THREE MODELS OF READING STRATEGIES

Reported by|: Chelsea Mae Yumul

Bottom-Up
Bottom-up theories hypothesize that learning to read progresses from
children learning the parts of language (letters) to understanding whole text
(meaning). Much like solving a jigsaw puzzle, bottom-up models of the
reading process say that the reading puzzle is solved by beginning with an
examination of each piece of the puzzle and then putting pieces together to
make a picture. Goughs (1972) One Second of Reading model described
reading as a sequential or serial mental process. Readers, according to
Gough, begin by translating the parts of written language (letters) into
speech sounds, then piece the sounds together to form individual words,
then piece the words together to arrive at an understanding of the authors
written message.
Teachers who believe that bottom-up theories fully explain how
children become readers often teach sub skills first: they begin instruction by
introducing letter names and letter sounds, progress to pronouncing whole
words, then show students ways of connecting word meanings to
comprehend texts. Although bottom-up theories of the reading process
explain the decoding part of the reading process rather well, there is
certainly more to reading than decoding. To become readers, students must
compare their knowledge and background experiences to the text in order to
understand the authors message. Truly, the whole purpose of reading is
comprehension.
Top-Down
Top-down reading models teach students to read by introducing them
to literature as a whole. Instead of teaching students to read by sounding out
each word in a sentence, teachers read whole passages of a text. Students
begin to use context clues to decipher unfamiliar words. The top-down
reading model theory encourages students to focus more on understanding
the main ideas of a passage than understanding every word. Even if students
do not understand each word, they are likely to grasp the meaning of a text
as a whole. The top-down reading model encourages students to rely on their
own knowledge and use context clues to understand new concepts or words.
The teaching model allows students choose books to read based on
their own interests. Teachers urge students to select materials of personal
interest so they are more likely to be motivated to read it. Instead of
assigning one book for an entire class to read together, the teacher might
take the entire class to the library and allow them to choose their own books.
New readers will begin to understand new vocabulary and increase reading
fluency as they read engaging and interesting books.

Teachers will encourage readers to develop speaking and listening

skills by reading aloud to the class or to a smaller group of students. Instead
of stopping students to correct a pronunciation mistake, the teachers will
urge the reader to continue reading, even if struggling with a particular
passage.
Interactive Model
The Interactive Reading Model, as developed by David E. Rumelhart in
1977, describes a model of the reading process and the way linguistic
elements are processed and interpreted by the brain. The model combines
both surface structure systems -- the sensory, bottom-up portion of reading
-- with deep structure systems -- the thinking, or top-down, aspects of
reading -- to build meaning and memory for all learners.
Readers use both knowledge of word structure and background
knowledge to interpret the texts they read. For example, a student who
encounters an unknown word might use surface structure systems like graph
phonic, or letter-sound, knowledge to decode the word. A different student
might find it easier to use deep structure systems like semantic knowledge,
such as meaning and vocabulary, to decode the same unknown word. Each
student makes connections in different ways. This process validates and
supports both methods of understanding, realizing that individuals process
information in very different ways.
The most evident benefit of this model is the opportunity for the
differentiation that it provides students. Students are not required to fit into a
set mold or have identical skill sets to decode and interpret text. They are
encouraged to use their own strengths to gain understanding and new
information. When used in the classroom setting, students should be
encouraged to share their knowledge with classmates or peers. This model
allows the reader to bring his own background knowledge to reading and to
interact with others to build meaning and memory from the text.

READING PROCESS|: STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

Reported by|: Mary Grace Catacutan & Lutchmie Rocacorba
Developmental Stages of Reading Growth
The four major stages of reading skills development are: reading
readiness, beginning reading, rapid growth and development, and the
acquisition of reading power.
Reading Readiness

Reading instruction at this stage focuses on the pre reading skills that
are pre requisites to learning to read. These include the acquisition of oral
language skills, visual and auditory discrimination skills, and the
development of concepts. In other words, the child is getting ready to learn
to read.
This stage covers the years before the child comes to school and a part or all
his first year in school. With certain children, it extends beyond this.
The idea of reading readiness, however, does not seem to be
understood by many parents. In some instance, after a child has been in
school for a few months, a parent would often wonder why his child is not
performing in reading as well as the other children does. Usually, the teacher
is blamed for this. Few parents understand that so much depends on the
preparation of the child before he goes into formal reading instruction. Few
parents understand that they are part of this preparation and that the first
responsibilities of providing the child with pre reading experiences are theirs.
Many children meet anxiety, frustration, and failure early in their
school life because they are not prepared to profit from their initial reading
experiences. Of course, even years ago, teachers were always aware of the
differences in maturity and training among kindergarten and first grade
children coming into their classrooms. The question, however, was which
differences in children really made the difference between reading success
and reading failure. Through pre-service and in-service seminars,
workshops, conferences and graduate studies, teacher have increased their
knowledge on the teaching of reading. They have learned to use
sophisticated materials and evaluative techniques. In view of this, they have
become aware of the fact that to ensure reading success, the decision as to
when to begin formal reading instruction is of great importance. The reading
teacher knows that if he cannot predict reading success for a child under his
care based on what childs attitude, maturity, and prior training, he would
extend the pre reading period and he would work to strengthen the specific
areas of weakness he finds in this particular child. This pre reading stage
during which child is being prepared for his formal reading instruction is
termed reading readiness, which is defined as the the general stage of
developmental maturity and preparedness at which a child can learn to read
easily and proficiently in a regular classroom setting when exposed to good
teaching. This includes the whole child- his mental, emotional, social and
physical welfare. It likewise involves the specific skills directly involved with
reading act.

Factors that Affect Reading Readiness

o
Mental Factors
Since reading is a complex mental process that requires mental
associations, memory, and attention span, it is important that before the
child begins formal reading instruction, he reaches a level of mental maturity
where he is able to remember, to classify, to think, to use his ideas to solve
simple problems, to concentrate, to follow directions, to create a simple
story, and to attend to a task.

Emotional and Social Maturity

Children, even those of the same age, vary in their emotional and
social maturity. At the age of six and a half, some are mature enough to
begin formal reading instruction because they have developed self-esteem
and self-confidence as a result of early success experiences and adult
approval. Others, however, are not yet emotionally and socially mature so
that formal reading instruction has to be delayed.
Some symptoms of emotional problems which can be observed are
nervousness, anxiety, fearfulness, extreme shyness, unhappiness,
daydreaming, mistrust, and aggressiveness. Some observable signs of social
immaturity are tantrums, selfishness, intolerance, crying, pouting, baby talk,
over-dependence on adults, and discomfort in small group situations. All
children have some of these symptoms at times, but when several of these
characteristics are noticed frequently, the problem should be discussed with
a social worker clinical psychologist, or a psychiatrist.
o
Physical Factors
The physical factors include general health, vision, hearing, motor
control, speech, ability to attend to a task, and neurological disorders.
o
Educational Factors
A broad background of experiences enriches the life of a child. It
provides him with concepts through which he views his world. From birth he
receives impressions and forms concepts about his environment.
o
Other factors
The other factors that are important for reading success are age, sex,
interest, desire to read, and a childs general pattern of growth and
development.
Beginning Reading
Beginning reading instruction focuses on word recognition and
comprehension. The attainment of these goals depends, to a large extent, on
the childs use of the alphabet, his knowledge of the sounds of the letters
(grapheme-phoneme relationship), his ability to recognize words and put
them together in correct sequence in their spoken and written forms
(syntax), and the use of these words in relation to what they mean in context
(semantics).
The skill in word recognition and identification is dual in nature as there
are two separate and distinct learning tasks involved in developing fluency in
this area. These are instant recognition and mediated recognition. Instant
recognition refers to the childs ability to recognize immediately and
pronounce the words at sight. Mediated recognition, on the other hand,
refers to the childs ability to recognize an unfamiliar word using phonetic
analysis.
Although, the main goals of the initial formal reading instruction are
word recognition and comprehension, the pupil at this stage, like those in the
reading readiness stage, are likewise trained in three other communication

areas- listening, speaking, and writing. The reason for this is that reading is
one mode of expression of the language which affects and, in turn, is
affected by the three modes. Since proficiency in the four areas of
communication listening, speaking, and writing is the foundation of
learning proficiency in all the other disciplines, it is imperative that even at
the initial stage of formal reading instruction, the child is also taught how to
listen, speak and write properly.
The following are the skills in the four communication areas that are
supposed to be taught to and mastered by the child before he moves on to
the next step or stage of reading development.

Listening Skills
The listening skills are classified under four headings, namely, auditory
discrimination, listening comprehension, work study skills the instruction
which are given orally or which the children listen to, and literary
appreciation skills.

Speaking Skills
Children in the initial stage of formal reading instruction are taught in
speaking skills that will enable them to communicate orally what they hear
and what they read. They are, therefore, trained to produce sounds listened
to, talk about themselves, their family, and friends, talk about their toys,
pets, and games in about two or three sentences, make simple introductions,
describe objects at home and in school, talk about ones activities, in school
and at home, talk about community helpers and their occupations, talk about
their past and present activities, and have the ability to give simple
directions or instructions.

Reading Skills
In the initial stage of formal reading instruction, otherwise known as
the beginning reading stage, the children are taught the following reading
skills: word recognition, comprehension, oral reading skills, work-study skills
and literary appreciation skills.

Writing Skills
The writing skills taught to children at this initial stage of formal
reading instruction are as follows:
a. using upper and lower case letters in:
o
Writing ones full name
o
Writing ones grade, section and school
o
Copying correctly ones address and parents names
o
Writing correctly the days of the week and the months of the year
o
Writing the names of the school subjects and the material needed in
each subject
b. copying correctly words, phrases, and sentences learned, and names of
places, persons, streets, towns, cities, etc.
c. writing missing letters in a word

d. writing common abbreviations correctly

e. writing three or four-sentence stories.
Rapid Growth and Development
The basic listening, speaking, reading, writing and study skills have been
fairly developed and mastered at the previous stage. Reading instruction, at
this stage, therefore, can be focused on refining their skills and developing
new ones as they needed. The children are now reading to learn and he is
expected to be able to apply the skills he has internalized to content and
recreation.
Children who have acquired a certain degree of confidence in the basic
reading skills can effectively put their skills to work in context. However, not
all the learners readily developed the facility to transfer learned reading skills
from skills lessons to the reading of books. They need to practice to be able
to transfer and apply the reading skills learned in isolation to the reading of
books
Duffy, Sherman and Roehler (1997) give ways to help children transfer
learned reading skills to reading content and recreation. One involves the
teachers assistance and is called guided application. The other involves
independent reading and is called independent application.
In guided application, the target skill is taught in a skill lesson, usually
using a skill book practice exercise or one specifically prepared by the
teacher for the purpose. Once a particular skill is acquired say nothing
details in a story or selection, the child is given specific piece of reading
material in which the skill must be used. The child's attention is directed to
the skill he or she ought to apply. In instances where some children find
difficulty in making the transfer from the skill lesson to the reading text, it is
helpful to highlight certain sections in the text and directing the learner's
attention to the fact that third is an opportunity to put into practice the
newly learned skill. As the learner becomes more proficient, highlighting can
be gradually diminished until he or she can apply the sill unassisted.
The most useful material for guided application is the basal reading
textbook. It is readily available in the classroom as there is usually a basal
reading textbook for every grade level. Of course supplementary materials
can also be used but one advantage of the basal of reading is that it contains
a variety of stories which are graded according to the levels of difficulty.
Furthermore, it goes with a teacher's guide that often provides clues about
the skills demands of particular stories, as such, it is very valuable source of
reading materials for guided application.
In independent application, the child applies unassisted to textbook or
recreational reading materials the reading skills he or she learned in
isolation. Usually the learner, who has acquired the skills of independent
application, has developed into an enthusiastic, independent, intelligent,
voracious reader-the ultimate aim of reading instruction.

The Acquisition or Reading Power

At this stage, the learner has developed a high degree of confidence in
the basic reading skills and has become proficient in applying the learned
skills in tackling his textbooks and his recreational reading materials. He is
ready for the acquisition of the finer and more sophisticated reading skills.
The focus of instruction at this stage us now on three most refined skills,
such as speed reading, higher level critical and creative reading, advanced
study skills, the reading of specialized materials, and literary interpretation.
The child is now becoming an expert reader.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE ACQUISITION OF READING

ABILITY Reported by|: Arjorino Corpuz, Harold Rosido,
Robilyn Joy Manalili, Aisha Lizabelle Lirado, and Rafael Espinosa
Reading is one of the main skill that students must master in school to
succeed in other academic subjects. Formal reading instruction begins in
kindergarten. Children starts learning language from birth. As they grow and
develop, language becomes more important. By the time they reach
preschool age, children should be learning the letters of the alphabet as well
as the letter sounds because learning to sound out words is the foundation of
reading.
Learning to read does not begin the first day a child attends school.
From the time of birth, children's literacy is influenced significantly by their
environment.
Encouraging learners to read on their own positively influences their
literacy achievement. allowing learners to choose from a diverse collection of
literature supplies them with authentic texts wherein it motivates them to
read. When learners fell this type of consistent support in their reading
development, they are more likely to read without being prompted.
A child's Literacy development is a great deal in the family. The reading
habits of parents and siblings can contribute to the development of a child by
serving as models for literacy. Educated parents are more likely encourage
their children to read . When children have experiences outside of the school
with reading and literature, they can be able to adopt a healthy outlook on
the importance of reading.
Not all students use Accelerated Reader, but to be a good reader
children need to use comprehension strategies beginning with phonics and
decoding. Eventually children learn to create connections, predict, infer,
decipher the important information, and figure out the authors message.
Many children have reading difficulty because they do not read material that
is at their "Just Right" level.
If a reader is reading a book that is too hard they will not understand
it, they can attempt to learn from the text, but they will struggle and miss
pertinent information.

Reading is a process where all the skills necessary must be in place.

Children learn to love reading by being read to at home and at school. If
parents do not offer a literate environment where reading is perceived as
enjoyable children will suffer
There are many things that can influenced your child's reading skills.
The rate and extent to which these skills are developed depend greatly on
several factors. and these factors are group in to two the INRINSIC and
EXTRINSIC FACTORS.

INTRINSIC FACTORS:
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence is defined as the innate capacity to learn. When it comes
to happiness and success in life, emotional intelligence (EQ) matters just as
much as intellectual ability (IQ). Emotional intelligence helps the learner to
build stronger their interest in reading books.
Highly gifted learners may also show an intense interest in numbers or
letters. These are often the children who start doing simple math or teach
themselves to read by the time they are three. However, a child who does
not read or do math early may still be gifted. Children who read or do math
early are almost certainly gifted, but not all gifted children do those things
early.
The higher the IQ of the child, the better the reading skills.
EMOTIONAL STABILITY
It refers to the state of being able to have the appropriate feelings
about the common experiences and being able to act in a rational manner.
Stability means to be emotionally and physically predictable and not readily
moved. People that are emotionally stable are able to tolerate the day to day
strains and stresses by not getting emotionally upset, anxious or angry.
Low emotionally stable learner may also be characterized as neurotic.
Neurotic learners have a tendency to easily become upset and experience
negative emotions while reading. learners who are experiencing low stability
can affects and decrease their interest in reading .
Some Symptoms of Emotional problems:
1.
Nervousness
2.
Anxiety
3.
Fearfulness
4.
Extreme shyness
5.
Unhappiness
6.
Daydreaming
7.
Mistrust
8.
Aggressiveness

Mature individuals seems to have great interest on most of the

undertakings in school. Most of them are ready to absorb what the teachers
discuss and tackle on different topics in the classroom. Intelligence is also
one factor to consider in gaining knowledge. In reading, intelligent
individuals can readily correlate on the printed materials or figures. On the
other hand, it is vital that the children have normal sights and hearings in
order for them to associate the sounds and the symbols and there by result
to permanent learning through reading.
Reading is the process of making getting meaning from printed word
symbols. The are several factors that influence the reading capabilities of
children. Some of them are the following: a) the associational abilities or
their knowledge to associate between symbols and the facts or objects they
represent. b) their power to retain what has been studied and c) their good
physical condition. These factors and many more, contribute much their
reading performance.
1)

Associational abilities of children refer to show the connection of

letters or symbols to sounds represented. There are some needs or
methods to establish association such as the use of movement and
perception or the sense of touch.

2. Memory span- the extent of the ability to retain knowledge has been
found to have great effect on the reading ability of children. Tests show that
good readers are consistently higher than poor readers.
3. Physical condition- the physical condition of a children has a great
effect on their reading ability. The vision of the child as well as his hearing
and his general health condition contribute much to his best reading
performance. When his vision is normal, he can easily interpret the written
symbols. His hearing capabilities must be satisfactory in condition and his
overall body parts are working well.
Visual and Auditory Efficiency
Visual pertains to or achieved by sight while auditory refers to sound
detection hearing. Both of these senses are basic to success in reading.
Children learn to associate the sounds of familiar letters with the
corresponding written symbols. It is always necessary to hear clearly and to
see clearly in order to have normal reading. Children should distinguish the
sound of both the environment and the letters of the alphabet to attain
progress in reading.

EXTRINSIC

FACTORS

Environmental Factors
Studies made on reading performance show that environmental
conditions-situations to which the reader reacts and which responds to his
behavior- contribute to high progress or failure in reading skills. These
include:
Socio-economic status
Investigators in the field of sociological research have extensively
studied the socio economic status of the family in relation to reading
achievement. (Strang) wrote Hill and Guammatteo, Lovel and Woosey, and
harris found a higher reading backwardness in the lower socio economic
group. She also reports that Sutton Malmquist and Durkin found that reading
achievement was associated with high socio-economic level, that only two
out of forty-eight students from the blue collar class level were poor
readers, and that the parents of these students are engaged in the
professions.
The implication of the foregoing findings is that evaluation results of reading
performance should always be interpreted in the light conditions that may
influence it. Certain conditions may be interfering with the progress of the
reader, and these conditions should be taken into consideration in the
preparation of the program of instruction.
Mobility
Mobility is one environmental factor that is often overlooked by reading
teachers and investigators in the field of reading. This factor includes:
1.
Mobility of the Family- the transfer of family to one place or another.
2.
Change of teachers
3.
Change of teaching methods
4.
Social adjustment necessity by the school
All these are detrimental and, as much as possible, should be avoided.
If any one of these cannot be avoided, then adjustments or provisions should
be made in the program of instruction.
In some cases the effect of family mobility on the child is positive. A
child who is, either in elementary or high school, may find a new challenge in
the environment. Hence, he will do his best to excel in school. Studies that
prove this, however are rare.
Education and Attitudes of Parents
The influence of parents education and interest in reading and their
attitudes have been more clearly established as directly related to reading
progress or failure of their children. Strang (1968) mentions Malmquist study

found out that children, whose parents have acquired above the elementary
level, are better readers than those whose parents did not go beyond the
elementary level.
She also cites the studies made by Bell and Schaefer and MacDonald
which found marked differences in the attitudes of parents of unsuccessful
readers. Parents of successful readers were likely to suppress their childrens
curiosity and creativity. The parents of the unsuccessful readers were found
to be opposite. The studies further discovered that it is not the expressed
attitude of parents that is related to success, but in way in which children
perceive them.
Home Conditions
The home conditions that have been found related to reading achievement
are:
1.
General emotional atmosphere
2.
Number of books in the home
3.
The childs position in the family
4.
Interfamily relationships.
Several studies discovers that the child who learns to read early is
likely to have one or more brothers and sisters, or parents who read him and
who are interested in school. It has also been discovered that the child who
progresses fast in reading is one whose parents, brothers or sisters are
interested in his school performance and who guide him in his studies at
home. These family members likewise provide a home atmosphere that is
conducive to learning.
Skills that the reading require
Skills related to eye movement
Eye movement relates to the ability to move the eyes in a conventional
manner. That is for English, from left to right, back left and down from a line,
left to right again and so forth. This fact about eye movement appears to
suggest that a person reads by moving his eyes across the page in a steady
manner, identifying clusters of letters or words, then adding word to word to
form phrases, clauses and sentences which he can finally, decode meaning.
Citing ophthalmoscope studies Charles W. Kriedler of Georgetown University
that skilled readers see items move in irregular sweeps, pause momentarily
and sometimes move backward.
David Eskey of the University of California also notes that we use our eyes
to take in whole chunks it text in a series of short, jerky movements called
saccades, and even surprisingly, the better readers we are, the less we
actually see of the print on the page Kriedler agrees with Eskeys
observation the more skilled readers differ from the less skilled one in just
these particulars: the eyes move in bigger sweeps, the pauses are shorter,
and there is less regression.

Visual discrimination
Visual Discrimination involves the ability to perceive words accurately
by noting likenesses and differences in words.
There are several ways in which readers, especially beginning readers,
experience difficulty with the visual discrimination of words. They often do
not note likenesses and differences of vowels and consonants in words,
and/or display reversals, omissions and additions in their reading.
For example:
A student who does not note the difference between words like went
and want, ride and rode, horse and house, confused and confessed may be
one who experiences difficulty with vowel discrimination. A student, who
experiences difficulty with consonant discrimination may confuse words such
as then and when, would and could, ever and even, and presents and
prevents. Reversals are displayed, for example, by confusion of was and saw,
big and dig, spot and stop, conserve and conversed. Additions and omissions
are evident in such word discrimination as our versus your, ever versus
every, though versus through, and conversion versus conversation.
Beginning readers often misperceive words that are similar because
they have not yet internalized the differences in newly presented words.
While it should not be assumed that a beginning reader who reverses letters
or confuses similar words is learning disabled, if a student continues to
display a serious weakness in visual discrimination beyond a mid-first grade
level, diagnostic testing is advisable.
It is important to note, also, that sometimes it is assumed that
students who reverse words, reading was for saw, or saw for was, actually
see the words in reverse. Instead, it is the way they perceive words that
causes this difficulty.
Upon careful examination of students with this
deficiency, it has been determined that students with visual discrimination
problems involving reversals experience difficulty with left-right directionality.
Sometimes they view the word with a right-left eye-movement, instead of a
left-right eye-movement. Thus, they will read was as saw or saw as was.
Training students to move their eyes consistently from left to right in the
reading of words is an essential part of vision training.
The most common cause for visual discrimination problems, lies in the
fact that students with visual discrimination problems do not focus on the
individual letters of the word and/or note likenesses and, in particular,
differences in words. These students often, for example, read words such as
when as then, and then as when because they do not focus on the initial
letter of the word and/or think about its initial letter sound. Parents and
educators need to point out the differences in these words to students and to
work toward establishing an internalized understanding of them.

In order to develop good visual discrimination skills students need consistent

and developmentally presented vision training to help them learn how to
establish consistent left-right eye movement and how to focus on the
differences in similar words.
Association
It is the mental link between visual remarks such as letters and written
words, and the speech sound that they represent as well as the meanings
which speech sounds sequences signify.
It implies the ability of a person to recall sound and meaning
immediately when he sees groups of letters or words.
Interpretation
This is the ability to construe, process deduce meaning form the word
cluster, word patterns or collocation and arrangements.
Effective Reading
This is reading with speed and comprehension. Harry Shaw (1975|)
Other Factors Includes|:
A non-encouraging reading home environment
Vision Problems.
Lack of interest in books.
Attitude of parents about reading.
A non-encouraging classroom environment.
Deafness

ESSENTIAL ABILITIES
Reported by|: Alyanna Grace Garcia, Carlyn Miranda, Frances Datuin,
Pamela Denice Perez, Rosalia Cunanan, & Jazaine Sison
Factors Affecting Oral Language Development

Amount of exposure to language Children in low SES were exposed to

short imperatives and typically negative words such as No Stop that. In
contrast, children from high SES families tended to be exposed to a greater
quantity and quality of words. Their interactions included descriptive
language,
expansive
narrations
and
positive
reinforcement
for
communication.


Exposure to print Children in a print-rich environment benefit from
early exposure to reading and print concepts such as familiarity with letters
and sounds, as well as exposure to the conventions of printed words.

English not spoken in the home Children in homes where English is

not spoken often lack exposure to critical oral language skills such as English
vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics and discourse. Without these skills being
modeled and reinforced in the home, these students enter school already
significantly behind their peers (Biemiller, 1998).

Background experiences Children in low SES homes often lack the

opportunity to expand their background experiences and knowledge,
compared to their peers in other subgroups. These experiences and
knowledge can be based on exposure in books, conversation, or first-hand
experiences.

Parents level of education Research has shown that there is a strong

relationship between a parents education levelin particular, the mothers
educationand a childs oral language skills or vocabulary upon entering
school (NICHD, 2005).

Transitions and disruptions in the students home life Student

mobility has an impact on students achievement level throughout school
(Snow et al., 2007)
What is Oral Language?
Oral language is often associated with vocabulary as the main component.
However, in the broadest definition, oral language consists of phonology,
grammar, morphology, vocabulary, discourse, and pragmatics. The
acquisition of these skills often begins at a young age, before students begin
focusing on print-based concepts such as sound-symbol correspondence and
decoding. Because these skills are often developed early in life, children with
limited oral language ability at the time they enter kindergarten are typically
at a distinct disadvantage (Fielding et al., 2007).
Oral language comprises the following six areas:

Phonology The broad definition of phonology includes the

organization or system of sounds within a language. Once the phonological
system has been acquired for basic listening and speaking, children begin to
develop phonological awareness, which is the awareness of words in
sentences or syllables in words. Other aspects of phonological awareness
include rhyme, alliteration, onsite rime (word families), blending, segmenting
and manipulating sounds. At the most complex level of phonological
awareness is phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is blending,

segmenting, and manipulating words at the individual sound, or phoneme,

level.

Vocabulary (Semantics) The development of vocabulary focuses both

on expressive vocabulary and receptive vocabulary. Expressive vocabulary
represents the words a student actively uses when talking, writing or
communicating. Receptive vocabulary represents the words that a student
understandsbased on context and background experiencesbut may not
necessarily use in his or her own speaking or writing. A common
misconception regarding vocabulary is the idea that an individuals
vocabulary can be measured simply by the sheer number of words he or she
can understand and use. This is the breadth of vocabulary knowledge.
However to measure the depth of vocabulary knowledge, a broader definition
also includes a focus on areas such as: multiple meanings of words
(homonyms), shades of meaning, figurative language, and relationships
between words (synonym, antonyms, analogies).

Grammar (Syntax) As children develop their oral language skills, they

also develop an understanding of grammar, which is the set of structural
rules that govern the combination of words and phrases into sentences, and
how sentences are combined into paragraphs.

Morphology Sometimes considered to be a subset of syntax and

sometimes considered under vocabulary (semantics), morphology is focused
on the smallest units of meaning within a word, as well as the rules about
how those words are formed. For example, if we were to examine the word
cats, a basic analysis would show there are four phonemes (/k/, /a/, /t/
and /s/). However, the word cats only has two morphemes (meaningful
word parts). Cat is a feline animal, and s tells us that there is more than
one cat. Morphology can also include the study of structural analysishow
words are joined together and build vocabulary by analyzing the
morphological structure of the word (prefix, root and suffix)which then
helps build upon the childs foundation in vocabulary.

Pragmatics - Pragmatics requires the understanding of the social use of

language. This includes social norms regarding conversational turn-taking,
personal space, and appropriate behavior with peers and authority figures in
a variety of common social situations. In some classroom settings, students
lacking background experienceattributable to cultural differences in some
instancesdont understand group dynamics and expectations regarding
behavior. Understanding a variety of situations prepares students for more
successful comprehension at later stages, including both listening and
reading comprehension.

Discourse Oral and written communication, also known as discourse,

is a critical skill. For example, narrative storytelling follows a very specific

format: Stories typically have a beginning, middle and end. They describe
the main characters and the setting in which they live, the conflict and the
resolution. An understanding of story structure is essential in order to read,
understand and write narrative. In contrast, consider the structure of
expository, or informational text. These forms of writing also follow certain
structures, such as: persuasive, cause and effect, compare and contrast,
procedural. It is critically important that students understand these
structures through listening comprehension before they even begin to focus
on reading comprehension. They first need to be able to understand and tell
stories in those formats, before they can begin to write those kinds of stories.
Strategies and Activities to Nurture Oral Language Skills

Conversation and Discussion

Brainstorming

Show-and-Tell & Sharing

Drama and Oral Language Development

Pantomime

Choral Speaking

Storytelling
Phonological Awareness
In recent years, many researchers have explored the relationship
between phonological awareness and success with reading and spelling.
Phonological awareness is the area of oral language that relates to the ability
to think about the sounds in a word (the words phonological structure)
rather than just the meaning of the word. It is an understanding of the
structure of spoken language- that is made up of words, and words consist of
syllables, rhymes and sounds. Fitzpatrick summarizes it best by saying the
phonological awareness is the ability to listen inside a word.
Children who have well-developed phonological awareness when they
come to school have a head start making sense of how sounds and letters
operate in print. This ability is important for using sound-letter knowledge
effectively in reading and writing. In fact, a students level of phonological
awareness at the end of kindergarten is one of the strongest predictors of
future reading success, in grade one and beyond. More than 20 percent of
students struggle with some aspects of phonological awareness, while 8-10
percent exhibit significant delays. Early intervention is crucial and can make
a real difference to students with limited levels of phonological awareness.
The Role of Phonological Awareness
There are different levels of phonological awareness: words, syllables,
onsets and rimes, and phonemes. Recognizing this has important

implications for supporting students development of phonological

awareness. Good readers look for familiar letter patterns as one strategy
when attempting to decode or spell unfamiliar words- they use familiar
sound chunks from known words, not just individual sounds. These letter
patterns are based on familiar syllable or rhyme patterns as well as sound
clusters and individual sounds.
The ability to look inside words for syllables, rhymes, and individual
sounds when reading and spelling is based on the students phonological
awareness. Students have to be able to segment, blend and manipulate
syllables, onset and rime, and sounds if they are going to be successful in
using letter-sound knowledge effectively for reading and writing. The
phonological awareness skills are the most highly correlated with beginning
reading acquisition.
Phonological awareness is one component of a larger phonological
processing system used for speaking and listening. The development of
phonological awareness is closely tied to overall language and speech
development. Vocabulary size, as well as other measures of receptive and
expressive semantics, syntax and morphology, are consistent concurrent and
longitudinal predictors of phonological awareness. Consistent with this
finding, children with communication disorders often have poor phonological
awareness.
Phonological awareness is an important determiner of success in
learning to read and spell. For most children, strong readers have strong
phonological awareness, and poor readers have poor phonological awareness
skills. In addition, interventions to improve phonological awareness abilities
lead to significantly improved reading abilities. Phonological awareness
instruction improves reading and spelling skills, but the reverse is also true:
literacy instruction improves phonological awareness skills.
Conclusion
Phonological awareness is an auditory skill that is developed through a
variety of activities that expose students to the sound structure of the
language and teach them to recognize, identify and manipulate it. Listening
skills are an important foundation for the development of phonological
awareness and they generally develop first. Therefore, the scope and
sequence of instruction in early childhood literacy typically begins with a
focus on listening, as teachers instruct children to attend to and distinguish
sounds, including environment sounds and the sounds of speech. Early
phonological awareness instruction also involves the use of songs, nursery
rhymes and games to help students to become alert to speech sounds and
rhythms, rather than meanings.

Phonological awareness is important because it is a basis for reading.

Children begin to read by listening to others read aloud, then recognize
sounds in words, sounding words out for themselves, recognizing familiar
words and so on. By engaging in word play, children learn to recognize
patterns among words and use this knowledge to read and build words.
SPELLING and DECODING
DECODING
-means translating written words into the sounds and meanings of
spoken words.
SPELLING
- Representation of words by letters
Why is decoding important?
-Decoding is important because it is the foundation on which all other
reading instruction builds. If students cannot decode words their reading will
lack fluency, their vocabulary will be limited and their reading
comprehension will suffer.
Prerequisites for learning to decode and spell
1. The alphabetic principle
2. Concepts about print. Learners need to understand how print works
in written text.
3. Knowledge of letter-sound correspondence.
Four Phases of Word Reading
1. Prealphabetic Decoding
-Knowledge of print
-Phonological awareness
-Visual identification of words (McDonalds)
2. Partial Alphabetic Decoding
-Development of phonological processing skills
-Letter-sound associations based on letter name
3. Full Alphabetic Decoding

-Decode on letter-by-letter basis with one letter corresponding to

one sound
-Ability to segment words into their component sounds
-Vowels and consonant blends (/bl/)
4. Consolidated Alphabetic Decoding
-Knowledge of common letter sequences representing sounds
Phases in Spelling
1. Preliterate-Phonetic Spelling
-Phonological awareness
-Early scribbles
2. Early Letter Name-Alphabetic Spelling
-Insecure grasp of grapho-phonemic correspondences resulting
in incomplete spellings
-Few memorized sight words in writing
3. Late Letter Name-Alphabetic Spelling
- Letter-by-letter basis with one letter corresponding to one sound
-Segment words into their component sounds
-Words sounded out slowly with all phonemes detected
-Disregard orthographic constraints
4. Within Word Pattern Spelling
-Familiarity with common spelling patterns and rules (letterdoubling rules, silent e vowel marker/vowel teams)

Differences of Spelling and Decoding

Differences: Decoding (Moats, 2000)

Differences: Spelling (Ehri, 1995)

Interdependence of Spelling and Decoding

Spellings are verified through decoding (Ehri, 1997; Perfetti, 1997)

Instruction in spelling has resulted in improvements in decoding (Ball &

Blachman, 1991; Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1989, 1990; Ehri & Wilce,
1987)

Instruction in decoding has resulted in improvements in spelling

(Foorman, Francis, Fletcher, Schatschneider, and Mehta,1998, NRP,
2000)

Fluency
This is the ability to read a text accurately, smoothly, quickly and with
expression. The following activities can improve fluency:
A. Reading with a model teacher.
B. Choral Reading.
C. Tape assisted reading.
D. Readers Theater.
E. Partner Reading.
Vocabulary

Types of vocabulary

Reading vocabulary
Listening vocabulary
Speaking vocabulary
Writing vocabulary

Significant obstacles to developing sufficient vocabulary to be

successful in school:

Students
Students
Students
Students

with limited or no knowledge of English

who do not read outside of school
with reading and learning disabilities
who enter school with limited vocabulary knowledge.

Overview of Vocabulary Instruction Strategies

1. Include both definitional information and contextual information about
each words
meaning.
2. Involve children more actively in word learning.
3. Provide multiple exposures to meaningful information about the word.
Indirect Vocabulary Instruction
Wide reading: The more you read, the more vocabulary you learn
Multiple exposure to words
Multiple exposure and importance of background knowledge
Direct Vocabulary Instruction
Promote word consciousness
Provide direct, explicit instruction in specific words
Analyzing word structure: Teaching word parts
Use of context to determine word meaning
Teach how to effectively use a dictionary
Reading demands a two-pronged attack. It involves cracking the alphabet
code to determine the words (decoding) and thinking about those words to
construct meaning. The diagram below helps to illustrate this point.
Reading

Decoding
Phonemic awareness
Spelling
Vocabulary
Fluency

Thinking
Comprehension
Constructing meaning
Metacognition

The skills on the left are those skills essential to mastering the code and are
considered the basics of beginning reading instruction. The skills listed on
the right point to comprehension as a separate aspect of reading that
requires the same amount of direct instruction and teaching time as the
decoding skills. Once thought of as a natural result of decoding plus the oral
language, comprehension is now viewed as a much more complex process
involving knowledge, experience, thinking and teaching.
COMPREHENSION
- Is a process of constructing meaning from written text, a complex skill
requiring coordination of several kinds of inter-related information
- Is the result of an interaction between the text and the reader
Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To
be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able
to (1) decode what they read; (2) make connections between what they read
and what they already know; and (3) think deeply about what they have
read. One big part of comprehension is having a sufficient vocabulary, or
knowing the meanings of enough words.
Readers who have strong comprehension are able to draw conclusions
about what they read what is important, what is a fact, what caused an
event to happen, which characters are funny. Thus comprehension involves
combining reading with thinking and reasoning.
The notion of something happening while we read is the essence of
comprehension. The something happening is the interactive construction
of meaning inside our heads, which creates understanding. Sadly, the
something happening does not naturally occur inside all readers and so
there is a felt need to teach them how to use their experience and their
knowledge to make sense of what they are reading.
Profile of Proficient Reader
What makes a child a better reader than all the other children? In a
study of proficient readers, David Pearson was able to determine several
common strategies used by proficient readers that enabled them to make
sense of the text. A condensed version of this research is what is described
as the profile of a proficient reader
A good reader is metacognitive aware of and able to use and articulate
the following strategies in order to interact with the text and enhanced
meaning.
1. Make connections. A good reader is able to draw from background
knowledge and personal experiences while reading to help create
meaning from the text.
2. Ask questions. A good reader asks both literal and inferential questions
before, during and after reading to clarify meaning and deepen
understanding.

3. Visualize. A good reader is able to create multi-sensory images in the

minds eye while reading to help make sense of the text.
4. Determine importance. A good reader is able to sort through
information in the text, select key ideas, and remember them.
5. Draw inferences. A good reader knows that not all information is
included in a text, and is able to reasonably fill in, hypothesize, and
predict based on the evidence on the text.
6. Analyze and synthesize. A good reader is able to break down
information and draw conclusion based on both text and his or her
thinking.
7. Monitor comprehension. A good reader is able to stop, go back, and
reread in order for understanding to occur.
If these strategies are what research has found good readers do to
understand text, then this is what we need to be teaching our not-so
good readers to do. We can even trim down the seven strategies to
five: Connect, question, visualize, infer, and synthesize or transform.
These five are considered the ones that students could best learn and
that teachers could most easily implement in order to create a
language of thinking in the classroom.
Barriers to comprehension
O Decoding is a significant factor in successful comprehension
Decoding is a particular problem of children who lack the opportunities to
build background knowledge, access to resources and are exposed to a
fraction of words. Words are labels to packets of information therefore, the
more words a child has, the more knowledge they possess
O Dependence
Dependent readers rely on teachers to provide the correct interpretation or
information about a text. Passive Readers do not monitor their own reading
abilities or actively engage in the reading process
O Decoding Fluency without Comprehension
Older students can appear fluent based on traditional assessment for fluency
(i.e. they can sound out the right words). These students have trouble
relating the words to background knowledge, making inferences, applying
the strategies, or knowing the basic definitions to the words they are reading
(low vocabularies)
Why is Comprehension Important?
O Comprehension, just as reading, is integral to everyday life in our
society.
O Students need to realize that we need to understand everything we
read in order to learn from the text we interact with.
O Because of the demands of high stakes testing, students need to learn
to extract important information and transfer their knowledge to read
and respond to different types of questions.

O Students need to use comprehension skills across different mediums

such as text books, the internet, and even video games.