Reading is a crucial skill in modern society. A question of major interest for parents, teachers, and researchers is: How can we help children to read better? To address this question, the Department of Early Childhood Education invited Dr. R. Malatesha Joshi—Professor of Reading/Language Arts Education from Texas A&M University—to introduce his Componential Model of Reading to its colleagues.
According to Componential Model of Reading, children’s reading abilities are shaped by three sets of factors: cognitive, psychological, and ecological. For example, the cognitive factors include word recognition and comprehension; the psychological factors include motivation and interest; the ecological factors include teacher knowledge and home environment. Therefore, to help children to master different reading tasks, parents and teachers need to not only teach children what individual words mean and how they can combined to convey more complex meanings, but also develop children’s intrinsic interest and expose them to language rich environments, at home and in school.
The Department of Early Childhood Education is dedicated to using scientific research to make a difference to children and families.
