Reading Instruction

READING INSTRUCTION

The simple view of reading views decoding and language comprehension as the two factors for Reading Comprehension. Decoding skills include phonological awareness; decoding and spelling; and sight recognition. Language Comprehension skills include background knowledge; vocabulary knowledge; language structures; verbal reasoning; and literacy knowledge. In the simple view of reading, having decoding skills (or the ability to read words) and language comprehension skills (or the ability to understand what words or phrases mean) equates to reading comprehension. 

However, reading is not a natural process and is in fact an acquired skill. As a result, students need explicit instruction in the five essential components of reading (The Five Pillars of Literacy):
-phonological awareness
-phonics
-fluency
-vocabulary
-reading comprehension

The Science of Reading

The Science of Reading views reading as composed of Word Recognition skills and Language Comprehension skills. Students must receive instruction that supports all of these skills, which in turn develop skilled and proficient readers. In Scarborough’s Reading Rope, all strands are interdependent and develop over time. The lower strands of word recognition skills require increasing automaticity. The upper strands of language comprehension skills require readers to become increasingly strategic in how and when to use each skill.

Making the connection between reading and writing helps support the development of both skills and also creates more opportunities for ELLs to write for functional and authentic purposes. 

READING INSTRUCTION RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Instruction at the sentence level (such as semantics and vocabulary) are important to help build mental models for comprehension, because they provide critical clues or signals to help with meaning.

• Deconstructing text in reading can help with writing. 

• It is important to read to young children from a young age (and to English Language Learners), to provide exposure to the language of books and related language structures. 

• It is important to encourage "wide reading," or reading in a variety of levels and genres. This also increases exposure to rich and diverse language structures.

• Create a language rich environment through a wide variety of books and genres.

• Individuals who read more develop better vocabulary skills, general knowledge, as well as spelling and word reading skills.

("Deconstructing the Rope: Language Structures with Kate Cain")