The teaching practice of explicit instruction has been available to educators since the late 1960s. Explicit instruction, also known as direct instruction, has been shown to be efficacious in learning and teaching the major components of academic skills instruction (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000). Substantial research has been conducted on its components and the complete instructional “package.” As with many teaching practices, there are varying degrees of adaptation and acceptance. However, the great majority favor the outcomes for students taught using explicit instruction. Research on effective teaching practices has identified most—if not all—of the components of explicit instruction as essential for positive student outcomes (e.g., Rosenshine & Stevens, 1986; Ellis & Worthington, 1995). Explicit instruction embodies the entire instructional/assessment cycle including planning and design, delivery and management, and evaluation/assessment. As noted by Archer and Hughes (2011), instruction that is designed to be explicit is characterized by three essential stages: (a) clear delivery with models and demonstrations, followed by (b) guided practice supported by the teacher with corrective feedback delivered in a timely manner, and finally (c) gradual withdrawal of teacher supports during practice to move students toward independent performance. Objectives that students are to learn often require differing degrees of directness and structure, and explicit instructional strategies are dynamic and interactive in a relationship that mandates flexible and responsive instruction (Villaume & Brabham, 2003).
Explicit instruction is a systematic instructional approach that includes set of delivery and design procedures derived from effective schools research merged with behavior analysis. There are two essential components to well-designed explicit instruction: (a) visible delivery features consisting of group instruction with a high level of teacher and student interactions and (b) the less observable instructional design principles and assumptions that make up the content and strategies to be taught.
Explicit instruction practices bring together highly recognized and recommended components of effective instruction and of schema theory. These include providing step-by-step explanations, modeling, engaging in guided practice; practicing the skill or element independently in a variety of applications; support in making connections of new to previous learning; teacher explanations as to the importance, usefulness, and relationships of a new skill or cognitive strategy; and consistently eliciting student interest (Rupley, Blair, & Nichols, 2009).
The “direct [explicit] instruction model is a comprehensive system of instruction that integrates effective teaching practices with sophisticated curriculum design, classroom organization and management, and careful monitoring of student progress, as well as extensive staff development” (Stein, Carnine, & Dixon, 1998). The primary goal of direct instruction is to increase not only the amount of student learning but also the quality of that learning by systematically developing important background knowledge and explicitly applying it and linking it to new knowledge.
“Explicit instruction is systematic, direct, engaging, and success oriented—and has been shown to promote achievement for all students” (Archer & Hughes, 2014). There are many compatible aspects of explicit instruction practices and the principles of universal design for learning. This section addresses the foundational principles of universal design for learning—engagement, action and expression, and representation—in order to address the ways in which explicit instruction is compatible with and complementary to UDL principles.
Certain instructional techniques have been found to be very effective in supporting skills learning; as noted above, explicit instruction, like UDL, has a central focus on the learner and meeting the needs of all learners in an instructional episode.
Differentiated instruction and UDL share a very important point of convergence: recognition of the importance of engaginglearners in instructional tasks. The UDL guidelines call for motivating and sustaining learner engagement through flexible instruction, an objective that differentiated instruction supports very effectively. Explicit instruction includes learner engagement at its core in instructional delivery with the implication that to be engaged the design of instruction must be of interest and gain and maintain engagement throughout the learning episode.
Explicit instruction focuses directly on student affect in the component delivery area. Teaching skills essential to effective explicit instruction include appropriate pacing and thinking time (the rate of instructional task delivery paired with appropriate time to process), student involvement (assuring all students have the opportunity to respond in an appropriate manner for that individual), and feedback at the group and individual level that is instructional and immediate.
The UDL principle provide multiple means of action and expression recommends that educators offer multiple, flexible options for physical action, expression, and communication and executive functions. Students have different strengths and weaknesses in these areas. Instructional design and delivery based on explicit instructional strategies can be used to instruct and support students to act skillfully and develop until they are using strategies effectively in their learning.
The UDL principle that focuses on representation and the importance of providing multiple, flexible methods of presentation when teaching indicates that no single teaching methodology for representing information will be satisfactory for every learner. Explicit instruction too recognizes the importance of individual needs and providing instruction that is appropriate and flexible to meet individual learner needs. The pedagogical elements for explicit instruction incorporate components for design and delivery of instruction that can help teachers to support critical elements of recognition learning in a flexible way and promote every student’s success.
When analyzing the identifying components of explicit instruction, its design aspects currently do not directly address issues of representation. However, the second component area of instruction supports the UDL principle provide multiple means of representation—specifically, the clarification and supports for understanding language and symbols. Designers and teachers implementing explicit instruction strategies support the understanding of symbols and language used in an instructional episode by assuring, in advance of use, that students have a clear understanding and are provided with opportunities for practice, also with alternative media, to clarify meaning.
The explicit instruction components of design activating background knowledge also relate directly to the representation principle of UDL. Providing and activating background knowledge during instruction is fundamental to the structure of both UDL and explicit instruction. By activating background knowledge, the learner has a better framework from which to relate new information and knowledge during the instructional episode, thus increasing the likelihood of building that skill or element of knowledge into their repertoire.
As more and more teachers begin to explore UDL in their classrooms, they will begin to augment books and lectures with new technologies. UDL is clearly a framework that can support the implementation of explicit instruction. UDL can help teachers succeed at implementing instruction and developing curricula that make information and learning more accessible. Although all teachers will undoubtedly encounter challenges, models and resources continue to build—and along with them builds the opportunity to realize the potential of the combination of explicit instructional design and delivery with UDL in the classroom.
The Baltimore Curriculum Project
The Baltimore Curriculum Project is a nonprofit organization that operates a network of neighborhood charter schools in East Baltimore: City Springs Elementary/Middle School, Hampstead Hill Academy, and Wolfe Street Academy. The mission of this not-for-profit group is to “develop, implement, and advocate for an innovative, sustainable, and replicable education model that improves student outcomes. In so doing, the Baltimore Curriculum Project will help to raise educational standards and opportunities for disadvantaged youth and Baltimore City schools” (from the web site).
How Phonics Instruction Teaches Critical Thinking Skills
This site provides information on how to effectively teach using phonics and the benefits associated with it. Data from the study resulting from the Follow-Through Project is provided, and the site authors illustrate how explicit instruction supports the use of comprehensive, systematic phonics in teaching young children to read.