RILL lesson structure

Recap

Recap previous lesson and outline aim of the lesson.

The 'words of the day' are tier two words (Beck et al., 2002) which can also be found in the story. Tier two words are:

• High frequency for mature language users

• Demonstrate utility (i.e., appear frequently across multiple domains).

• Have instructional potential (i.e., worked with in various ways and linked to other words in order to build rich semantic representations). 

• Possess some conceptual basis (i.e., students have some underlying understanding, but which a more sophisticated or specific verbal label can be applied).

'Words of the day' are trained following the approach used in the Reading and Vocabulary Intervention (REVI; Duff et al., 2008), based on Beck et al. (2002). It follows: 

• Instructor contextualises word

• Pupil repeats word

• Instructor defines the word

• Instructor uses an alternative

• Pupil uses the word in context

• Pupil repeats the word

Read the passage with the instructor. 

Depending on the pupil’s level, they may read aloud independently or shared with the instructor. The passage contains the two 'words of the day' and so the pupil is also exposed to the written form of these words in text. 

The instructor will help the pupil decode words they are unfamiliar with.

The instructor will ask the pupil two or three pre-set questions on the text.

In this activity pupils focus on blending the phonemes (i.e., synthesising individually presented phonemes to produce the target word), of up to five words which include the lessons target blend. This activity follows a systematic structure.

Where necessary, this session will focus on securing letter knowledge (for younger and poorer readers and spellers; see Byrne, 1998). 

The focus then shifts to explicit instruction of a specific vowel sound/pattern. The focus early in the programme is short vowel sounds, advancing to long vowel sounds later. 

Pupils are taught to segment and examine the orthographic context of specific patterns (Treiman, 2018). Where possible, the words used in the vocabulary or phonological awareness activities were integrated (Graham et al., 2018). 

Focus on one key narrative skill (characters, sequencing, and structuring, elaborating, connectives, and verb use; see Clarke et al., 2010) in both the verbal and written domains. These skills are used to incrementally construct a story over several sessions. 

Recap on the words of the day by:

• Recalling the words. 

• Defining the words.

• Providing context for the words.

Instructor leads the discussion by prompting the pupil to describe what they have learned in the lesson and what they enjoyed doing.

Instructor briefly describes the plan for next lesson.