How Does Phonemic Awareness Promote Reading Comprehension
Main Body
3. Word Recognition Skills: One of Two Essential Components of Reading Comprehension
Maria S. Murray
Abstract
After acknowledging the contributions of recent scientific discoveries in reading that have led to new understandings of reading processes and reading didactics, this chapter focuses on word recognition, one of the two essential components in the Unproblematic View of Reading. The adjacent chapter focuses on the other essential component, language comprehension. The Simple View of Reading is a model, or a representation, of how skillful reading comprehension develops. Although the Report of the National Reading Panel (NRP; National Found of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD], 2000) concluded that the best reading instruction incorporates explicit instruction in five areas (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension), its purpose was to review hundreds of research studies to permit instructors know the well-nigh effective bear witness-based methods for teaching each. These five areas are featured in the Simple View of Reading in such a way that we can see how the subskills ultimately contribute to two essential components for proficient reading comprehension. Children require many skills and elements to proceeds give-and-take recognition (e.g., phoneme awareness, phonics), and many skills and elements to gain language comprehension (e.chiliad., vocabulary). Ultimately, the ability to read words (word recognition) and understand those words (language comprehension) atomic number 82 to expert reading comprehension. Both this chapter and the next chapter nowadays the skills, elements, and components of reading using the framework of the Simple View of Reading, and in this particular chapter, the focus is on elements that contribute to automatic word recognition. An explanation of each element's importance is provided, forth with recommendations of research-based instructional activities for each.
Learning Objectives
Afterwards reading this chapter, readers will be able to
- identify the underlying elements of give-and-take recognition;
- place research-based instructional activities to teach phonological sensation, decoding, and sight recognition of irregular sight words;
- discuss how the underlying elements of word recognition pb to successful reading comprehension.
Introduction
Throughout history, many seemingly logical behavior accept been debunked through enquiry and science. Alchemists once believed pb could exist turned into gold. Physicians one time assumed the flushed ruby-red pare that occurred during a fever was due to an abundance of claret, and and so the "cure" was to remove the excess using leeches (Worsley, 2011). People believed that the earth was flat, that the sun orbited the earth, and until the discovery of microorganisms such every bit bacteria and viruses, they believed that epidemics and plagues were caused by bad air (Byrne, 2012). One by 1, these misconceptions were dispelled as a result of scientific discovery. The same can be said for misconceptions in pedagogy, particularly in how children acquire to read and how they should be taught to read.1
In but the terminal few decades there has been a massive shift in what is known about the processes of learning to read. Hundreds of scientific studies have provided u.s. with valuable knowledge regarding what occurs in our brains as we read. For example, we now know in that location are specific areas in the encephalon that process the sounds in our spoken words, dispelling prior behavior that reading is a visual action requiring memorization (Rayner, Foorman, Perfetti, Pesetsky, & Seidenberg, 2001). Also, nosotros at present know how the reading processes of students who learn to read with ease differ from those who detect learning to read difficult. For example, we have learned that irregular eye movements do not crusade reading difficulty. Many clever experiments (see Rayner et al., 2001) take shown that skilled readers' eye movements during reading are smoother than struggling readers' because they are able to read with such ease that they exercise not accept to continually stop to effigy out letters and words. Perhaps almost valuable to future teachers is the fact that a multitude of studies have converged, showing united states of america which instruction is most effective in helping people learn to read. For instance, we at present know that phonics pedagogy that is systematic (i.e., phonics elements are taught in an organized sequence that progresses from the simplest patterns to those that are more complex) and explicit (i.e., the teacher explicitly points out what is existence taught every bit opposed to assuasive students to effigy it out on their own) is most constructive for teaching students to read words (NRP, 2000).
As you will learn, discussion recognition, or the power to read words accurately and automatically, is a complex, multifaceted process that teachers must understand in lodge to provide constructive instruction. Fortunately, we at present know a bully bargain about how to teach discussion recognition due to of import discoveries from current research. In this chapter, you will larn what inquiry has shown to be the necessary elements for pedagogy the underlying skills and elements that pb to authentic and automatic word recognition, which is i of the two essential components that leads to skillful reading comprehension. In this textbook, reading comprehension is divers every bit "the procedure of simultaneously extracting and constructing significant through interaction and involvement with written language" (Snow, 2002, p. xiii), too every bit the "capacities, abilities, cognition, and experiences" one brings to the reading state of affairs (p. 11).
Learning to Read Words Is a Complex Process
It used to be a widely held belief by prominent literacy theorists, such every bit Goodman (1967), that learning to read, like learning to talk, is a natural procedure. It was thought that since children acquire language and how to speak just past virtue of being spoken to, reading to and with children should naturally lead to learning to read, or recognize, words. Now we know information technology is not natural, even though it seems that some children "pick up reading" like a bird learns to fly. The human brain is wired from birth for spoken language, only this is not the instance for reading the printed give-and-take. This is because what we read—our alphabetic script—is an invention, just bachelor to humankind for the last 3,800 years (Dehaene, 2009). As a upshot, our brains accept had to accommodate a new pathway to translate the squiggles that are our messages into the sounds of our spoken words that they symbolize. This seemingly elementary chore is, in authenticity, a complex feat.
The alphabet is an amazing invention that allows usa to stand for both old and new words and ideas with merely a few symbols. Despite its efficiency and simplicity, the alphabet is really the root crusade of reading difficulties for many people. The letters that make upwards our alphabet correspond phonemes—individual speech sounds—or according to Dehaene, "atoms" of spoken words (every bit opposed to other scripts like Chinese whereby the characters represent larger units of oral communication such equally syllables or whole words). Individual speech sounds in spoken words (phonemes) are difficult to observe for approximately 25% to 40% of children (Adams, Foorman, Lundberg, & Beeler, 1998). In fact, for some children, the power to discover, or get aware of the individual sounds in spoken words (phoneme awareness) proves to exist one of the about difficult academic tasks they will ever run into. If we were to ask, "How many sounds practise you hear when I say 'gum'?" some children may respond that they hear simply one, because when we say the word "gum," the sounds of /m/ /u/ and /1000/ are seamless. (Note the / / marks denote the audio made by a letter of the alphabet.) This means that the sounds are coarticulated; they overlap and cook into each other, forming an enveloped, single unit—the spoken discussion "gum." In that location are no crisp boundaries betwixt the sounds when we say the word "gum." The /k/ sound folds into the /u/ sound, which then folds into the /m/ sound, with no breaks in betwixt.
And then why the difficulty and where does much of it begin? Our speech consists of whole words, but we write those words by breaking them downwards into their phonemes and representing each phoneme with letters. To read and write using our alphabetic script, children must first exist able to detect and disconnect each of the sounds in spoken words. They must blend the individual sounds together to make a whole word (read). And they must segment the individual sounds to represent each with alphabetic letters (spell and write). This is the beginning stumbling block for so many in their literacy journeys—a difficulty in phoneme awareness simply considering their brains happen to exist wired in such a way equally to make the sounds hard to notice. Research, through the utilize of brain imaging and various clever experiments, has shown how the encephalon must "teach itself" to accommodate this alphabet past creating a pathway between multiple areas (Dehaene, 2009).
Pedagogy incorporating phoneme awareness is probable to facilitate successful reading (Adams et al., 1998; Snowfall, Burns, & Griffin, 1998), and it is for this reason that it is a focus in early on schoolhouse experiences. For some children, phoneme awareness, along with exposure to additional fundamentals, such as how to concur a book, the concept of a discussion or sentence, or noesis of the alphabet, may be learned earlier formal schooling begins. In add-on to having such print experiences, oral experiences such every bit existence talked to and read to within a literacy rich surroundings assist to prepare the stage for reading. Children lacking these literacy experiences prior to starting school must rely heavily on their teachers to provide them.
The Uncomplicated View of Reading and the Strands of Early Literacy Development
Teachers of reading share the goal of helping students develop skillful reading comprehension. As mentioned previously, the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) is a research-supported representation of how reading comprehension develops. It characterizes skillful reading comprehension equally a combination of two divide but equally important components—word recognition skills and linguistic communication comprehension ability. In other words, to unlock comprehension of text, two keys are required—being able to read the words on the folio and agreement what the words and linguistic communication hateful within the texts children are reading (Davis, 2006). If a pupil cannot recognize words on the folio accurately and automatically, fluency volition be afflicted, and in plough, reading comprehension will suffer. Likewise, if a pupil has poor understanding of the meaning of the words, reading comprehension will suffer. Students who have success with reading comprehension are those who are skilled in both word recognition and language comprehension.
These two essential components of the Simple View of Reading are represented past an illustration by Scarborough (2002). In her illustration, seen in Figure 1, twisting ropes stand for the underlying skills and elements that come together to form two necessary braids that stand for the two essential components of reading comprehension. Although the model itself is called "simple" because it points out that reading comprehension is comprised of reading words and understanding the language of the words, in truth the two components are quite complex. Examination of Scarborough's rope model reveals how multifaceted each is. For either of the ii essential components to develop successfully, students demand to be taught the elements necessary for automatic word recognition (i.e., phonological awareness, decoding, sight recognition of frequent/familiar words), and strategic linguistic communication comprehension (i.e., groundwork noesis, vocabulary, verbal reasoning, literacy knowledge). The sections beneath will describe the importance of the three elements that lead to accurate word recognition and provide evidence-based instructional methods for each element. Chapter 4 in this textbook will embrace the elements leading to strategic language comprehension.
Give-and-take Recognition
Word recognition is the act of seeing a word and recognizing its pronunciation immediately and without any conscious attempt. If reading words requires conscious, effortful decoding, fiddling attention is left for comprehension of a text to occur. Since reading comprehension is the ultimate goal in teaching children to read, a critical early objective is to ensure that they are able to read words with instant, automatic recognition (Garnett, 2011). What does automatic word recognition look like? Consider your ain reading equally an case. Assuming you are a skilled reader, it is probable that as yous are looking at the words on this page, you cannot avoid reading them. It is impossible to suppress reading the words that you look at on a folio. Because you have learned to instantly recognize so many words to the indicate of automaticity, a mere glance with no witting effort is all information technology takes for give-and-take recognition to take place. Despite this word recognition that results from a mere glance at print, it is critical to understand that you lot have non simply recognized what the words look like as wholes, or familiar shapes. Even though we read so many words automatically and instantaneously, our brains still process every alphabetic character in the words subconsciously. This is evident when nosotros spot misspellings. For example, when quickly glancing at the words in the familiar sentences, "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. Jack jamped over the canbleslick," you lot likely spotted a problem with a few of the individual letters. Yep, you instantly recognized the words, yet at the same fourth dimension you noticed the individual letters inside the words that are not correct.
To teach students word recognition so that they can achieve this automaticity, students crave instruction in: phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition of loftier frequency words (e.k., "said," "put"). Each of these elements is divers and their importance is described below, along with effective methods of education for each.
Phonological Sensation
One of the critical requirements for decoding, and ultimately give-and-take recognition, is phonological sensation (Snow et al., 1998). Phonological awareness is a broad term encompassing an sensation of diverse-sized units of sounds in spoken words such as rhymes (whole words), syllables (large parts of words), and phonemes (individual sounds). Hearing "true cat" and "mat," and beingness enlightened that they rhyme, is a form of phonological sensation, and rhyming is commonly the easiest and primeval course that children acquire. Likewise, being able to break the spoken word "teacher" into two syllables is a form of phonological awareness that is more than sophisticated. Phoneme sensation, equally mentioned previously, is an awareness of the smallest individual units of audio in a spoken word—its phonemes; phoneme awareness is the most advanced level of phonological sensation. Upon hearing the word "sleigh," children will be enlightened that there are 3 separate spoken communication sounds—/southward/ /50/ /ā/—despite the fact that they may have no idea what the give-and-take looks like in its printed course and despite the fact that they would likely have difficulty reading it.
Because the terms sound similar, phonological awareness is often confused with phoneme sensation. Teachers should know the difference because sensation of larger units of sound—such as rhymes and syllables—develops before sensation of private phonemes, and instructional activities meant to develop 1 awareness may not be suitable for another. Teachers should too understand and call up that neither phonological awareness nor its most advanced form—phoneme awareness—has annihilation whatsoever to practise with print or letters. The activities that are used to teach them are entirely auditory. To assistance remember this, simply picture that they can exist performed by students if their eyes are closed. Adults can teach phonological awareness activities to a kid in a auto seat during a drive. The child can exist told, "Say 'cowboy.' Now say 'cowboy' without maxim 'cow.'" Adults tin teach phoneme awareness activities every bit well by asking, "What sound do y'all hear at the kickoff of 'sssun,' 'sssail,' and 'ssssoup'?" or, "In the word 'snack,' how many sounds practise you hear?" or past saying, "Tell me the sounds you lot hear in 'lap.'" Notice that the words would not be printed anywhere; merely spoken words are required. Engaging in these game-like tasks with spoken words helps children develop the awareness of phonemes, which, forth with additional instruction, volition facilitate future word recognition.
Why phonological awareness is important
An abundance of research emerged in the 1970s documenting the importance of phoneme sensation (the most sophisticated grade of phonological sensation) for learning to read and write (International Reading Association, 1998). Failing to develop this awareness of the sounds in spoken words leads to difficulties learning the relationship between speech and print that is necessary for learning to read (Snow et al., 1998). This difficulty tin can sometimes be linked to specific underlying causes, such as a lack of instructional experiences to help children develop phoneme awareness, or neurobiological differences that make developing an awareness of phonemes more difficult for some children (Rayner et al., 2001). Phoneme sensation facilitates the essential connection that is "reading": the sequences of individual sounds in spoken words friction match upward to sequences of printed letters on a page. To illustrate the connection between phoneme awareness and reading, picture the steps that children must perform equally they are starting time to read and spell words. Outset, they must accurately audio out the messages, one at a time, property them in memory, and so alloy them together correctly to grade a discussion. Conversely, when commencement to spell words, they must segment a spoken word (even if it is not aural they are nonetheless "hearing the word" in their minds) into its phonemes and so stand for each phoneme with its corresponding letter(s). Therefore, both reading and spelling are dependent on the ability to segment and blend phonemes, as well every bit friction match the sounds to letters, and as stated previously, some students accept bully difficulty developing these skills. The expert news is that these important skills can exist effectively taught, which leads to a give-and-take about the most effective ways to teach phonological (and phoneme) awareness.
Phonological awareness education
The National Reading Panel (NRP, 2000) report synthesized 52 experimental studies that featured instructional activities involving both phonological sensation (due east.yard., categorizing words similar in either initial audio or rhyme) and phoneme awareness (east.g., segmenting or blending phonemes). In this section, both volition be discussed.
A scientifically based written report past Bradley and Bryant (1983) featured an activity that teaches phonological awareness and remains popular today. The activity is sorting or categorizing pictures by either rhyme or initial sound (Bradley & Bryant, 1983). As shown in Figure 2, sets of cards are shown to children that feature pictures of words that rhyme or have the aforementioned initial sound. Typically ane moving-picture show does not match the others in the grouping, and the students must determine which the "odd" one is. For instance, pictures of a fan, can, man, and pig are identified to be sure the students know what they are. The instructor slowly pronounces each word to brand sure the students clearly hear the sounds and has them point to the give-and-take that does non rhyme (lucifer the others). This is oftentimes referred to as an "oddity task," and it can also be done with pictures featuring the same initial audio as in fundamental, clock, cat, and scissors (see Blachman, Brawl, Black, & Tangel, 2000 for reproducible examples).
Bear witness-based activities to promote phoneme awareness typically accept students segment spoken words into phonemes or take them blend phonemes together to create words. In fact, the NRP (2000) identified segmenting and blending activities as the most effective when teaching phoneme awareness. This makes sense, because that segmenting and blending are the very acts performed when spelling (segmenting a word into its individual sounds) and reading (blending letter sounds together to create a word). The NRP noted that if segmenting and blending activities somewhen incorporate the use of letters, thereby allowing students to make the connection between sounds in spoken words and their corresponding letters, at that place is even greater benefit to reading and spelling. Making connections betwixt sounds and their corresponding letters is the beginning of phonics instruction, which will be described in more than item below.
An activeness that incorporates both segmenting and blending was first developed by a Russian psychologist named Elkonin (1963), and thus, it is ofttimes referred to as "Elkonin Boxes." Children are shown a picture representing a three- or 4-phoneme picture (such as "fan" or "lamp") and told to motion a chip for each phoneme into a series of boxes below the motion-picture show. For example, if the word is "fan," they would say /fffff/ while moving a chip into the first box, then say /aaaaa/ while moving a chip into the second box, and so on. Both Elkonin boxes (see Figure 3) and a like action called "Say It and Motility It" are used in the published phonological awareness training manual, Road to the Code by Blachman et al. (2000). In each action children must heed to a discussion and motion a corresponding bit to indicate the segmented sounds they hear, and they must besides blend the sounds together to say the entire word.
Decoding
Some other critical component for word recognition is the power to decode words. When teaching children to accurately decode words, they must sympathize the alphabetic principle and know letter of the alphabet-sound correspondences. When students make the connection that letters signify the sounds that nosotros say, they are said to understand the purpose of the alphabetic code, or the "alphabetic principle." Letter-sound correspondences are known when students tin provide the correct audio for messages and letter of the alphabet combinations. Students tin can then be taught to decode, which means to blend the letter sounds together to read words. Decoding is a deliberate human action in which readers must "consciously and deliberately apply their knowledge of the mapping system to produce a plausible pronunciation of a word they do not instantly recognize" (Beck & Juel, 1995, p. 9). Once a word is accurately decoded a few times, it is likely to become recognized without conscious deliberation, leading to efficient discussion recognition.
The instructional practices teachers utilise to teach students how messages (e.g., i, r, x) and alphabetic character clusters (east.g., sh, oa, igh) correspond to the sounds of speech in English is called phonics (non to be confused with phoneme awareness). For case, a instructor may provide a phonics lesson on how "p" and "h" combine to make /f/ in "phane," and "graph." Afterward all, the alphabet is a lawmaking that symbolizes speech sounds, and in one case students are taught which sound(s) each of the symbols (letters) represents, they can successfully decode written words, or "crevice the code."
Why decoding is important
Like to phonological awareness, neither understanding the alphabetic principle nor knowledge of alphabetic character-sound correspondences come naturally. Some children are able to proceeds insights well-nigh the connections between speech and print on their ain just from exposure and rich literacy experiences, while many others crave instruction. Such instruction results in dramatic comeback in word recognition (Boyer & Ehri, 2011). Students who empathize the alphabetic principle and have been taught letter of the alphabet-sound correspondences, through the use of phonological awareness and alphabetic character-audio instruction, are well-prepared to begin decoding unproblematic words such as "true cat" and "big" accurately and independently. These students will have high initial accuracy in decoding, which in itself is of import since it increases the likelihood that children will willingly engage in reading, and equally a result, word recognition volition progress. Too, providing students effective instruction in letter-sound correspondences and how to use those correspondences to decode is of import considering the resulting benefits to discussion recognition lead to benefits in reading comprehension (Brady, 2011).
Decoding pedagogy
Teaching children letter-sound correspondences and how to decode may seem remarkably simple and straightforward. Yet teaching them well plenty and early enough then that children can brainstorm to read and comprehend books independently is influenced by the kind of didactics that is provided. There are many programs and methods available for teaching students to decode, but all-encompassing testify exists that instruction that is both systematic and explicit is more than effective than instruction that is non (Brady, 2011; NRP, 2000).
As mentioned previously, systematic educational activity features a logical sequence of messages and letter combinations beginning with those that are the nearly common and useful, and ending with those that are less so. For example, knowing the letter "due south" is more useful in reading and spelling than knowing "j" considering it appears in more words. Explicit educational activity is direct; the teacher is straightforward in pointing out the connections between letters and sounds and how to use them to decode words and does not get out it to the students to figure out the connections on their own from texts. The notable findings of the NRP (2000) regarding systematic and explicit phonics instruction include that its influence on reading is most substantial when it is introduced in kindergarten and first grade, it is effective in both preventing and remediating reading difficulties, it is effective in improving both the ability to decode words as well as reading comprehension in younger children, and it is helpful to children from all socioeconomic levels. It is worth noting here that constructive phonics instruction in the early grades is important so that difficulties with decoding do not persist for students in afterward grades. When this happens, information technology is often noticeable when students in middle school or high school struggle to decode unfamiliar, multisyllabic words.
When providing instruction in letter-sound correspondences, nosotros should avoid presenting them in alphabetical order. Instead, it is more than effective to begin with high utility letters such as "a, thousand, t, i, due south, d, r, f, o, yard, l" so that students can begin to decode dozens of words featuring these common letters (e.g., mat, fit, rag, lot). Some other reason to avoid teaching letter-sound correspondences in alphabetical order is to preclude letter-audio confusion. Letter defoliation occurs in similarly shaped letters (e.g., b/d, p/q, g/p) considering in day-to-day life, changing the direction or orientation of an object such as a purse or a vacuum does not change its identity—it remains a purse or a vacuum. Some children do not understand that for certain letters, their position in space can alter their identity. It may take a while for children to understand that changing the direction of letter of the alphabet b will make it into letter d, and that these symbols are non only called different things but also have dissimilar sounds. Until students gain feel with print—both reading and writing—confusions are typical and are not due to "seeing letters astern." Nor are confusions a "sign" of dyslexia, which is a type of reading problem that causes difficulty with reading and spelling words (International Dyslexia Association, 2015). Students with dyslexia may reverse letters more often when they read or spell because they take fewer experiences with print—not because they run across letters backward. To reduce the likelihood of confusion, teach the /d/ audio for "d" to the point that the students know it consistently, before introducing letter "b."
To introduce the alphabetic principle, the Elkonin Boxes or "Say It and Move Information technology" activities described above can be adapted to include letters on some of the chips. For example, the letter "due north" can be printed on a chip and when students are directed to segment the words "nut," "man," or "snap," they tin can move the "n" chip to represent which sound (due east.chiliad., the first, 2d, or final) is /n/. Equally letter-audio correspondences are taught, children should begin to decode past blending them together to class existent words (Blachman & Tangel, 2008).
For many students, blending letter sounds together is hard. Some may experience letter-past-letter of the alphabet baloney when sounding out words i letter at a fourth dimension. For example, they may read "mat" as muh-a-tuh , adding the "uh" audio to the end of consonant sounds. To foreclose this, letter sounds should be taught in such a mode to make sure the pupil does not add together the "uh" sound (e.g., "grand" should be learned as /mmmm/ not /muh/, "r" should exist learned every bit /rrrr/ non /ruh/). To teach students how to blend alphabetic character sounds together to read words, it is helpful to model (run across Blachman & Murray, 2012). Begin with two letter words such as "at." Write the two messages of the word separated by a long line: a_______t. Point to the "a" and demonstrate stretching out the short /a/ sound—/aaaa/ as you move your finger to the "t" to smoothly connect the /a/ to the /t/. Repeat this a few times, decreasing the length of the line/time between the ii sounds until you pronounce information technology together: /at/. Gradually motility on to three letter of the alphabet words such as "deplorable" by pedagogy how to alloy the initial consonant with the vowel audio (/sa/) then adding the final consonant. It is helpful at beginning to use continuous sounds in the initial position (e.g., /due south/, /1000/, /l/) because they tin can exist stretched and held longer than a "end consonant" (e.thousand., /b/, /t/, /k/).
An excellent activeness featured in many scientifically-based research studies that teaches students to decode a give-and-take thoroughly and accurately by paying attention to all of the sounds in words rather than guessing based on the initial sounds is give-and-take building using a pocket nautical chart with letter cards (see examples in Blachman & Tangel). Have students begin by edifice a discussion such as "pan" using alphabetic character cards p, a, and due north. (These can be made using index cards cut into four three″ x one.25″ sections. It is helpful to draw attention to the vowels past making them red every bit they are often difficult to call back and easily dislocated). Next, accept them change just one sound in "pan" to brand a new word: "pat." The sequence of words may continue with just one letter of the alphabet changing at a time: pan — pat — rat — sat — sit — sip — tip — tap — rap. The student will brainstorm to understand that they must heed carefully to which sound has inverse (which helps their phoneme awareness) and that all sounds in a word are important. Every bit new phonics elements are taught, the alphabetic character sequences modify accordingly. For instance, a sequence featuring consonant blends and silent-due east may expect like this: slim—slime—slide—glide—glade—blade—blame—shame—sham. Many decoding programs that feature strategies based on scientifically-based research include discussion edifice and provide samples ranging from like shooting fish in a barrel, beginning sequences to those that are more advanced (Beck & Beck, 2013; Blachman & Tangel, 2008).
A last important signal to mention with regard to decoding is that teachers must consider what makes words (or texts) decodable in gild to allow for adequate practice of new decoding skills. When messages in a word accommodate to common letter-sound correspondences, the discussion is decodable because it can be sounded out, as opposed to words containing "rule billow" letters and sounds that are in words like "colonel" and "of." The letter-sound correspondences and phonics elements that accept been learned must be considered. For instance, fifty-fifty though the messages in the word "milkshake" conform to common pronunciations, if a educatee has not yet learned the sound that "sh" makes, or the phonics dominion for a long vowel when there is a silent "e," this detail give-and-take is not decodable for that kid. Teachers should refrain from giving children texts featuring "ship" or "shut" to practice decoding skills until they accept been taught the sound of /sh/. Children who accept only been taught the sounds of /s/ and /h/ may decode "shut" /s/ /h/ /u/ /t/, which would non lead to loftier initial accurateness and may pb to confusion.
Sight Discussion Recognition
The 3rd critical component for successful word recognition is sight word recognition. A small per centum of words cannot be identified by deliberately sounding them out, yet they appear ofttimes in print. They are "exceptions" because some of their messages practise not follow common letter-audio correspondences. Examples of such words are "one time," "put," and "does." (Notice that in the give-and-take "put," however, that just the vowel makes an exception sound, unlike the audio it would make in similar words such as "gut," "rut," or "just.") As a result of the irregularities, exception words must be memorized; sounding them out will not work.
Since these exception words must oftentimes exist memorized as a visual unit of measurement (i.e., past sight), they are oft called "sight words," and this leads to defoliation amid teachers. This is because words that occur oftentimes in print, even those that are decodable (e.g., "in," "volition," and "tin"), are likewise often called "sight words." Of form information technology is important for these decodable, highly frequent words to be learned early (preferably by attending to their sounds rather than simply by memorization), correct along with the others that are not decodable because they appear so frequently in the texts that will exist read. For the purposes of this chapter, sight words are familiar, high frequency words that must exist memorized because they have irregular spellings and cannot exist perfectly decoded.
Why sight word recognition is important
One tertiary of beginning readers' texts are mostly comprised of familiar, high frequency words such as "the" and "of," and almost half of the words in print are comprised of the 100 virtually mutual words (Fry, Kress, & Fountoukidis, 2000). It is no wonder that these words need to exist learned to the signal of automaticity so that smooth, fluent word recognition and reading tin can take identify.
Interestingly, skilled readers who decode well tend to become skilled sight word "recognizers," pregnant that they acquire irregular sight words more readily than those who decode with difficulty (Gough & Walsh, 1991). This reason is considering equally they begin learning to read, they are taught to be aware of phonemes, they learn letter-audio correspondences, and they put it all together to brainstorm decoding while practicing reading books. While reading a lot of books, they are repeatedly exposed to irregularly spelled, highly frequent sight words, and equally a result of this repetition, they larn sight words to automaticity. Therefore, irregularly spelled sight words can be learned from broad, independent reading of books. Even so, children who struggle learning to decode practice not spend a lot of time practicing reading books, and therefore, do not encounter irregularly spelled sight words as frequently. These students will demand more deliberate educational activity and additional practice opportunities.
Sight discussion recognition instruction
Teachers should observe that the bulk of messages in many irregularly spelled words do in fact follow regular sound-symbol pronunciations (e.g., in the word "from" only the "o" is irregular), and equally a result attending to the messages and sounds can often lead to correct pronunciation. That is why it is still helpful to teach students to notice all letters in words to anchor them in retentiveness, rather than to encourage "guess reading" or "looking at the start letter," which are both highly unreliable strategies every bit anyone who has worked with immature readers will attest. Interestingly, Tunmer and Chapman (2002) discovered that kickoff readers who read unknown words by "sounding them out" outperformed children who employed strategies such equally guessing, looking at the pictures, rereading the sentence on measures of word reading and reading comprehension, at the stop of their offset year in school and at the eye of their tertiary year in school.
Other than developing sight word recognition from wide, independent reading of books or from exposure on classroom word walls, instruction in learning sight words is similar to instruction used to learn letter-sound correspondences. Sources of irregularly spelled sight words tin vary. For instance, they tin can be preselected from the text that will exist used for that day's reading pedagogy. Lists of irregularly spelled sight words tin can be found in reading programs or on the Cyberspace (search for Fry lists or Dolch lists). When using such lists, determine which words are irregularly spelled because they will also characteristic highly frequent words that tin can be decoded, such as "upwards," and "got." These do not necessarily need deliberate instructional fourth dimension because the students will be able to read them using their knowledge of letters and sounds.
Regardless of the source, sight words can be practiced using flash cards or word lists, making sure to review those that have been previously taught to solidify deep learning. Gradual introduction of new words into the card piles or lists should include introduction such as pointing out features that may help learning and memorization (east.g., "where" and "at that place" both accept a alpine alphabetic character "h" which can be thought of as an arrow or route sign pointing to where or there). Sets of words that share patterns can be taught together (e.g., "would," "could," and "should"). Games such every bit Go Fish, Bingo, or Concentration featuring cards with these words can build repetition and exposure, and using peer-based learning, students tin can do speed drills with one another and record scores.
Any activity requiring the students to spell the words aloud is also helpful. I invented an activity that I call "Can Yous Match It?" in which peers piece of work together to do a handful of sight words. An envelope or flap is taped across the top of a modest dry out erase lath. One educatee chooses a carte du jour, tells the partner what the discussion is, and and then places the card inside the envelope or flap and so that it is not visible. The educatee with the dry erase lath writes the give-and-take on the section of board that is not covered past the envelope, then opens the envelope to run across if their spelling matches the word on the card. The ultimate goal in all of these activities is to provide a lot of repetition and practice so that highly frequent, irregularly spelled sight words go words students can recognize with just a glance.
Word Recognition Summary
As seen in the above department, in social club for students to attain automatic and effortless word recognition, three important underlying elements—phonological awareness, alphabetic character-audio correspondences for decoding, and sight recognition of irregularly spelled familiar words—must be taught to the point that they too are automatic. Word recognition, the act of seeing a word and recognizing its pronunciation without witting effort, is one of the two critical components in the Simple View of Reading that must be accomplished to enable successful reading comprehension. The other component is language comprehension, which will be discussed in Chapter 4. Both interact to form the skilled procedure that is reading comprehension. Considering they are and then crucial to reading, reading comprehension is likened to a 2-lock box, with both "cardinal" components needed to open information technology (Davis, 2006).
The two essential components in the Unproblematic View of Reading, automatic word recognition and strategic language comprehension, contribute to the ultimate goal of teaching reading: skilled reading comprehension. According to Garnett (2011), fluent execution of the underlying elements as discussed in this chapter involves "educational activity…accompanied by supported and properly framed interactive practice" (p. 311). When word recognition becomes effortless and automatic, conscious attempt is no longer needed to read the words, and instead information technology can be devoted to comprehension of the text. Accuracy and effortlessness, or fluency, in reading words serves to clear the way for successful reading comprehension.
It is easy to see how success in the three elements that lead to automatic discussion recognition are prerequisite to reading comprehension. Learning to decode and to automatically read irregularly spelled sight words can preclude the development of reading problems. Students who are successful in developing effortless word recognition have an easier fourth dimension reading, and this serves as a motivator to young readers, who then proceed to read a lot. Students who struggle with give-and-take recognition find reading laborious, and this serves as a bulwark to immature readers, who so may be offered fewer opportunities to read connected text or avert reading every bit much as possible considering it is difficult. Stanovich (1986) calls this disparity the "Matthew Effects" of reading, where the rich go richer—skilful readers read more and become even better readers and poor readers lose out. Stanovich (1986) also points out an amazing quote from Nagy and Anderson (1984, p. 328): "the least motivated children in the eye grades might read 100,000 words a year while the average children at this level might read one,000,000. The effigy for the voracious middle class reader might exist ten,000,000 or fifty-fifty every bit high as 50,000,000." Imagine the differences in word and world noesis that result from reading 100,000 words a twelvemonth versus millions! As teachers, it is worthwhile to keep these numbers in mind to remind usa of the importance of employing testify-based instructional practices to ensure that all students learn phoneme awareness, decoding, and sight word recognition—the elements necessary for learning how to succeed in word recognition.
Summary
In order for students to comprehend text while reading, it is vital that they be able to read the words on the page. Teachers who are aware of the importance of the essential, cardinal elements which atomic number 82 to successful word recognition—phonological sensation, decoding, and sight recognition of irregular words—are apt to make sure to teach their students each of these so that their word reading becomes automated, accurate, and effortless. Today's teachers are fortunate to have available to them a well-established banking company of research and instructional activities that they can access in order to facilitate give-and-take recognition in their classrooms.
The Unproblematic View of Reading's 2 essential components, automatic word recognition and strategic language comprehension, combine to allow for skilled reading comprehension. Students who can both recognize the words on the page and understand the language of the words and sentences are much more likely to enjoy the resulting advantage of comprehending the significant of the texts that they read.
Questions and Activities
- List the two main components of the simple view of reading, and explain their importance in developing reading comprehension.
- Explain the underlying elements of give-and-take recognition. How does each contribute to successful reading comprehension?
- Discuss instructional activities that are helpful for teaching phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition of irregularly spelled, highly frequent words.
- View the following video showing a student named Nathan who has difficulty with word recognition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpx7yoBUnKk (Rsogren, 2008). Which of the underlying elements of give-and-take recognition (eastward.g., phonological awareness, letter-audio correspondences, decoding) practise yous believe may be at the root of this student'south difficulties? How might you develop a new instructional program to accost these difficulties?
References
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Brook, I. L., & Beck, M. Due east. (2013). Making sense of phonics: The hows and whys (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Printing.
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Endnotes
ane: For detailed information on scientifically-based research in education, see Chapter 2 by Munger in this volume. Render
Source: https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/steps-to-success/chapter/3-word-recognition-skills-one-of-two-essential-components-of-reading-comprehension/
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