CHAPTER SEVENPHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS,

PHONICS, AND WORD RECOGNITION

Chapter Overview

Reading and writing should be taught in such a way that each complements and supports the

other.

Concepts that Guide Reading Instruction

Reading is a skilled and strategic process in which learning to decode and read words accurately and rapidly is essential.

Reading entails understanding the text and depends on active engagement and interpretation by the reader.

Definitions Phonological awareness: Knowing

and demonstrating that spoken can be broken down into smaller units (words, syllables, phonemes)

Spelling

Definitions

Phonemic awareness: The ability to recognize the smallest sound units of spoken language and how these units of sound, or phonemes, can be separated (pulled apart or segmented), blended (put back together), and manipulated (added, deleted, and substituted).

Definitions

Phoneme: The smallest sound in spoken language that makes a difference in words. For instructional purposes related to reading, a phoneme is a single sound that maps to print – sometimes to one letter and sometime to more than one letter.

Definitions Phonics: The way in which sounds

of our language (not the letters) map to print. It is knowing how letter names and sounds relate to each other (i.e., letter-sound correspondence).

Continuum for the Development of Phonological

Awareness

Early Developing to Later Developing 1. Rhyme/alliteration 2. Sentence segmentation 3. Syllable blending and segmentation 4. Onset-rime blending and segmentation 5. Phoneme blending, segmentation, and

manipulations

Teaching Phonological Awareness and Phonics

The majority of students at risk for reading difficulties have poor phonological awareness and can profit from explicit instruction in blending, segmenting, and manipulating sounds and mapping these sounds to letters as quickly as possible.

Dyslexia and the BrainDyslexia and the Brain

Broca's areaExpressive language

Wernicke's areaReceptive language.

Posterior reading system.

There are three neural pathways for reading:

•the parietal-temporal and frontal-(slower, analytical, used by beginning readers)•the occipital-temporal (word form, experienced readers).

Recent Brain ResearchRecent Brain ResearchSally Shaywitz, MDSally Shaywitz, MD

At left, non-impaired readers activate neural systems that are mostly in the back of the left side of the brain (shaded areas); at right, dyslexic readers under activate these reading systems in the back of the brain and tend to over activate frontal areas.

In addition to their greater reliance on Broca's area, dyslexics are also using other auxiliary systems for reading, ones located on the right side as well as in the front of the brain.

This is evidenced by the activation of right hemisphere parts of the brain. (Dyslexics and slow readers often sub-vocalize. The physical aspect to their reading is an attempt to compensate for the disruption in the back of the brain.)

Are Students Responding to Instruction in Phonemic Awareness

and Phonics?It’s all about the data.

Reading instruction? How do these students perform compared to other

students in the class? Have students with low phonemic awareness received

instructional opportunities in small groups? Is progress monitoring data available to show the

student’s progress?

Progress Monitoring Determine students’ performance in

phonemic awareness, phonics, word reading. Then, design an effective intervention program.

Assessments Diagnostic assessments Norm-based assessments Progress monitoring assessment Curriculum-based measures

Teaching Letter-Sound Correspondences

The number of speech sounds or phonemes in English vary from 40 to 52.

For purposes of teaching students, most estimates are about 44. (Fromkin and

Rodman, 1998; Owens, 2010)

In learning to read and write, students learn more than 100 spellings (graphemes) for these phonemes.

Teaching Letter-Sound Correspondences (continued)

Phonemes are divided into consonants (C) or vowels (V).

The English language also makes use of consonant digraphs and consonant blends. Consonant digraph – two consonants that

represent one sound (ph for /f/) Consonant blend – combines the sounds of

two or more consonants so that they are clustered together.

Guidelines for Teaching Letter-Sound

Correspondences

Students use letter-sound correspondences to decode words.

Struggling readers benefit from learning to blend and segment sounds so that they can decode and spell words.

A number of programs have been developed using systematic approaches to introduce the letter-sound relationships and how to blend sounds to read words.

Family Participation in Beginning Reading

Demonstrating some of the activities that family members can do at home and encourage them to engage children in fun and meaningful activities that improve reading.

This should be distributed on Open School Night

Word Recognition1. Decoding Strategies

Decoding strategies for identifying words: Phonic analysis Onset-rime Synthetic and analytic phonics Structural analysis Syllabication Automatic word recognition Syntax and semantics

Teaching Phonics, Word Recognition, and Word Study

In beginning to work with students who have limited sight words and word identification strategies, it is helpful not only to determine the students’ current strategies, but also to determine what instructional approaches have been used previously, how consistently, for how long, and with what success.

High Frequency Words

Dolch List

Explicit Code Instruction (continued)

3 instructional features: Systematic instruction of letter–sound

correspondences and teaching students to blend the sounds to make words and segment sounds to spell words

Scaffolded instruction so that modeling, guidance, and positive and corrective feedback are integral features of instruction

Multiple opportunities for practice and review in various contexts (e.g., games with words cards, constructing sentences, reading texts)

Linguistic Approach: Onset-Rime and Word Families

The linguistic approach uses controlled text and word families (onset-rimes, phonograms, or spelling patterns) such as -at, -ight, and -ent to teach word recognition. This approach is particularly useful for students with reading problems.

English Language Learners and Reading Difficulties

Good readers—whether they are monolingual English or English language learners—rely primarily on decoding words (understanding the sound to print correspondence or alphabetic principle).

They do not rely primarily on context or pictures to identify words. When they use context it is to confirm word reading or to better understand text meaning.

English Language Learners and Reading Difficulties

Well-developed phonics instruction helps ELLs develop the skills and strategies they need to establish a map for making sense of how English language works in print.

As with monolingual students, phonics instruction is a piece of the reading instruction, not the entire program. Good phonics instruction is well integrated into language activities, story time, and small group support to create a balanced reading program.

Multisensory Structured Language Instruction

Multisensory structured language programs combine

explicit teaching of phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, phonics and structural analysis, syllabication, and decoding with activities that incorporate

the visual, auditory, tactile (touch), and kinesthetic ******(movement) (VAKT)

modalities.

Teaching Sight Words and Sight Words in Context

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yZwYU5vGcY

• Review this video.• List the skills that are presented for mastering sight

words.• List the sequence of steps you would follow to to teach

sight words in context.• Development 4 beginning of the day, daily activities to

introduce and reinforce sight words.• Describe how you would integrate sight word mastery

into the design of your classroom.• Design a sight word activity center that incorporate the

visual, auditory, tactile (touch), and kinesthetic ******(movement) (VAKT) modalities.

• Describe how you would provide multiple opportunities for practice (e.g., games with words cards, constructing sentences, reading texts)

CHAPTER EIGHT

ASSESSING AND TEACHING READING: FLUENCY AND

COMPREHENSION

Chapter Overview

Fluency and comprehension for students with reading problems.

Teaching FluencyReading Aloud and Previewing Books

Guided oral reading 1. It allows a teacher to model fluent reading. 2. Modeling fluent reading by reading aloud provides

background knowledge for students so that they can read a book by themselves, with a partner, or while listening to an audio recording.

3. Modeling fluent reading aloud for students exposes them to books that may be too difficult for them to read.

4. Reading aloud can be orchestrated so that older, less adept readers can read books to young children and serve as cross-age students.

Teaching FluencyRepeated Reading

Repeated reading as a means of enhancing fluency is based on the idea that as students repeatedly read text, they become fluent and confident in their reading (Chard et al., 2009; Samuels, 1979, 1997).

Teaching FluencyRepeated Reading (continued)

A report on effective instruction for English language learners (Francis, Rivera, Rivera, Lesaux, and

Kieffer, 2006), indicates that successful repeated reading includes:

Oral reading providing opportunities for students to attend to words and opportunities to practice speaking and reading with expression

Corrective feedback from adults drawing students’ attention to miscues and pronunciation

Discussions and questioning about the text read Increased exposure to print Increased engagement and motivation to read

Teaching FluencyChoral Repeated Reading

Choral repeated reading is a technique that combines ideas and procedures from repeated reading and choral reading. We have used the approach with students who have significant reading difficulties in word identification and reading rate.

Teaching FluencyPeer-Supported Reading

How can the amount of time devoted to text reading be increased? One strategy is to use peers to support each other when reading for the purpose of building fluency as well as supporting word recognition and comprehension.

Techniques: Assisted reading Classwide peer tutoring Partner reading Dyad reading

Teaching FluencyPeer-Supported Reading (continued)

It is important to note that peer-supported reading is an opportunity for supportive practice and not an alternative to instruction provided by teachers. Research suggests that adult instruction to promote fluency is quite important (Kuhn and Stahl, 2003).

Teaching FluencyScaffolded Sustained Silent Reading

A frequently used practice in the general education classroom is to allocate time each day for silent reading of student selected texts – typically 20-30 minutes. There is little research documenting the effectiveness of this practice for students with learning or behavior problems, however a modified version of scaffolded sustained silent reading holds promise. (Reutzel et al., 2008)

Most approaches to sustained silent reading involve little interaction between the teacher and the students during the time allocated for reading. Typically both the teacher and the students read for the designated amount of time. Reutzel and colleagues (2008) recommend a more instructive role for the teacher that involves:

Reutzel and colleagues (2008) recommend a more instructive role for the teacher that involves:

Rather than allowing students to select whatever text they want to read the teacher assists in identifying appropriate books or texts at their independent reading level

Promote reading across a variety of genres rather than allowing students to consistently read one or two genres (e.g., poetry, fairy tale, biography, information text)

Teacher scaffolds learning to read for fluency and comprehension Teacher holds brief conferences (5 minutes) to determine

students understanding of text. Teachers and students record progress in books, read aloud

passages for fluency checks, and answer questions. 

Teaching FluencyReading Performance

Readers’ theater Students perform a play or a book

adapted to scrip form by reading it aloud to the audience.

Buddy reading Students practice and read texts to

younger students.

Teaching FluencyMaking Easy Books Acceptable and Difficult

Books Accessible Strategies for making difficult books more

accessible to older readers with disabilities: Using tape-recorded books and books on CD-ROM,

DVD, or eBooks for the computer. Reading aloud to the students. Using partner reading, in which less able and more

able readers are paired. Preceding difficult books with easier books about the

same topic or genre. Using series books to increase students’ comfort

level.

Teaching FluencyIntegrating Fluency Building into a Reading

Program

Fluency building is an integral part of a reading program for students who have reading difficulties, and generally represents 15–25 minutes of time approximately three times per week.

In teaching fluency, strategies for improving word identification skills and comprehension should also be instructional goals.

Teaching FluencyHelping Families Improve Their Children’s

Reading Fluency

Ideas that teachers can share with families to promote wide reading (amount and type of reading) with their children:

Establish a time each evening when you read with your child.

Determine many ways to access books and print materials.

Share what you are reading. Ask questions about what your child is reading. Read different types of print materials and share them

with your child.

Instructing English Language Learners Who Are at Risk for Reading

Problems

Consider the commonalities between reading instruction in English and the reading instruction that is provided in the student’s native language.

Identify procedures for instructing students in all of the critical elements of beginning reading (phonemic awareness, spelling, phonics, vocabulary, language development, fluency, and comprehension).

Instructing English Language Learners Who Are at Risk for Reading

Problems(continued)

Recognize that English is the most difficult language of all alphabetic languages to learn to read, and therefore, many of the foundation skills such as spelling and phonics require more explicit and systematic instruction than they might in other alphabetic languages.

Make connections between the home language and the language of instruction in school.

Part 2Assessing Comprehension and Monitoring

Progress in Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is the most difficult aspect of reading to assess.

Understanding and interacting with text occurs

as thinking and is not readily observed. The only access teachers have to knowing whether and how students understand text is to ask students to respond orally or in writing about what they have read.

ComprehensionOther Practices for Monitoring Reading

Comprehension

Story retellingTell me what this story is about?

Provides an alternative to traditional questioning techniques for evaluating students’ reading comprehension

Requires students to sequence and reconstruct key information presented in the text

Requires students to rely on their memory for factual details and to relate them in an organized meaningful pattern.

ENTRY LEVEL FOR UNDERSTANDING

WHAT IS THIS PICTURE ABOUT?

HOW DO YOU KNOW?

WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED BEFORE THIS PICTURE?

WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED NEXT?

Teaching Comprehension Reading comprehension:

Is the essence of reading and the ultimate goal of reading instruction.

Is the process of constructing meaning by integrating the information provided by an author with a reader’s background knowledge.

Consists of 3 elements: the reader, the text and the purpose for reading.

Reasons Students May Have Difficulty Comprehending What They Read

Word identification Word calling Schema Failure to monitor Language problems/receptive

language

Guidelines for Teaching Comprehension

Before focusing on reading comprehension instruction, teachers should answer the following questions:

Do students have adequate decoding and phonics skills so that they can read words?

Do students read within the expected rate of reading for their grade level?

Do students have adequate knowledge of the meaning of words?

Does students’ background knowledge adequately prepare them to understand the text?

Guidelines for Teaching Comprehension

For any student who does not meet these criteria (see previous slide), a complete reading comprehension program will require additional emphasis on decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and building background knowledge. It is unlikely that comprehension strategies alone will be sufficient for any student with reading difficulties.

Comprehension and Comprehension-Monitoring

Strategies

One of the keys to teaching reading comprehension, particularly for students with learning and behavior problems, is to teach them to use comprehension and comprehension-monitoring strategies.

(Block, Morrow, & Parris, 2008; Klingner et al., 2007; RAND Reading Study Group, 2002).

Comprehension and Comprehension-Monitoring

Strategies (continued)

Activating background knowledge Preteaching Generating questions Monitoring comprehension Clarifying Using graphic organizers Finding main ideas Summarizing Using text structure

Previewing, Predicting, and Developing Prior Knowledge

What instructional strategies can a teacher use that will help students with learning and behavior problems to activate relevant background knowledge (schema), bridge what they know to what they are reading, motivate them to read, assist them in making predictions about what they are going to be reading, preview the reading, and assist them in becoming familiar with difficult vocabulary?

Activating Prior Knowledge

Brainstorming PreReading Plan Text preview K-W-L

Questioning Strategies

The following techniques require teachers to model comprehension questions and comprehension-monitoring questions, teach students to recognize types of questions, and encourage students to self-question before, during, and after they read.

Questioning Strategies(continued)

ReQuest or Reciprocal Questioning Question-Answer Relationships

Strategy Self-Questioning Strategies Questioning the Author

Text Structure and Summarization Strategies

Text structure refers to the organizational features of text that help readers understand and predict how the text will be organized. For example:

Fairy tales and biographies Narrative and expository

Story-Mapping and Story-Retelling Strategies

Story-retelling strategies provide students with a framework for retelling the key points of narrative texts. The strategies can be combined with story maps, which provide students with a visual guide to understanding and retelling stories.

Paraphrasing Strategy Getting the main idea(s), paraphrasing, and/or

summarizing when reading expository materials are important skills, particularly in content area subjects such as science and social studies.

The paraphrasing strategy instructs students in recalling the main ideas and specific facts of materials they read and has been used successfully with students in middle school and adults.

RAP: Read a paragraph. Ask yourself, “What were the main ideas and details of this paragraph?” Put the main idea and details in your own words.

Summarization Strategies Summarization also requires students to

generate the main idea and important details from a text.

Five rules for writing summaries: Delete irrelevant or trivial information Delete redundant information Select topic sentences. Substitute a superordinate term or event for a list of terms or

actions Invent topic sentences when the author has not provided any.

Model and post questions.

Using Multicomponent Cognitive Strategy Instruction to Teach

Comprehension Reciprocal teaching – A technique in which

the teacher and students take turns leading a dialogue that covers sections of a text. Strategies

Predicting Clarifying Questioning Summarizing

Collaborative Strategic Reading

Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is related to reciprocal teaching, but elaborates on its use by focusing on expository text, specifying use of strategies, engaging students in pairs or cooperative groups, and teaching students to record what they are learning.

Provide a structure for groups- Model and post questions.