Clarifying Differences Between Reading Skills and Reading ...

1 The Reading Teacher,61(5), pp. 364 373 2008 International Reading : 0034-0561 print / 1936-2714 onlineHelping children learn to read is a deeply re-warding experience for parents and teacherswho take pride as their children acquire effec-tive Reading Skills and Reading strategies. The termsskillsand strategiesare part of the vocabulary used byteachers to describe what they teach and what chil-dren learn. Yet, despite frequent use in professionaldiscourse, the terms are used skillsand strategiesare used as synonyms,and sometimes they are used to describe complemen-tary relations ( , strategies support Skills ) or a no-tion of developmental progressions ( , first thephonics Skills then the comprehension strategies).

2 Policy makers, curriculum developers, administrators,and test makers include the terms when discussingreading programs, tests, goals, and policies, but theyrarely define or distinguish the terms. Resolving theconfusion is important because how we conceptual-ize and define Reading skillsand Reading strategieshasimportant implications for Reading practices and read-ing importance of learning to read has stimulatedconsiderable debates theoretical, practical, and po-litical about which teaching methods and materialsare effective. During the past 10 years, the debateshave become more strident as calls for school ac- Clarifying Differences Between Reading Skills and Reading StrategiesPeter Afflerbach, P.

3 David Pearson, Scott G. ParisThere is a lack of consistency in the use of the terms skilland strategy, reflecting an underlying confusion about how theseterms are conceptualized. Suchinconsistency can confuse students andteachers and render instruction have increased. The debates about teach-ing Reading are not theoretical for teachers who areincreasingly told by legislated policies what, how, andwhen to teach Reading to students in their debates have also stimulated a greater reliance onscientific evidence by educational administrators andpolicymakers who want all teachers to use effectivemethods and materials (National Institute of ChildHealth and Human Development [NICHD], 2000;Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998).

4 Reading researchers,perhaps now more than ever before, have a responsi-bility to use the most relevant research to bridge theo-ry and practice with coherent and useful models ofreading development, curricula, instruction, and as-sessment. Toward this end, we want to discuss andclarify the distinctions Between Reading Skills andreading Search of DefinitionsOur exploration of Reading Skills and Reading strate-gies begins with a brief discussion of existing concep-tualizations and definitions and then considers thehistorical uses of the terms for clues about their simi-larities and Differences . We consider developmentalaspects of Reading Skills and strategies and suggesthow these two related but different aspects of read-ing can be reconciled in a productive manner.

5 Wethen describe implications of the distinction betweenskills and strategies for Reading instruction and read-ing is a complex undertaking and an impres-sive achievement, as demonstrated by a century of re-search (Afflerbach & Cho, in press; Huey, 1908; RANDR eading Study Group, 2002). At different historicaltimes, Reading has been defined by referring to specif-ic Skills such as Reading the Bible, understanding direc-364tions, or answering questions about text. More recent-ly, strategies have been used to describe aspects ofreading that involve intentional control and deliberatedirection of behavior. Today, like many teachers andresearchers, we use the terms skillsand strategies,both formally and informally, to describe features ofchildren s Reading development as well as features ofteachers Reading instruction (Paris, Wasik, & Turner,1991; Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995).

6 The term readingskillshas been used in Reading curricula for teachersand K 12 students for at least 50 years. In contrast, theterm strategiesbecame popular in the 1970s to signifythe cognitive aspects of information of reconciling the Differences Between skillsand strategies, researchers, educators, and publisherssimply grouped them together to be phenomenon appears to be an act of conven-ience rather than a principled process. In our experi-ences, there are three main sources of confusion:diverse colloquial uses, inadequate definitions, andinconsistent use in formal that professionals who teach Reading usethe terms Reading skilland Reading strategyalmost dai-ly in their work, we began our inquiry by asking ourcolleagues (teachers, graduate and undergraduate ed-ucation students, and professors of education) to tellus what each term meant and to describe how theymight be related.

7 Consider the variability in respons-es we received: Skills make up strategies. Strategies lead to Skills . Skill is the destination, strategy is the journey. We learn strategies to do a skill. Skills are automatic, strategies are effortful andmediated. We use strategies as tools. Strategies that work require a skill set. We have to pay attention in learning Skills , buteventually we use them automatically. You don t think about Skills , and you do thinkabout strategies. The method and sample are limited, but we thinkthat the responses illustrate several things. First, whenasked, people are ready and willing to describe read-ing Skills and strategies, and everyone seems confi-dent in their own understanding.

8 Second, thedescriptions often characterize skill and strategy inrelation to each other, but the type of relation is vari-able it may be a precursor, companion, learning aid,and so forth. Third, there does not appear to be muchshared understanding about the terms Reading skilland followed our questioning of colleagues withconsultation of The Literacy Dictionary(Harris &Hodges, 1995), a commonly used Reading reference,and found the following definitions:skilln. 1. an acquired ability to perform well; proficien-cy. Note: The term often refers to finely coordinated,complex motor acts that are the result of perceptual-motor learning, such as handwriting, golf, or , skill is also used to refer to parts of acts thatare primarily intellectual, as those involved in compre-hension or thinking.

9 (p. 235)strategyn. in education, a systematic plan, conscious-ly adapted and monitored, to improve one s perform-ance in learning. (p. 244)These definitions are helpful, but they do not clar-ify thoroughly the distinctions Between Skills andstrategies or the relations Between them. In particu-lar, note that skillis associated with the proficiency ofa complex act, and strategyis associated with a con-scious and systematic plan. These features may helpdifferentiate the terms as we discuss them , we searched the Internet for Reading stan-dards for clues about how professional organizationsdefine Skills and strategies. The website for theNational Council of Teachers of English mentionedskills in the overview of the Standards for the EnglishLanguage Arts(International Reading Association &National Council of Teachers of English, 1996):The vision guiding these standards is that all studentsmust have the opportunities and resources to developthe language Skills they need to pursue life s goals and toparticipate fully as informed, productive members of so-ciety.

10 ( )Strategies are mentioned in Standard 3:Students apply a wide range of strategies to compre-hend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. Theydraw on their prior experience, their interactions withother readers and writers, their knowledge of wordmeaning and of other texts, their word identificationstrategies, and their understanding of textual features( , sound letter correspondence, sentence structure,context, graphics). ( ) Clarifying Differences Between Reading Skills and Reading Strategies365We also consulted an authoritative Reading re-search source, the National Reading Panel Report(NICHD, 2000), and found the following account:The rationale for the explicit teaching of comprehen-sion Skills is that comprehension can be improved byteaching students to use specific cognitive strategies orto reason strategically when they encounter barriers tounderstanding what they are Reading .