction: Doug Lemov05:00 The importance of the middle grades07:00 Book: The Teach like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading13:00 How to build attention stamina16:00 Background knowledge and vocabulary19:00 Writing’s impact on memory and reading22:00 The value in reading whole books25:00 Embracing smaller writing assignments27:00 Fluency deep dive30:00 Working memory35:00 Troubleshooting fluency39:00 Expressive reading41:00 Read-alouds44:00 Reading as a social act52:00 The argument for books*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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• Science of Reading Essentials: Dyslexia

  In this special dyslexia-focused Essentials episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert pulls from past episodes to summarize everything you need to know about dyslexia, from experts Emily Lutrick, Ed.D.; Nadine Gaab, Ph.D.; Tim Odegard, Ph.D.; Sally Shaywitz, M.D.; and Francisco Usero-González, Ph.D. You'll also hear first-hand accounts from young people about their personal experiences with dyslexia, reading, and the education system. Even if you have little prior knowledge of dyslexia, you’ll walk away from this episode with a foundational understanding of the condition, including what it is, what causes it, how to identify it, the importance of early screening, how it is a continuum, methods for intervention, and more.Show notes:ResourcesAccess free high-quality resources at our brand new professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning Download your Dyslexia Support Power PackJoin our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreadingEpisode Timestamps00:27 Introduction to SoR: Essentials01:02 Susan’s personal connection with dyslexia02:53 Accounts from young people on their experience of dyslexia05:09 Defining dyslexia with Dr. Emily Lutrick06:53 Dyslexia as a reading disability with Dr. Nadine Gaab07:39 Three key characteristics of people with dyslexia with Dr. Tim Odegard09:42 Longitudinal study with Dr. Sally Shaywitz11:54 The causes of dyslexia13:09 Early identification and effective intervention15:22 Discrepancy model/Waiting to fail model16:35 How early is too early to screen for dyslexia18:37 How to know when a student is at risk for dyslexia21:54 Identifying risk factors in older students22:54 Decoding nonsense words24:27 The power of naming a struggle25:28 The importance of having a cohesive system in place26:43 Screening students in their home language with Dr. Francisco Paco Usero Gonzalez29:45 Dyslexia as a continuum33:41 Final thoughts from young people on dyslexia36:12 Preview of upcoming episode*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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