The Science of Teaching Reading

Pre-Alphabetic Stage

Students in this stage have no working knowledge of the alphabetic system.

• Rely on visual cues and may recognize words through memorizing what they look like

Ex: A child says “Wal-Mart” when passing the sign

Partial-Alphabetic Stage

Have some working knowledge of the alphabetic system

• Combine their limited alphabetic knowledge with context clues when attempting to read.

• Benefit from predictable, repetitive text

Ex: A child sees a picture of a truck in a book about vehicles, locates a word that starts with “t” on the same pages, and says “truck”

Full-Alphabetic Stage

Have a full working knowledge of the alphabetic system

• Able to use their understanding of letter-sound correspondence to decode unfamiliar words

• Can read books with simple, recognizable syllable patterns

Ex: a child comes across the word “desk” while reading and sounds it out like “d-e-s-k”

Consolidated-Alphabetic Stage

Read by using memorized letter chunks, affixes, and syllables to read words

• Ex: re-mind-er

• Should be reading books that contain longer, multisyllable words

Automatic Alphabetic Stage

Students are no longer consciously breaking down or decoding words.

• Able to read fluently and with greater comprehension because their focus shifts more towards the meaning of the text as a whole instead of individual words.

• Final stage of word recognition

Precommunicative Spelling

A child uses letters from the alphabet to represent words without demonstrating knowledge of letter-sound correspondence.

• Uses scribble shapes and sometimes letter-like shapes for spelling words but are unable to make the forms

Semiphonetic Spelling

Some knowledge of letter-sound correspondence, but unable to use all letters in the word

• Single letters used to represent whole words, syllables, or sounds

Ex: “Play” is spelled p-a

Phonetic Spelling

A child uses a letter to represent every sound heard in a word.

Spell the way they hear the way they hear the word pronounced.

Ex: “Made” is spelled m-a-d.

Transitional Spelling

Child incorporates knowledge of word structure and common visual representations of words in their spelling

• Misspellings are still common and frequent

Conventional Spelling

A child applies knowledge of letter-sound relationships, general spelling rules, and morphology in their spelling.

Know and use basic spelling rules and spell most words correctly

• Better to recognize misspellings, and their spelling in their writing is generally correct.

Phonemes

The smallest individual sounds in a word

Ex: /f/ in fish

The word “bit” has three phonemes /b/ /i/ /t/

Pragmatics

The study of how we understand the meaning of language based on the situation it’s used in

Early Reader - Stage of Reading Development

begin understanding that reading from the printed page needs to make sense - both from the pictures and from the print

Decoding

Reading out loud: Being able to sound out words by breaking them into simple forms

Reading for comprehension: The understanding of how to read each letter or letter pattern in a word to determine the word’s meaning

Morphology

A study of forms of words, including affixes, roots, stems, and parts of speech

Ex: The word “bicycles” is made up of three individual morphemes. The prefix bi-, the stem cycle, and the suffix -s.

Emergent Reader - Stage of Reading Development

When children understand that written language has meaning and gives meaning

Phonology

The systematic organization of sounds in languages

Orthography

The standards present in a language’s conventions

Ex: spelling, capitalization, punctuation, emphasis

Language Acquisition

The process by which individuals learn a language

Semantics

The study of word or symbol meaning

Ex: “love” which has many different meanings in English

Ex: Literal vs. figurative meaning of “raining cats and dogs”

Syntax

rules that govern the construction of words in order to make phrases, clauses, and sentences

Syllable Awareness / Syllabication / Syllable Segmentation

The ability to hear individual parts/syllables of words

Ex: “Education” has four syllables - “ed-u-ca-tion”

Receptive Language

The ability to understand meaning from language

Phonics / Graphophonemic Principle

Using the relationship between symbols (letters and words) and sounds of a language to read and write

Phonological Awareness

The understanding and ability to hear individual words, syllables, and sounds in spoken language apart from print

Morpheme

A combination of sounds that has meaning in speech or writing and cannot be divided into smaller grammatical parts

Ex: write, cat, laugh, box

Oral Language

System that relates sounds to meanings through communication by word of mouth

Alphabetic Principle

The understanding that their is a logical/systematic relationship between the sounds of spoken English and the letters and letter-patterns of written English

Alphabetic Knowledge

The ability to recognize, name, and write letters

Expressive Language

The ability to express meaning through language

Phonetics

The sounds of human speech

Invented Spelling

Child’s attempt to spell based on best judgement

Early Fluent / Fluent / Proficient Reader - Stage of Reading Development

Readers recognize many words an can apply phonics and word analysis skills to figure out unfamiliar words

Validity

Ability of a test to measure what it sets out to measure

Meaning-Based Instruction

Instructional model based on the belief that readers need context to decode words

• Frequent reading, teacher modeling, and group reading are strategies to use when incorporating this instruction in the classroom

Reading Fluency

Ability to read with appropriate speed, accuracy, and prosody

Congruent Assessment

An assessment that tests the learning outcomes described in the learning objectives

• Should include questions that determine whether students have achieved the learning objectives set at the start of the unit

Frustration Reading Level

Reading level that is too difficult for the student requires extensive teacher support for student comprehension

Code-Based Instruction

Instructional model based on the belief that students need to learn phonics and phonemic concepts in order to decode words

• Students with higher levels of word recognition rely on less context and more phonemic knowledge to decode a word

Clarity of Language

Does not contain ambiguous pronouns, words at too high a vocabulary level, or slang terms

Criterion-Referenced Tests

Tests in which a standard has been set for the test taker to achieve in order to pass the test

Ex: A multiple choice or short answer test on the content of a unit of study in which a 70% is needed to pass

Reliability of Assessments

The consistency and stability of assessment results over time, indicating that the evaluation produces similar outcomes under similar conditions for students

Ongoing Assessment

An assessment that guides the pace and content of instruction

• Used to determine student knowledge and dictate whether the class is prepared to move on the new skill

Instructional Reading Level

Reading level that is challenging for the student but manageable with teacher support

• They have difficulty with no more than one out of every ten words

Supervised Oral Reading

a strategy in which a students reads aloud to a teacher or tutor

Stakeholders

Includes administrators, colleagues, community members, school board members, family members, and students who receive information on assessment data growth

Differentiated Instruction

Tailoring teaching methods to meet individual needs

• Ex: using varied reading levels for different student groups

Independent Reading Level

Reading level in which a student can read and comprehend independently

• They have difficulty with no more than one out of every twenty words

Norm-Referenced Tests

Tests that compare an individual’s performance/achievement to a group called the “norm group”

• Ex: IQ Test

Entry-Level Assessment

An assessment that occurs at the beginning of instruction, which is used to determine student’s current skill levels and allows the teacher to adjust instruction accordingly

• Ex: A teacher provides this assessment when starting a new unit to determine how much she needs to review some foundational skills before moving on t more advanced skills

Dysgraphia

Language-based disorder, in which one struggles with the mechanics of writing resulting in impaired or illegible handwriting

• Messy handwriting (due to issues such as poor formation of letters, improper size, spacing between letters or words, or slant of words) is the main sign

Dyslexia

A disorder manifested by a difficulty in learning to read, write, or spell, despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and sociocultural opportunity

Quantitative Data

Data which is measured and usually expressed numerically

• Ex: distance, time, temperature, test scores

Informal Reading Inventory

multi-step reading assessment used to gauge a student’s oral and silent reading abilities

Qualitative Data

Data which is described rather than measured

• Ex: color, shape, smell, opinions

Retell

A comprehension strategy in which students retell or tell differently what they have read or listened to

• When students do this, they are demonstrating their comprehension of the most important parts

Absence of Bias

Material based on common situations that all students will have encountered and that will not trigger an emotional response

Diagnostic Assessment

Assessment used to “diagnose” a specific difficulty a student is having

• Ex: If a student is struggling to read a grade level passage, the teacher could perform this to determine what is causing the student’s difficulty