The Learning Progression For Literacy

The Simple View of Reading (SVoR) model suggests that children must have language comprehension and word recognition skills to be proficient readers, Medwell et al (2014). Jim Rose’s report (2006, p. 40) outlined the Simple View of Reading as a useful framework, which would make explicit to teachers what they need to teach about word recognition and language comprehension (see appendix 1). Before the Rose report, reading was defined as decoding black marks, Graham and Kelly (2012). After this the searchlights model suggested that phonics, grammatical knowledge, reading comprehension and graphic knowledge are equally useful tools when learning to read, Ward (2008). The Rose report’s Independent Review of the Teaching of Early reading reconstructed this model and created the SVoR. Rose (2006, p. 38) determines word recognition as a process which allows you to use “phonics to recognise words” and language comprehension as the means by which “word information, sentences and discourse are interpreted.” The SVoR suggests that, to become a fluent reader, the skills of language comprehension and word recognition are equally important and dependent on each other. Gough and Tummer first mentioned this model, as stated that “comprehension is not sufficient, for decoding is also necessary” Wyse et al (2013, p.

Phonemic awareness is a vital role in literacy instruction. Many schools and districts adopt a commercially published basal reading program and it becomes the cornerstone of their instruction ( (David Chard, n.d.). We also know that through investigation and research it has shown us that word-recognition instruction and instruction in oral language skills related to word recognition were inadequately represented. (David Chard, n.d.) The same researchers have found that the reading passages that students are reading didn’t relate to the words they were learning. In order for students to read at grade level or above a supplemental program should be implemented. I have found that at my school we are lacking a phonics program that will reach different students abilities and make them successful in reading. My goal for this paper is to show my district that using a supplemental phonics program aside from our basal phonics program will prove beneficial to strategic readers who fall below grade level.

Learning to read is beginning to develop earlier in elementary grades. Students are expected to be emergent readers by the time he or she leaves kindergarten and enters first grade. If a child is not, he or she is labeled as being behind. According to Hughes (2007) emergent readers are using early reading strategies in consistently, read easy patterned text, retell text with simple storyline, and respond to text at a literal level. Hughes (2007) also says literacy develops in young children through play, daily conversation and interactions with text of all kinds. Many children come with emergent literacy skills; can recognize signs and labels, scribble letters, retell stories by pointing at pictures and talking about them, and some have varying degrees of phonemic and phonological awareness. This essay will define and explain implication for each theory in learning to read.

We learn literacy through phonological practices prompted in reading development to increase fluency and comprehension (Konza, 2006). Phonological awareness concerns itself with manipulation of sound patterns related to speech and intonation and has a relationship to phonemic awareness, being the smaller components of language such as individual letter sounds (Hill, 2012). Rose recommends that synthetic phonics are needed for ‘letter-sound correspondence’, learning how words are blended and broken up for spelling and finally being able to recognize words in print, as well as singularly (2006, p. 18). Understanding of these literacy components culminate to skills required to read (National Reading Panel, 2000). Oral language is casual and elusive in syntactical meaning, so in order for children to become effective readers they need to have exposure to formal and ‘decontextualized’ language properties (Konza, 2006, p. 35). Students will not be able to associate speech to written language

In order for students to be able to read fluently, they must have a strong grasp of phonological awareness and be able to apply the alphabetical principal. Phonemic awareness has been found to be a strong predictor of reading success (IRA board issues position statement on phonemic awareness, 1998). When students develop these prerequisite skills, reading unknown words becomes effortless (Torgeson, 2002). Consequently, students can then spend their efforts on comprehending the text. Early readers are much more likely to become life-long learners that are willing to tackle a variety of

There have been various research studies and debates about how children learn. It started with Webster Spellers and their popular method of reading instruction, which was replaced with alphabetic and phonics methods. The debate soon became about phonics and whole-word method. They found that not one method worked for all children. Soon peoples thinking shifted to learning to read, should be as natural as learning to talk. Current research has found that whole-language and code-focused instruction are important for developing readers. Language helps us navigate through like. Oral language is vital groundwork of literacy instruction. Children with stronger oral communication read more fluently, than those who struggle with oral communication. Language skills identified with reading include vocabulary, metalinguistic awareness, and listening comprehension. Children’s vocabulary is correlational to their literacy skills. Explicit instruction is crucial for proficient literacy to develop in children.

Phonemic awareness is an auditory skill. It is “the understanding that spoken words are made up of separate units of sound that are blended together when words are pronounced” (Learning, 2004). Phonemic awareness is the first step to learning how to read. It is a skill that needs to be taught from a very young age, this is because the more a child’s phonemic awareness is developed the better their development in reading will be (A guide to effective instruction in reading, 2003). The skill of phonemic awareness is essential to a child’s ability to make meaning, as ‘it involves the ability to detect, count, segment, blend and manipulate’ the different sounds in words (Fellowes, & Oakley, 2014). Phonemic awareness is the basis of reading and

Phonemic awareness and phonics are the two reading components that I examined for the Triangulated Analysis project. Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness and refers to the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken words. Phonemic awareness is the recognition that spoken words are made up of individual sounds, as well as and the ability to make those sounds. Young learners who acquire this ability are able to hear rhyming words and blend them together. Moreover, phonemic awareness is grounded in oral language and serves as the foundation for reading development, and research suggests that phonemic awareness is the single strongest indicator of a child’s success at learning to read. Alternatively, phonics is the relationship between letter sounds and symbols, and early literacy learners must acquire this ability to recognize, analyze, and decode letters to correctly translate words from print to speech.

It is often understood that educators are charged with the responsibility to educate children in a holistic way. As such, educators must have the best interest of their students at heart if their objective is to teach well. They can prevent the students from failure when they recognize that their students are not heading in the path to success. It is greatly recognize that reading is essential in the development of a child as previous mentioned, Davis and Davis (2014) referered to reading as the building block of life. The different studies analyzed on the correlation of phonological awareness and reading exposed that phonological awareness is an important factor in learning to read or improving reading skills in struggling reads. However, there are other skills that a child’s need to master for him/her to become an avid reader.

Reading is a difficult task to teach children (Ehri, Nunes, Stahl & Willow, 2001). While most children are able to competently produce and comprehend spoken English when entering school many have limited knowledge of how to read or write, or that spoken language is made up of individual sounds (Ehri et al., 2001; Nichols, Rupley, Rickelmen & Algozzine, 2004; Castiglioni-Spalten & Ehri, 2003). Therefore, a significant number of children find the task of learning to read quite problematic and frequently struggle to become proficient readers while attending school (Al-Bataineh & Sims-King, 2013). Research suggests this may be attributed to their inability to grasp the alphabetic principle that a predictable relationship exists between the sounds

Probably the most significant advance in the scientific study of reading and related skills has been the identification of the role of phonological processing in learning to read. It is now widely recognized that children will struggle to learn to decode text if they cannot segment and blend the separate sounds within words orally. As a consequence, there has been an increasing emphasis on the inclusion of phonological skills training in programs designed to help young children learn to read. Presently it is greatly recommended phonological intervention plan should be an essential component of programs designed to meet the needs of older low-progress readers.

Reading instruction can only be successful when a teacher incorporates all of the major content strands of the reading process into their lesson plans, phonemic awareness is the starting point of this process. Phonemic awareness is, in its most simple terms, is the conscious awareness of the sounds in words (Hill, 2012, p.137). An example of this would be a child who can recognise the sounds /c/, /a/ and /t/ in the word cat and understand when those sounds are put together they form a word and that this theory can be applied to all words. By using explicit teaching methods, a child will have been well supported in developing their phonemic awareness, this lays the foundation for the further development of their reading skills. These explicit

My philosophy of literacy is centered on providing a learning environment rich in authentic literature, instruction that is engaging, fun, and balanced, collaborative, and also involving families in the child’s education. My ultimate goal of literacy instruction is to help children become lifelong readers and writers by providing the skills necessary to comprehend, construct, and make meaning of text, speak, and write. (Torgesen, 2002). According to the National Reading Panel, there are five essential components that must be taught in effective reading programs: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. (Reading Horizons). According to Konza (2014), reading instruction should be changed to six foundational reading elements, adding oral language and early literacy. I also believe that early literacy should be

There are two areas in which the reading process is involved. These areas are word recognition and comprehension. As students become better at decoding words, the expectation is that they will develop the ability to read words quickly or automatically. Many students who struggle with word comprehension are not able to comprehend what they are reading. To try to fix this, many teachers provide phonics instruction; as a result, these students become accurate decoders, but they are never able to reach the level of proficient readers.

When data from students who had average accuracy and fluency scores, but lower comprehension scores were compared to data from those with similar accuracy and fluency but average comprehension, the consistent differences were found to be lower oral language and vocabulary skills in the poor comprehenders upon entry into formal schooling. (Nation, Cocksey, Taylor & Bishop) Thousands of dollars each year are spent on intervention, trying to improve the reading of children that show delays. When one reads, the clear goal is comprehension of what is read. Without communication of ideas between the author and reader, decoding texts is pointless. Most intervention programs are focused on phonics and word decoding. Oral language interventions concurrent with vocabulary and comprehension tasks at age eight have been shown to lead to significant improvements in reading comprehension. (Nation, et al., 2010). Reading comprehension is not merely a product of being able to decode words and sentences. How we teach children to process and integrate the ideas found in text can have a large impact on their ability to function in a world of ever expanding knowledge and information.