Do students need explicit instruction in order to learn to read? Or is it a skill that they will pick up naturally as they are exposed to language? Although both options oppose each other, they are both true. When it comes to learning to read, every student does not need explicit instruction. About 70% of students will learn to read regardless of the approach that is used. But although that is the majority, 30% is a substantial amount of students to leave behind by not including explicit reading instruction from the start.
The human mind has an amazing propensity to learn and to recognize patterns, allowing language skills to be acquired quite easily by most. However, for students with learning disabilities (that have different mental strengths then the average student), picking up language tasks is not as natural of an activity for them.
But regardless of the lack of necessity of explicit reading instruction for every student, it is beneficial for all students. Even though a student can read, it doesn’t mean that they know how to decode every single word and use the correct pronunciation.
It is helpful for every student to have the decoding skills and the rules of language that will help them every time they approach a word and are unsure of the pronunciation or spelling.
So yes, many of your students will learn to read naturally regardless of the type of instruction you use, but not all. Using explicit reading instruction is essential for the 30% of your students that will not learn to read naturally, and it is beneficial for every single one of your students.
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