Comprehensive Literacy Development: Phonology, Vocabulary, Narratives & Academic Language

Scarborough's Rope

A model showing how language comprehension and word recognition intertwine to create skilled reading

Emergent Literacy Phase

The stage where children learn about literacy before actually learning to read

Academic Talk

Adult-controlled, formal language used in school requiring children to follow rules and display knowledge

Features of Academic Talk

Decontextualized, abstract, high information load, formal, complex vocabulary and syntax

Hidden Curriculum

Unspoken expectations in school that must be explicitly taught

Students Most at Risk

Students with language/learning disabilities or cultural/language mismatches

School Language Skills

Inferences, predictions, compare/contrast, explaining thinking, using evidence, understanding point of view

Vocabulary Learning Methods

Incidental learning, explicit instruction, reading, and being read to

How Reading Helps Vocabulary

Books expose children to more advanced vocabulary than everyday speech

Narrative Skills

Ability to understand and tell stories using story grammar

How Children Learn Narratives

Exposure to books, oral storytelling, scaffolding from adults

Types of Narratives

Retelling stories, personal narratives, generating new stories

Literate Syntax Features

Abstract, formal, linear, complex, uses pronouns, requires inference, high information load

Print Awareness

Understanding how books and print work

Concepts of Print

Front/back of book, title, where to start reading, finding words/letters, capitals vs lowercase, recognizing incorrect orientation

Rhyming

Recognizing and producing words with similar ending sounds

Phoneme Segmentation

Breaking words into individual sounds

Elkonin Boxes

A visual tool using boxes to represent each sound in a word

Phonological Awareness

Ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken language

Sound Wall vs Word Wall

Sound walls focus on sounds (more effective); word walls focus on spelling (less effective)

Invented Spelling

Early attempts at spelling using phonological knowledge

Stages of Spelling

Prephonemic, early phonemic, phonemic with vowels, approximate conventional spelling

Prephonemic Stage

Random letters with no sound correspondence

Early Phonemic Stage

Uses beginning and ending sounds (e.g., kt for cat)

Phonemic Stage with Vowels

Includes vowels (e.g., kat for cat)

Approximate Spelling

Closer to correct spelling but not fully conventional (e.g., beter for better)

Spelling Formula

Phonological Awareness + Orthographic Knowledge = Early spelling

Consonants Knowledge

Understanding consonants by manner of production

Vowels Knowledge

Understanding vowel sounds

Borrower Sounds

Sounds that depend on surrounding letters (e.g., c and g)

Sound Walls

A display organized by speech sounds, helping students learn how sounds are produced and used in words.

Word Walls

A display of written words grouped by spelling or first letter to help with reading and spelling.