Latest / The Reading Instruction Show / Academic Buzzwords, Weasel Words, and Propagating Lexiconic Locution: Claude Goldenberg, and the International Dyslexia Association

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Academic Buzzwords, Weasel Words, and Propagating Lexiconic Locution: Claude Goldenberg, and the International Dyslexia Association · The Reading Instruction Show

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  This is The Reading Instruction Show. I'm your
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  host, as always, Dr. Andy Johnson. Topic of today's
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  podcast is academic buzzwords, weasel words,
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  propagating lexiconic leucusion, Claude Goldenberg,
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  and the International Dyslexia Association. And
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  this is an excerpt from my book coming out sometime
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  in 2027 called, Making Sense of the Science of
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  Reading, Teachers Matter. published by Guilford
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  Publishing. Now initially this chapter or podcast
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  was going to be about how bad research is conveniently
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  misinterpreted within the science of reading
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  community in order to make the case that early
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  reading instruction should be skills -based instead
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  of meaning -based. And I began by this chapter
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  by writing the sentence, words are important,
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  on top of the page. Then I realized that this
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  sentence didn't convey any useful information.
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  And it served no real purpose. The words were
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  useless. It was this realization. that led to
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  the first part of this chapter which looks at
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  the words used to convey propositions within
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  the science of reading community. So let's look
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  at types of words and we begin by defining our
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  terms. A word is a grouping of sounds put together.
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  These sound groupings are an abstract representation
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  of things out in the world. Now these sound groupings
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  can help you to think about things and enable
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  your thoughts to be transmitted to other heads.
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  By making certain sounds, the thoughts in your
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  head float out into space and are picked up by
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  other heads. It's magic! But wait, there's more!
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  Symbols are used to represent sounds. When put
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  together in certain ways, sound symbols enable
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  the thoughts in your head to travel across time
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  and space. And whoever encounters your sound
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  symbol groupings, now or in the future, in a
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  box with a fox, has your thoughts in their head.
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  And that's what a word is. Now, within the science
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  of reading community, sounding out words is thought
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  to be reading. The theory is that when students
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  see these groups of sound symbols on the page,
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  all the sounds slide together and the correct
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  word pops into their head. The desire to end
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  here is for the thoughts created in children's
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  heads by all the sound symbols on the page to
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  match the thoughts in the head of the person
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  who sent them. This will enable children to understand
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  the author's point of view, to refer to the structural
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  elements of a poem, to draw correct inferences,
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  to accurately describe characters and events
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  in stories, and to determine the theme of stories.
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  And this, by the way, are all skills, these things
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  I just said. All skills included in the Common
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  Core State Standards and used in part to define
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  and quantify students' level of literacy. But
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  ask yourself, how often are these skills used
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  by people in the real world? I digress. Words.
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  Academic buzzwords. A buzzword is a special kind
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  of sound grouping. While most sound groupings
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  are used to transmit ideas or information, these
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  sound groupings are used to elicit an emotional
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  response. In academia, academic buzzwords are
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  commonly used. The overuse of academic buzzwords
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  is called propagating lexiconic lucidity. Locution.
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  Locution, sorry. Academic buzzwords create the
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  illusion of something important. However, the
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  information transmitted with these can be inaccurate
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  or incomplete. Take, for example, these lists
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  of words, and I'll say just a few. Structured,
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  evidence -based, systematic, prescriptive, direct
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  instruction, explicit, extensive, sequential,
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  cumulative, multi -sensory, logical, order, phonological,
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  awareness, grasp. All right, these words sound
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  important. And everybody is in favor of these
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  words. But nobody wants to admit that they don't
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  know exactly what all these words mean. If you
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  want to have some fun, go to a science of reading
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  convention. Find a room full of people and ask
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  them to write out the definitions of these common
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  academic buzzwords. Of course, this is after
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  they have sounded them out. Then compare the
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  lists and what fun you will have. Weasel words
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  and cartoons. There's another kind of word used
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  in academia called a weasel word. These kinds
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  of words are used to give the impression of something
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  without really saying something. Weasel words
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  come in handy in academic writing as they absolve
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  the writer from responsibility for the propositions
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  put forth on the page. For example, in 2020,
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  Claude Goldenberg tells us that, quote, and evaluations
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  of instructional programs and interventions have
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  suggested that learning to read in a language
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  such as English with an alphabetic orthography,
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  i .e. writing system, requires learning the alphabetic
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  principles. The idea that letters or groups of
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  letters, graphemes, represent the speech sounds,
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  phonemes, in words, unquote. Now, according to
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  Claude, this is only a suggestion. They suggest
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  these things. And we can suggest a lot of things
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  without being held to account. For example, I
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  could suggest that Claude purposefully uses overly
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  long sentences and propagating lexiconic locution.
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  And he also tends to conveniently over -interpret
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  bad research. This is done to create the illusion
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  that its propositions have a strong basis in
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  research. But that's only a suggestion. I can't
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  be held to account for a suggestion. Now words
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  by themselves are not weasel -y. Their weasel
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  -ness is dependent on the context in which they're
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  found. Suggested, in Claude's sentence, is a
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  weasel word when used in this context. Claude's
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  not saying there's a causal relationship here.
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  He's not saying that there's research evidence
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  to support the idea that learning the alphabetic
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  principle is a required prerequisite of learning
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  to read. He's merely making a suggestion. But
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  the bigger question is, why is he suggesting
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  such a thing in the first place? By using propagating
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  lexiconic locution to suggest such a thing, Claude
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  gives the impression that some place in the world
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  there are people who disagree with his proposition.
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  However, I would suggest that most people already
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  agree with his suggestion. Learning that letters
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  stands for certain sounds is an important part
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  of beginning reading instruction. Everyone agrees
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  with this. So why did Claude use 51 words and
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  a suggestion to make a proposition that most
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  people already know and agree with? Now one cannot
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  infer intent. One cannot legitimately suggest
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  intent. What one can do, however, is describe
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  why some people might do this. And by using the
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  words describe some people and might, there's
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  a strong possibility that you might infer that
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  this was Claude's intent. But I'm not saying
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  this. I'm not describing this. I'm not suggesting
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  this. And I'm not even inferring this. Inferences
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  that are made are on you. Now, Wisa words aren't
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  always easy to detect. But when you first start
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  looking, you have to read carefully to see them.
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  But once you start looking, you'll find weasel
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  words popping out of the page of academic articles
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  like whack -a -mole. So let's look at strawman
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  arguments. Weasel words and propagating lexiconic
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  locution are sometimes used to create a strawman
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  argument. This is where one creates an inaccurate
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  or cartoonish portrayal of something and then
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  makes an argument against the cartoon. This is
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  done to give the impression that the product,
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  service, or idea that one is trying to sell is
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  better than something else. By saying that something
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  is, has, or does something, you're inferring
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  that something else doesn't. For example, to
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  make the case that structured literacy is better
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  than balanced literacy. In 2019, the International
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  Dyslexia Association used this description, quote,
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  structured literacy is characterized by the provision
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  of systematic explicit instruction that integrates
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  listening, speaking, reading and writing and
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  emphasizes the structure of language across the
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  speech sound system, phonology, the writing system,
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  orthography, the structure of sentences, syntax,
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  the meaningful part of work, words, morphology,
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  the relationship among words, semantics, and
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  the organization of spoken and written discourse."
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  Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, words buzzing
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  around like swarms of bees around a hive. Now
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  I would ask you, to go to that same science of
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  reading convention that you went to and find
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  the same room full of people. Ask them now to
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  write a description of each of these elements,
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  what they look like in practice, the elements
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  described by the International Dyslexia Association.
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  What does it look like? What are they actually
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  doing? What behaviors do I see? What type of
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  pedagogical strategies or practices would I see?
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  And if the people in the room are able to do
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  this correctly, you'll find that most, if not
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  all, of the elements they list are also included
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  in balanced approaches to reading instruction
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  and interventions. When comparing structured
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  literacy to a balanced approach, It's not a matter
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  of what, it's a matter of how and how much these
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  elements are used. But by creating a list of
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  buzzwords instead of a description, the International
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  Dyslexia Association is strongly suggesting that
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  these are unique to the domain of structured
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  literacy and their Orton -Gillingham products
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  and services. But this is conveniently inaccurate,
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  and this perhaps was the purpose. This has been
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  The Reading Instruction Show. I am your host,
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  Dr. Andy Johnson.