Systematic, Explicit Instruction and Implicit Learning: Finding the Balance

By Nancy Young, Ed.D., and Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D.

In the book we co-edited, Climbing the Ladder of Reading & Writing, we sought to provide clear guidance and support to a wide audience (educators, administrators, parents, and community members) for successfully implementing need-based literacy instruction for the success of all students.

In Chapter 3, “Instructional Implications,” Margie Gillis and Nancy Young (2024) provide key terms related to instruction, including:

• Systematic instruction
• Explicit instruction
• Implicit learning

Knowing the meaning of all three of these terms and how to include them appropriately in literacy instruction is essential for optimal student outcomes.

Systematic Instruction: Designing the Building Blocks for Instruction

Instruction is systematic when it is thoughtfully designed to:

• Address specific and important goals.
• Provide instruction for a specified skill or strategy or a defined breadth or depth of knowledge (the scope of instruction).
• Follow a logical sequence (e.g., moving from easier to more complex skills).
• Present carefully selected examples of the skill or content.
• Provide multiple opportunities for sufficient practice of the newly learned skills or information.

When teachers use systematically designed instruction—as appropriate for each student’s identified needs—learning is accelerated and more effective.

Examples of Systematic Instruction

For students who are learning foundational reading skills Effective phonics instruction should be systematically designed. Children begin by learning individual letter sounds introduced in a logical, useful order, and then progress to blending those sounds into words. Later they tackle multisyllable words and more advanced phonics patterns.

For students who are advanced in their reading skills Effective comprehension instruction should be systematically designed. Targeted readings of various types of advanced text will include questions and activities organized to increase complexity in intellectual demand.

Explicit Instruction: Leaving Nothing to Guesswork

Explicit instruction, sometimes called direct instruction, refers to how systematically designed instruction is delivered when teaching a new skill or information a student needs to learn. Teachers initially model or demonstrate the new skill and provide sufficient practice opportunities with guidance and support until students show some level of skill mastery, automaticity, or understanding.

There's no guessing involved. Students are shown exactly what to do and how to do it. Any errors are immediately corrected, ensuring skill or knowledge mastery and minimizing confusion and frustration.

Another feature of explicit instruction is lots of active student engagement such as answering questions, writing, and reading text related to the instruction. Further, the amount of explicitness and the form of instruction needed will vary across the continuum of ease in learning to read and write.

Examples of Explicit Instruction

For students who are experiencing reading difficulties A teacher might explicitly demonstrate how to break down a word into syllables, providing step-by-step guidance. The teacher then gives the students opportunities to practice with the teacher's support.

For students mastering reading skills at a faster pace A teacher might explicitly demonstrate how to engage in a word-sort activity focusing on a particular suffix. After students demonstrate they understand how to do this activity on their own, the students engage in a word sort in a student-led small group.

Implicit Learning: Making Connections Based on Prior Learning

Implicit learning happens when information is acquired, or skills are learned, without conscious awareness. Most of us acquire our initial language implicitly, along with many other things. The ease with which humans learn the patterns in written text (i.e., statistical learning) varies. When learning to read and write, experiences in the environment allow for implicit learning. Cognitive scientist Mark Seidenberg (2023) points out that most learners need some amount of explicit instruction. However, that kind of instruction must be thoughtfully “balanced” with implicit learning opportunities. In other words, “explicit instruction is there to scaffold statistical/implicit learning” (Seidenberg, 2023). Teachers should be aware of this instructional balance because students’ need for explicit instruction and their ability to learn implicitly varies. Providing excessive explicit instruction can delay or even impede learning.

Examples of Implicit Learning

For a beginning reader

Students receive explicit instruction on decoding words using blending skills and then practice this new skill using decodable readers. Once they show evidence of understanding the basic alphabetic principle involved in breaking the code (how letter sounds or phonemes are represented by letters and how letters can then be blended to decode text), students should be encouraged to read less controlled text.

For a fluent reader

Students engage in silent reading each day, during which they read their choice of books.

The Ideal Blend

Most experts who have studied the evidence on effective instruction believe that an approach incorporating systematically designed and explicit instruction along with ongoing opportunities for implicit learning is most effective. When we provide an appropriate amount of direct instruction in foundational skills while also fostering a love of reading and encouraging independent exploration, we set children up for lifelong success.

Remember, however, that every child is different. What works for one may not work for another. It's important to be flexible and adapt instruction to meet the individual needs of each student based on ongoing data collection that includes progress monitoring. If you have concerns about your child's reading development, talk to their teacher or a reading specialist. With the right support, every child can become a confident and capable reader and writer.

References

Gillis, M., & Young, N. (2024). Instructional implications. In N. Young & J. Hasbrouck (Eds.), Climbing the Ladder of Reading & Writing: Meeting the Needs of All Learners (pp. 24-45). Benchmark Education Company, LLC.

Seidenberg, M.S. (2023, December 4). Where does the "science of reading" go from here? [PowerPoint slides]. Reading Matters.

More from Nancy Young, Ed.D, and Jan Hasbrouck Ph.D.

For more, read a sample from their PD Essentials book, Climbing the Ladder of Reading & Writing