Can we “just do it” when it comes to reading practice?
At the ResearchEd National conference on 9th September this year I had the privilege of attending a talk by Rob Coe on Instructional Coaching and how it requires deliberate thought, planning, structure and expertise before any deliberate practice can be successful. His point was that it isn’t something you can “just do”. “It just needs a team of “good” teachers to act as coaches and a target group of teachers who need, or indeed want, to develop, pair them up and get them working together to set goals that they work towards, right?” It is not as simple as that, as is the case with most things that look easy in the hands of an expert. Instructional Coaching sounds like a simple concept that it is easy to implement. This falls foul of the Dunning-Kruger effect in that, without proper preparation and expertise, we don’t even know what we don’t know about a successful programme.
The same could be said of reading programmes. Seeing things on social media that look simple to execute can lure us into a false sense of “we can just…” and lead to a misguided strategy that ultimately fails to deliver what you thought it might. In secondary education we seem to jump straight from “they can decode words successfully” to “let’s make them practise independently” with little to nothing in between. We throw a disproportionate amount of time, energy and resources towards ensuring students complete this independent practice in the hopes that if they just do it a bit more they will magically improve. Initiatives like Tutor Time Novels and Accelerated Reader Competitions all have best interests at heart but often suffer from the “just do it” effect. They actually take significant investment in strategy, structure, systems, support and staff expertise development to become truly effective. They need to be done deliberately and with purpose.
10,000 Hours of Practice
According to the research of Anders Ericsson and his colleagues, deliberate practice, which is characterised by structured, modelled, and controlled practice sessions under the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher, is crucial for skill development and expertise. Ericsson’s work highlights that expertise is primarily a result of deliberate practice rather than innate talent. In the development of reading skills, these principles underscore the effectiveness of structured, teacher-led practice in fostering reading skills and comprehension.
Ericsson’s research unfortunately suffers from the meme effect in that it has been misinterpreted and boiled down into something that fits on a meme. It sounds like what we want it to say rather than what it actually says. Everyone knows the “10,000 hours of practice” rule right? “It takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to truly master something and become an expert”. Well that’s not really what his work suggests at all. Rather than “deliberate practice” it would be more accurate to describe it as “structured practice”. Structured practice, when modelled and controlled by a teacher, stands out as a superior approach compared to unstructured independent practice. After all, if I spend 10,000 hours practising something the wrong way without any input, feedback or instruction from an expert I’m simply going to master doing it wrong. Or at best, ineffectively.
The Role of Structured Deliberate Practice
Structured deliberate practice, according to Ericsson, is a systematic and structured approach to skill development. It involves an expert breaking down complex skills into smaller components, setting clear goals for a learner, giving/receiving immediate feedback, and making necessary adjustments. When applied to reading development, deliberate practice ensures that each aspect of reading, from phonics to comprehension, is addressed with precision.
Ericsson’s work highlights the importance of expert guidance in deliberate practice. In the context of reading, a skilled teacher can model proper reading techniques, introduce challenging texts which they guide a novice through, and provide immediate feedback that leads to the closing of knowledge gaps and the addressing of misconceptions before they become embedded. This guidance ensures that learners engage in activities specifically designed to improve their reading abilities and eliminate the inefficiencies often associated with independent practice.
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Similarly, Lev Vygotsky, proposed the Sociocultural Theory, which emphasises the role of social interaction and guidance in cognitive development. Vygotsky argued that learning is not an isolated process; instead, it occurs within a social context, where more knowledgeable individuals scaffold the learner’s understanding. In households where reading is modelled as a form of entertainment, children grow up choosing to read for pleasure and their development of language, knowledge and communication skills is accelerated. Unfortunately it isn’t as simple as “getting students to read at home”. We have written previously about how “Reading for Pleasure” is not really that if we are extrinsically motivating students to read.
A teacher’s role in structuring and controlling deliberate reading practice is crucial. A teacher must provide the necessary scaffolding by offering support, questioning, prompting and modelling before gradually reducing it as the learner becomes more proficient. This approach ensures that learners are constantly challenged at their current skill level, leading to more effective progress. However, if we completely strip away this scaffolding we are left with unstructured and unguided practice where no feedback, modelling nor instruction occur. Growth and development will stagnate unless the learner has significant intrinsic motivation invested in their own development.
The Role of Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation, the innate desire to engage in an activity for its own sake, is a critical factor in learning. However, it can be challenging to maintain in unstructured independent practice. When students lack guidance and clear objectives, they may struggle to find meaning and purpose in their reading activities.
Deliberate practice, structured and guided by a teacher, can enhance intrinsic motivation. By setting achievable goals and providing immediate feedback, teachers create a sense of accomplishment and progress. Students are more likely to stay motivated when they can see their improvement and understand the purpose of each practice session.
In the absence of intrinsic motivation, students engaged in unstructured independent practice may become frustrated and disengaged. This can hinder their progress and lead to a negative perception of reading, potentially impacting their long-term reading development.
So before you “just do it” and invest in those sets of Tutor Time novels, think carefully about whether you have planned, structured and developed teacher expertise in the delivery of the sessions. What does checking for understanding look like? How does intervention work to address misconceptions? How are students guided to become more fluent readers? Without this structured and deliberate practice in place, you may as well just stick on an audio book for 20 minutes each day. Can you really be certain that the independent reading book your Year 7 student checked out of the library a month ago is working to develop their skills and close any gaps they might have? Be deliberate, structured, planned, and with expertise developed carefully before you even start to implement or you will forever throw more and more resources at the programme without ever seeing the benefits of improved outcomes.