Research on Reading

Research has been proven useful in making the connections between language exposure and reading abilities.

In a longitudinal study conducted at the University of Kansas, 6 month old babies were observed until they were three years old. Researchers recorded what occurred around the baby for one hour each month. These results proved to be important when understanding what needs to be done in the development of language and the teaching of reading.

According to Betty Hart and Todd Risley in Meaningful Differences (1995), the results from this landmark study demonstrate that in order to learn beginning phonics, most often taught in first grade, a student needs a vocabulary of 10,000 to 12,000 words.

Children who have been read to, talked to or played with for only 50 hours (2 minutes per day):

• are NOT ready for beginning phonics UNTIL 3rd grade
• have a vocabulary of only 4000 words
• heard or experienced approximately 13 million words

Children who have been read to, talked to or played with for 1800 hours (1 hour per day):

• are ready for beginning phonics by 1st grade
• have a vocabulary of 10000 words
• heard and experienced approximately 26 million words

Children who have been read to, talked to or played with for 2000 hours (1 hour and 6 minutes per day):

• are ready for beginning phonics by kindergarten
• heard a vocabulary of 10,000-12,000 words
• heard or experienced approximately 45 million word

From Professional Learning Board’s online continuing education course for teachers: Reading Across the Curriculum