Developing an informed and integrated teaching approach for students with reading-accuracy difficulties in the primary school

Reading comprehension builds from the developmental facets of reading-accuracy (Text Decoding), and language skills (including Meaning Making, Text User, and Text Analyst roles; Luke & Freebody, 2000). Reading is a highly complex skill which many children have difficulty mastering. This chapter focuses on the teaching of reading and firstly discusses the difficulties for students reading English orthography. A component model of reading is used as a basis to understand the reading process to enhance students’ early and sophisticated literacy skills. Next follows a discussion of the use of cognitive load theory to raise awareness for teachers of the extremely high load imposed on students with learning difficulties as they engage in the act of reading. Finally, the authors outline practical teaching activities designed to teach students to develop their early reading skills, as it is vital that reading instruction for students with reading difficulties be well-informed, carefully planned, and integrate multiple aspects of reading development using a balance of explicit instruction and authentic learning.