Components important to the teaching of reading

1. Components important to the teaching of reading • Automatic word recognition (fluency) • comprehension of text • development of a love of literature and a desire to read

2. The Connection Between Decoding and Comprehension Phonics ~ Decoding ~ Word Recognition ~ Reading Fluency ~ Automaticity ~ Reading Comprehension

3. Graphophonic Cues: Involve a reader’s knowledge of sound- spelling relationships. Phonics instruction helps children to use these cues

4. Syntactic Cues: Involve a reader’s knowledge of the grammar or structure of language. This knowledge helps the reader to predict what type of word might appear in a certain place in a sentence. This cueing system also involves an understanding of word order and the use of function words, such as the and an.

5. Semantic Cues Involve a reader’s knowledge of the world. World knowledge helps the reader use cues in the text to discover the meaning of a word that fits into a specific place in a particular sentence. Readers use their semantic knowledge to determine whether a text makes sense.

6. 10 Important Research Findings About Phonics • phonics instruction can help all children learn to read • Do it early • Keep it simple • Except in cases of diagnosed individual need, complete instruction by the end of second grade. • explicit phonics instruction is more beneficial than implicit instruction

7. Continued • most poor readers have weak phonics skills and a strategy imbalance • phonics knowledge has a powerful effect on decoding ability • Words can be stored in working memory for only a short period of time. Slow decoding can result is some words “decaying” before a meaningful chunk of text can be processed. • Devoting large amounts of mental energy to decoding leaves less mental energy for developing comprehension.

8. good decoders rely less on context clues than poor decoders • the reading process relies on a reader’s attention to each letter in a word • phonemic awareness is necessary for phonics instruction to be effective • phonics instruction improves spelling ability

9. Continued • a teacher’s knowledge of phonics affects his or her ability of teach phonics • it is possible to overdo phonics instruction

10. Stages of Reading • Emergent Reader (Pre-K to middle of 1) • Emergent • Beginning Reader (K to middle of 2) • Letter Name-Alphabetic • Transitional Reader (Grade 1 to middle of 4) • Within Word Patter • Intermediate Reader (Grades 3 to 8) • Syllables and Affixes • Advanced Reader (Grades 5 to 12) • Derivational Relations

11. Alphabet Recognition • knowing the names of the letters and the sounds they represent • Phonemic Awareness • understanding that a word is made up of sounds and the ability to manipulate sounds in spoken words

12. Phonemic Awareness Is the understanding or insight that a word is made up of a series of discrete sounds. Each of these sounds is called a phoneme. This awareness includes the ability to pick out and manipulate sounds in spoken words.

13. Importance of phonemic awareness • It is needed in order to associate sounds with letters and manipulate sounds to blend words or segment words. • Phonemic awareness training provides the foundation on which phonics instruction is built • Children must be able to segment and auditorily discriminate /s/ in the words sit, sand, and sock before it makes sense to them that the letter s stands for this sound in these written words • “Phonemic awareness is both a prerequisite for and a consequence of learning to read.” (Yopp, 19912)

14. Keep in mind: • don’t stress written words or letters • keep the tone fun and informal • monitor each child’s progress • model, model, model • keep assessing phonemic awareness • provide lots and lots of language experiences.

15. The Concepts of Print • Knowing the difference between words and non-words • know that print is print no matter what form it appears in. • know that print can appear by itself or with pictures • understand that print corresponds to speech word for word • understand the purpose of the empty space between words • understand that words are read from left to right on a page • understand that lines of text are read from top to bottom on a page • can identify the front of a book and a page in it

16. The Language of Instruction • tracking print can help children understand the concept of “word” • using sentence strips and pocket charts to have children match sentences with a give text can develop sense of “sentence” • certain activities, especially multisensory ones, can help children understand the concept of “beginning, middle, and end.”

17. Sensible Sequencing • teach children letter names first • put a new spin on a classic song • teach the shapes and sounds of letters • tailor your letter lessons to students’ needs • help children to see differences and similarities • provide support for children having difficulty discriminating letters • provide letter writing practice (copying and tracing are okay too) • use key words and pictures when introducing sound-spelling relationships • multisensory activities • read many alphabet books