Reading

What is Reading?
• What is reading?

• Why do we read?
 Reading
Reading is a message-getting, problem-solving activity
which increase in power and flexibility the more it is
practised. Within the directional constrains of the
printer’s code, language and visual perception responses
are purposefully directed by the reader in some
integrated way to the problem of extracting meaning
from cues in a text, in sequence, so that the reader brings
a maximum of understanding to the author’s message.
Clay, M. (1991)
Becoming literate,
The construction of inner control.
 What is literacy?
• Literacy is the ability to read and use
written information and to write
appropriately, in a range of contexts. It is
used to develop knowledge and
understanding, to achieve personal
growth and to function effectively in our
society.
Literacy also includes the recognition of numbers
and basic mathematical signs and symbols within
text. Literacy involves the integration of speaking,
listening and critical thinking with reading and
writing. Effective literacy is intrinsically
purposeful, flexible and dynamic and continues to
develop throughout an individual’s lifetime.

The Australian Language and Literacy Policy. (1991)

 Why do we read?
• Whenever we use language, we
create and interpret texts. Created
by others. These texts are created to
achieve different purposes.
• The task of the reader is to
construct meaning from a text by
interpreting it within a particular
text works to achieve its purpose
and so helps us to interpreter, or
read, the text.
• Learners should use texts for a
range of purposes, including:
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• Reading for pleasure
• To find information
• To learn how to do something
 What are the skills of reading?
Teaching reading is a huge complicated
task. So much so, that researcher Louisa
Maots ended up entitling her influential
article “Teaching Reading IS Rocket
Science”.
Teachers who know the art and science
of teaching reading, though, are able to
provide skillful, effective reading
instruction, and can help learners who
need it overcome obstacles to
becoming readers.
Although children go through a series of
predictable steps on their journey to
becoming readers, many things can
derail them, such as having inadequate
exposure to language at home or having
a learning disability
 The sound of speech
To understand a spoken language, a child
must be able to hear and distinguish the
sounds that make up the language.
Virtually every child raised, in a normal
linguistic environment can distinguish
between different speech sounds in his or
her native language. Almost all native
English speakers can therefore hear the
difference between similar English words
like grow and glow.
 1. Phonemic Awareness
• Although phonemic awareness is a widely used
term in reading, it if often misunderstood. One
misunderstanding is that phonemic awareness
and phonics are one and the same thing.
Phonemic awareness is not phonics
• Phonemic awareness is the understanding that
the sound of spoken language work together to
make words.
• Phonics is the understanding that there is a
relationship between letters and sounds through
written language.
Phonemic awareness is the
understanding that the sound of
spoken language work together to
make words.
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• If children are to benefit from phonics instruction, they
need phonemic awareness. This is because children
who cannot hear and work with the phonemes of
spoken words will have a difficult time learning how to
relate these phonemes to letters when they see them
in written words.
• Children who are not able to hear the difference
between similar-sounding words like grow and glow
will be confused when these words appear in context,
and their comprehension skills will suffer dramatically.
 2. Phonics
• Children’s reading development is dependent
on their understanding of the alphabetic
principle – the idea that letters and letter
patterns represent the sounds of spoken
language. Learning that there are predictable
relationships between sounds and letters
allows children to apply these relationships to
both familiar and unfamiliar words, and to
begin to read with fluency.
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The goal of phonics instruction is to help
children to learn and be able to use the
Alphabetic Principle. The alphabetic principle is
the understanding that there are systematic and
predictable relationships between written
letters and spoken sounds. Phonics instruction
helps children learn the relationships between
the written language and the sounds of spoken
language.
 3. Fluency
• Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and
quickly. When fluent readers read silently, they
recognize words automatically. They group words
quickly to help them again meaning from what
they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly
and with expression. Their reading sounds
natural, as if they are speaking. Readers who
have not yet developed fluency read slowly, word
by word. Their oral reading is choppy
(uneven/changing/rough/irregular).
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Fluency is important because it provides a bridge
between word recognition and comprehension.
Because fluent readers do not have to concentrate
on decoding the words, they can focus on their
attention on what the text and their background
knowledge. In other words, fluent readers recognize
words and comprehend at the same times. Less
fluent readers, however, must focus their attention
on figuring out the words, leaving them little
attention for understanding the text.
 4. Vocabulary
• Vocabulary plays an important part in learning to read.
Beginning readers must use the words they hear orally
to make sense of the words they see in print.
• Consider for example, what happens when a beginning
reader comes to the word dig in a book. As she begins
to figure out the sounds represented by the letter d, i,
g the reader recognizes that the sounds make up a very
familiar word that she has heard and said many times.
It is harder for a beginning reader to figure out words
that are not already part of their speaking (oral)
vocabulary.
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• Vocabulary is also important to reading
comprehension. Readers cannot understand what
they are reading without knowing what most of
the words mean. As children learn to read more
advanced texts, they must learn the meaning of
new words that are not part of their vocabulary.
• A child’s writing development parallels their
development as a reader. Print awareness
develops in young children as a result of being
read to by adults and having other literacy
experience.
 5. Comprehension
Comprehension is the reason for reading. If
readers can read the words but do not
understand what they are reading, they are not
really reading.
As they read, good readers are both purposeful
and active. They may read to figure out how to
use a good processor, for example or a magazine
for entertainment.
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• Good readers also thing as they read. They use
their experiences and knowledge of the world,
vocabulary, language structure, and reading
strategies to make sense of the text and to
know how to get the most out of it. They
know when they have problems with
understanding and how to resolve these
problems as they occur.
 ACTIVITY 1
• Think of a reading activity that you will give to
Grade 2 learners. Explain the activity and how
you will teach it. Evaluate if it will be effective
or not. Give reasons.
• Share with the class
 ACTIVITY 2
• Read the handout on Activities to be done
Before, During and After Reading.
• Look at your activity again and change where
necessary.
• Share the changes that you made with the class.

Source: Handbook
Written by Sarah Forga