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The Science of Reading and Dual Language Education: Supporting Multilingual Learners' Language and Literacy Development
The Science of Reading (SOR) refers to the multidisciplinary, multilingual decades-long body of research on how children become fluent readers. For children to become fluent readers, they need to decode texts and comprehend what they read. Instruction aligned with SOR principles is comprehensive, including both decoding (e.g., alphabetic principle, phonological awareness, phonics, etc.) and listening comprehension (e.g., oral language and vocabulary, background knowledge, awareness of sentence structures, literary genres and text structures, etc.). Skillful reading also requires the cognitive underpinnings that facilitate reading comprehension, including working memory and executive functioning skills. Despite the robust body of evidence in favor of the SOR, over the last two decades, there has been much debate regarding the most effective instructional approaches to help children become fluent readers. This debate has centered on whether children acquire reading through the SOR or through a Balanced Reading Approach, which does not emphasize systematic phonics instruction.