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After a brief commentary on the overall importance of knowledge to language comprehension ability, learning, and memory, this chapter then goes on to describe in more detail the elements that contribute to language comprehension. Language comprehension is one of the two essential components for learning to read in the Simple View of Reading. The other is word recognition, which was covered in Chapter 3. Similar to the previous chapter that emphasized word recognition, this chapter presents the skills, elements, and components of language comprehension using the framework of the Simple View of Reading. The Simple View is a representative model explaining that during reading both word recognition and language comprehension coordinate to produce skillful reading comprehension, and it also portrays the many elements that combine to build each component. Each element that ultimately contributes to strategic language comprehension is described, and an explanation of its importance along with suggested instructional activities is provided.

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, readers will be able to

1. discuss the importance of knowledge for language comprehension, learning, and memory;

2. explain the underlying elements of language comprehension;

3. identify instructional activities to provide and activate background knowledge, teach vocabulary, and teach language structures;

4. discuss how the underlying elements of language comprehension contribute to successful reading comprehension.

As noted in the previous chapter on word recognition's contribution to reading comprehension, the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) is a research-supported model of the reading process. It portrays skillful reading comprehension as a combination of two separate but equally important components-word recognition skills and language comprehension ability. In other words, to unlock comprehension of printed text (as opposed to other modes such as visual or audio that would not require a person to aim for reading comprehension), two keys are required: the ability to read the words on the page and the ability to understand the meaning of the words (Davis, 2006). The previous chapter ( Chapter 3) discussed the importance of improving word recognition and methods for doing so. This chapter will cover the other essential component of successful reading comprehension-language comprehension. As you will see, the elements required for language comprehension are all related to gaining meaning from what is being read.

The two essential components of the Simple View of Reading are represented by an illustration created by Scarborough (2002). In her illustration, seen in Figure 1, the two necessary braids that contribute to reading comprehension are themselves comprised of underlying skills and strands. Because the Simple View of Reading represents the progression toward proficient reading comprehension as requiring two components, it is termed "simple." In actuality, each of the components is complex due to its underlying elements. In the case of language comprehension discussed in this chapter, students need to steadily accumulate a fundamental base of background knowledge, vocabulary, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge (see below for definitions and explanations of each), and the ability to strategically apply these elements during reading to comprehend texts. To apply strategically means that during the reading of text, readers must continually monitor how well they comprehend its meaning, and bring forth any knowledge they have about the topic, words, sayings, and more. This process is called "metacognition," or thinking about thinking. After a brief commentary about language comprehension below, the importance of overall knowledge for three elements that lead to the strategic, metacognitive application of the skills and elements in the service of language comprehension will be presented, and instructional methods for each will be provided.

Davis (2006) wrote that "even the best phonics-based skills program will not transform a child into a strong reader if the child has limited knowledge of the language, impoverished vocabulary, and little knowledge of key subjects" (p. 15). Language comprehension consists of three elements that must be taught so that students apply them strategically (as opposed to automatically) during reading. As students interpret the meaning of texts, they must strategically apply their background knowledge, their knowledge of the vocabulary, and their understanding of the language structures that exist between words and within sentences.

First consider how reading comprehension is typically developed. Remember that in this textbook (see Chapter 1), reading comprehension includes "the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language" (Snow, 2002, xiii), as well as the "capacities, abilities, knowledge, and experiences" one brings to the reading situation (p. 11). In line with the first part of this definition, it is expected that once children have been taught sounds and letters, how to blend them together to decode so that they read text fluently, along with lessons in vocabulary, they will be on the way to successful reading comprehension. Reading instruction in schools focuses so heavily on developing reading comprehension because this ability is the ultimate goal of reading.

A surface skim through the teachers manuals from published reading programs will reveal that a multitude of comprehension skills and their corresponding strategies are often taught at each grade level (e.g., finding main idea, summarizing, using graphic organizers), but ultimately these skills and strategies do not necessarily transition students to successfully comprehending texts. Reading comprehension ability is complex and multifaceted; it is comprised of understanding a text's vocabulary, knowledge of the particular topic, and comprehension of its language structures (see Cain & Oakhill, 2007). Recall from Chapter 1 that language comprehension includes the interaction among someone's background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures like grammar, verbal reasoning abilities, and literary knowledge (e.g., genres). Language comprehension is a more general term than listening comprehension, which is the ability to understand and make sense of spoken language.

One of the many aspects of reading comprehension that is often overlooked during instruction is students' language comprehension. For example, a student who has general difficulty with reading comprehension, may, in actuality, comprehend a text about sharks or reefs quite well if his/her parents are marine biologists because he or she has accumulated experiences with ocean-related "language"-its words, phrases, and facts. This same student may not comprehend the next text about ham radio operation or the Appalachian Trail. Successful reading comprehension, then, often depends on the language of a text because the more familiarity and knowledge students have with its language, the stronger comprehension will be. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds often struggle with reading comprehension, despite being able to decode accurately and read fluently. They are often believed to have poor reading comprehension ability when in actuality the snag is a lack of language comprehension stemming from less overall knowledge which in turn stems from fewer experiences aligning with the language encountered in school and school texts. Reading comprehension strategy instruction, which involves teaching children how to comprehend or remember written text using deliberate mental actions, entails instruction in questioning, visualization, and summarizing, for example. However, teaching children how to apply such strategies during reading simply cannot replace a lack of knowledge.

Not surprisingly, in the earliest grades, an important facilitator of reading comprehension is automatic word recognition (see Chapter 3), since comprehension of a text cannot take place if its words cannot be read or recognized. However, once students become more competent at word recognition, the dominant factor driving reading comprehension transforms to become language comprehension (Foorman, Francis, Shaywitz, Shaywitz, & Fletcher, 1997). The reason for this boils down to one word-knowledge. Once students can read the words, they extract meaning from texts using their overall knowledge and experiences (background knowledge), their knowledge of words (vocabulary), and their knowledge of how words go together to create meaning (language comprehension). This accumulation of knowledge can last a lifetime and really never be considered "finished." In fact, knowledge is so important to consider, that a brief commentary on its contribution to reading comprehension is next, before going on to discuss the three elements in Scarborough's (2002) braid that lead to language comprehension, and ultimately reading comprehension.

Subtle differences exist between the terms "knowledge" and "background knowledge." In this chapter, "knowledge" is broadly defined as the total accumulation of facts and information a person has gained from previous experiences (it is also called general knowledge). Knowledge is composed of concepts, ideas and factual information, which eventually come together to contribute to understanding in various situations. One does need facts and concepts and ideas to perform a procedure (e.g., putting historical events on a timeline, editing a paper for mechanical errors, reading a map), but they are even more vital when partaking in situations or conditions that require synthesizing a lot of information (e.g., write a comprehensive essay on a topic, comprehend an author's message while reading a book) (Marzano & Kendall, 2007). "Background knowledge," on the other hand, is a term used in education for a specific subset of knowledge needed to comprehend a particular situation, lesson, or text (it is also called "prior knowledge"). When reading a text about dog training, readers are going to use their background (prior) knowledge of dog behavior, vocabulary related to dogs, aspects of training, and so on, to comprehend text. They will not need to apply any of their knowledge of outer space, photosynthesis, or baking (any of their general, overall knowledge) in this particular instance. It is not possible for educators to teach the required background knowledge for every text that students will encounter as they progress through their school years. They can, however, provide the next best thing-a wide base of general knowledge that can be drawn upon and applied as background knowledge to problem solve and create meaning.

General knowledge comes from years of exposure to books, newspapers, knowledge-rich school curricula, television programs, experiences, and conversations. Its value cannot be understated. Willingham (2006) summarizes the findings in cognitive science regarding the significance of knowledge in education this way:

Those with a rich base of factual knowledge find it easier to learn more-the rich get richer. In addition, factual knowledge enhances cognitive processes like problem solving and reasoning. The richer the knowledge base, the more smoothly and effectively these cognitive processes-the very ones that teachers target-operate. So, the more knowledge students accumulate, the smarter they become. (p. 30)

Both the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO, 2013) and the National Research Council's Committee on Defining Deeper Learning and 21st Century Skills (NRC; 2012) call for an increase in rigorous content knowledge in order for today's students to achieve college, career, and citizenship readiness. According to the CCSSO (2013), students must also be able to demonstrate "their ability to apply that knowledge through higher-order skills including but not limited to critical thinking and complex problem solving, working collaboratively, communicating effectively, and learning how to learn" (p. 6).

Difficulties comprehending complex texts encountered in college and careers have been attributed to a lack of general knowledge. To illustrate this difficulty, Schweizer (2009), a professor who taught freshman composition classes at Duke University, wrote about an eye-opening incident he experienced during his classes. After assigning both his remedial and advanced classes a four-page article on climate change from a popular college-level anthology of essays (see McKibben, 2006), he realized his students' comprehension of the essay was "flat, anemic, and literal rather than deep, rich, and associative" (p. 53). Upon questioning his students on the general knowledge items within the text-general facts, figures, locations, words, and common expressions-he reached a sobering conclusion. In the remedial class, just one student could identify Gandhi, none knew Ernest Hemingway, and two knew that Job was a character in the Bible. In the more advanced class, four out of 15 students recognized Gandhi or Hemingway, none knew the word "quixotic," and few could comprehend certain expressions within the text (e.g., "something is in the offing") or its allusions (e.g., "the snows of Kilimanjaro are set to become the rocks of Kilimanjaro"). Reflecting on the literacy-related consequences of this lack of word and world knowledge, Schweizer noted that his students were "not only hampered by a lack of factual knowledge, but that this shortcoming translates into problems with diction and literacy as well" (p. 52). Interestingly, to have comprehended this paragraph alone, you need to be familiar with and comprehend the importance and meaning of these words and phrases: Duke University, attributed, " eye-opening incident," remedial, anthology, " sobering conclusion," and allusions. A lack of language comprehension related to these words will hamper your reading comprehension indeed!

Background Knowledge

One of the three elements necessary for language comprehension is background knowledge. As mentioned above, background knowledge is a particular subset of knowledge (e.g., facts about the world, events, people, sayings and phrases) that is needed to comprehend and learn from a particular situation, lesson, or text. Young readers learn to strategically apply their background knowledge in order to interpret a text's meaning. As a small example, consider the following sentence: "Initially Richard was upset when police told him they found bugs in his office, but to avoid prosecution he agreed to let them remain until the investigation was completed." To comprehend this sentence either in isolation or within the context of an entire text, one will need to have learned that "bugs" are spying devices, to understand that people might get upset when they discover they are being spied on, and to infer that Richard has created an arrangement of cooperation with the police. Without background knowledge, the author's intended meaning may be misconstrued as having to do with insects.

Why background knowledge is important

Knowledge leads to more knowledge, making learning easier (Willingham, 2006). Consider another example in which students read a story about a boy who is angry that he was not selected to play on the football team. The boy insists, "I really didn't want to play football anyway!" His mother responds, "Sounds like a case of sour grapes to me!" Students familiar with the Aesop's fable "The Fox and the Grapes" will understand the reference to "sour grapes" in this particular story and in all subsequent texts, and they will be able to interpret the subtle nuances of resentment that comes about after rejection. A student with no exposure to the fable may believe that the boy really did not want to play football and will not understand why the mother is talking about grapes. Meaning will be incomplete. Background knowledge allows readers to strategically infer the author's meaning with a lot less effort. Drawing inferences from a text is so much easier when a reader is already familiar with what the author is talking about.

Willingham (2006) summarized some of the findings in cognitive science regarding how background knowledge helps students comprehend what they read and remember what they have learned. Most obvious, and as seen in the sour grapes example, background knowledge of a text makes it so that fewer instances are necessary of having to stop or reread for clarification. The author's point is comprehended right away. Less obvious, background knowledge allows readers to arrange sequences of events in texts into connected, meaningful units or sequences that can be more easily analyzed, understood, and remembered. Without background knowledge, words and sentences in a text easily become disjointed, unrelated, random sequences. For instance, imagine a passenger in a small plane who has no background knowledge of mechanics or technical things. This passenger is asked by the pilot to read off the items from preflight checklists. Due to lack of background in technical things, the items seem arbitrary and unrelated. Dozens of unfamiliar words and terms are essentially meaningless (e.g., throttle 2000 RPM, magnetos max drop 175 RPM, press-to-test annunciator panel, electric fuel pump off, fuel pressure check), and if asked after the flight, it is unlikely that the passenger would be able to remember them. Conversely, if the next traveler possesses background knowledge related to how mechanical things work and is asked to read the same checklists, his or her comprehension and recall would be greater because the items on the list would be familiar and meaningful. It would be understood that some of the items were related to engine speed, while others had to do with the fuel system and they would be retained in memory because this passenger would assign them to meaningful categories and sequences. The background knowledge of the second passenger would not only create better comprehension of the experience, it would also enable greater storage and recall of most of the events. The second passenger would have learned more and would have remembered more.

A similar phenomenon related to how meaningful categories (or "chunks") are related to memory and learning is the frequently cited experiments of DeGroot (1946/1978) and Chase and Simon (1973). Differences in background knowledge (via the experiences) between master and novice chess players were examined in both studies, as well as how this knowledge influenced their memories. Chess masters who had experienced thousands of chess matches, and thus, had more background knowledge were pitted against novices in a simple experiment. For just a few seconds, chess masters and novices were shown pictures of chessboards in which the pieces were configured in positions from advanced level matches. The pictured pieces were not arranged on the boards randomly; their positions were realistic. After momentarily viewing the pictures, players reconstructed the positions of each piece using a real board. Masters recreated the positions almost perfectly, while the novices placed about half of the pieces successfully. The accuracy of recall was attributed to the masters' ability to categorize and chunk information, or, in the case of chess, to chunk together multiple, meaningful groups of pieces. The novices could only memorize positions of single pieces, whereas the masters memorized positions of sets of pieces that made sense to them in terms of familiar play-structures. They had background knowledge of similar set-ups.

A video recreating this experiment with chess grandmaster Patrick Wolff (Simons, 2012) reveals his strategy in recreating the board placements. Wolff states that he noticed where the pieces clustered and that he noted the logical connections between the pieces. He recognized the meaningful chunks. In a book about how practice and effort contribute to talent, Colvin (2008) comments on chess player experiments, noting that, "instead of seeing twenty-five pieces, they may see just five or six groups of pieces" (p. 100). In any realm, meaningful chunks can only be formed by those having the knowledge and background experiences to understand what belongs with what. In the case of chess players, certain pieces defend others in strategically particular positions. For skilled readers, certain letters chunk together within long words, enabling them to be read rapidly and accurately, and certain words and ideas chunk together meaningfully, enabling comprehension of an author's message. An example of how words and ideas chunk together meaningfully to aid reading comprehension is provided by Meurer (1991), who wrote about reading schemata. Reading schemata are patterns that organize knowledge in our minds while we read. Meurer explained that readers have schema for various concepts, such as when something "breaks." Along with this understanding, they may possess subcomponents and ideas having to do with "breaks": items that can be broken, ways that things can cause things to be broken, and what it means for something to be broken, just to name a few. He then provided an example of a sentence: "The karate champion broke the cinder block." The author of that sentence does not explicitly tell the reader what the champion used to break the cinder block. It is the reader's schema for "break" and "karate champion" that allows him or her to successfully infer that what broke the cinder block was not a hammer or a chisel, but the karate champion's hand. Without the ability to automatically chunk together and activate various words and ideas, reading comprehension will suffer.

In any field, setting, or circumstance, new material that has familiarity is more readily learned because it is easier to understand and because it is supported by and connected meaningfully to what is already known. The beauty and value of background knowledge is that it provides the familiarity that is crucial for connections that both create new learning and allow for the new learning to be remembered.

Background knowledge instruction

As educators, we cannot teach the "big umbrella" of background knowledge since it evolves from a multitude of life experiences. However, we can provide it or activate it, and suggestions for both are described below.

Providing background knowledge

Meaningful contexts from a content-rich curriculum spanning a wide variety of content areas are ideal for providing the background knowledge that will scaffold future learning. Many curricula are deliberately designed to provide an integrated sequence of rich, engaging, multicultural content spanning history, science, music, visual arts, mathematics, language arts, and more. Without such a curriculum, knowledge from each of these areas that is likely to appear in texts in subsequent grades can still be provided. In the earliest grades, before students can read books independently, the content and concepts that build background knowledge are usually developed through teacher read-alouds of a wide variety of texts, such as nursery rhymes, rhyming poems, fairy tales and fables from a variety of cultures, and engaging nonfiction texts, to name a few.

Children's books and other written sources of information are an authentic and abundant source of knowledge about every imaginable subject (see Chapter 7 for further discussion about children's literature), suitable for building knowledge at all grade levels (Stanovich & Cunningham, 1993). Children's books feature rich concepts and a high percentage of unique and sophisticated words ( Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998; Hayes & Ahrens, 1988). Reading a number books or stories to students featuring similar themes or domains (e.g., farms, seasons, culturally diverse folklore, Egypt, music, currency, weather) provides a beneficial repetition of words and concepts that build valuable background knowledge. As students hear multiple versions of a similar theme or receive repeated instruction in a particular domain, newly developed background knowledge will lead to better comprehension of the material (Cervetti, Jaynes, & Hiebert, 2009). Davis (2006) recommends twenty to thirty read-alouds per domain (e.g., from a variety of children's books, chapters, short pieces, poems) for developing background knowledge; just two short read-alouds a day can cover 10 to 15 domains in a school year (see also Hirsch, 2006). Although read-alouds are typically done in the elementary grades, there is likely to be benefit in building background knowledge at the older grades as well.

Activating background knowledge

In addition to providing background knowledge, we can also activate existing background knowledge. Activation of background knowledge that students already possess is frequently a focus of comprehension instruction. Teachers understand the value of activating background knowledge and as a result many tend to apply a series of strategies at the expense of providing knowledge. There is not a lot of research on teaching a multitude of comprehension strategies prior to third grade, primarily because beginning readers in the early grades are learning how to decode fluently. Also, too much of an emphasis on teaching strategies for reading comprehension may not be effective ( Stahl, 2004), particularly if the text is easy to understand. For young students, particularly when using complex text, comprehension strategies should still be worked on (see the Institute of Education Sciences' practice guide (Shanahan et al., 2010) for a summary of recommendations on improving reading comprehension for children in grades K-3), but the decoding constraint may still stand in the way. In later grades, simply applying comprehension strategies such as visualizing or predicting will not automatically enable students to understand science. If we want students to comprehend science texts, they must know something about science. Students do better if they read and write about things they know about. While isolated facts are certainly important and necessary, they will not suffice to enable meaningful comprehension unless background knowledge is developed within meaningful contexts.

Activating background knowledge is under scrutiny since the introduction of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects ( CCSS; National Governors Association & Council of Chief State School Officers [NGA & CCSSO], 2010) because students are now expected to extract information from texts by focusing on what the author intended for them to understand, rather than relying too heavily on their prior knowledge, experiences, or opinions to construct meaning. Teachers are encouraged to downplay any lengthy, explicit focus on their students' existing knowledge before reading, and in discussions about the CCSS, some propose that this may serve to equalize the outcomes for children who have varying degrees of knowledge about various topics. However, as Shanahan (2014) explains, avoiding discussion altogether of background knowledge will not serve to allow children to interpret and comprehend texts more equally, because it would be next to impossible for children who do possess background knowledge about a topic to avoid using it to construct meaning while they read. Those without the background knowledge will not have this advantage, and will be wrongly viewed as having poor comprehension, when in fact it is their lack of knowledge that is to blame. Shanahan (2014) provides some practical instructional suggestions for activating background knowledge before and during reading. An abridged and modified list appears below:

1. When introducing texts, avoid lengthy introductions or potentially ineffective pre-reading strategies such as a "picture walks" and tedious contributions of students' prior knowledge that could potentially impair comprehension. A simple statement such as "We're going to read a story about how animals camouflage themselves" may suffice. The goal is to be brief and strategic (e.g., what is the purpose of the text, what will students bring to it, and what information absolutely needs to be provided; note all the other suggestions below for more clarification). Otherwise time spent during pre-reading activities may take time away from the actual reading, become boring or repetitive, and possibly steer children to the wrong focus, ruining the entire experience. See an additional blog post in which Shanahan (2012) speaks specifically about this topic http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/2012/02/pre-reading-or-not-on-premature-demise.html

2. When introducing a topic or genre that students will be reading, avoid revealing information that you will want them to extract from the text(s) on their own.

3. Preteach necessary information students will need if it is not in the text (e.g., a text on climate change may not have been written for young students, so vital references to geography or technology may need explanation).

4. Do not focus on activating background knowledge about topics in the text that are not needed for its comprehension (e.g., a text focusing on how an octopus camouflages itself does not require discussion or instruction about oceans).

5. When using multiple texts to develop background knowledge, introduce them in an order that will support and reinforce those that may come before or after. Initial texts may cover a particular topic in a general manner, followed up by texts that cover the material in the initial texts and delve deeper into the topic.

6. Attend to the differing background knowledge needs of students from diverse cultures by considering information you may need to pre-teach in order for them to comprehend particular texts.

Vocabulary

Having just read about background knowledge, it is probably easy for you to imagine how vocabulary-the knowledge of the meaning of words in a text-adds significantly to the construction of the meaning of texts. Vocabulary knowledge is a prominent predictor of reading comprehension and is depicted as a central thread in the language comprehension component of the Simple View of Reading because of its connections to background knowledge and language structures (Scarborough, 2002).

The development of a child's vocabulary begins at infancy, when a baby starts hearing speech and babbling. Oral language experiences, such as in-person conversations, dialogue heard on TV, or language heard during the reading of children's books are primary means for accumulating vocabulary. By the age of two, children usually speak about 200 to 300 words and understand many more, and once in school, they learn approximately 3,000 words per year, and can comprehend many more than they can read (Nagy, 2009). To accomplish this rate of word learning, it is critical to ensure that students are learning new words each day. This is especially true for many students from less advantaged backgrounds, who are exposed to millions fewer words in their first three years of life than students who come from more privileged backgrounds (Hart & Risley, 1995). This disparity results in students from more affluent households knowing thousands more words upon entering school, which benefits their ability to understand, participate in, and profit from the language of instruction that is predominant in U.S. school settings.

Why vocabulary is important

As stated previously, the level of a child's vocabulary knowledge is a strong predictor of reading comprehension (Duncan et al., 2007). This seems obvious since not knowing the meaning of words in a text makes it quite difficult to comprehend it. As Adams (2010) eloquently points out, "What makes vocabulary valuable and important is not the words themselves so much as the understandings they afford. The reason we need to know the meanings of words is that they point to the knowledge from which we are to construct, interpret, and reflect on the meaning of text" (p. 8).

Vocabulary instruction

Instruction in vocabulary should begin with thinking about the different levels of "knowing" a word. Upon hearing a word, we can say (a) we have never heard of it, (b) that we have heard of it but we do not know it, (c) that we know it, or (d) that we both know it and can use it (Nagy, 2009). The more deeply we know a word, the more likely we will be to understand it when we hear it or read it, and the more likely we will be to use it when we speak or write. Ideally, instruction makes it so that students reach the level of knowing and using words when they converse, write, or read. Vocabulary learning occurs either incidentally (words are learned through exposure and experiences) or intentionally (words are deliberately and directly taught). The majority of words in our vocabularies are learned incidentally, through conversations or independent reading (Adams, 2010). This means that most vocabulary learning will not occur through explicit instructional means but through opportunities available in the child's environment to encounter and resolve meanings of new words. Children who have learned to read independently are at an advantage in terms of learning words incidentally because they are able to independently encounter new words and infer their meaning while reading.

Incidental vocabulary instruction is enhanced through rich and varied oral language dialogue and discourse experiences, and independent reading. Even though "incidental" learning occurs as a result of some activities that do not involve any deliberate teaching, incidental learning still often involves a level of intentionality on the part of teachers. Teachers should consciously fill their everyday classroom language with rich, unique words so that they can be learned incidentally. A classroom that is rich with words promotes awareness of new vocabulary and a curiosity for learning new words. Rather than simplifying language for students, conversations should be embedded with sophisticated words: "Jordan, why don't you amble over here and let me glance at that," "Please shut the door; those third graders are causing quite a commotion! What a ruckus!" and "Oh my, Jake, the lion on your t-shirt has such sinister eyes! It terrifies me!" A resource for building language rich classrooms to promote oral language, vocabulary, and comprehension is Dodson's (2011) 50 Nifty Speaking and Listening Activities. While it is not a scientifically based intervention, it provides a multitude of listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities that adhere to a sequence of language development for students ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Many words, phrases, and sayings require intentional instruction. Vocabulary words that should be intentionally taught are those essential for understanding texts, those that are likely to be encountered across multiple texts, or those that are particularly difficult to understand (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002). Activities for directly teaching vocabulary include using graphic organizers (for a collection of free graphic organizers visit https://www.teachervision.com/graphic-organizers/printable/6293.html), or analyzing words' semantic features (i.e., listing their attributes-hard/soft, tall/short, exciting/dull).

Text Talk (Beck & McKeown, 2001) is an evidence-based vocabulary (and comprehension) building intervention that can be easily built into daily read-alouds. Teachers pre-read the selected text, choosing three to five vocabulary words that are "Tier 2" words. Tier 2 words are sophisticated, occur frequently in conversation and print, and are used across multiple domains and contexts. Examples of Tier 2 words are unique, convenient, remarkable, and misery(See Beck et al., 2002). Tier 1 words are those that are basic and, for speakers of English, do not require instruction in school (e.g., wall, water, fun), and Tier 3 words are low-frequency words that are specific to domains or content areas (e.g., photosynthesis, Constantinople). During a read-aloud that is done in Text Talk fashion, open-ended comprehension questions are asked. Open-ended questions require a meaningful interactive response rather than a one-word reply. Examples of an open-ended question are "How do you think that made the boy feel?" and "Why did the fox decide to share his food?" To answer each of these questions requires an extended, multiple-word response. Examples of close-ended questions requiring only a single word response include "Is the boy mad?" and "Which food did the fox share?" Interactive extended responses and dialogue promote oral language development and allow the teacher to monitor students' vocabulary use and comprehension. After the read-aloud or during a second reading of the story, the preselected Tier 2 vocabulary words are defined by the teacher using simple, child-friendly definitions (e.g., "To coax someone means to use your words to get them to do something"). The meanings of the words are discussed within the context of the story (e.g., "The mother coaxed her daughter to take a bath, meaning she used words to convince her to get into the bathtub"), and the teacher provides examples of the words within other contexts ("When my mother got older, I had to coax her to join us on vacation"). Finally, the students are asked to apply their knowledge and use the words in a personal context to ensure that they have the correct understanding of their meanings ("Jared, can you share an example of a time when someone coaxed you to do something?"). Additionally, during the read-aloud, it is beneficial to read the text before showing the pictures so that the illustrations do not interfere with attention or comprehension. This procedure is effective in getting students to pay attention to the words being read, and thus, is helpful toward their comprehending the language of the story (Beck & McKeown, 2001). It fosters their ability to comprehend decontextualized language-language that is "outside the here and now" (p. 10)-and leads to comprehending the vocabulary and text without relying on pictures. Teachers typically read children's books aloud on a daily basis. Modifying read-alouds a bit to include the suggestions here fosters rich Tier 2 vocabulary and language comprehension through open-ended questions and by drawing attention to the vocabulary and meaning in texts.

Language Structures

The final element contributing to language comprehension is language structure-the relationships between the words and sentences in a text. Looking back at the model of skilled reading in Figure 1, it is evident there are many facets to language structures, including knowledge of grammar, being able to make inferences, and having knowledge of literacy concepts, such as what reading strategies to use for different types of texts (e.g., poems versus informational texts). To simplify and streamline these for the purpose of this chapter, they will be categorized as having to do with the major components of language that are interconnected: form, content, and use (see Bloom & Lahey, 1978).

Why language form is important

Language form comprises the rules for how words are structured (see 'morphology' described below) as well as the rules for the arrangement of words within sentences and phrases (see 'syntax' described below). The act of constructing meaning while reading is complex, so it is not surprising that morphology and syntax also contribute to reading comprehension.

Morphology is the study of morphemes in a language. Not to be confused with phonemes, which are the smallest units of sound in spoken words, morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in words (to remember this, consider that "morphemes" and "meaning" both begin with the letter "m"). Words contain one or more morphemes, or units of meaning. For instance, "locate" is a word that is a freestanding morpheme because it has just one unit of meaning and can stand on its own. By attaching another morpheme, the suffix "-tion," to create "location," there are now two units of meaning: "locate" and the action or condition of locating, "tion." "Tion" is a bound morpheme because its meaning depends on its connection to other words; it cannot stand on its own. A third morpheme, the prefix "dis," changes the meaning of the word yet again-"dislocation." In sum, the word "dislocation" is made up of three morphemes, each of which contributes its own meaning. Similarly, "cat" is a freestanding morpheme (a singular feline animal), but adding the bound morpheme-s-signals a change in meaning and the reader now pictures more than one cat.

Another aspect of language form, syntax, is commonly referred to as grammar. It is the combining and ordering of words in sentences and phrases that enables comprehension of a text. For example, in English, when the article "a" or "an" appears in a sentence, it is expected that a noun will follow. Syntax includes sentence construction elements like statements, commands, and combined sentences as well as particular sentence components such as nouns, adjectives, and prepositional phrases. These are important for future teachers to know, because effective use of these will allow students to comprehend text more successfully, and they will also allow students to demonstrate command of the conventions of the language in their writing pieces.

Language form instruction

Typically, rules of morphology and syntax are taught directly. For example, morphology instruction includes root words, prefixes, and suffixes along with derivations of Greek and Latin roots (e.g., "chron" is the Greek root for "time" in chronicle, synchronize, and "cred" is the Latin root for "believe" in creed, incredible, credulous). Morphology charts of root words, prefixes, and suffixes can be compiled over time and displayed on a wall so that students can refer to them while reading or writing. Charts could feature a list of suffixes that indicate people nouns (e.g., -er, -or, -cian, -ist), suffixes that create verbs (e.g., -ize, ify), or base words that change spelling and pronunciation (e.g., sign/signature/design, deep/depth). Incidental exposure to such morphology elements enhances word awareness (the act of noticing and attending to features of words), vocabulary, and, of course, language comprehension.

Why language content is important

Language content that is comprised of the meaning of the relationships that exist between words, phrases, and sentences is known as semantics. Semantics is different from vocabulary because it extends beyond the individual meaning of words. Note that once again, there is an "m" in this "semantics," but it is in the middle of the word, which may help you to remember it has to do with the meaning that ties words (and sentences) together. Understanding the semantics of language enables comprehension because it clarifies the content-the network of events and relationships that exists in texts. For example, reading a sentence about a jug breaking and glass being scattered all over the floor might cause confusion, since jugs are typically not thought of as being made of glass.

Language content instruction

Semantics requires knowledge of vocabulary (a word's meaning, and perhaps its synonyms and antonyms), as well as syntax. Just as important is background knowledge in order to form correct judgments about the context being read. Part of this knowledge includes the meaning of humor, slang, idioms (i.e., combinations of words having a figurative meaning as in "it's raining cats and dogs" or "he was feeling blue"), metaphors (a comparison of two things as in "she is my sunshine") and similes (comparisons of two things using "like" or "as" as in "her laughter is like sunshine"). Languages have thousands of common and often subtle semantic attributes that involve analogy, exaggeration, sarcasm, puns, and parables to convey world knowledge. Teachers can explicitly teach these attributes so that they are recognized more readily, explicitly define particular sayings and expressions, and demonstrate examples and nonexamples. For example, a teacher could demonstrate examples and nonexamples of exaggeration ("I have a million papers to grade!" vs. "I have three papers to grade"). As soon as schooling begins, semantic conventions should be taught, such as in the way that "once upon a time" signals the beginning of a fairy tale. Like vocabulary, the majority of semantic knowledge is derived from previous experiences and background knowledge. Teaching students phrases through exposure to discussions, reading, and other venues like television, movies, and online videos does a lot to promote this language comprehension element.

Why language use is important

Language use is termed pragmatics. Pragmatics are the rules of language that lead to appropriate use in assorted settings and contexts. Each setting (e.g., school, home, restaurant, job interview, playground) or context (e.g., greeting, inquiry, negotiation, explanation) has a particular purpose. To communicate appropriately, students must learn patterns of conversation and dialogue that occur in assorted settings. For example, use of language can vary according to a person's status, so whether talking at home to a parent (a more casual use of language) or talking to a teacher at school, (a more formal use of language), the setting and the status differ, and language use must adapt accordingly. Understanding the nuances of pragmatics contributes to language comprehension, which in turn enables a reader to recognize its uses in written text, leading to more successful reading comprehension.

Language use instruction

The pragmatics of language use in school requires students to comprehend academic language. Students, especially English language learners and students with social difficulties, must comprehend the differences between conversation and academic language. Students' language use in assorted settings (e.g., playground conversations, discussions with teachers) often requires teachers to provide clarification and elaboration. Students can perform enjoyable skits demonstrating the differences in language use in various situations and teachers can monitor and model language use as students tell stories, describe events, or recount personal experiences.

To help students develop language comprehension, the underlying meaning-based elements of reading-background knowledge, vocabulary, and language structures-must be taught and monitored. Unlike teaching students to recognize words accurately and automatically so that they become fluent readers, teaching the elements of language comprehension must be done so that students become increasingly strategic about extracting the meaning from texts they read. This is an incremental, ongoing, developmental process that lasts a lifetime. With each new bit of background knowledge, each new vocabulary word, and each new understanding of language use, students can integrate this knowledge strategically to comprehend text.

The two essential components of the Simple View of Reading, automatic word recognition and strategic language comprehension, contribute to the ultimate goal of teaching reading: skilled reading comprehension. Once students become proficient decoders and can automatically identify words, the role of language comprehension becomes increasingly important as students shift from paying attention to the words to paying attention to meaning.

Teachers must be ever mindful of the presence or absence of background knowledge that students bring to the task. As important as it is for students to monitor their comprehension, it is equally important for teachers to continually monitor each student's background knowledge and comprehension so that they can step in to build and supply what is missing in their understanding. The value of the knowledge that students bring to their reading should never be sacrificed for the sake of comprehension strategy instruction. They must go hand in hand.

Questions and Activities

1. What are the three underlying elements of language comprehension? How does each contribute to successful reading comprehension?

2. Which instructional activities are helpful for providing and activating background knowledge, teaching vocabulary, and promoting language use?

3. Consider a student that you have worked with who has difficulty with reading comprehension. Which of the underlying element(s) of language comprehension (i.e., background knowledge, vocabulary, language use) do you believe may be at the root of this student's difficulties? How might you develop a new instructional plan to address these difficulties?

4. Select an informational text that you might use with students. Identify the facts, phrases, vocabulary or other knowledge items that readers would need in order to comprehend the text. Next, consider discussing which facts, phrases, vocabulary, or other knowledge items would a reader NOT necessarily need in order for comprehension to still occur.

References

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4. Language Comprehension Ability: One of Two Essential Components of Reading Comprehension

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After a brief commentary on the overall importance of knowledge to language comprehension ability, learning, and memory, this chapter then goes on to describe in more detail the elements that contribute to language comprehension. Language comprehension is one of the two essential components for learning to read in the Simple View of Reading.

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English Language Learners and the Five Essential Components of Reading Instruction

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Find out how teachers can play to the strengths and shore up the weaknesses of English Language Learners in each of the Reading First content areas.

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As a classroom teacher, I was largely ignorant of, and definitely suspicious of, research. I believed that researchers could make their studies come out any way they wanted them to, and that a good teacher who reflected on her own teaching knew much more about how to be effective with her students than any researcher did. Later, as a university professor, I learned how important good research can be, and how difficult it is to do really good experimental research in a field such as education, where it is impossible to control all the variables.

For that reason, I was pleased in 1997 when Congress funded the National Reading Panel (NRP) to evaluate research about teaching children to read. The panel's charge was to review existing studies, choose those that were well designed and well implemented, and synthesize their findings. The results were published in 2000 (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000), and became the basis of the Reading First grant program included in the No Child Left Behind legislation of 2001. Although there was initially a good deal of controversy about the findings of the report, all U.S. elementary school teachers were soon very aware of the five "essential elements" of reading instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension).

Teachers of English language learners (ELLs), however, were left to wonder if and how the findings of the NRP applied to their students. How do you teach phonemic awareness and phonics in English to students who can't yet hear and distinguish the sounds? How do you teach fluency to students whose control of the structures of the English language is still limited? How do you teach them grade-level vocabulary when their vocabulary knowledge starts so far behind that of their English-speaking peers? How do you teach reading comprehension in English when they don't yet comprehend the English language?

Now there appears to be help. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Education funded the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority and Youth to survey, select, and synthesize research on teaching language-minority students to read and write. Their report was published recently (August & Shanahan, 2006).

How much help will this report provide for teachers of ELLs? A preliminary review of the Executive Summary (August, 2006) and the section of the full report on "Educating Language Minority Students" reveals these four potentially important general recommendations:

Literacy in the native language is an advantage.

We already knew this (see, for example, Collier & Thomas, 1997), and it doesn't help teachers working in situations where literacy instruction in the native language is not possible.

Substantial coverage of the five essential elements of reading instruction helps.

However, this finding is based on only 14 studies that looked at instruction of the essential elements of reading with ELLs. Because of the small number of studies, this recommendation is based on the fact that there is nothing in these 14 studies that contradicts the findings of the numerous studies of native speakers that were reviewed by the National Reading Panel. Also because of the small number of studies, no specific practices could be advocated for teaching the essential elements of reading to ELLs.

Reading programs for ELLs should include intensive language development as well as instruction in literacy strategies and skills.

This recommendation is not based specifically on the research, because there were no studies that addressed the inclusion of intensive language development in reading instruction for ELLs. It is instead a hypothesis drawn from several other findings: (1) native speakers benefit more from instruction in the essential elements than do ELLs; (2) ELLs with greater language proficiency benefit more from instruction in the essential elements than do those with less proficiency; and (3) instruction in the essential elements with ELLs has a greater effect on decoding and fluency than on comprehension.

Instruction needs to be adjusted to meet the needs of ELLs.

The report, however, states that there is not enough research to be able to identify specifically how those adjustments should be made. I could find only seven specific suggestions that would be useful to teachers of reading classes that include ELLs:

Provide additional work on English phonemes that are not present in the students' native language.

If students are literate in their native language, focus on differences between that language and English, with less attention given to elements that will transfer.

Provide extra practice in reading words, sentences, and stories.

Use cognate words in the native language as synonyms when teaching vocabulary.

Identify and clarify difficult words and passages.

Consolidate knowledge of the text through the use of summaries.

Find appropriate ways to use the native language.

These seven findings do not constitute a reading program for ELLs. We obviously need much more research. However, given the fact that teachers cannot wait until research catches up with their needs in order to implement effective practices with their ELL students, I think it is important to look not only at the research that is available, but also at what experienced, reflective teachers of ELLs (and observers of those teachers) consider to be best practices. The rest of this article will discuss the implications of available research on instructional practices in the teaching of the five essential elements of reading to ELLs, based on the findings of the National Literacy Panel as much as possible, but also drawing on information from reliable sources such as The Knowledge Loom: Spotlight on Elementary Literacy (The Education Alliance at Brown University, n.d.), as well as my own experience.

Phonemic awareness

Phonemic awareness is difficult for ELLs because they may not yet have enough experience with English to be able to distinguish sounds that differ from those of their native language. There are three aspects of phonological awareness when learning to read in a second language that are important for teachers of ELLs to remember and incorporate into their instruction:

ELLs cannot develop phonological awareness in English until they are familiar with the sounds of English.

This means that before explicit instruction in phonological awareness begins, children should have extensive experiences with fun and appealing songs, poems, chants, and read-alouds that will allow them to hear and reproduce the sound patterns of English.

Once explicit instruction has begun, modifications must be made to allow for more practice with sounds that can potentially cause confusion.

These are sounds that either don't exist in the native language (most of the short vowel sounds of English don't exist in Spanish, for example), or sounds that are perceived as different in English but the same in the native language (such as /r/ and /l/ for speakers of Japanese, or /b/ and /v/ for speakers of Spanish). Because these differences vary from one language to another, teachers will have to become familiar with which sounds of English will need extra practice, depending on the language backgrounds of their students.

Once phonological awareness has developed in any language, it transfers to other languages that are learned.

Therefore, students who are literate in their native language will not need to develop this skill again in English; they will only need to become familiar with the sounds of English and to learn to discriminate sounds that are different between their native language and English.

Phonics

Phonics can be problematic because ELLs often have difficulty discriminating between similar sounds, and because the English language does not have a regular system of correspondence between letters and sounds. Here are some issues related to phonics instruction for ELLs, with discussion of their implications:

Systematic phonics instruction can be very effective in helping ELLs, even those at fairly low levels of language proficiency, learn to decode words.

However, this skill does not facilitate reading comprehension if students' oral language proficiency is not developed to the level of the texts they are expected to read. For this reason, reading instruction should be combined with intensive development of the oral language needed to understand the text.

The most effective reading programs for ELLs combine systematic phonics instruction with a print-rich environment that provides exposure to appealing reading materials in varied genres.

Skills practice that is embedded in meaningful texts helps ensure that decoding skills don't progress beyond students' ability to comprehend the text.

Many of the components of phonics instruction need to be modified to meet the particular needs of ELLs.

For example:

Before phonics instruction begins, students must have the phonemic awareness skills they need in order to perceive individual sounds in words. This is particularly important for sounds that are problematic because of the native language.

Teachers must be aware of whether a students' native language uses a non-Roman alphabet or is non-alphabetic. Even if ELLs have had no instruction in reading in the native language, environmental exposure to a different writing system can negatively affect the ease with which they learn to recognize the letters of the English alphabet.

ELLs must be able to hear and reproduce English sounds with a degree of accuracy commensurate with their pronunciation abilities, before they are taught to make associations between those sounds and particular letters.

It is helpful to explicitly point out different letter combinations that have the same sound, and provide extra practice with them. Multiple spellings of the same sound can be very confusing for ELLs, particularly if they have had some reading instruction in a language such as Spanish, which has almost completely regular sound-symbol correspondences.

Teachers must pay attention to the meanings of the words used to teach phonics skills. Teaching students to decode words they don't know only reinforces the idea that "reading" is pronouncing sounds out loud rather than creating meaning.

Automatic recognition of frequent words is very important for ELLs, whether the words follow phonics rules or not. Although ELLs may develop good decoding skills, their lack of total proficiency in the English language will always slow them down somewhat. Automatic recognition of words can help mitigate this difficulty.

Most ELLs will need additional time to master phonics. Given the need for extra practice to learn to hear and produce the sounds of English, to learn the meanings of the words used in phonics instruction, to learn the multiple combinations of letters that make the same sound, and to learn many more sight words than English speakers need, additional time for phonics instruction should be built into reading programs for ELLs.

Fluency

Fluency is difficult for ELLs because their lack of proficiency in English slows down their ability to decode words and hinders their ability to understand the meanings of the words and how the words combine to produce meaningful sentences and discourse. These suggestions will help teachers adapt fluency instruction for ELLs:

ELLs cannot achieve fluency in oral reading before they have achieved fluency in speaking.

Repeated readings of texts that contain unfamiliar vocabulary and sentence structures will not increase fluency. When working on developing fluency, be sure that students are reading texts that they are familiar with and can understand. Students' own language experience stories are a very good choice, as are read-alouds that students have heard several times and discussed.

ELLs' normal self-consciousness about accents and errors can affect their reading fluency, especially if they are asked to read aloud in front of the entire class.

This effect will be magnified if students are openly corrected or criticized. Fluency practice for ELLs can be facilitated by having them read along with the teacher, or by reading chorally with a group. If individual oral reading is necessary, provide an authentic purpose for the reading (such as a theatrical performance, or delivering information that the rest of the class needs), and let students practice first with a partner.

Decoding skills, fluency in oral reading, and reading comprehension interact in various ways.

The ability to decode words easily is obviously necessary for fluency, and it also facilitates comprehension by allowing the reader to pay more attention to meaning. Comprehension, in turn, facilitates fluency by making it easier to recognize new words. Effective instruction for ELLs integrates these three elements of reading (plus vocabulary learning) into the same lessons using the same text, as each element helps build and reinforce the others, producing a multiplier effect.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is difficult for ELLs; even for quite proficient learners, the extent of their knowledge of vocabulary is only a fraction of what it is for native speakers of English, and the failure to understand even a few words of a text can have negative effects on comprehension. There are many things teachers can do to help ELLs improve their reading vocabulary, including the following:

ELLs need more vocabulary instruction than their native-speaking peers.

If a native-speaking child enters kindergarten knowing about 5,000 English words, and an ELL with no previous exposure to English enters the same class knowing no English words, it's obvious that the same instruction for each of them will not produce the same results. Everything a teacher of ELLs does should revolve around vocabulary acquisition-explaining, demonstrating, drawing, repeating, reading, writing, and playing with words throughout every aspect of instruction.

ELLs need instruction in different vocabulary words than their native-speaking peers.

ELLs lack many of the basic words that native speakers know, so just teaching the vocabulary words that are suggested in the reading materials you are using will not be sufficient. Here are some of the many types of words that need to be explicitly taught:

words that are crucial for understanding a text;

words that are encountered in a wide variety of contexts;

frequently used words that contain word parts (roots, prefixes, suffixes) that can help students analyze other unknown words;

words with multiple meanings, whether spelled differently (homophones such as to, two, and too) or spelled the same (such as a dining room table and a multiplication table);

figurative language and idiomatic expressions;

academic words that indicate relationships among other words (such as because, therefore, and since to indicate cause and effect).

ELLs need different vocabulary teaching techniques and strategies than their native-speaking peers.

Handing out a list of definitions or asking students to put the words into sentences won't help ELLs learn the meanings of the words. Here are some things to keep in mind:

ELLs who are literate in a language that has many words that are similar in meaning and form to English words should be taught to recognize these cognates and use them to create meaning.

The meanings of words are acquired through multiple opportunities to hear, say, read, and write the words in slightly different meaningful contexts. Teachers will have to create these contexts in the classroom, since incidental learning of vocabulary cannot be relied on for ELLs.

Explicit explanations of unknown words should include contextual support through real objects, pictures or drawings, gestures, examples, demonstrations, or experiments that accompany the verbal explanations.

The use of context clues to infer meaning is not always successful with ELLs because they may not understand the context well enough to infer an accurate meaning.

Having to explain what a word means to other students helps develop comprehension of the full meaning of the word.

Comprehension

Reading comprehension is more difficult for ELLs than for native speakers for various reasons. Three of the most important reasons are discussed here:

ELLs are more likely than native speakers to lack the background knowledge necessary for understanding texts.

ELLs' prior educational experiences may have been substandard or interrupted, so reading texts that assume certain prior knowledge becomes difficult. Even for students with good educational backgrounds, cultural differences and culturally based assumptions can result in a lack of background knowledge and thus loss of comprehension. Whatever the reasons for a lack of necessary background knowledge, before asking ELLs to read a particular text, teachers must identify information that is prerequisite for understanding the text, evaluate students' prior knowledge of these prerequisites, and fill any gaps that are found. The best kinds of activities for building background knowledge are those that get students involved in manipulating language and concepts, rather than just receiving information from the teacher. These include experiential activities such as science experiments, classification activities, role playing, previewing a reading and generating questions about it, and sharing predictions about the answers to those questions.

The language level of the text to be read, compared with ELLs' language proficiency, is a major factor in how much they will understand of the text.

Even advanced ELLs and those who have been redesignated as fluent in English will experience difficulty with unusual vocabulary, figurative language, very complex sentence structures, or unfamiliar styles and genres (just as many native speakers of English do). For this reason, the integration of intensive language development with reading instruction is highly recommended for ELLs at all levels of language proficiency.

Reading comprehension instruction for ELLs needs to be modified to address their needs.

Asking ELLs to read the same texts and do the same activities as everybody else will only result in frustration for teachers and failure for students. This is not a matter of "dumbing down" the curriculum or applying different standards. It is a matter of implementing the curriculum at a language level that makes it accessible to ELLs, while at the same time working to develop their oral language so they will be able to comprehend texts at higher levels. Here are some general principles for modifying reading instruction for ELLs:

Provide as much nonverbal support for reading comprehension as possible, including pictures, diagrams, real objects, gestures, acting, and graphic organizers. The support can be used both for helping students understand a reading passage and for assessment, so students can show what they have understood in ways that are not entirely dependent on verbal ability.

Explicitly teach comprehension strategies, such as reader-generated questions, summarizing, and monitoring comprehension. Remember, however, that teaching strategies is not enough; students must practice them with texts that are accessible at their level of language proficiency. If students don't experience successful application of the strategies, they won't even try to use them with other texts.

Plan interactive activities around reading and interpreting texts. Sharing ideas, comparing perspectives, and coming to agreement (or agreeing to disagree) are all ways that students use the language of the text in meaningful ways, and thus progress to higher levels of language proficiency and reading comprehension.

Conclusion

The original intention of this article was to provide specific suggestions for modifying reading programs to meet the needs of English language learners, based on the findings of the National Literacy Panel. Because of the paucity of appropriate research studies, however, the recommendations made in the NLP report are not extensive enough to help teachers build appropriate reading programs for ELLs. I therefore looked beyond the NLP findings and included theory and experience as well as research.

I hope that readers will take this synthesis of research, theory, and experience and integrate it into their ongoing examination of what they do in their classrooms, what happens as a result of what they do, and why it happens. Research can tell us which kinds of practices are effective in general, but ultimately only individual teachers can determine what is most effective for them and the particular group of students they are teaching at the moment.

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What Does Research Tell Us About Teaching Reading to English Language Learners?

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As a classroom teacher, I was largely ignorant of, and definitely suspicious of, research. I believed that researchers could make their studies come out any way they wanted them to, and that a good teacher who reflected on her own teaching knew much more about how to be effective with her students than any researcher did.

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Phonemic awareness is an important skill to teach kids who are getting ready to learn to read or who are struggling to get the hang of basic reading. Phonemic awareness is an understanding of phonemes and how they work together to create words.

Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that can be differentiated in a word. For instance in the word "cat," the phonemes are the "c" sound, the "short a" sound, and the "t" sound. A child who possesses phonemic awareness can segment sounds in words (for example, pronounce just the first sound heard in the word cat) and blend strings of isolated sounds together to form recognizable word forms.
Side Note: I am aware that phonemic awareness is not the only approach to teach reading or the best approach for every child. Some children never develop an understanding of how letters make certain sounds or how those sounds blend together to make whole words. Some children who read, learn through memorization of word shape, order of letters, etc. However, research indicates that early teaching of phonemic awareness before actual reading is introduced, and explicit instruction in phonemic awareness for children who are struggling to get the basics, is highly beneficial and can actually prevent reading problems down the road. If phonemic awareness training is not working, we naturally try other approaches.
What is the difference between phonemic awareness and phonics?
Phonemic awareness is an understanding about spoken language. Children who are phonemically aware can hear the word (b - a - t) said in three separate sounds and tell you it is bat. They can tell you all the sounds in the spoken word dog. They can tell you that, if you take the last sound off cart, you would have car.

Phonics, on the other hand, is knowing the relation between specific, printed letters (including combinations of letters) and specific, spoken sounds. You are asking children to show their phonics knowledge when you ask them which letter makes the first sound in bat or dog or the last sound in car or cart.

Recent longitudinal studies on reading have demonstrated that the acquisition of phonemic awareness is highly predictive of success in learning to read, and to decode (i.e., sound out a word, blend it together to figure it out) in particular. If children understand that words can be divided into individual phonemes and that phonemes can be blended into words, they are able to use letter-sound knowledge to read and build words. To read more about phonemic awareness and how it relates to reading acquisition see Phonemic Awareness and the Teaching of Reading A Position Statement from the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association.

Below are helpful strategies for teaching phonemic awareness.
1-Show printed material to your child and talk about the sounds and structure of the words:

Research suggests that the greatest impact on phonemic awareness is achieved when there is interaction with print, along with paying specific attention to phonemes, sound/word structure. Seeing the words, hearing the sounds, and studying the structure with a coach (parent, teachers, etc.) allows them to make the connection between what they see and hear, a crucial skill for reading. It is also helpful to point to each letter and say each sound.

2 - Play letter games/phoneme substitution games:
Research shows that letter/sound games help develop phonemic awareness. Here are some game ideas:

Take turns thinking of a word. Have the adult and child work together to say each sound in the word. Write down the word (adult or child) and say each sound individually pointing to the letter(s) that make that sound.

Pick a word and take turns switching the first sound in the word to see how it changes the word or switch the last sound to see how it changes the word and sound (e.g., turn cat into bat or pop into pod).

Put letters on index cards (e.g., give your child a, t, and c and ask them to arrange them into cat, and talk about each sound-you can do this with a variety of words-rat, pot, bed, mat, etc.).

Play a rhyming game. Take turns thinking of words that rhyme with cat, dog, big, etc. Look at the words, talk about the structure and what makes them rhyme.

Play the song lyric game by changing a phoneme in a song to see how it changes the meaning of the lyrics. For example, "Pop Goes the Weasel" could be changed to "Hop Goes the Weasel." After changing the lyrics talk about how changing a phoneme gives the song a different meaning.

Related Article: 10 Fun Activities to Teach Your Child Letter Sounds 3 - Use auditory, visual, tactile (touch), and kenisthetic (movement) representations of sounds to teach phonemic awareness:
Many successful training studies include concrete representations of sounds to help children understand how to manipulate sounds in a word (e.g., Ball & Blachman, 1991). For instance, auditory cues are in play when children are asked to clap the number of syllables they hear in a spoken word. (Let's clap the sounds in cat!)

Or you could use visual/tactile cues like blocks or chips to represent each sound in a word (e.g., writing each sound or letter on each chip and seeing how you could manipulate the chips to change the words or letters). How about making letters out of play-doh and using those letters to create words, switch sounds around, etc.).

Kinesthetic cues are used when children jump as they repeat sounds, say a rhyming word, or say each sound in a word. How about using your body to make letters (give me a C, give me an A, give me a T!).

Model for your child how to clap the sounds or syllables in a word, jump while saying letter sounds, or use play-doh or blocks to manipulate or change words around.

4 - Provide Early Writing Activities:
Research also indicates that early writing activities are helpful for developing phonemic awareness. Let your child guess how to spell words. If they are correct, talk about why. If they are incorrect, provide guidance on what letters need to be changed and why.

If they can't write letters yet, have them tell you what letters they think would make up a word, or use play-doh, magnetic letters, blocks or the computer to make words. Show your child how to take your thoughts and put them on paper. Use simple sentences like "I am hungry" or "I love cats!" I also love using dry erase boards for writing practice!

5 - Practice at Home Before School Starts (if you didn't do this it is okay-just start practicing now):
Research shows that children who are frequently exposed to print and phonemic awareness activities at home prior to starting school have higher levels of phonemic awareness. Parents can model phonemic awareness by reading aloud to their children, talking about the spelling, structure, and sounds in a word; showing their child how to write a word while saying the sounds; or leading games that incorporate letter and language play. Give your children opportunities to practice early reading skills by talking, singing, rhyming, and playing guessing games.

We also know that many kids love the IPAD and do well with fun, interactive computerized games! A great app to practice phonemic awareness is Kindergarten Reading,Tracing, and Spelling-Learn to Read First Words School Adventure!
Keep Your Cool
Remember to always stay calm when working with a child or student, even if you think they should be getting something that they are not getting. If you get frustrated with them, they may start to feel anxious, angry, inferior, stupid, etc. which will lead to a less productive learning session. Keep practice sessions short (5 to 10 minutes for younger children or children who get easily frustrated and 10 to 15 minutes for older children or children who can work for longer periods without frustration), unless the child is eager to keep going. For suggestions on ways to encourage children to complete tasks or activities they do not want to do, read 3 Ways to Use Timers to Encourage Homework and Chore Completion and How to Use Schedules to Improve Children's Behavior.
Video Presentation
Do you teach phonemic awareness? What strategies do you like to use?
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You might also like these articles: Recommended Tools for Teaching Phonemic Awareness

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5 Fun Research-Based Reading Strategies to Teach Phonemic Awareness: An Early Reading Skill

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Phonemic awareness is an important skill to teach kids who are getting ready to learn to read or who are struggling to get the hang of basic reading. Phonemic awareness is an understanding of phonemes and how they work together to create words. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that can be differentiated in a word.

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What role do morphology and contextual analysis have on vocabulary development? (Ariane & Enid)

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What role do morphology and contextual analysis have on vocabulary development? (Ariane & Enid)

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What is the process and purpose of reading? (Oleksander & Shonette)

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What is the process and purpose of reading? (Oleksander & Shonette)

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What is your understanding of the necessary components for effective comprehension, including well-developed language, multiple higher-order thinking processes, and self-correction? (Jack)

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What is your understanding of the necessary components for effective comprehension, including well-developed language, multiple higher-order thinking processes, and self-correction? (Jack)

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What are some evidence-based practices for teaching phonemic awareness to English learners? (Megan & Alina)

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What are some evidence-based practices for teaching phonemic awareness to English learners? (Megan & Alina)

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How can an English Learner’s home language be utilized to support and strengthen the development of foundational phonics in English? (Alison & Chandra)

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How can an English Learner’s home language be utilized to support and strengthen the development of foundational phonics in English? (Alison & Chandra)

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347274166_The_Role_of_Morphology_in_English_Vocabulary_Teaching#full-text

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Use of morphological and contextual cues in children’s lexical inferencing in L1 and L2 - Reading and Writing

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In an experimental design, we investigated how fifth-grade readers use morphological and contextual information to infer the meaning of unknown words, and to what extent this is related to their cognitive and linguistic skills. A group of 166 fifth-grade Dutch children (59 L1, 107 L2) performed a lexical inferencing task in which the availability of morphological and contextual information was manipulated. Readers used both morphological and contextual information in lexical inferencing. Good decoding skill was related to more use of morphological information. Reading comprehension skill was associated with the use of morphological and contextual cues. L1 and L2 readers did not differ with respect to the use of morphological information. L2 readers used contextual information less in their inferences than L1 readers did. This difference was driven by L2 readers with weak vocabulary. The use of contextual information was especially high in L1 readers with good reading comprehension skills, and especially low in L2 readers with low vocabulary. Results indicate that to access morphological information, decoding is crucial, whereas for contextual inferencing, a minimum of linguistic competence is needed, which makes it more challenging for L2 readers.

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Research-based guidelines for teaching phonological awareness and phonemic awareness to all children are described. Additional instructional design guidelines are offered for teaching children with learning disabilities who are experiencing difficulties with early reading.

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12 strategies for reading comprehension across different text types

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Find 12 strategies for improving reading comprehension across fiction and nonfiction, and how vocabulary can support reading comprehension in KS1-4.

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Daniel - How can evidence-based best practices be utilized to improve comprehension in English learners, including those with reading difficulties and dyslexia?

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Daniel - How can evidence-based best practices be utilized to improve comprehension in English learners, including those with reading difficulties and dyslexia?

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3 Evidence-Based Interventions to Help Students with Written Expression - Your Therapy Source

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Evidence-Based Interventions to Help Students with Written Expression

Did you know that between 6.9% and 14.7% of students have specific writing disabilities, with and without reading problems? In addition, students who do not have a specific writing disability also struggle. A National Assessment of Educational Progress writing test indicated that 74% of eighth-grade students and 73% of 12th-grade students were writing at basic or below-basic levels.

Students may benefit from the following instructional approaches depending upon the student's age and abilities. Here are 3 evidence-based interventions to help students with written expression:

Transcription - when a student uses transcription, this can possibly help to eliminate any spelling or handwriting constraints.

Handwriting and Spelling Instruction - evaluate the effectiveness of the handwriting and spelling instruction to help improve written expression. This is helpful for typically developing writers and struggling writers.

Self-Regulation Strategy Development (SRSD) - This is an instructional model to teach writing strategies to students. SRSD has been researched and shown to result in significant and meaningful improvements in writing knowledge, writing quality, writing approach, self-regulation skills, and motivation. Read more on SRSD here.

More research is needed on multicomponent interventions (i.e. combining SRSD and transcription) to help students with written expression.

Reference: Coker Jr, D. L., & Kim, Y. S. G. (2017). Critical Issues in the Understanding of Young Elementary School Students at Risk for Problems in Written Expression: Introduction to the Special Issue. Journal of learning disabilities, 0022219417708168.

Do you work with students who struggle with written expression? Check out these resources:

Assistive Technology, Implementation Methods & Educational Resource Recommendations for Kids with Written Output Disorders digital download is a resource guide for parents and professionals working with students with educationally significant handwriting challenges that make it difficult/impossible for them to complete written schoolwork with paper and pencil.

Special Edition for Kids with ASD - Assistive Technology, Implementation Methods & Educational Resource Recommendations for Kids with Written Output Disorders digital download is an assistive technology resource guide for parents and professionals working with students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, over 50% of whom have educationally significant handwriting challenges that make it difficult/impossible for them to complete written schoolwork with paper and pencil.

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3 Evidence-Based Interventions to Help Students with Written Expression - Your Therapy Source

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Did you know that between 6.9% and 14.7% of students have specific writing disabilities, with and without reading problems? In addition, students who do not have a specific writing disability also struggle. A National Assessment of Educational Progress writing test indicated that 74% of eighth-grade students and 73% of 12th-grade students were writing at basic or below-basic levels.

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Reading is making meaning from print. It requires that we do the following:

Identify the words in print: a process called word recognition

Construct an understanding from them: a process called comprehension

Coordinate identifying words and making meaning so that reading is automatic and accurate: an achievement called fluency

Sometimes you can make meaning from print without being able to identify all the words. Remember the last time you got a note in messy handwriting? You may have understood it, even though you couldn't decipher all the scribbles.

Sometimes you can identify words without being able to construct much meaning from them. Read the opening lines of Lewis Carroll's poem, "Jabberwocky," and you'll see what I mean.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Finally, sometimes you can identify words and comprehend them, but if the processes don't come together smoothly, reading will still be a labored process. For example, try reading the following sentence:

It isn't as if the words
are difficult to identify or
understand, but the spaces
make you pause between
words, which means your
reading is less fluent.

Reading in its fullest sense involves weaving together word recognition and comprehension in a fluent manner. These three processes are complex, and each is important. How complex? Here goes?

To develop word recognition, children need to learn:

How to break apart and manipulate the sounds in words - this is phonemic awareness
example: feet has three sounds: /f/, /e/, and /t/

Certain letters are used to represent certain sounds - this is the alphabetic principle
example: s and h make the /sh/ sound

How to apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships to sound out words that are new to them - this is
example: ssssspppoooon - spoon!

How to analyze words and spelling patterns in order to become more efficient at reading words - this is
example: Bookworm has two words I know: book and worm.

To expand the number of words they can identify automatically, called their sight vocabulary
example: Oh, I know that word - the!

To develop comprehension, children need to develop:

Background knowledge about many topics
example: This book is about zoos - that's where lots of animals live.

Extensive oral and print vocabularies
example: Look at my trucks - I have a tractor, and a fire engine, and a bulldozer.

Understandings about how the English language works
example: We say she went home, not she goed home.

Understandings about how print works
example: reading goes from left to right

Knowledge of various kinds of texts
example: I bet they live happily ever after.

Various purposes for reading
example: I want to know what ladybugs eat.

Strategies for constructing meaning from text, and for problem solving when meaning breaks down
example: This isn't making sense. Let me go back and reread it.

To develop fluency, children need to:

Develop a high level of accuracy in word recognition

Maintain a rate of reading brisk enough to facilitate comprehension

Use phrasing and expression so that oral reading sounds like speech

Transform deliberate strategies for word recognition and comprehension into automatic skills

But if reading isn't pleasurable or fulfilling, children won't choose to read, and they won't get the practice they need to become fluent readers.

Therefore, reading also means developing and maintaining the motivation to read. Reading is an active process of constructing meaning. The key word here is active.

To develop and maintain the motivation to read, children need to:

Appreciate the pleasures of reading

View reading as a social act, to be shared with others

See reading as an opportunity to explore their interests

Read widely for a variety of purposes, from enjoyment to gathering information

Become comfortable with a variety of different written forms and genres

So ... what is reading?
Reading is the motivated and fluent coordination of word recognition and comprehension.
Quite an achievement for a six year old!

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Reading is a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency, and motivation. Learn how readers integrate these facets to make meaning from print.

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Early childhood education can play an essential role in preparing young English language learners (ELLs) for later success in school. Children who have an opportunity to develop basic foundational skills in language and literacy in preschool enter kindergarten ready to learn to read and write (Ballantyne, Sanderman, & McLaughlin, 2008).

But how can early childhood educators know if their programs are providing children with the skills they need? This article will describe some of the methods and strategies that research has proven effective in preparing young ELLs for kindergarten.

Language Development for Preschool ELLs

Essential to any preschool program for ELLs is effective instruction in language development. Children need explicit instruction in English vocabulary, as well as opportunities to hear and speak the language throughout the day. Examples of strategies are listed below.

5 Classroom Strategies: Language

Provide explicit, systematic instruction in vocabulary.

Children require multiple exposures to words in order to develop a rich understanding of their meaning and use. Teachers should make a point of introducing interesting new words for children to learn into each classroom activity (Tabors, 2008).

Presenting vocabulary thematically helps children make associations between words and scaffolds students' learning (McGee & Richgels, 2003).

Read-alouds that include explanations of targeted vocabulary can support word learning (Brabham & Lynch-Brown, 2002; Coyne, Simmons, Kame'enui, & Stoolmiller, 2004), as can dramatic play organized around a carefully chosen theme (Barone & Xu, 2008; Tabors, 2008).

Ensure that ELLs have ample opportunities to talk with both adults and peers and provide ongoing feedback and encouragement.

English language learners need lots of opportunities to engage in social interactions with other children, but they also need support from adults as they develop the language skills they need to negotiate those interactions (Ballantyne et al., 2008). You can use the following strategies to foster social interaction:

For group activities, pair English language learners with children who have strong English language skills, and make sure that all the children who speak the same home language (L1) are not grouped together (Barone & Xu, 2008).

Provide opportunities for self-directed activities so that ELLs can choose activities that match both their interests and their language abilities (Bunce & Watkins, 1995).

Encourage child talk by providing prompts when children need help in expressing themselves (e.g., "Tell Bobby, 'May I have the red crayon now?'").

Use open questions, or questions that can have multiple answers, to help ELLs expand their own utterances (e.g., "Why do you like this doll best?" instead of "What is this doll's name?").

Expose ELLs to rich language input.

Exposure to rich language, whether through shared book reading or through teacher talk, has been shown to enhance children's oral language development (Aukrust, 2007; National Early Literacy Panel, 2008). One effective strategy is for the teacher to provide an ongoing commentary on activities that are taking place in the classroom in order to expose children to language associated with the immediate context (Bunce & Watkins, 1995; Tabors, 2008).

Structure the classroom space and routine to provide scaffolding for ELLs' language learning.

Arrange the classroom in a way that supports each type of instructional activity that will take place, and then keep changes to the physical environment to a minimum. Once ELLs learn which activities take place in various parts of the classroom (e.g., centers, circle), the physical environment will cue them as to what they are to do and how they are to behave in that area (Barone & Xu, 2008).

Predictable classroom routines can also provide scaffolding for English language learners by allowing them to anticipate what will happen each day, including the type of language they will need for each activity (Bunce & Watkins, 1995; Tabors, 2008).

Encourage continued L1 language development.

Strong L1 skills support both language and literacy learning in English:

Encourage parents to talk and read to their children in their home language as a way of strengthening children's L1 language skills.

Incorporate children's home language in the classroom when possible. Songs and videos can be used effectively for this purpose if teachers do not speak their students' language (Gillanders, 2007).

Literacy Development for Preschool ELLs

Research has shown that alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, and print awareness are early literacy skills that contribute significantly to later reading achievement (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008). English language learners can begin to develop these essential foundational skills in preschool, even before they have developed strong English language skills.

Early Literacy Skills

Alphabet knowledge

Skills appropriate to preschool include recognizing and naming upper and lower case letters and beginning to associate letters with the sounds they make.

Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness refers to the ability to manipulate the sounds that make up language, independent of meaning. In preschool, children benefit from:

learning to recognize rhyming words

listening for syllables within words

learning to recognize beginning sounds in words

matching those sounds to letters

Print awareness

Print awareness is an understanding of the features of books and print. Children should:

be taught to recognize the parts of a book (e.g., front and back covers, top and bottom)

learn that printed letters and words run from left to right and from top to bottom

learn that a book has a title, was written by an author, and has illustrations that were drawn by an illustrator

3 Classroom Strategies: Literacy

Design instruction that focuses on all of the foundational literacy skills.

Activities that promote early literacy skills in preschool include:

interactive storybook reading

"pretend" reading and writing

games and other activities to help children identify the letters of the alphabet

interactive experiences with language and print through poems, nursery rhymes and songs

The emphasis should be on code-based instruction, or instruction that helps children understand the relationship between spoken language and print (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008).

Recognize that many literacy skills can transfer across languages.

A child who has developed early literacy skills in his or her first language will find it easier to develop those same skills in English. Parents who are not proficient in English should be encouraged to help prepare their children for learning to read by using the home language to:

teach rhymes and songs

play word games

share storybooks

Teachers can support parent-child reading by sending home books in the child's home language. This makes L1 text available to parents, and it lets them know that the teacher considers reading to children in the home language to be important.

Accelerate English literacy development by helping ELLs make the connection between what they know in their first language and what they need to know in English.

Similarities between English and the child's home language can be used as a foundation for instruction (Helman, 2004). For example, if L1 has some of the same phonemes as English, start with those phonemes for rhyme or beginning sound activities because those are sounds the child is already familiar with.

Children usually have the most difficulty when they encounter sounds that are present in English but do not occur in their home language. For this reason, Spanish L1 speakers often have difficulty with the "short" or lax sounds of a, e, i, and u and with the consonants j, r, v, and z (Bear, Templeton, Helman, & Baren, 2003; Helman, 2004).

Preparing for the Future

Much attention has been given to the persistent achievement gap between English language learners and their English-speaking peers. Unfortunately, by the time children arrive in kindergarten, differences in foundational language and literacy skills have often already set the stage for this disparity in achievement (Miller & Garcia, 2008).

The good news, however, is that recent research has shown that high-quality early childhood education programs can have a significant impact on children's later academic achievement (Barnett, 2008). Programs that provide research-based, age-appropriate instruction in early language and literacy skills can ensure that English language learners enter school equipped with the tools they need to be successful learners in kindergarten and beyond (Ballantyne et al., 2008).

Aukrust, V. G. (2007). Young children acquiring second language vocabulary in preschool group time: Does amount, diversity, and discourse complexity of teacher talk matter? Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 22, 17-38.

Ballantyne, K. G., Sanderman, A. R., & McLaughlin, N. (2008). Dual language learners in the early years: Getting ready to succeed in school. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition.

Barnett, W. S. (2008). Preschool education and its lasting effects: Research and policy implications. Retrieved 6/3/2009, from http://nieer.org/resources/research/PreschoolLastingEffects.pdf

Barone, D., & Xu, S. H. (2008). Literacy instruction for English language learners Pre-K-2. New York: The Guilford Press.

Bear, D. R., Templeton, S., Helman, L. A., & Baren, T. (2003). Orthographic development and learning to read in two different languages. In G. G. GarcÃa (Ed.), English learners: Reaching the highest level of English literacy (pp. 71-95). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Brabham, E. G., & Lynch-Brown, C. (2002). Effects of teachers' reading-aloud styles on vocabulary acquisition and comprehension of students in the early elementary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 465-473.

Bunce, B. H., & Watkins, R. V. (1995). Language intervention in a preschool classroom: Implementing a language-focused curriculum. In M. L. Rice & K. A. Wilcox (Eds.), Building a language-focused curriculum for the preschool classroom: Vol. I. A foundation for lifelong communication (pp. 39-71). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Coyne, M. D., Simmons, D. C., Kame'enui, E. J., & Stoolmiller, M. (2004). Teaching vocabulary during shared storybook readings: An examination of differential effects. Exceptionality, 12(3), 145-162.

Gillanders, C. (2007). An English-speaking prekindergarten teacher for young Latino children: Implications for the teacher-child relationship on second language learning. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35, 47-54.

Helman, L. A. (2004). Building on the sound system of Spanish: Insights from the alphabetic spellings of English-language learners. The Reading Teacher, 57(5), 452-460.

McGee, L. M., & Richgels, D. J. (2003). Designing early literacy programs: Strategies for at-risk preschool and kindergarten children. New York: The Guilford Press.

Miller, L. S., & Garcia, E. E. (2008). A reading-focused early childhood education research and strategy development agenda for African Americans and Hispanics at all social class levels who are English speakers or English language learners. Phoenix: Arizona State University, Office of the Vice President for Education Partnerships.

National Early Literacy Panel. (2008). Developing early literacy: A scientific synthesis of early literacy development and implications for intervention. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

Tabors, P. O. (2008). One child, two languages: A guide for early childhood educators of children learning English as a second language (2nd ed.). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

You are welcome to print copies or republish materials for non-commercial use as long as credit is given to Colorín Colorado and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact [email protected] .

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8 Strategies for Preschool ELLs' Language and Literacy Development

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Early childhood education can play an essential role in preparing young English language learners (ELLs) for later success in school. Children who have an opportunity to develop basic foundational skills in language and literacy in preschool enter kindergarten ready to learn to read and write (Ballantyne, Sanderman, & McLaughlin, 2008).

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The National Reading Panel Report Major points from the report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific...

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Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness (Megan)

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Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness (Megan)

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Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

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Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of individual speech sounds, or phonemes. A child's skill in phonological and phonemic awareness is a good predictor of later reading success or difficulty.

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883035521001890

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2. Role of Morphology on Vocabulary Development (Ariane)

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2. Role of Morphology on Vocabulary Development (Ariane)

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A recent blog post by Tim Shanahan titled "What should morphology instruction look like?" reminded me how important it is to teach students about word parts (i.e., roots, prefixes, suffixes) as a useful tool for determining the meaning of unfamiliar words and growing academic vocabularies.

One of the five components of our Key Vocabulary Routine is Teach Word Learning Strategies, which includes how to look for clues outside the word (use of context) and inside the word (use of word parts) when encountering an unknown word while reading. Outside clues include rereading the sentences before and after the word and using the context of the text. Inside clues come from recognizing meaningful parts of the word, i.e., using morphological knowledge.
Morphemes and Morphological Awareness
Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language. The dictionary defines a morpheme as "a word or part of a word that has a meaning and that contains no smaller part that has a meaning." Morphemes include base words and roots, prefixes, and suffixes. They can be combined in different ways to express particular meaning or to fill grammatical roles. Some morphemes are free - they can stand alone (e.g., cat, walk, govern). Other morphemes are bound - they cannot stand alone and must be attached to another morpheme (e.g., re-, un-, geo, phon, -ed, -ment). Here are some examples:

The word cat contains one free morpheme

The word cats contains one free morpheme (cat) and one bound morphemes (s)

The compound word sandbox contains two free morphemes (sand, box)

The word unfit contains one bound morpheme (un) and one free morpheme (fit)

The word transportable contains three bound morphemes (trans, port, able)

Morphology means the study of word parts, and morphological awareness refers to the ability to recognize the presence of morphemes in words. Research suggests that students can be taught various morphemic elements as a way to determine the meaning of new words (Edwards et al., 2004). Carlisle (2010) analyzed 16 studies about the relation of morphological awareness instruction to key components of literacy development. The findings showed that instruction about word parts was associated with improvements in word reading and spelling, and in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Academic, School Morphemes
Academic vocabulary that must be learned beyond grade three often consists of words that combine a root, prefix, and suffix (e.g., poly + nom + ial = polynomial; manu + script = manuscript). In the upper elementary grades and higher, there are many opportunities to find words in content reading that contain Greek and Latin morphemes. Children in primary grades can begin to learn how morphemes combine by adding common prefixes and suffixes to short Anglo-Saxon words and also compounding them. For example:

jump, jumps, jumped, jumping, jumper

read, reread, reader, nonreader, reading

sunshine, schoolhouse, upstream

There are some limitations to morphemic analysis. Although it is useful, teachers must also make students aware that it doesn't always work. This is because some prefixes are not consistent in meaning (e.g., in- means both not and in). It is also because the meaning of many Greek and Latin roots have changed substantially over hundreds of years, so they no longer lend themselves to literal translation. For example, the literal translation of circumspect should be look around ( circum means around, spect means look), while the real meaning is to be cautious, careful.
Introducing Morphology
One way to introduce word analysis skills is to teach students how words are made up of word parts, and how words can be related in word families, such as the word family below for the Latin root port (to carry).

Keys to Literacy trainers often see examples of teachers using word families when we visit classrooms. Here are some examples:

Another instructional strategy is to have students build word families by providing a main root and then prefixes and suffixes that can be combined with the root to generate words. Word Matrix boxes such as the examples below can be used for this purpose. For more examples, visit Peter Bowers' website
convoy, envoy, convoys, envoys, convoying, convoyed, voyage, voyages, voyaging, voyaged, voyager, voyagers retake, retakes, retaken, retaking, untaken, mistake, mistakes, mistakable, mistakably, mistaken, mistakenly, mistaking, intake, intakes, overtake, overtakes, overtaken, overtaking, undertake, undertakes, undertaker, undertaken, undertaking, undertakings, uptake, uptakes, breathtaking, caretaker, caretaking, takes, taker, taken, taking, takeaway, takeover Teaching Morphology
Here are two additional suggestions from our Key Vocabulary Routine professional development program:

Find opportunistic moments: Often, unplanned moments come up during content instruction to provide examples of word analysis. Words from content vocabulary lists may include common word parts, or an opportunity to make a connection between the root of a new word and a word previously covered in class may arise. Content teachers in particular are in a position to point out examples of words that contain roots, prefixes, and suffixes from content reading material.

School-wide focus: Most of the general academic words that students need to learn are derived words with word parts. A school-wide approach to teaching academic vocabulary involves teachers from different grades and subjects agreeing to focus on a few root words and their associated word families each week or two.

A 2015 piece posted by the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education's blog suggests these strategies for teaching morphology in the classroom based on research by Dr. Nonie Lesaux:

1. Morphology should be taught as a distinct component of a vocabulary improvement program throughout the upper elementary years.

2. Morphology should be taught as a cognitive strategy to be learned. In order to break a word down into morphemes, students must complete the following four steps:

Recognize that they don't know the word.

Analyze the word for recognizable morphemes, both in the roots and suffixes.

Think of a possible meaning based upon the parts of the word.

Check the meaning of the word against the context.

Students also need to understand the use of prefixes, suffixes, and roots, and how words get transformed.
Lists of Roots, Prefixes, Suffixes
There is a significant body of research indicating that instruction of prefixes is beneficial, and many vocabulary researchers recommend instruction of the most common prefixes as the first and best component of word analysis (Graves, 2004; Carlisle, 2007). White, Sowell, and Yanagihara (1989) found that 20 prefixes account for almost 97% of the 2,959 prefixed words that most frequently appear in school reading materials. Given how often these 20 prefixes occur, it makes sense to teach their meaning and use. To access a free list of these prefixes, visit the Keys to Literacy free resources page at our website, and go to the Vocabulary section. You will also find free lists of the following:

Common Numerical Prefixes

Common and Useful Suffixes

Common Greek and Latin Roots

References:
Carlisle, J.F. (2010). Effects of instruction on morphological awareness on literacy achievement: An integrative review. Reading Research Quarterly, 45 (4) 464-487.

Carlisle, J.F. (2007). Fostering morphological processing, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension. In R.K. Wagner, A.E., Muse, & K.R. Tannenbaum (Eds.). Vocabulary acquisition: Implications for reading comprehension. New York: Guilford Press.

Edwards, C.E., Font, G., Baumann, J.F., & Boland, E. (2004). Unlocking word meanings: Strategies and guidelines for teaching morphemic and contextual analysis. In James, R. Baumann & Edward J. Kame/ennui (Eds.). Vocabulary instruction: Research to practice. New York: Guilford Press.

Graves, M.F. (2004). Teaching prefixes: As good as it gets? In James, R. Baumann & Edward J. Kame/ennui (Eds.). Vocabulary instruction: Research to practice. New York: Guilford Press.

White, T.G., Sowell, J., & Yanagihara, A. (1989). Teaching elementary students to use word-part clues. The Reading Teacher, 42.

Joan Sedita

Joan Sedita is the founder of Keys to Literacy and author of the Keys to Literacy professional development programs. She is an experienced educator, nationally recognized speaker and teacher trainer. She has worked for over 35 years in the literacy education field and has presented to thousands of teachers and related professionals at schools, colleges, clinics, and professional conferences.

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Using Morphology to Teach Vocabulary - Keys to Literacy

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Suggestions for teaching vocabulary by analyzing word parts.

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The purpose of reading is comprehension: getting meaning from written text:

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1. Anderson, R.C., Hiebert, E.H., Scott, J.A., & Wilkinson, I.A.G. (1985). Becoming a nation of readers: The report of the Commission on Reading. Washington, DC: The National Institute of Education.

2. Durkin, D. (1978-1979). What classroom observations reveal about reading comprehension instruction. Reading Research Quarterly, 15, 481-533.

3. Dole, J. A., Duffy, G. G., Roehler, L. R., & Pearson, P. D. (1991). Moving from the old to the new: Research on reading comprehension instruction. Review of Educational Research, 61, 239-264.

4. Heilman, A. W., Blair, T. R., & Rupley, W. R. (1998). Principles and practices of teaching reading. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

5 Baker, L., & Brown, A.L. (1984). Metacognitive skills in reading. In P.D. Pearson (Ed.), Handbook of reading research (pp. 353-394). New York: Longman; Paris, S.G., Wasik, B.A., & Turner, J. C. (1991). The development of strategic readers. In R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, & P.D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research (Vol. 2, 609-640). New York: Longman.

6 Dole et al., 1991.

7 Pressley, M., & Afflerbach, P. (1995). Verbal protocols of reading: The nature of constructively responsive reading. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

8 Paris, S. C., Wasik, B. A., & Turner, J. C. (1991). The development of strategic readers. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 2, pp. 609-640). New York: Longman.

9 Paris, S.G., Lipson, M.Y., & Wixson, K.K. (1983). Becoming a strategic reader. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8, 293-316.

10 Palincsar, A. S., & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehensionmonitoring activities. Cognition & Instruction, 2, 117-175.

11 Palincsar & Brown, 1984.

12 Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995.

13 Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

14 Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (1998). What reading does for the mind. American Educator, 22, 8-15.

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What Research Tells Us About Reading, Comprehension, and Comprehension Instruction

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The purpose of reading is comprehension - getting meaning from written text. Find out what else research tells us about the active process of constructing meaning, and how good readers consciously employing comprehension strategies.

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2. Role of contextual analysis on vocabulary development (Ariane)

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2. Role of contextual analysis on vocabulary development (Ariane)

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An important strategy to help students build their vocabulary is use of context - i.e., using the clues or hints provided in the text that surround an unfamiliar word to help guess the meaning without depending on a dictionary. This can include words, phrases, or sentences that appear before, after, or close to the word. It can also include visuals or headings embedded in the text - basically anything that helps a reader understand the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Expository, non-fiction text tends to offer more context clues than narrative text.

The main goal for developing students' ability to use context is to aid comprehension, not to teach words in-depth. When students encounter and "stumble" over unfamiliar words that are essential to making meaning of a passage, their comprehension suffers. If the context provides clues to the meanings of these words, comprehension is aided.

Use of context does not come naturally to many students. It takes time to become proficient with this strategy - students benefit from explicit instruction and guided practice. Studies have shown that when students are taught to use context clues they become better at figuring out the definitions of words compared to students who are not directly taught this skill (Kuhn & Stahl, 1998). The first step is helping students recognize when they don't know the meaning of a word and the need to make reasonable judgements about how to address that lack of knowledge.
Types of Context Clues
There are categories of types of clues that are useful for teachers to know, described below with examples from classroom texts. Knowledge of these types of clues benefits the teacher in terms of finding examples in text to use for explicit instruction and practice. However, it is not helpful to expect students to identify the type of clue provided in text. Shanahan (2022) points out that the research synthesis noted above by Kuhn and Stahl determined persuasively that students benefit from instruction for use of context, but it was not category training that helped, only the actual practice in figuring out word meanings from context.

Synonym Clue: A word that is similar to he word is provided.

Example: Water soaks into the ground pores, or spaces, among the fragments of soil.

Example: It was a triptych, or three-paneled, painting.

Contrast Clue: The word is contrasted with another word, usually an antonym.

Example: Unlike a compound, an element cannot be broken down into simpler materials.

Example: Volunteering to join the army offers the choice that a draftee does not have.

Instruction Using Classroom Text Examples
Rather than using contrived examples on worksheets to practice use of context, instruction works best when explicit instruction and guided practice is provided on a regular basis using examples from text that is already being used in the classroom. Teachers should review text and be on the lookout for examples where context clues are provided prior to assigning text for student reading.

Graves (2006, p. 99) suggests teaching students the following four-step strategy for inferring words from context:

1. Read carefully and ask yourself, "Does this make sense?"

2. Notice when you don't know the meaning of a word and slow down. Read that sentence at least once more, looking for clues.

3. If necessary, go back and reread the sentences before and after, looking for clues that help you figure out what the word might mean.

4. When you figure out what the word might mean, substitute your guess for the difficult word and see if it makes sense. If it does, keep on reading. If it doesn't, try again.

Context Doesn't Always Provide Clues
It is important to emphasize with students that use of context doesn't always work! Research shows that sometimes when readers attempt to derive the meanings of words in context they may get them wrong (Pressley et al., 2007). This may be because the student does not have enough prior knowledge to make sense of the clues in the text, or it may be that the clues are misleading. Contexts vary in how much information they provide a reader. Sometimes the context provides a direct explanation of the meaning of a word as shown in the examples of types of clues above, and in this example where the meaning of photosynthesis is directly stated in the previous sentence:

Up to this point we have been referring to the process in which light energy is used to make food simply as the food-making process. But this important process has its own special name: photosynthesis.

Sometimes the context provides some information about an unfamiliar word, but not enough for the student to be aware of its full meaning, as shown in the example below where the student may guess that a vaccination has something to do with preventing disease, but there is not enough information to discern just what a vaccination is.

In order to gain active immunity to a disease, one of two things must occur - either you come down with the disease, or you receive a vaccination.

Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (2002) identified some text as "misdirective" (i.e., leading to a misunderstanding). Here is an example of a misdirective from their book Bringing Words to Life where the students might wrongfully assume that Ginny admired Sandra's dancing:

Sandra had won the dance contest, and the audience's cheers brought her to the stage for an encore. "Every step she takes is so perfect and graceful," Ginny said grudgingly as she watched Sandra dance." (p. 4)

Shanahan (2022) suggests including examples sometimes from real text where words can't successfully be figured out from context, rather than using contrived examples to avoid what he calls "over consistency". He points out that this is being realistic with students about how use of context really works in most reading situations.
Using Word Parts
Another strategy for determining the meaning of an unfamiliar word is to use knowledge of meaningful word parts (roots, prefixes, suffixes), which is the subject of a blog post I wrote in 2018 titled Using Morphology to Teach Vocabulary. Carlisle (2007) maintains that incidental word learning through contextual clues and morphological analysis is the primary means through which students acquire new vocabulary. Frey and Fisher (2011) suggest teaching students to "Look inside the word and outside the word to see what you know." When used in tandem, use of word parts (inside the word) and use of context (outside the word) can be very helpful.
Additional Resources References

Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: The Guilford Press.

Carlisle, J.F. (2007). Fostering morphological processing, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension. In R.K. Wagner, A.E. Muse, & K.R. Tannenbaum (Eds.). Vocabulary acquisition: Implications for reading comprehension. New York: The Guilford Press.

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008). Word wise and content rich: Five essential steps to teaching academic vocabulary. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Graves, M.F. (2006). The vocabulary book. New York: Teachers College Press.

Kuhn, M.R., & Stahl, S. A. (1998). Teaching children to learn word meanings from context: A synthesis and some questions. Journal of Literacy Research, 30, 119-138.

Pressley, M., Disney, L., & Anderson, K. (2007). Landmark vocabulary instructional research and the vocabulary instructional research that makes sense now. In Richard K. Rosenshine, B., & Stevens, R. (1984). Classroom instruction in reading. In P.D. Pearson, R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, and P.B. Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, 745-799. New York: Longman.

Shanahan, T. (2022). Blog post: Teaching Students to Use Context

Joan Sedita

Joan Sedita is the founder of Keys to Literacy and author of the Keys to Literacy professional development programs. She is an experienced educator, nationally recognized speaker and teacher trainer. She has worked for over 35 years in the literacy education field and has presented to thousands of teachers and related professionals at schools, colleges, clinics, and professional conferences.

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Vocabulary Strategy: Use of Context - Keys to Literacy

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An important strategy to help students build their vocabulary is use of context - i.e., using the clues or hints provided in the text that surround an unfamiliar word to help guess the meaning without depending on a dictionary. This can include words, phrases, or sentences that appear before, after, or close to the word.

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How to Teach Phonemic Awareness in Kindergarten, 1st, & 2nd Grade | Phonemic Awareness Activities

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Watch the Recording
"The opportunity of bilingualism is an important gift to give to our students." The cognitive, cultural, and professional benefits of bilingualism have the potential to broaden learners' experiences in their careers and academics. In a recent edWebinar sponsored by Lexia Learning, Maya Goodall, Senior Director of EL Curriculum, highlighted that 10% of all students in U.S. public schools are emerging bilinguals and emerging multilinguals. Formerly called English Language Learners, students who speak more than one language have demonstrated advantages and awareness of languages, communication skills, memory, decision making, and analytical skills.

According to applied linguistics, in order to learn a language, it is critical to speak a language. If the learner doesn't have the skill of language, they will struggle with reading comprehension. By implementing the five evidence-based literacy strategies identified by Goodall, emerging bilinguals can learn the skills of language while simultaneously learning to decode.

Develop decoding skills with early, explicit, and intensive instruction in phonological awareness and phonics. This particular instruction lends itself to learning as the learners are making sounds, saying words, and viewing pictures during classroom activities such as movement, singing, and games. The essential ingredient in developing decoding skills for learners is that language learning, not just literacy learning, must both be happening at the same time.

Provide increased opportunities for emerging bilinguals to develop sophisticated vocabulary knowledge, including strong academic language. These learning opportunities include the use of vocabulary words in conjunction with whole sentences, language frames, and sentence starters. When the teacher provides all the grammar and syntax of a sentence, the learner can concentrate and have the structure to give context to the vocabulary word.

Use narrative and expository texts, along with modeling and conversation to teach comprehension. There is a difference between comprehension strategies and comprehension skills. Skills are used to prove that we understand the texts through formative and summative assessments. Strategies help learners with skills such as visualizing, predicting, questioning, monitoring, and clarifying texts and are meant to be discussed aloud as a class or in small group settings.

Promote reading fluency with a focus on vocabulary and increased exposure to print. Using vocabulary in language frames and complete sentences are more effective than just teaching vocabulary in isolation. Exposure to the language frames can be used to promote academic conversation in a class by creating fun activities in which emerging bilinguals can reason and ask questions of each other in small group settings.

Ensure that independent reading is structured and purposeful. Design this time for conversations that help comprehension. Independent reading should be done at correct reading comprehension and language proficiency levels as it should be dedicated to learning the language and not learning to read.

Goodall also recommends scaffolding of the new language for emerging bilinguals. It should be fluid, easily removable, and built depending on the day and skill taught at the moment. Repetition as a scaffold is vital in language learning. Emerging bilingual learners may need up to 100 repetitions to learn a new skill, so it is critical to keep repetitions the same every time. At some point, the learner has to master and manage on their own, so teachers need to provide release time or extra time for them to recall, process, and create the correct response.

This edWeb broadcast was sponsored by Lexia Learning.
Watch the Recording
This article was modified and published by eSchool News.
About the Presenter
Maya Goodall, Senior Director of EL Curriculum at Lexia Learning, has worked in education for over 20 years, teaching both nationally and internationally. Maya has a rich professional background that includes teaching in the classroom, coaching, training, and implementing and designing curricula with measurable outcomes. She founded Lingual Learning, a curriculum company dedicated to helping students become confidently bilingual. Maya speaks three languages and holds an M.Ed. and MA in applied linguistics.
Join the Community
ELA Today is a free professional learning community on edWeb.net that provides educators and curriculum leaders with a place to collaborate on best practices for teaching English Language Arts in K12 today.
About the Presenter
Maya Goodall, Senior Director of EL Curriculum at Lexia Learning, has worked in education for over 20 years, teaching both nationally and internationally. Maya has a rich professional background that includes teaching in the classroom, coaching, training, and implementing and designing curricula with measurable outcomes. She founded Lingual Learning, a curriculum company dedicated to helping students become confidently bilingual. Maya speaks three languages and holds an M.Ed. and MA in applied linguistics.

Lexia Learning, A Rosetta Stone Company, is one of the best-known and most highly respected reading-technology companies in the world. Lexia's instructional programs (Core5 and PowerUp) help to accelerate literacy skill development through explicit and systematic personalized learning paths, and Lexia's assessment program (RAPID) uniquely screens key reading and language skills critical to comprehension for all students in grades K-12.

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Evidence-Based Strategies to Support English Learners - edWeb

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Maya Goodall, Senior Director of EL Curriculum at Lexia Learning, identified five evidence-based literacy strategies

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INTRODUCTION TO READING | What is Reading ? | Reading purposes | Reading as a process

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Daniel - evidence based practice for students with reading difficulties and dyslexia

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Daniel - evidence based practice for students with reading difficulties and dyslexia

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We all know that reading is, or should be, an important part of our lives. Whether we read to learn, to relax, or simply because we want to take advantage of the many benefits of reading for our health, one thing is clear: understanding the purpose of reading could be a lot more complicated than we might expect.

Here at Basmo, we are completely dedicated to helping you improve your reading experience, enhance your performance, and ultimately, give you the proper tools to stay motivated to read more. Part of what motivates us, in general, is understanding why we do certain things.

In this case, answering the question " What is the purpose of reading? " could help us not only grasp its importance but also find the inner strength to keep doing it.

What Is the Main Purpose of Reading?

The purpose of reading books might differ from one person to another. As much as I would like to provide you with a clear answer to this question, unfortunately, a lot of other smarter and better-prepared people before me have tried with no success.

There are several schools of thought when it comes to identifying the one main purpose of devouring books and other reading material. For some, the importance of reading and its purpose could be summarized as the process of acquiring information, gathering general or specialized knowledge, and improving comprehension.

For others, reading is mainly a tool to develop cognitive skills, improve communication skills, develop better imagination, and enhance levels of empathy. Since reading comprehension can have a huge impact on a series of aspects of our intellect, from enhanced vocabulary to gaining a deeper understanding of the world around us, it's easy to understand why for so many the most important and relevant purpose for reading is to be a means to an end for personal growth.

Last but not least, there is no denying the fact that reading is, for many of us, a form of entertainment, a stress-relief tool, or simply a way to pass the time.

To conclude, reading is a very complex activity, and it comes with enough benefits to make finding its true purpose virtually impossible. Ultimately, the main purpose for reading differs from one reader to another and that is perfectly fine.

We all have different perspectives and that is what makes life so beautiful. The purpose of reading can be whatever you find to be the most important thing you earn every time you open a book and let yourself be immersed in its pages.

What Are Other Purposes of Reading?

Regardless of the actual purpose for reading you consider as being the most relevant to you, one thing you need to make sure of is to understand what other purposes of reading are there. Reading can be done with a lot of intentions, and whether you're engaging in active reading or just skimming some written material, there is a different motivation that can guide you through this activity.

1. Reading for Research

Reading is an important instrument for gathering information on a specific topic, analyzing and finding gaps in our current knowledge to add new ideas. Reading for research helps us develop a better understanding of a particular topic, it can aid in our efforts to connect different ideas from different sources and provides us with an invaluable tool to synthesize data, comprehend it, and retain it for future use.

2. Reading to Integrate Information

Reading allows us to synthesize and connect ideas from various sources, fostering our ability to think critically and create a comprehensive understanding of complex topics that are of interest to us.

This process is crucial not only for actually acquiring information and processing it through our own filters, but also plays a role in developing our ability for problem-solving, decision-making, and making well-informed opinions.

3. Reading to Write

Reading is an invaluable tool when it comes to improving writing skills. Putting out ideas in our own words is sometimes more complicated than it sounds. Through reading, we get to enrich our vocabulary, which makes finding the right words to use a lot easier.

On top of this, reading forces us to explore diverse writing styles, enables us to discover new techniques, and teaches us to better structure our writing in a manner that aids the efficiency of the way we communicate our ideas.

Ultimately, reading will inevitably help you become a better writer.

4. Reading to Learn

Reading is a fundamental tool that aids us in the process of gathering information about a certain topic or acquiring general knowledge. Nowadays, we can gain information in a series of other ways, but reading remains the most prevalent and efficient technique.

Whether we learn for academic success or simply to develop our knowledge in certain topics, reading will help us grow and stay informed in the fields that are of interest to us.

5. Reading to Critique

Especially through active reading, we engage actively with the content we are reading through. And on top of comprehension and retention, there is one more aspect of reading that makes it a very internal and personal process.

Reading encourages us to form our own opinions. We can evaluate the ideas we are presented with by the author, as well as the way these ideas were presented by the writer.

Through this process of analyzing and critiquing the things we read, we develop our critical thinking skills, refine or expand our own perspectives, and we get to challenge ideas or assumptions.

6. Reading to Unwind

There should come as no surprise for any of us that for many, the purpose of reading is to simply unwind after a long day. Reading is a very efficient stress-relief tool and can help us relax without the need for any other additional techniques.

Reading pushes us to engage with fictional worlds and characters, allows us to explore the things that are of interest to us, and gives us a mental break and a way to escape our daily stressors.

7. Reading for Personal Growth

Whether we want to improve reading comprehension, enhance vocabulary or simply become better writers, reading is an amazing tool for personal growth.

It can provide us with important information regarding the exact skills we are looking to improve, or it can facilitate self-reflection and self-improvement through a huge range of techniques.

Reading allows us to gain a deeper understanding and intriguing insights into other cultures, exposes us to different philosophies, and helps us become more mindful and self-aware.

Ultimately, this makes us more empathetic and boosts our emotional intelligence, while also promoting our self-growth by improving the way we relate to others.

8. Reading for Social Connection

Last but not least, another common reading purpose is as simple as pure social connection. Reading can provide us with common ground, giving us simply something to talk about with others.

Meeting like-minded people who enjoy reading the same books we love can allow us to share opinions, expand on our own ideas, and discuss the experience of reading with others.

Whether you decide to join a book club or you simply discuss your favorite books with close friends or family members, reading is definitely an activity that can bring us closer to others and promotes or even facilitates some pretty satisfying discussions.

How to Achieve Your Reading Purpose With Basmo?

Regardless of what your purpose is, you can improve both your experience and the efficiency of your reading sessions with Basmo, the ultimate reading-tracking app. Here's how it can help you achieve your goals and take full advantage of what reading can do for you.

Basmo allows you to set goals. Regardless of your deeper purpose, it's always a good idea to set clear goals for your reading. This helps you stay motivated and pushes you to progress as a reader. Reading opens our minds whether we are learning or simply doing it for fun, but having clear goals makes the process a lot more rewarding. With Basmo, you can set different kinds of goals to meet your exact needs.

Final Thoughts

What makes reading important might differ from one person to another. What our individual purposes are whenever we decide to open a book might be something else for each of us and we may never find a universal purpose for reading. But what really matters is to keep on reading, improving ourselves as much as possible, and using reading as a tool to help us become the absolute best version of ourselves. Try Basmo and see how easy, fun, and rewarding it is!

Image by vectorjuice on Freepik

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What Is the Purpose of Reading and Why Does It Matter? - Basmo

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Discover the Purpose of Reading - for personal/professional growth, cognitive development, and empathy. Learn more here.

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https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=tesol_etd

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Foundational Skills to Support Reading (Megan)

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Foundational Skills to Support Reading (Megan)

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IES Foundational Skills Recommendation Series

Jeanne Wanzek, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University and Carol Dissen, Expert Literacy Coach at the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon, present on Recommendation 3: Teach students to decode words, analyze word parts, and write and recognize words, from the Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade: Practice Guide (WWC).

Language Development, Fluency with Text

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Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade: Recommendation 2

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Jeanne Wanzek, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University and Carol Dissen, Expert Literacy Coach at the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon, present on Recommendation 2: Develop awareness of the segments of sounds in speech and how they link to letters, from the Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade: Practice Guide (WWC).

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Reading skills are built on five separate components: phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

These components work together to create strong, rich, and reliable reading abilities, but they're often taught separately or in uneven distribution.

Here's how you comprehensively teach the 5 components of reading skills and make them a regular feature of your classroom.

Phonics

Phonics is the connection of different sounds with different letters, or different groupings of letters. For example, the letter 's' gives an /s/ sound, but adding an 'h' gives the different sound of /sh/.

Why is phonics an important component of reading?

Phonics forms the nuts and bolts of the reading process. It allows students to connect arbitrary symbols on a page to verbally expressed language. Even if a child has no understanding of what a word means , they will still be able to phonetically sound it out.

Phonics also develops students' ability to 'read by sight', i.e. register whole words at a glance without sounding out each individual letter. Even within an unfamiliar word, students will be able to quickly sight-read phonic patterns (e.g. 'however' as a whole might be new, but 'how' and 'ever' will be sight words).

Both of the above developments translate to reading fluency. Students are able to read much faster and more efficiently without having to stop and process the letters each time they are confronted by a new piece of vocabulary.

4 ways to teach phonics for reading

There are different approaches to phonics instruction, but these activities will suit any classroom.

1. Rhyming games: Any activity that requires students to rhyme words will develop their phonic understanding. This might be writing a poem as a class or mixing and matching pairs of rhymed words.

2. Flexiwords: Have students break down a word into its individual phonemes, each of which go onto a decorated piece of card. Students then attach the phonemes (in order) to an elastic band. Stretching out the band will separate the phonemes and helps students to view a slow sounding out of the word. Relaxing it will reveal the word as it appears in regular speech.

3. Phonics hopscotch: Draw hopscotch but substitute the numbers with graphemes (the letters representing phonetic sounds). Students have to jump between the different letters as they hear them from a teacher or partner.

4. Guess the word: Students write down a set of 5 words, then place them in the middle of the table. The teacher or nominated student then has to pick a word and give clues (e.g. "it ends with -ig") while the others guess what it is.

5. Word mix up: Put individual graphemes on separate cards, and then task students with manipulating them to create as many words as possible.

You can also download phonics teaching resources for free from our literacy hub.

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is an understanding of how individual phonemes (consonant or vowel sounds) can be manipulated and arranged to create words. This may sound similar to phonics, but there is a difference. Phonics concerns letter- sound knowledge, whereas phonemic awareness refers to sound- word knowledge. Phonemic awareness is therefore aimed on auditory understanding, as opposed to words on a page.

Why is phonemic awareness an important component of reading?

English is written using an alphabetical system, where every letter corresponds to an individual phoneme. This might sound obvious, but it's not the case in other languages where characters represent whole syllables (e.g. Japanese) or even whole words (as with certain Chinese characters).

This means that students need an awareness of phonemes themselves before they can make sense of words on a page. For example, to read the word 'cat' aloud, students have to know what the phonemes /c/, /a/, /t/ sound like when put together. And it's not easy either - phonemes have to overlap and flow together to form fluent speech.

For this reason, studies have identified phonemic awareness as the best early indicator of a student's reading potential. It sets the stage for phonics, and virtually every other component of literacy.

5 ways to develop phonemic awareness for reading

1. Phoneme isolation: Students identify individual phonemes in words, e.g. "What is the first sound in 'boat'?" (/b/)

2. Phoneme identity: Students identify the common sound in different words, e.g. "Tell me the sound that is the same in 'bike', 'boy', and 'bell'." (/b/)

3. Phoneme categories : students identify the word with the odd sound in a sequence, e.g. "Which word does not belong? Bus, bun, rug." (rug)

4. Phoneme blending: Students listen to a sequence of separately spoken sounds and combine them to form a recognizable word, e.g. "What word is /s/ /k/ /u/ /l/?" (school)

Phoneme deletion : Students find the word that remains when a specified phoneme is removed, e.g. "What word do we get when we remove /s/ from 'smile'?" (mile)

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the range of words a student is able to understand and use in context. More of a toolbox than a skill, students' vocabularies grow as they read and are introduced to new words.

Why is vocabulary an important component of reading?

You can only take meaning from words you understand. Students with broader vocabularies are more confident when reading challenging or unfamiliar material. When they encounter unknown words, they can figure it out based on context clues or resemblance to familiar pieces of vocabulary.

You can grow students' vocabularies with regular reading in and out of the classroom.

5 ways to develop a stronger vocabulary for reading

1. Word of the day: Create a daily roster for students to share a newly discovered or unusual word with the class. They could explain the word by providing an original definition, acting it out, or compiling a list of synonyms.

2. Creative writing: Compile all the 'words of the day' gathered over the week and then task students with writing a story that uses as many new words as possible. This ensures they learn how to use new vocabulary in context.

3. Class glossary: When reading a text or studying a topic, compile a list of unfamiliar words, and assign them to students. Each student must create a glossary page with a definition, pronunciation guide, sentence example, mnemonic (memory aid), and an image representing the word.

4. Opposites attract: Assign each student a card with a new word and its definition. They then have to find and pair up with a classmate who has a word with the opposite meaning.

5. Vocab bookmarks: Have students design and create a bookmark with a space to write down any new words they discover while they read. Laminate them so students can reuse them with a dry-erase marker.

Fluency

Fluency is the ability to read with speed, understanding, and accuracy. Yet it's more than information extraction - it's the skill that allows us to 'follow' a text, picture its descriptions, and hear the auditory expression of words in our heads even when reading silently.

Why is fluency an important component of reading?

Fluency is what lets students feel the 'flow' of a text. Struggling readers, for example, read aloud in a jerky, clipped fashion as if a new sentence begins with every word. Others might be oblivious to the shifting tone and pace of a text, reading it in a steady monotone with no expression. In both cases, the process of reading becomes painful and awkward - even if students can successfully decode individual words.

Fluency and comprehension are closely tied. A student cannot fully understand the meaning and ideas behind a text without the ability to read it fluently.

5 ways to develop reading fluency

1. Teacher modeling : regularly reading aloud to students serves as a model for reading fluency. Be expressive and vary your pace so that students get a sense of the flow. If possible, have students read along with their own copy of the text, so they can link it to the words they hear aloud.

2. Phrase identification: Take a single sentence and read it aloud while students refer to the written version. Ask them to identify distinct phrases with an underline by listening carefully to the pauses. Can they separate the sentence into groups of words that run together? Model it first to give students a clear idea.

3. Choral reading: Read a short text aloud to your students, and then have them read it aloud in unison. Matching the flow and pace of the group develops fluency.

4. Paired reading: Having children read aloud to one another encourages them to develop the expression and flow needed for fluency. Pair students of different ability levels for more powerful learning, but make sure the disparity is not too great.

5. Use audiobooks: Audiobooks paired with text allow students to link the words on the page with fluent and expressive reading. You can find engaging audio titles in the Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress Library, which contains over 2500 student eBooks.

Comprehension

Comprehension is a student's understanding of the information being imparted by a text, such as:

Why is comprehension an important component of reading?

Comprehension allows students to draw meaning and information from a text, and it also transforms reading from a purely functional activity into one that inspires thought and feeling.

5 ways to develop comprehension skills for reading

1. Drawing: Ask your students to draw or paint a scene from a written text. This encourages them to imagine the concrete details being represented by the words themselves.

2. Questioning: Follow up reading time with open-ended questions that prompt students to think deeply about the text. For example, if reading a narrative, you might ask students how a character changed over the course of a story, or how a central problem influenced the action.

3. Encourage reflection: Ask students for their opinions on the text in order to encourage deeper reflective thinking about the ideas. For example, you might ask what emotions were evoked by a setting, or whether a character's actions were right or wrong.

4. Make connections: Encourage students to make connections to their own lives and other texts that they have read. Weave this into your discussion or questioning after reading in order to link comprehension with real-world concepts your students can relate to.

5. Make reading a habit: The more students read, the more confident and astute their comprehension skills will become.

Habit is key for all reading skills!

Remember: the best thing you can do to help children become confident, fluent readers is to put them in front of as much written material as possible. Make it a regular and celebrated part of your classroom activity, and you'll set them up to become readers for life.

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The 5 Components of Reading Explained - 3P Learning

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Reading skills are built on five separate components: phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. These components work together to create strong, rich, and reliable reading abilities, but they're often taught separately or in uneven distribution. Here's how you comprehensively teach the 5 components of reading skills and make them a regular feature of your [...]

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Definition of Reading

Urquhart & Weir (1988, p.22) define reading as a process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in language form via the medium of print. Reading, in broad terms, can be basically understood as an activity involving the perception of a written text to comprehend its content (Schmidt, Rozendal, & Greenman, 2002).

Grabe (2009, p.5) underlines reading as a part of academic life that is expected to provide unlimited knowledge from informational written materials, including assignments or tasks necessary for the achievement of academic success.

Reading comprehension involves abilities to recognize words rapidly and efficiently, develop and use a very large recognition vocabulary, process sentences in order to build comprehension, and engage a range of strategic processes and underlying cognitive skills (e.g., setting goals, changing goals flexibly, monitoring comprehension), interpret meaning in relation to background knowledge, interpret and evaluate texts in line with reader goals and purposes, and process texts fluently over an extended period of time (Grabe, 2014, p.8).

Purposes of Reading

Reading is an activity with a purpose. A person may read in order to gain information or verify existing knowledge. A person may also read for enjoyment, or to enhance knowledge of the language being read.

Reading for instruction/learning

Students look for information needed for their studies or necessary to be used as a tool to solve a problem. Reading for learning or instruction also involves the skills of thinking critically. Critical thinking skills, according to Facione (2000, p.61), have to do with the ability to think reflectively about situations in search of possible solutions. In reading, these skills are used to evaluate, select, synthesize, and integrate information into the knowledge the reader is already familiar with.

Reading for information

Students are required not only to read for information they are expected to have in order to deal with their course of study but also they can read other related information to enlarge their knowledge background which is an important support to help them understand the world around them.

According to Grabe (2009, p.8), when we read for information, it involves both the skills of skimming and scanning that allow us to search for information efficiently. These skills can be applied either combined or isolated in relation to each other, depending on the demand or relevance of the reading content to the reader.

4 Reading Techniques and Strategies

Reading strategies are specific procedures that help readers look at printed words and interpret their meaning. There are several effective reading strategies designed to boost readers' understanding of the written word:

1. Skimming

Skimming is a quick reading strategy of glancing through a text to find its general idea. In skim reading, we quickly take the main idea of the content we read, without absorbing or looking at every word in the text. That is, we get the gist of what is written.

According to Reading & Study Skills Lab, skim reading is a more text-oriented form of surveying that involves recognizing the parts of a text with the most important information such as titles, subtitles, introduction, headings, subheadings, words in special print, visuals, first and last paragraphs, conclusion, that often provide valuable background, summarizing, or concluding information.

Examples of reading skimming activities:

To see what is in the news on a website or on a paper;

To look through a text to decide whether you want to read it or not;

To look through the television guide/program schedule to plan your evening;

To see through a catalogue to choose an offer;

To go through the options after searching something on Google.

2. Scanning

Scanning is an efficient technique used to find a particular piece of information rather than a general impression, without having the need to understand the rest of the text. This technique involves looking down and around a page quickly and efficiently searching for specific information we need.

It is useful for finding a specific name, date, statistical number, fact, or detail without reading the whole text. During scan reading, we should use peripheral vision instead of focusing only on the logical sequence of the text.

For example, if you want to know the meaning of the word 'beauty' in the dictionary, you will first search for the letter B, then E, and then A; by then you will probably have gotten the name. This search process is called scanning.

Examples of reading scanning activities:

To search for a word in a dictionary or index;

To find a phone number or an address in a directory;

To check the time schedule of a program in an agenda;

To check the price of a specific item in a catalogue;

To know particular information from a text;

3. Extensive reading

Reading extensively means reading in quantity, principally in works of literature. In societies where extensive reading is encouraged, people tend to gain the culture of reading as much as they can for pleasure in their first or official language in which reading materials are accessible in large quantities with regular frequency. These materials are novels, newspapers, and magazines.

According to Richards (1998, p.8), reading research reveals that many other terms like abundant reading, free reading, wide reading, and supplementary reading, have been used to refer to extensive reading, mainly in foreign language pedagogy, to mean reading rapidly in quantity for pleasure. In this kind of reading, the reader's attention is more centred on the content rather than the language of the text.

Extensive reading as Richards, Platt & Platt (1992, p.133) explains, is a kind of reading expected to help foreign language learners to develop a liking for reading in the target language and consequently expand their language knowledge.

Contrary to reading for academic purposes, it does not seem to meet students' needs in content areas, since the intention is not primarily to expand the knowledge of the target language but the knowledge of a specific area. This being so, devoting careful attention to intensive reading would be more significant to the research carried out in our particular context.

4. Intensive reading

In academic contexts, reading intensively is the greatest requisite for success. Richards & Schmidt (2002, p.194) refer to it as a kind of reading done slowly and demanding a higher level of understanding of information.

Bogoya González (2011, p.35) also says it is a language teaching strategy to make students develop their reading comprehension ability and understanding of concepts. Academic intensive reading implies recognizing, deciphering, and constructing meaning from texts so as to make students capable of giving descriptions, explanations, and clear illustrations of concepts.

References and Recommended Reading

Bogoya González, A. P. (2011). Fostering fifth graders' reading comprehension through the use of intensive reading in physical science. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 13(1), 39-57.

Faccione, P., Faccione, N., & Giancarlo, C. (2000). The disposition toward critical thinking: Its character, measurement, and relationship to critical thinking skill. Informal Logic, 20(1), 61-84.

Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a Second Language: Moving from Theory to Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Grabe, W. (2014). Key issues in L2 reading development. In Proceedings of the 4th CELC Symposium for English Language Teachers-Selected Papers (pp. 8-18).

Richard, J. C., Platt, J., & Platt, H. (1992). Dictionary of language teaching & applied linguistics. Essex: Longman.

Richards, J.C. and R. Schmidt. 2002. Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (3rd Edition). Essex: Longman.

Schmidt, R. J., Rozendal, M. S., & Greenman, G. G. (2002). Reading instruction in the inclusion classroom: Research-based practices. Remedial and Special Education, 23(3), 130-140.

Urquhart, S. and Weir, C. (1998). Reading in a Second Language: Process, Product and Practice. London: Longman.

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Definition, Purposes, and Strategies of Reading | Tenrycolle.com

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Definition of Reading Urquhart & Weir (1988, p.22) define reading as a process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in language form via the medium of print. Reading, in broad terms, can be basically understood as an activity involving the perception of a written text to comprehend its content (Schmidt, Rozendal, & Greenman, 2002).

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Why schools should teach young learners in home language | British Council

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Many believe their children will get a head start in education by going straight for English and bypassing the home language. Not so, according to Professor Kioko.

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Stephen Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Cher-people often cite these celebrities as individuals who managed to thrive despite the potential limitations of their dyslexia. While it's encouraging to know that people can overcome the challenges of this learning difference, educators need practical tools to help them support students with dyslexia.

An advanced degree in education can equip educators with key teaching strategies for students with dyslexia, helping to ensure equity for all learners.

What Is the Definition of Dyslexia?

By definition, dyslexia is a learning disorder that includes trouble recognizing language sounds and how they relate to written language, also known as "decoding." Areas in the brain responsible for processes that detect and link sounds to their corresponding letters don't function in people with dyslexia the same way that they do in people without it. Research published in the Journal of Learning Disabilities suggests dyslexia can affect up to one in five people.

Although it doesn't impair development or intellectual functioning, this variation in neuro processing makes it difficult for students with dyslexia to quickly and accurately hear, store, remember, and produce different speech sounds. As a result, students with dyslexia can struggle with reading, writing, and spelling. They frequently take longer to decode words when reading and may have limited comprehension of what they've read. They also may have trouble rapidly verbalizing responses to what they see.

Dyslexia Symptoms

Dyslexia presents itself in various ways, but a student's age strongly factors into the symptoms teachers may observe.

Students with dyslexia in grades K-5 struggle to remember letter names and sounds. Recognizing sight words also poses a problem. When reading aloud, these students may substitute words and confuse letters with similar appearances or sounds. For example, students commonly mix up the letters b and d.

Additional signs of dyslexia in this age group include difficulties:

Blending letter sounds

Sounding out unfamiliar words

Recognizing words that rhyme

Skipping smaller words such as of and by when reading aloud

Spelling the same word consistently

Remembering important details from readings

It's common for younger students with dyslexia to feel frustrated and overwhelmed when reading. Many avoid reading as much as possible.

Students in grades 6-12 may have a hard time recalling common abbreviations and acronyms such as approx. and ASAP. These students may need much more time to read assignments than their peers. When speaking, they may struggle to find the right words and use substitutes instead. For example, they may substitute the word gate for fence.

Other common signs of dyslexia for older students include:

Taking notes and copying material from the board

Following multistep instructions

Spelling all words phonetically

Summarizing stories

Making sense of jokes, idioms, and puns

Reading at a normal or quick pace

Effects of Dyslexia on Students

Dyslexia can significantly affect students in classroom environments, especially when educators don't use inclusive teaching strategies for students with dyslexia to help address its related challenges. For starters, dyslexia can impede a student's academic progress. Students with dyslexia may struggle to keep up with their peers. Their basic skills, such as word reading, can fall below grade level, as do their reading comprehension and analysis skills.

Research also shows that dyslexia can affect students' ability to perform across the curriculum. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of Learning Disabilities found that students with dyslexia performed well below their peers in both reading and math. Such learning deficits build up over time, making it more and more challenging for students with dyslexia to experience academic success.

In addition to its academic impact, dyslexia has social and emotional impacts. As noted, some students with dyslexia struggle to find words, making it hard for them to express themselves. This can interfere with their ability to make social and emotional connections.

At some point, students with dyslexia also begin to notice that they don't learn as fast as their peers. This may cause them to question their intelligence and develop low self-esteem. It may also cause them to withdraw or misbehave out of frustration.

Tips for Teaching Students With Dyslexia

While students with dyslexia face challenges, they can still thrive in school if given the right support. Teaching strategies for students with dyslexia can help these learners compensate for the different ways that their brains process information, giving them a chance to succeed academically.

Incorporate Multisensory Learning

In many classrooms, students rely almost entirely on their sight and hearing to learn. Multisensory learning aims to incorporate tactile and kinesthetic activities into the learning process as well. This gives students with dyslexia more ways to understand, remember, and recall new information.

Multisensory learning engages students in movements and activities that involve touch. This, coupled with the use of visual and auditory materials, creates multiple opportunities for students with dyslexia to absorb and retain information. It also helps take abstract ideas and turn them into something more concrete.

Multisensory activities may include:

Sand Writing

For sand writing activities, students receive paper plates with sand. The teacher calls out a sound and students repeat it. Students then trace a letter in the sand corresponding to that sound as they verbalize the letter's name and sound.

This kinesthetic activity stimulates the brain in many different ways, giving students a greater chance of successful retention.

Blending Boards

For blending board activities, teachers use large cards printed with individual letters; digraphs, such as ph and ck; or blends, such as sh and st, to form a CVC word: a word consisting of a consonant, a vowel, and a consonant. To help students read the word, the teacher covers up the letters and reveals them one by one. Students produce the sound of each letter individually and then blend them together to read the word in its entirety.

Arm Tapping

For arm tapping activities, teachers display a card with a word written on it. Using their dominant hand, students say the letters of the word. As they say each letter, they simultaneously tap their arms, starting from their shoulder down to their wrist. Next, students say the whole word and sweep their hands down their arms as if underlining the word.

Use Assistive Technology

Assistive technology empowers students with dyslexia to overcome some of the challenges that hold them back. These tools help students save time and give them a chance to showcase their abilities and knowledge in ways not possible before. Assistive technologies range from recording devices that allow students to take notes to voice recognition tools that transform speech into text on a screen.

Assistive technologies that can help students keep pace with their classmates include:

Pocket Spellcheckers

These devices contain dictionaries that recognize phonetically misspelled words. Students type in a word to the best of their ability and the spellchecker provides the word's correct spelling through text or audio. Students with dyslexia can use this tool to build their confidence when writing and get instant feedback on their spelling.

Line Readers

Some students with dyslexia struggle to see words accurately on the page. Letters may appear to be moving or students may see them in the wrong order. Line readers can help eliminate some of these distractions. The tool highlights a single line of text at a time and blocks the surrounding areas. This helps students keep their place and stay focused.

Digital Scanning Pens

Digital scanning pens can capture both handwritten and digital text and transmit it to a mobile device or a computer. Some versions of the tool read text out loud as a user scans it.

Provide Appropriate Accommodations

Students with dyslexia often have Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that lay out accommodations appropriate to their needs. Educators are responsible for familiarizing themselves with these accommodations, which may include the following:

Extended time to take tests

The option to provide oral answers rather than written ones

Exemption from reading out loud in class

A quiet study space

Additionally, when introducing new material, teachers can use teaching strategies for students with dyslexia such as:

Preteaching vocabulary and unfamiliar ideas

Providing outlines of the lesson with space for student to add notes

Creating advance organizers that preview the material covered in the lesson

Giving students a glossary of terms used in the lesson

Teachers may also consider the following inclusive strategies when giving instructions:

Offering written step-by-step directions and reading them aloud

Keeping instructions simple

Showing students how to break assignments into smaller tasks

Providing checklists that help students monitor their understanding and progress

Underlining keywords and ideas on materials that students should read first

Giving examples of completed work, along with rubrics

Empower Dyslexic Students to Thrive

Educators who effectively employ teaching strategies for students with dyslexia open doors for a group of learners who might otherwise be stifled. With the right training, educators can gain the skills needed to empower dyslexic students. Discover how AmericanUniversity's Online Master of Arts in Teaching prepares educators to create classrooms where all students can thrive.

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Teaching Strategies for Students with Dyslexia

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What is the definition of dyslexia? Explore teaching strategies for students with dyslexia that help teachers create accessible and inclusive classrooms.