Reading Instruction, Word Confirmation, and Confirmation Bias

Purpose statement: The reader will become more effective in evaluating online sources related to reading instruction.

Behavioral objective: Readers will be able to identify instances in which confirmation bias results in an over-use of quotations and a misrepresentation of authors’ original ideas.

Important Terms

• Word recognition – encountering a word in print and instantly knowing what it is.

• Word identification – encountering a word in print that is not recognized and using a strategy to figure out what it is.

• Decoding – identifying a word using letters and letter patterns.

• Strategy - a cognitive process that one consciously applies to a task.

• Skill - a cognitive process that has become automated.

• Penguin - a bird living in the Antarctic that is thought to be the cause of most reading problems.

• Confirmation bias – starting with a belief and selection only information that supports that predetermined belief.

• Academic discourse – sharing and evaluating ideas using reason and research.

• Context – something that matters.