What is the Simple View of Reading (SVR)? 

The Simple View of Reading is a research-backed model for understanding reading comprehension. It’s essentially a formula illustrating that students must master both decoding and language comprehension in order to have true reading comprehension. If either of those components are missing, the student will struggle. 

• Decoding: In their early years, students focus heavily on learning letters and the sounds they make, then combining those sounds into words (phonics). Decoding is the ability to use those phonics skills to sound out written words on the page. Children usually focus heavily on this skill from preschool through grades two or three. Learn more about decoding here. 

• Language Comprehension: In addition to sounding out words, students must also know what they mean. Language comprehension includes vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation. Students start to develop these skills in preschool and continue throughout their school years. 

• Reading Comprehension: When a child has strong decoding and language comprehension skills, they’ll likely also have strong reading comprehension skills. This means a child can sound out and read words fluently and understand their meaning at the same time. It’s the difference between sounding out a list of words and reading and understanding a complete story or book. 

Think of it this way:

Imagine you’re learning a new language, and you’ve been taught the basic pronunciations of letters and letter combinations. Using that skill, you could sound out written words in that language (decoding), but you wouldn’t have any idea what they meant (language comprehension). Without both skills, you’ll never have true reading comprehension in that language. 

Simple View of Reading Model 

The SVR is often written as an equation: 

Note that both factors of the multiplication equation are equally important. If either D or LC equals zero, then RC will also equal zero. Though decoding and language comprehension skills may be taught separately, both are necessary for full reading comprehension. 

Does Research Support the Simple View of Reading?  

Psychologists Philip Gough and William Tunmer first introduced the SVR in 1986. Educators and researchers had spent decades determining the best ways to teach children to read. Some used the “whole word” approach, where students focused more heavily on language comprehension. Others preferred phonics, teaching students to decode.  

Gough and Tunmer realized that both approaches had merit—and what’s more, they were both necessary. Their SVR model caught on like wildfire and became the gold-medal standard in reading instruction throughout the 1990s. Study after study confirmed it: the best way to achieve full reading comprehension was to teach decoding and language comprehension hand-in-hand.  

For example, the study  Examining the Simple View of Reading with Elementary School Children: Still Simple after All These Years (Lonigan, Burgess, & Schatschneider, 2018), examined 757 children from grades 3 to 5 to understand the role of decoding and language comprehension in reading comprehension. The results showed that these two components accounted for nearly all the variance in reading comprehension. The study also highlighted developmental shifts, with decoding being more crucial in early grades and language comprehension becoming more dominant as students’ progress. 

Over time, the SVR became part of what’s known as the Science of Reading. Researchers expanded on the elements of both decoding and language comprehension, developing models like Scarborough’s Reading Rope to further support educators and students in their efforts. Today, the SVR is part of nearly every research-backed reading curriculum program.  

What Does the SVR Mean for Kids with Reading Differences?  

The SVR is especially helpful in identifying learning differences. If a child decodes well but doesn’t understand what they’re reading, they may need more help building vocabulary or understanding grammar. On the other hand, if a student struggles to sound out words but understands them once they do, they need more work on phonics and decoding. 

If your child is having difficulty with reading, it’s vital to use intervention strategies that address the specific part of the equation they’re struggling with. Take these two examples:  

Tips for Using the Simple View of Reading with Your Child 

So, what does the SVR mean for your young reader? As kids begin to build their literacy skills, it’s important to provide opportunities to practice both decoding and language comprehension. Try activities like these. 

Read Aloud 

When you read to your child, they build vocabulary and background knowledge as they listen. In their early years, this has an especially big impact on language comprehension development.

As they get a little older, you can use reading time to show them how to pronounce (decode) words, while pointing out punctuation, sentence structure, and other language skills. You can also demonstrate fluency by reading with expression and good pacing. 

Focus on Phonics Skills 

Phonics is a major part of decoding, so the more practice kids get with it, the better. As they learn letter sounds, letter blends, diphthongs and digraphs, prefixes and suffixes, and more phonics concepts, emergent readers beef up their decoding skills and learn to make sense out of written words. Discover more about phonics and how to teach it here. 

Online Learning Tools

You don’t need specialized software to teach …., but using a tool like ABCmouse can make it a lot easier! Our app offers interactive and visually stimulating content that reinforces word recognition and reading skills through games and engaging activities.

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