S6 E21 - Why Exposure is a Poor Substitute for Learning

The Structured Literacy Podcast

The word exposure gets thrown around a lot in schools, especially when a student is behind in phonics or spelling. In this episode, Jocelyn takes a hard look at that belief and explains why presence in a lesson is not the same as learning, particularly for skills that are biologically secondary, like reading and writing. This episode covers:

• why exposure is not learning for secondary skills
• what explicit teaching demands of attention and practice
• how misuse of the term exposure clouds decisions
• where whole-class text work fits and when it does not
• why working memory limits should guide task design
• how to use data to decide groupings and next steps
• when to apply exposure without expectation in early years
• practical ways to target phonics and spelling gaps

Has something in this episode resonated with you? Get in touch!

Are your students good readers, but poor spellers? If so, you are not alone. Spelling Success in Action addresses phonics, orthography, and morphology to give students a well-rounded understanding of how our language system works.
Find out how you can help your students move beyond guessing and memorisation at https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/spelling2

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Chapters

1. S6 E21 - Why Exposure is a Poor Substitute for Learning (00:00:00)

2. The “Exposure” Assumption (00:02:31)

3. Primary vs Secondary Learning (00:03:54)

4. What Explicit Teaching Requires (00:05:50)

5. Why Mere Exposure Fails (00:07:25)

6. Language Precision: Exposure vs Engagement (00:09:39)

7. The Classroom Copying Trap (00:12:30)

8. Exposure Without Expectation (00:14:55)

9. Matching Tasks To Working Memory (00:17:27)