STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY

WORD RECOGNITION

The knowledge and skills underlying competent word recognition and spelling should be introduced through direct instruction and extended and practiced through meaningful reading and writing (Adams, 1997).

Readers of English move their eyes from left to right as they read, word by word and line by line. Word recognition occurs rapidly and automatically for skillful readers. Nevertheless, with technologically sophisticated research methods, including eye-movement recordings and brain-imaging techniques, researchers have determined that readers fixate on nearly every word and in a fraction of a second take in the letters of the word, translate those to speech sounds, and evoke the word's meaning.

In addition, teachers of young children need to understand the importance of the role which parents/ guardians play, and they need to help parents/guardians understand how they can support and extend literacy at home. Not only are parents/guardians the first tutors in solving the fascinating puzzle of written language, they are equally important in fostering the child's engagement and motivation. Parents/guardians of efficient readers tend to be knowledgeable about their child's reading performance, visit and observe in the classroom periodically, and support reading and writing at home (Anderson, 1985).

The role of effective phonics instruction is to help children understand, apply, and learn the alphabetic principle and conventions of print, to foster independence by helping children identify unknown words on their own, and to increase children's reading vocabulary. Phonics instruction should involve practice in and understanding of spelling-sound correspondences and rules. The most effective phonics instruction takes care to clarify key points and principles to students, gradually builds from basic elements to more subtle and complex patterns, and conveys the logic of the system to invite its extension to new words.

Phonics instruction should include the following:

• Teach children the letter-sound and spelling-sound correspondences.
• Teach children a functional command of phonics using both visual, auditory, and tactile/ kinesthetic modalities.
• Take opportunities during shared reading to call children's attention to the sounds that are encountered.
• Strengthen the child's understanding of regular patterns of phonics by continuing extensive literacy (reading and writing) experiences.
• Teach children to use phonics to spell while writing as well as to decode new words while reading.
• Help beginning readers see the value of using phonics and decoding strategies in their own reading by reinforcing phonics lessons with decodable books (Juel and Roper/Schneider, 1985).
• Coordinate decoding lessons with spelling lessons on the same phonics patterns.
• Collect examples of the sounds/phonics principles studied in the classroom.
• Invite children to try to sound out well-chosen, decodable words they encounter in shared books and daily activities.
• Provide direct instruction to teach students sound-symbol relationships, how to read single words composed of these sounds, and how to read connected phrases and sentences composed of the same sounds.

Encourage children to write because it is one of the most powerful ways to teach them sound/letter correspondences. As they watch adults record their words and, later, as they learn to encode sounds into letters, they are learning phonics. Writing also provides information about children's knowledge of phonics as well as engaging them in the sound-letter patterns in words.

Of equal importance to the quality of phonics instruction is the availability of practice in using the phonics instruction in reading meaningful selections. Those selections should come from a range of books that tell complete, interesting, well-written stories and that contain words that can be identified by the phonics instruction that has been taught.

The goal of teaching children phonics is that they gradually become able to decode even never before- seen words effortlessly and automatically as they read. Toward this end, it is not enough to teach children how to sound out words. They must also be encouraged to use this strategy in reading on their own. Herein lies the value of using decodable stories-that is, stories in which the new words can be sounded out with the phonics that the children have been taught. Research shows that first graders whose phonics is reinforced with decodable texts not only retain their phonics lessons better but extend their knowledge of spelling patterns beyond what has been taught. Complementing children's early phonics lessons with practice in reading decodable books greatly eases their movements into text with no vocabulary control later in the first-grade year.

Phonics instruction should focus on important patterns, rather than a list of rules. Becoming a Nation of Readers warns against trying to teach too many sound-letter relationships for too long. According to the Commission on Reading, "phonics instruction should aim to teach only the most important and the most regular letter-to-sound relationships, because this is the sort of instruction that will most directly help the child understand the alphabetic principle. Once the basic relationships have been taught, the best way to get children to refine and extend their knowledge of letter sound correspondences is through repeated opportunities to read"(p. 38).

While all children need instruction in phonics, there is no one set of materials that will guarantee success for all readers. Every child will not need the same instruction, or the same amount of instruction, in phonics; rather, instruction must be individualized for the reader. Some students will need intensive help with phonics instruction, and well-documented student data should support the instructional decisions made for these children. Children who have phonological processing difficulty, even after phonological instruction, will need instructional support past second grade in order to become successful readers (Felton, 1993). Because of this need for individualization and because of the need for local autonomy, flexibility for determining appropriate phonics-based instruction must be left to professionals in schools and school systems.

Because reading and writing are so interrelated, students use temporary spelling as a means of developing and reinforcing knowledge of phonics; children become better decoders when they are encouraged to spell phonetically as they write (Cunningham, 1995). The use of temporary spelling is an effective, essential stage in the developmental progression toward becoming an independent reader and writer. Temporary spelling is temporary, however; students do need to learn how to spell conventionally. Temporary spelling of common spelling patterns should progress toward more conventional spelling by the second grade, with the students mastering the conventional spelling of increasing numbers of words.

Spelling instruction should help students understand patterns, how words are put together, and conventions of correctness. In addition to direct instruction on spelling, extensive reading and writing for real and authentic purposes, including opportunities to edit for final publication, are invaluable in helping students become good spellers.

Ways to teach spelling include:

• Teach specific spelling patterns and phonics through demonstrations to small, flexible groups of children.
• Plan specific spelling instruction to support and expand students' writing proficiency and sophistication in whole group, small group, and individual settings.
• Plan mini-lessons for whole group, small groups, or individuals based on identified needs in students' writing drafts (Laminack and Wood, 1996).
• Usually by the second grade and higher-when a preponderance of children's temporary spellings exhibit visual conventions of print such as vowels in every syllable, vowel digraphs, the e marker long-vowel pattern, and when spellings exhibit frequently used English letter sequences such as YOUNGIGHTED for united; help children develop individual lists of high-frequency words they need to know how to spell (Gentry, 1997).
• Help children find words they need to know how to spell in their writing.
• Teach spelling directly by conducting a shorter spelling check of high-frequency words to help children find words for their individual lists of words they need to know how to spell (Gentry and Gillet, 1993).
• Encourage the use of strategies to master unknown words.
• Organize spelling instruction to help children notice and practice spelling patterns that appear in many words, e.g., night, right, light; table, pickle, middle.
• Connect the study of spelling patterns directly to writing by having children glean some words for spelling study directly from their writing.
• Routinely encourage the use of personal dictionaries, word banks, spell-checks, word charts, word walls, topical word lists, personal word lists, etc., as resources for everyday writing for various purposes.
• Assist students in gaining greater proficiency in phonics and spelling patterns by assisting them in reading and rereading meaningful, connected text.

Vocabulary and Concept Development

Vocabulary study often fails because it does not honor the insightful understanding (including background knowledge) that a student must have in order to make a vocabulary word a part of his/her speaking, reading, and writing language. There is, for example, a vast difference between "recognizing" a word by thinking "I think I've seen that word before" and "That's something that's a part of my life experiences." A child who has been bird-watching with an adult may "understand" the word "migration" on a different level from a child who has not had these experiences but who may have memorized a definition. Vocabulary acquisition thus is intricately tied to academic and life experiences and to discussions about those experiences.

A combination of a definitional approach (where students learn definitions or synonyms of words) and a contextual approach (where students draw conclusions about the meaning of the word from its use in the sentence) is more effective than either approach in isolation (Nagy, 1988). Context can play an important role in determining the meaning, not the identity, of a word. Using contextual clues in this way does not mean "guessing"; it means that, given that the text is at an appropriate level of difficulty without a large number of unfamiliar words, children need to take time to study an unknown word. They can, for example, study the grammatical structure of the sentence, determining if the unknown word is a verb, a noun, or a modifying word. They can look for similarity to a familiar word. They can look for relevant information in surrounding words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. All of these involve the strategic use of contextual clues.

Direct instruction in vocabulary should thus be enhanced by contextual reading and by learning good strategies for studying an unknown word. Incidental learning of vocabulary in reading can seem quite inefficient (an average fifth grader has only a one-in-twenty chance of internalizing a word from context); however, if that fifth grader spends twenty-five minutes a day reading, the student will encounter 20,000 unfamiliar words during the year. If she/he learns one-in-twenty from context, that will be a thousand words per year. If the teacher could add another twenty-five minutes of reading time per day, the student would learn two thousand new words per year just from context (Nagy, 1988).

In the study of vocabulary, the teacher may emphasize instruction in the following:

• Classifying words by meaning
• Classifying words by function
• Finding synonyms/antonyms
• Creating analogies (a strategy in which a reader uses familiar words or word parts to understand unfamiliar words).

Other ways to encourage vocabulary development include:

• Routinely encourage and direct the study and discussion of content area words, technical words, etymologies, Greek and Latin prefixes, suffixes, and roots.
• Play word games individually, in pairs, in small groups, or in whole group settings.
• Encourage students in activities such as synonym building, near-synonym distinctions, and semantic trees to expand and develop more precise, sophisticated vocabulary.
• Ask students to create glossaries of new words they encounter in their reading.
• Routinely ask students not to stop with the definition of the word, but to discuss its usage and shades of meaning in the context in which it was used.
• Encourage students to create and update continually a notebook of new vocabulary items encountered in their reading.
• Teach students how and when to use a dictionary or glossary.

Comprehension

Comprehension is the focal point of reading-a dynamic, interactive process of constructing meaning. Reading is a complex process which requires the coordination of cues as sources of information: sound/symbol relationships, syntax, semantics, and context. The three cueing systems-the graphophonic, the semantic, the syntactic-come together for the reader in comprehending written text and in providing a foundation for success.

Graphophonic cues deal with the reader's knowledge of the sound-symbol match. As readers process print, they quickly receive information from print and accurately match their knowledge of words and sound-symbol relationships. Proficient readers ask themselves, "Is this word familiar? Does this sound and look right?"

Semantic cues are meaning cues including words, concepts, prior knowledge, and experience. These are used as readers bring their knowledge of the world, feelings, attitudes, and beliefs to the printed page. Proficient readers are always attuned to the question, "Do I understand what the author is referring to?"

Syntactic cues refer to knowledge about word order or the grammatical structure of language. If readers have opportunity to read a variety of syntactic patterns, they will be more familiar with the sentence structures they encounter and be better able to reconstruct the writer's message. Proficient readers ask themselves, "Does this sound like language?"

Pragmatics is the way a reader considers the context in which the text occurs. Proficient readers have a wide background of experience with language in many situations such as the home, playground, classroom, and storybooks. They understand that the language one would use in a formal situation is different from that used in an informal situation; the language of science or nonfiction is different from the language of literature. Proficient readers ask themselves, "Is this the language that should be used in this situation?"

In comprehension, proficient readers use all three cueing systems and pragmatics, in different degrees, during the preparation, engagement, and response stages of reading. Proficient readers understand the characteristics of different modes of text, such as the expressive or personal (e.g., journals, learning logs), narrative or story (e.g., folk tales or novels), poetic (e.g., nursery rhymes), dramatic (e.g., skits or puppet plays), and expository or informational (e.g., persuasion or newspaper articles). Proficient readers adapt the strategies they use in preparing to read, engaging in reading, and responding to what they have read according to their purpose for reading and according to the mode of text they are reading.

Proficient readers also use contextual clues as a valuable comprehension strategy. They use text structure, including the organization of the text and their knowledge of the characteristics of the genre they are reading, to aid comprehension. Strategic readers reason their way through text, using problem-solving strategies and context clues to differentiate between what they do and do not understand, to form hypotheses and then test them, to relate previous paragraphs to what they are reading, to look for consistency and completeness in light of available information, and to be open to other possible explanations or interpretations.

Preparation

Before reading, proficient readers:

• Preview the text.
• Activate and build upon background knowledge.
• Set purpose for the activity (motivation).
• Focus their attention on the task.
• Make predictions about the content.

Engagement

During the reading process, proficient readers:

• Check their understanding by paraphrasing the author's words.
• Monitor comprehension by using context clues.
• Integrate new information with existing knowledge.
• Reread and revise their purposes, predictions, and understanding.
• Use a "fix-up" strategy when they do not understand.
• Give complete attention to the task.
• Persevere with difficult text.

Response

After reading, proficient readers:

• Summarize what has been learned.
• Reflect on and evaluate the information and ideas in the selection.
• Respond and make applications of the information and ideas.
• Seek additional information, if needed.
• Decide if they have achieved their purpose.

(Orange County Public Schools, 1988, and Cambourne, 1988)

The proficient reader:

• Understands that different purposes and different texts require particular reading/thinking strategies.
• Identifies the task and sets the purpose of reading.
• Chooses appropriate strategies, such as rereading, summarizing, and looking for relationships.
• Self-monitors for comprehension.

Ways to strengthen comprehension include:

• Read aloud to students every day in every subject and then allow time to discuss reading before, during, and after the reading.
• Provide ample time for text reading, including application of strategies in real-reading situations and independent practice accompanied by constructive feedback.
• Provide guided reading instruction for all students through direct instruction, discussion, guided practice, and modeling of comprehension strategies such as summarizing, using the structural elements of text, drawing conclusions, making generalizations, monitoring understanding, and noting agreement or disagreement with prior knowledge.
• Scaffold and provide guided practice of student reading of different modes of text.
• Provide ample time and opportunity for reflection on independent reading through written or verbal responses and for constructive feedback.
• Provide opportunity for students to work independently and collaboratively, using reading and writing to address real-life problems and concerns.
• Give students opportunities to demonstrate their comprehension through critical and creative responses to reading; for example, with plays, dioramas, discussions, letters, debates, art projects, or puppetry.
• Provide teacher-directed instruction in reading for inference; for example, how to read between the lines and beyond the lines and to justify their inferences with evidence from the text.
• Use concept maps and diagrams, reciprocal teaching, QAR (Question, Answer, Response), story maps, cloze, and story structure to help students understand and comprehend text.

Strategies Used By Good Readers

Proficient readers are able to apply strategies flexibly, selectively, independently, and reflectively. They consciously monitor their own thinking as they read, set purposes, ask themselves questions, recall prior information, look for organizational patterns, and assess the efficiency of their strategies. They know how to monitor whether they "know" material as compared to simply having read it and understood it.

Proficient readers also adjust the rate at which they read, depending upon the purpose for reading and upon the genre. For example, a reader who is looking for a specific piece of information may scan the text quickly. The same reader may read much more slowly when reading critically or reading carefully for detail. Some genres, such as a short story, can be read relatively quickly; other genres, such as poetry, may require slower reading, and even rereading.

Pressley and Afflerbach (1995) have demonstrated the importance of study strategies such as (1) overviewing before reading, (2) looking for important information in text and paying greater attention to it than to other information, (3) changing reading strategies when comprehension is not proceeding smoothly, and (4) carrying on a responsive conversation with the author.

Some ways to teach good reading strategies include:

• Use thinking aloud, modeling, and demonstrating the kinds of questions proficient readers ask themselves as they read.
• Provide opportunities for students to model and explain to others how they monitor as they read.
• Teach students to take effective notes by selecting relevant information and recording it in a useful format.
• Conference/debrief with students independently, in small groups, or in whole groups asking them to explain what strategies they used in reading.
• Teach students to use visual organizers, mnemonics, organizational systems, media resources (including dictionaries and glossaries), KWL, mapping, think-alouds, and self-regulating strategies.

Fluency

Efficient readers take in, very nearly, each and every word of text, translating the words to sounds and evoking the word's meaning in a process that is so smooth, and so fast, that they are not even aware of doing so (Crowder and Crowder, 1992).

Efficient readers must be able to "break the code" that relates the spelling of a word to its sound and meaning so quickly and so accurately that the decoding process coordinates smoothly with the process of constructing meaning. Fast and accurate word identification is thus correlated with strong reading comprehension.

Ways to foster fluency include:

• Provide time and opportunities for students to read and reread materials on their independent reading level.
• Provide opportunities for repeated reading of text through shared reading, independent reading, choral reading, home reading, reader's theater, puppetry, etc.
• Give students access to reading materials with increasing levels of difficulty, from materials that can be read independently to materials that are more challenging. Ensure that students spend time every day reading in materials that they can read independently.
• Help beginning students develop a workable number of high-frequency words that can be recognized at a glance (e.g., the, of, are, you) so that the student's focus is not diverted from comprehending.
• Model fluent reading for students and then reread the same text with them to support fluency.
• Use techniques such as taped reading, choral reading, and repeated readings in direct teacher instruction with children who have difficulty with reading fluency.
• Help students learn how to develop essential background knowledge before reading.
• Every day find ways to engage all students in a variety of different reading activities, including independent reading of books of their choice.

Stages of Literacy Development

Literacy is a process that continues through life. Teachers need to be aware of the stages of literacy so that they can help move each child to the next stage.

Early Emergent Literacy usually occurs in preschool. In this stage, children come to view reading and writing as activities in which people engage. They know that books contain stories, but they do not yet understand fully the alphabetic principle or the conventions of print. They show interest in print and begin to develop preferences for particular stories and skills in handling books. Writing is generally scribbling, making letter-like shapes, or imitating cursive writing.

In Emergent Literacy, during the earliest primary years, children begin to use concepts about print and understand principles of text. For example, they know that the text, as well as the picture, conveys meaning; they may be able to read some words like their name or familiar environmental print. In writing, children use letters of the alphabet, usually consonants, to represent syllables.

As children move into the primary years, they progress to the Developing Literacy stage. They demonstrate phonemic awareness; apply phonics knowledge to decoding unknown words; and comprehend narrative picture books, poems, short chapter books, and informational and practical materials. They have an increasing understanding of print conventions and of the alphabetic principle. They are developing a sight vocabulary of functional words. In writing, they are composing sentences to make sense and learning to develop ideas in a logical progression. They write about topics of personal interest in various modes, letters, stories, notes, poems, etc. Children are also learning conventional spacing, capitalization, and spelling.

Early Independent Literacy should occur in the early elementary years. Children should set their own purpose for reading-for interest or for information. They discuss and express their ideas orally or in writing on literary, informational, and practical materials. They begin to read independently for extended periods of time. In writing, they record observations and ask and answer open-ended questions about information or ideas; they use detail and organization in their writing; and they produce writing and artwork to reflect personal response and understanding of text.

Independent Literacy occurs by the mid-elementary years. Children should efficiently use strategies for comprehension and they should self-correct quickly. They read confidently and independently in multiple modes of text. In writing, their text is easily understood with good ideas, organization, coherence, and increasing sophistication in the conventions of print.

Expanding Literacy is the goal of later elementary and secondary years. Expanding readers read widely, critically, and frequently for a variety of purposes in a variety of modes. These readers understand literary elements as well as the conventions of expository text; they can read analytically and thoughtfully. In writing, they have voice and control, and they write for a variety of reasons and in diverse modes.

The Importance of Reading and Literature

Reading aloud to students of all ages, every day, is extremely important. It allows students to experience text that is too difficult for them to read independently-exposing them to complex sentence structure, vocabulary, richness of idea, and language they may not otherwise be able to experience. It establishes a sense of the patterns of written language, a basis for literary development, and rich experiences which students can discuss and write about. In addition, it fosters their motivation and love of reading.

Reading itself is the single most valuable activity for developing children's comprehension. The amount of reading that a child does is correlated with growth in reading comprehension, richness of oral storytelling, vocabulary, verbal fluency, content-area achievement, and general knowledge (Anderson et. al., 1984; Adams, Treiman, and Pressely, 1996; Stanovich, 1993). Through reading multiple modes of text, students encounter new vocabulary, new syntax, new facts, and new perspectives. When they read good literature, they encounter rich ideas and language, and when the reading-writing connection is stressed, they learn to incorporate that richness of language and idea into their own writing. In order to fulfill their greatest potential, all students should be encouraged to read as broadly, frequently, and reflectively as possible.

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