In the old blog, Teach Effectively, on 28 March 2016, I published a brief note pointing to a literature review by Kerry Hempenstall. Professor Hempenstall had at that time recently published an article for Australia’s Center for Independent Studies that covered a lot of important literacy research and discussion. On 15 July 2021, I reposted that blog entry here on Special Education Today under the tittle “Olds: Hempemstall on reading instruction: Does this guy know a lot and explain it well...or what?” (paywalled). I now see that some of the links in those posts are failing. (“Link rot” is such a sad thing to observe.)
One of the reasons I am posting this note is that I think it is valuable for those of us who are tracking the current discussion about effective literacy instruction to get a baseline about how new (or not so new) much of the knowledge being kicked around these days is. It has actually been known for quite some time. Professor Hempenstall, who reviews a lot of literature in his article, described many of the practices that are now quite popularly discussed in the “science of reading.”
Text of original TE post
So that readers of SET can secure a copy of the very valuable paper by Professor Hempenstall, I am republishing the original TE blog post. Note that I have removed the links from this version, but also note that following the post there are other functioning (as of 12 August 2026) links.
Professor Kerry Hempenstall wrote a literature review on teaching reading for Australia’s Centre for Independent Studies. It is an excellent resource, because it is true to the scientific evidence, but it is written in a way that is accessible to lay readers.
Parents, teachers, administrators, and interested others: You don’t have to put up with the statistics-ese and mumbo-jargon that we researchers often use when discussing scientific evidence. In Read About It:
Scientific Evidence for Effective Teaching of Reading, Professor Hempenstall clearly explains the five fundamental features of reading competence and how to foster them in learners. Down load a copy of this excellent PDF or follow this link to learn how to purchase a hard copy.
Consider exploring other materials from the Centre for Independent Studies. CIS is a think tank devoted to examining issues of importance in Australia, but it has papers that probably will be of interest to people from other parts of Earth.
Professor Hempenstall published many blog pieces for the National Institute for Direct Instruction. NIFDI created a catalog of those blogs pieces at Dr. Kerry Hempenstall’s Complete List of Blogs. SET readers who find “Read About It” stimulating may want to review some of his other posts.
