According to Farrell, Davidson, Hunter, and Osenga (2020), the Simple View of Reading is based on the widely accepted view that reading has two key components: word recognition (decoding) and comprehension. The Simple View formula, presented by Gough and Tunmer in 1986, is:
Decoding (D) x Language Comprehension (LC) = Reading Comprehension (RC)
Language comprehension (LC) has been referred to as: linguistic comprehension, listening comprehension, and comprehension. All of these terms describe the ability to derive meaning from spoken words when they are part of sentences or discourse.
Reading comprehension (RC) focuses on print, as opposed to oral language, in order to derive meaning words (Hoover & Gough, 1990). In other words, language comprehension becomes reading comprehension when word meaning is derived from print. It is possible to have strong language comprehension and still be a poor reader if there is difficulty with decoding.
Reference: Farrell, L., Davidson, M., Hunter, M., and Osenga, T. (2020, January). “The Simple View of Reading.” The Center for Development and Learning: www.cdl.org/the-simple-view-of-reading/
