Training the Brain to Read

Training the Brain to Read is a brief article written by Constance Holden in Science in April 2004. The article explains the results of a recent imaging study at Yale that relates to phonics developments.  The brains of 49 poor readers were imaged while they performed simple-letter recognition tests.  Thirty-seven of these students were tutored daily in phonics for a period of 8 months, while the other 12 received normal remedial reading. The study revealed that the phonics students made sustained improvements.  Brain imaging showed a change in the “reading pathways” in the brain after the phonics instruction.  Specifically, the brain showed more activity in areas that recognized words instantly without having to work at deciphering them.  The conclusion of the study was that poor readers have the system there to learn, but it has not as yet been activated in their brains.  Phonics instruction “re-wires” them so they can learn to read (Holden, 2004, p. 677).

I thought this article, which seems to be backed up by scientific evidence, was fascinating.  It showed the importance of phonics as a building block to any whole language program, especially insofar as poor readers are concerned. When one struggles, going back to the basic concepts of phonics becomes important because the student may not be “hard-wired” to learn how to read.  I think this article is somewhat lacking, however, because it does not explain what happened to the twelve students who just received normal remedial reading. How did they fare as opposed to the phonic-instructed children?  I think to gain a better understanding of this study and how it relates to phonics and whole language, that information needs to be presented.

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