Help for Reading

In the 70s a very popular theory about reading was that skilled readers were using the context of what they were reading and were thus predicting what words were coming. This is what was thought to allow skilled readers to read so rapidly.
From this, the conclusion was draw that if skilled readers read in this way than we should teach children to read in this way. When a child did not know a word or stumbled on a word while reading, you would cue the child  by asking “What do you think it says?” Or you could tell the child to look at a picture, other cues to use context or their background knowledge. If you did this you would be building a good reader.
Reading researchers thought this sounded like a good theory. So they began testing this theory in the 70s and 80s. They were surprised to find that “guessing” and “using context” was not how good readers recognized word. They disproved the context theory. After 40 years of research this old theory is no longer held by reading scientists. They have determined that skilled readers do no rely on guessing a word and in fact guessing a word is more what weak readers do.  AND it is not the best way to help a child to read. There are better ways to teach a child how to read.

The problem is….practitioners still use the strategies based on the old theory.
Beginning readers need to learn how to recognize words, in order to read automatically – rapidly and effortlessly.  This skill is called word recognition, simply knowing  a word when you see it.
How can we best teach children to automatically recognize words so they can read smoothly and effortlessly?

Let’s take a look at what the research tells us and if the old cues of “What do you think it says?” or directing the child to look at the pictures is an approach we should abandon. And then discuss new approaches to help children build reading skill of recognizing words accurately and rapidly.

After a year of kindergarten instruction including additional reading support, and again in 1st grade  LJ was still having significant difficulty learning to read. One area of weakness, despite receiving instruction, was in phonological awareness. We were asked for our input and to work with LJ for a few weeks. What has happened?

When we began with LJ we first wanted to know, what level of phonological awareness did she have? Although the teachers were asking her to identify the first sound in a word we discovered her awareness of  “word” was not quite there. So to began LJ needed work at this level, identifying how many words are in a spoken sentence. Soon she could identify words in simple spoken sentences.

The next step on the continuum for phonological awareness is an awareness of syllables in words. Could she clap syllables? LJ had difficulty accurately clapping the syllables in words.  So, we began with clapping compound words. By the end of the week LJ not only could clap compound words but was now consistently clapping syllables in spoken words with 90-100% accuracy. LJ was moving forward with phonological awareness.

Perhaps two keys to LJ’s success can be applied to other students:

1) know a child’s current level of understanding and begin instruction there

2) use the developmental stages of phonological awareness

LJ now detecting words and syllables, was ready to learn about sounds in words. This level of phonological awareness – phonemic awareness – awareness of single sounds- was more challenging for LJ to grasp. We honored all of LJ’s attempts. For example she offered rhyming words for our first requests to tell us the first sound in a word. We explained the difference between rhyming words and the first sound in a word. We then used tactile cues, used pictures and provided lots of modeling and cues.

The next week LJ was giving more correct responses and was showing a revealing smile that she was getting sound awareness. We increased the challenge of identifying the first sound in words by using less familiar words and words with stop sounds (b, t, k, etc.). We also moved on to only using spoken words without picture support.

We thought we’d share LJ’s success with you….here is a short clip from a video of my last day working with LJ, checking her ability to identify the first sound in a word. The words selected were not previously used for teaching but novel to this task.  LJ is able to identify first sounds accurately and with a nice level of automaticity. 1st Sound Segmentation

LJ will need to review this skill to ensure mastery and apply this skill to her reading, writing and spelling tasks. The teachers will begin work on the next step in phonological awareness – final sound segmentation and then continuing on with phonemic awareness. LJ is now making progress.

Research in reading has found that there are many factors contributing to success in learning to read. One of these factors is a skill called phonological awareness.

What is phonological awareness?  Phonological awareness is refers to the ability to detect and manipulate the sounds of ones language. The phonological awareness skill significantly related to reading in first grade is called phonemic awareness – detecting and working with individual sounds in words. A child learning to read needs to grasp the idea that words are made of sounds and be able to work with the individual sounds.

Children with good phonological awareness skills have an easier time learning to read. Children with weak phonological awareness have a more difficult time. Research has shown that teaching phonological awareness helps children learn to read. If you have a beginning reader or a struggling reader be sure to moniotr their growth and development in this area and when needed provide additional instruction.

Phonological awareness may not be easy or natural for some children. There is a sequence from less complex to more complex. Begin at your child’s level and then provide activities and practice so your child can master each step.

Keep in mind that phonics is not the same as phonological awareness –  phonics involves written letters and memorization while phonological awareness involves spoken sounds without reference to the letters and memorization is not needed. It is important not to confuse the two. See our reading support program on Phonological awareness for further explanation.