Issues We Debate and an Issue That We Have Too Long Ignored

This manuscript is comprised an address made to the Literacy Research Association about future directions for issues we continuously debate. Several important issues for future reading research are identified. First, a single definition of dyslexia that is shared across professions is needed. Currently, at least four distinct definitions are used by different groups of scholars, prompting different frameworks for research studies and for interpreting said research. Second, the development of word decoding is often studied in isolation from other essential skills in learning to read, allowing the debate over the pre-eminence of phonics to continue. Until we develop a better understanding of how decoding abilities work in concert with the other skills needed by beginning readers, we will largely continue debating the wrong issues. Third, more attention is needed on the influence of volume in reading development, although existing evidence suggests that how much children read is a central component in early literacy growth.