11/18/2024

What is the Simple View of Reading?

To be a proficient reader, you must read accurately and fluently and understand what you’re reading. This theory forms the underpinning of the simple view of reading (SVR). 

First proposed by Philip Gough and William Tunmer in 1986, the SVR framework describes two processes integral to learning to read: Word decoding and language comprehension. Students need both skills to read fluently and comprehend the texts they are reading. 

SVR is part of the body of research that makes up the science of reading and is interconnected with:

• The five pillars of reading instruction
• Scarborough’s Reading Rope
• Structured Literacy

The simple view of reading is represented as a multiplication formula, emphasizing that neither word recognition nor linguistic comprehension is sufficient on its own. Teachers can use this framework to guide literacy instruction for all students, ensuring both components are addressed simultaneously.

A Formula for Success: The Simple View of Reading

Gough and Tumner developed the SVR formula to show how word recognition and language comprehension lead to reading comprehension. The equation shows neither of these concepts is sufficient on its own—a lack of understanding of one concept could lead to overall reading failure. This is why students must develop both concurrently. 

Components of the Simple View of Reading

Word recognition and language comprehension each require a set of skill components that students must master to become proficient readers. 

In the SVR, word recognition, or decoding, consists of these skill components: 

• Phonology: The sound system of a language, including how sounds are organized and used.
• Orthography: The written system of a language, including spelling patterns and letter-sound correspondences.
• Morphology: The structure of words, including prefixes, suffixes, and root words.

Language comprehension consists of these skill components: 

• Syntax: The set of rules governing the arrangement of words in sentences to convey meaning.
• Semantics: The meaning of words and sentences, including vocabulary and how meaning is constructed.
• Pragmatics: Using language in social contexts and understanding rules for effective communication.
• Discourse: The structure of connected language, such as conversations, stories, or written texts.

If a student has difficulty with any one of these subcomponents, they may experience reading comprehension struggles.

What is Decoding?

Decoding refers to students' ability to connect words and letters they see on a page to their spoken equivalents. In the early grades, decoding begins with phonemic awareness—understanding the sound system of a language—and grows into understanding a writing system based on the components of phonology (sound system of a language), orthography (writing system of a language), and morphology (understanding meaningful units of words—e.g., prefixes, roots, etc.).

What is Language Comprehension?

Language comprehension represents the other side of the SVR and describes a student's ability to read and understand what they are reading (e.g., make meaning out of words). Comprehension is a combination of understanding semantics (the meaning of words and the relationship between words), pragmatics (rules of conversation, e.g., eye contact, taking turns), syntax (relating to grammar, the order and structure of sentences), and discourse (the organization of spoken and written communication).

Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension, the main goal, culminates in a student’s ability to understand words and make meaning from the words that form a text. Students draw from their background knowledge, decoding skills, vocabulary, and critical thinking strategies to construct meaning from their reading. 

Why the SVR is Important for Literacy Development

According to the International Dyslexia Association®, nearly half of students require explicit, systematic, and sequential instruction to read successfully. Another 10%–15%, including those who have dyslexia or another learning disability, need this type of instruction repeated many times. SVR provides a research-based approach to literacy development that highlights the interdependence of decoding and comprehension and gives teachers a framework for teaching decoding and language comprehension skills. By using this framework, educators can help pinpoint specific student reading challenges earlier on. For example:

• Beginning readers may need more help with decoding, while older students might need vocabulary reinforcement or comprehension strategies. 
• Teachers can divide their instruction into decoding and comprehension lessons and tailor it to students' specific needs, giving them personalized interventions where needed.
• SVR can help teachers better identify and support students who may show symptoms of dyslexia or other learning differences.

The SVR approach ensures teachers don’t overemphasize phonics at the expense of reading comprehension. The graphic below shows the ideal reader falling into the upper right-hand quadrant, with strong word recognition and good comprehension skills. Conversely, the student in the lower left-hand quadrant has poor word recognition and, therefore, has difficulty reading and understanding a text. Using this model, a teacher identifies whether a student needs additional decoding strategies to make meaning of a text or more help developing language comprehension skills.

Practical Application of the SVR

Teachers can use the theory behind SVR to structure reading lessons to support literacy development in these areas: 

Word recognition: To help students translate written symbols into spoken language, you can use explicit phonics instruction to reinforce letter-sound relationships (phonemes and graphemes) in a systematic and sequential way. Students can then learn how to blend individual sounds together to form words. For example, you can teach them to blend sounds like /k/, /a/, and /t/ to read "cat."

Phonological and phonemic awareness: You can help build phonemic awareness by leading students in activities that sharpen their ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in words through rhyming, segmenting, and blending sounds. Use Elkonin boxes (sound boxes), where students push tokens into boxes as they say each sound in a word. This links phonemic awareness to decoding.

Fluency practice: To help students develop their ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression, you can engage them in repeated reading or paired reading. By reading a text multiple times, students can move beyond decoding and increase their understanding of the text. When they read along with an instructor or peer, they can echo that reader’s phrasing and intonation to develop their own fluency.

Language comprehension: By systematically teaching essential words, especially Tier Two and Tier Three vocabulary words that are more academic and complex, you can help develop students’ vocabulary. Students should also learn how to use context clues, prefixes, suffixes, and roots to deduce the meanings of unknown words.

To build on students’ background knowledge, you can organize your lessons around themes such as weather, fiction, or a time in history, using class discussions to help students connect the text to new material. Teachers can also read more complex texts aloud, following up with questions that ask students to make predictions, ask questions, or summarize key points to develop comprehension skills.

Comprehension strategies: Teachers can check for reading comprehension by asking students to summarize the main idea of a story and retell it in their own words. You can also ask students about the author’s reason for telling the story and why information was presented in a particular way. 

Diagnostic assessments that measure both decoding (phonics, word recognition, fluency) and language comprehension (vocabulary, inference, background knowledge) can help you design interventions that address the need for explicit phonics instruction or fluency practice. Students who struggle with vocabulary or lack background knowledge might benefit from interventions that address building comprehension strategies.

Using these approaches, you can address both sides of the reading equation in the SVR model and tailor specific interventions that build skills in each.

The Simple View of Reading vs. Scarborough’s Reading Rope

Scarborough’s Reading Rope was designed by Hollis Scarborough, Ph.D., a leading researcher of early language development, to describe the many strands that make up skilled reading and its connection to later literacy. Scarborough spoke about the complexities of learning to read, where she “spoke of skilled reading as resembling the ‘strands’ of a rope, using pipe cleaners to illustrate the interconnectedness and interdependence of all the components.” 

Similar to the SVR, the Reading Rope is divided into two sections: The word-recognition strands (phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition of familiar words) and the language-comprehension strands (background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge). These two sections weave together to ultimately produce a skilled reader. With a slightly different skill component breakdown, the Reading Rope visualizes the components that must be woven together for proficient reading. These strands are critical for skilled reading and are dependent upon one another.

In Scarborough’s Reading Rope, word recognition is a combination of:

• Phonological awareness
• Decoding
• Sight recognition

Of these three, decoding is the element that helps tie everything together. Students' ability to decode words begins with their understanding of the language sound system. Then, they grasp the writing system by increasing their understanding of phonology, orthography, and morphology.

Language comprehension is the other necessary component of reading comprehension. It makes up the top half of the Reading Rope. Language comprehension requires the combination of the following:

• Background knowledge
• Vocabulary
• Language structures
• Verbal reasoning
• Literacy knowledge

While these skill components differ slightly from the SVR’s semantics, pragmatics, syntax, and discourse components, they both comprise the skills needed to understand language and sentence structure and follow the science of reading.

Lexia Supports Evidence-Based Literacy Solutions

Lexia® supports science of reading-based literacy solutions that help every student and educator. For example, Lexia® Core5® Reading provides a systematic and structured approach to six areas of reading in grades pre-K–5: phonics, phonological awareness, vocabulary, structural analysis, automaticity/fluency, and comprehension. Each student travels along their own learning path as they master skills in each area.

In Lexia® PowerUp Literacy®, students in grades 6–12 work online in three different instructional strands based on the simple view of reading. The three strands—Word Study, Grammar, and Comprehension—improve student proficiency and independence in reading and understanding complex, authentic texts. 

Despite the value of the SVP’s two-pronged approach, teachers who lack a firm grasp of science of reading theory and instruction may prioritize students’ engagement with a text over decoding. Lexia® LETRS® professional learning is a comprehensive professional development product suite designed to provide educators with a deep understanding of the science of reading through the lens of the SVR. This evidence-based training equips them with the knowledge and skills to deliver effective literacy instruction.

The science of reading provides proven, evidence-based best practices for teaching reading and supporting students of all abilities. Check out our solution page about the science of reading to learn how Lexia addresses student literacy through the simple view of reading.