10 myths about learning to read

The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL, Texas, USA) has been working with schools and educational communities for years. Dedicated to pedagogical improvement and educational equity, the laboratory pays particular attention to struggling institutions.

Sébastien Wren, a SEDL associate, works to improve underperforming schools. He is also the author of "The Cognitive Foundations of Learning to Read: A Framework."

We recommend that you read in detail his document " Ten myths about learning to read". It's well documented and nuanced.

To summarize, here are the 10 myths debunked:

• Myth 1: Learning to read is a natural process.
• Myth 2: Children will eventually learn to read if given enough time.
• Myth 3: Reading programs are "success stories".
• Myth 4: We teach children to read better than we used to.
• Myth 5: Easy reading involves using syntactic and semantic clues to guess words, and good readers make many "mistakes" when reading real texts.
• Myth 6: Research can be used to support your beliefs, whatever they may be.
• Myth 7: Attention to phonemes is a consequence - not a cause - of learning to read.
• Myth 8: Some people are just genetically "dyslexic".
• Myth 9: Short-term tutoring for struggling readers can help them reach their peers, and then the gains will be sustained.
• Myth 10: If it's in the curriculum to be seen, children will learn it, and a balanced curriculum (between different reading learning activities) is ideal.

The details and explanations of each of these myths are inspiring, especially with regard to learning to read and learning in general.

For translation: DeepL

Ten myths about learning to read