Basic Reading Skills By Thomas Bold Introduction There

Basic Reading Skills By Thomas Bold

Introduction • There are five basic reading skills that essential for student learning • These reading skills are: phonemic awareness, writing, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension • This presentation will provide the framework that is both useful to parents and act as a classroom resource for teachers

Phonemic Awareness • Phonemic awareness deals with a phoneme which is the smallest unit of sound that makes a difference in meaning • Phonemic awareness is the understanding that a word spoken is comprised of individual sounds • Examples of skills associated with phonemic awareness include: rhyming words, breaking sentences and words down into smaller forms • Strategies for teachers to utilize with phonemics in the classroom are: isolation, matching, blending, segmentation and manipulation (deleting, adding, substituting)

Writing • Writing is closely aligned with reading and both are reciprocal in nature • The definition of writing is a process of communication that allows meaning to be constructed as thoughts and ideas are expressed in written form • Writing requires the organization of ideas along with the use of writing conventions such as usage, mechanics, grammar and spelling • Components of writing include: prewriting, first draft, revisions, editing and publication

Fluency • Fluency refers to rate, accuracy and prosody: the ability to read with intonation, expressing and phrasing • Readers that are fluent have the ability to comprehend and recognize words at the same time • Fluency is thought to be an important component needed for reading comprehension • Strategies for teachers to utilize with fluency in the classroom include: students reading passages aloud with guidance, choral or unison reading, partner reading, readers’ theatre and timed readings

Vocabulary • Vocabulary refers to words that people need to know in order to communicate • There are four types of vocabulary that are important for teachers to utilize in the classroom: listening, speaking, reading and writing • Similar to fluency, vocabulary is an important component of reading comprehension • A focus should be on teaching words that have multiple meanings such as antonyms, synonyms or related words

Comprehension • Comprehension is defined as the construction of meaning through interaction in the text and the reader • Comprehension utilizes the application of specific cognitive strategies • The National Reading Panel recommends the following as effective teaching methods of comprehension: comprehension monitoring, cooperative learning, use of graphic and semantic organizers, question answering and question generating, recognizing text structure and summarization • Additional teaching techniques include: direct explanation, modeling, guided practice, feedback and application

Resources • http: //login. teachscape. com/web/#/learn