DEVELOPMENTAL READING II

UNIT I. INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS READING

Reading experts define reading in many ways.

Reading is a process of constructing meaning through the dynamic interaction among the
reader’s existing knowledge, the information suggested by the written language, and the
context of reading situation.

Reading is a basic life skill. It is a cornerstone for a child's success in school, and, indeed,
throughout life. Without the ability to read well, opportunities for personal fulfillment and
job success inevitably will be lost. --Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the
Commission on Reading

Reading is a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency, and

motivation. Learn how readers integrate these facets to make meaning from print.

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

 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?

William Gray (1950), known as the Father of Reading, defines reading as a four-step
process:

1. Perception of the word

2. Comprehension of its meaning
3. Reaction to the meaning in terms of prior knowledge
4. Integration of the idea into one’s background of experience

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1976) describes reading as reasoning. He believes that “power and
speed of reading” can adequately explain the act of reading.
Power of reading means the power to read, comprehend, and apply relatively difficult
textbook material. It includes the ability to grasp the central thought and the details, to get
an idea that is expressed in several sentences, and to interpret content and draw inferences,
all from single-text paragraphs.
Speed of reading denotes the rate of comprehension on fiction and factual materials.

Kenneth Goodman describes reading as a problem in language processing, a psycholinguistic

guessing game. The reader selects enough cues from the printed page and predicts what
word precedes or follows another word to trigger his/her own appropriate language
experiences. He believes that reading involves an “interaction between language and
thought.” He says that reading processes are cycles of sampling, predicting, testing and
confirming.

Frank Smith (1978) described two types of information necessary in reading: visual
information, which is taken from the printed page, and nonvisual information, which includes
our understanding of the relevant language, our familiarity with the subject matter, our
general ability in reading, and our knowledge of the word. Skill in reading actually depends
on using the eyes as little as possible, . . . as we become fluent readers we learn to rely more
on what we already know, on what is behind the eyeballs, and less on the page in front of us.”
 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 decoding
example: ssssspppoooon – spoon!
 How to analyze words and spelling patterns in order to become more efficient at reading
words – this is word study
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
Leipzig, D. H. (January, 2001). What is reading? WETA.

WHY READ

 Reading gives us pleasure of knowing, feeling, acting, and learning, or escaping from
our own limited worlds.
 Learning about ourselves and our relationship with other fellows can be achieved
through projection of ourselves into the lives of characters in books. This knowledge,
through compassion, sensitivity, insight, taste and judgment, is the most important
reward books have to offer.
 Experts agree that reading is the golden key to the world of enlightenment and
enjoyment. In our daily lives, 80 percent of the things we do involves reading. For our
relaxation and studying.
 Through reading, we can ponder the mysteries of the world, explore, accumulated
knowledge, and contemplate the unknown.
 Uncover some answers to questions and are stimulated to raise more questions and
to continue our pursuit of deeper understanding.
 Reading is a valuable ingredient for blending our inner psychological world with the
outer social world for emerging into a new universe of thought, imagination, and
reality.

UNIT II. TEACHING READING

What is Teaching Reading?
Learning to read is an important educational goal. For both children and adults, the ability
to read opens up new worlds and opportunities. It enables us to gain new knowledge, enjoy
literature, and do everyday things that are part and parcel of modern life, such as, reading
the newspapers, job listings, instruction manuals, maps and so on. Most people learn to read
in their native language without difficulty. Many, but not all, learn to read as children. Some
children and adults need additional help. Yet others learn to read a second, third or
additional language, with or without having learned to read in their first language. Reading
instruction needs to take into account different types of learners and their needs. Research
has shown that there is a great deal of transfer from learning to read in one language to
learning to read in a second language.

Reading instruction, therefore, is an essential component of every second-language

curriculum. Understanding some important facts about reading, literacy, and teaching
methods is essential for providing effective instruction in reading.

Concerns of Teaching Reading

1. Schema Activation is needed to make sense of new information in light of what
students already know, and to make the necessary connection between the two. Some
basic pre-reading techniques are:
 brainstorming ideas that a topic bring to mind;
 previewing a passage, noting headings and bold print;
 constructing a graphic organizer, web, or outline from passage headings for
use in note taking.
2. Vocabulary Development is an important factor contributing to reading
comprehension. Studies conducted on the importance of vocabulary instruction
demonstrate that it plays a major role in improving comprehension. This instruction
can be done through:
 Wide reading approach
 Direct instruction
 Superficial instruction
3. Comprehension Development is the main purpose of reading instruction. For
comprehension to improve, the interaction among all three factors (reader, text, and
context) must be taken into consideration.
4. Understanding text Organization helps students to have a blueprint for constructing
a situational model of a story or informational piece. Students need to learn the
following in relation to text organization:
 Text type (narrative or expository)
 Genre
 Hierarchy of ideas in exposition
 Significant details in narrative and expository texts
  Use of graphic organizers
5. Application is the part of the lesson that helps readers see the relevance of learning
in their own life, or appreciate the nature of their environment and understand the
significance of knowing about the lessons discussed in the classroom. This provides a
ground for making students remember and value insights learned in the class.
Reading instruction can end by:
 Valuing
 Appreciating
 relating lessons to own life
 linking lesson to explain real-life contexts
 responding creatively using multiple intelligence
Teaching Beginning Reading
UNIT III. Strategies, Theories about Reading
A. Theories about Reading
Teaching Reading: Applying Theory and Research to Practice
We can conclude, therefore, that second-language students need to learn to “think in
English” in order to read effectively in English. Reading instruction needs to be based on
training ESL and EFL students in new ways of talking and thinking about texts. In
teaching reading, instructors need to take into account the following conclusions and
recommendations of educational researchers.
 Cognitive psychologists have shown in their research that students learn new
strategies or thinking processes most effectively when they are consciously aware
of what they are doing (Brown, Armbruster, and Baker,1986). Once students are
conscious of the processes, they can monitor their comprehension and apply
appropriate strategies as needed for comprehending a text (Brown, 1978).
 Interacting and talking about text in particular ways is essential (Casanave 1988).
Heath (1984), Vygotsky (1962), and others found that students develop literate
skills when teachers encourage them to talk about written language, when
teachers model comprehension strategies for them, and when students have
opportunities to talk to each other about how they make sense of a text (Hoffman
and Heath, 1986).
 Research has also shown that literacy is not a neutral technology, but is, in fact, a
cultural artifact laden with the values and beliefs of the culture in which it arises
(Street, 1984; Cook-Gumperz, 1986). One’s native language literacy (or primary
Discourse, as Gee terms it) is acquired from birth by being socialized into the
native language and the local culture’s ways of using language. Literate behaviors
grow out of the spoken and written language practices of a local culture. And
according to Gee, serving as an apprentice to a “native” is the way one acquires a
new literacy, or secondary Discourse. (Schiefelin and Ochs, 1986; Gee, 1996).
 Research also confirms that students must read faster and with more fluency if
they wish to read effectively (Eskey, 1986; Anderson, 2005). Faster reading
 promotes reading in thought units instead of one word at a time, and that leads to
improved comprehension.
 Krashen (1985) posited that the best way to improve reading is by reading. In
recent years, research and practice have validated that idea (Day and Bamford,
1998). The benefits of extensive reading include fluency, vocabulary acquisition,
awareness of grammar, models for writing, and an immersion in the culture of the
second or foreign language.
 Finding effective methods of promoting second language vocabulary acquisition
seemed, for many years, to be an impossible goal. Thanks to recent work by Nation
(2001), Coxhead (2000), Cobb, and others, word frequency lists are available that
will allow teachers to focus on the words that will be the most useful for their
students. Nation’s approach combines direct instruction, extensive reading, and
multiple exposures to the same words by any means necessary to promote
learning.
In order to read well in English, then, students need to do the following:
1. Develop a schema of the reading process that includes the idea that reading is more
than translating—reading is thinking.
2. Talk about their reading, and explain how they make sense of a text.
3. Read extensively for pleasure in English, and discuss their reading with someone who
can model the literate behaviors expected in an English-language context.
4. Break the habit of reading every word by reading faster.
5. Learn to vary their reading rate to suit their purpose in reading.
6. Employ top-down processes effectively by learning to make connections between what
they already know and what they are reading.
7. Learn reading and thinking skills that fluent readers of English employ unconsciously
to strengthen both top down and bottom-up processing abilities.
8. Enhance bottom-up processing by acquiring the most useful vocabulary and by
learning strategies for guessing meaning in context.
9. Master the basic 2,000 words that constitute approximately 80 percent of texts in
English.
10. Acquire specific reading comprehension skills they can apply strategically.

Putting this all together, it is clear that students will learn to read in English best in a class
that includes, on a regular basis, the following components:
 Substantial amounts of extensive reading for pleasure, with opportunities for
talking about their books with people who can model the literate skills required
in English-language contexts.
 Focused, interactive lessons on specific reading skills, with opportunities for
students to explain their thinking, and direct instruction on applying the skills
strategically to a variety of texts.
 Training and practice in fluency development (skimming, scanning, previewing)
and reading rate improvement.
 Vocabulary activities that include direct instruction in high-frequency words,
multiple opportunities for exposure to and manipulation of the target words, and
plenty of extensive reading.
 An approach to teaching reading skills
1. Focus on one skill at a time.
2. Explain the purpose of working on this skill, and convince the students of its
importance in reading effectively.
3. Work on an example of using the skill with the whole class. Explain your thinking
aloud as you do the exercise.
4. Assign students to work in pairs on an exercise where they practice using the same
skill. Require them to explain their thinking to each other as they work.
5. Discuss students’ answers with the whole class. Ask them to explain how they got
their answers. Encourage polite disagreement, and require explanations of any
differences in their answers.
6. In the same class, and also in the next few classes, assign individuals to work on more
exercises that focus on the same skill with increasing complexity. Instruct students to
work in pairs whenever feasible.
7. Ask individual students to complete an exercise using the skill to check their own
ability and confidence in using it.
8. In future lessons, lead the students to apply the skill, as well as previously mastered
skills, to a variety of texts.

Reading Readiness
Explicit, Systematic Basic Reading Instruction for Beginning Readers

What You Will Teach

Reading Readiness is a literacy instructional framework specifically designed for

kindergarten teachers. Reading Readiness can also be used by first- and second-grade
teachers who are providing targeted instruction in prerequisite literacy skills to beginning
readers.

A Reading Readiness lesson is presented daily to groups of six to eight students. Initially the
lesson includes letter recognition and phonological awareness activities coupled with
systematic development of oral language through the use of thematic units. As students
gain proficiency in these skills, the lesson is expanded to include activities that establish the
alphabetic principle and word recognition.

The initial Reading Readiness lesson:

1. Letter Recognition – 10 minutes
2. Phonological Awareness – 5 minutes
3. Oral Language – 5 minutes
The advanced Reading Readiness lesson:
1. Letter Recognition – 5 minutes
2. Phonological Awareness – 5 minutes
3. Letter Introduction and Word Reading – 10 minutes
4. Handwriting – 5 minutes
5. Oral Language – 5 minutes

Teachers use the sequence of activities presented in the Reading Readiness manual to plan
daily lessons. Brief scripts within the manual provide models of best practice. Masters for
charts and other manipulative materials and reproducible student practice pages are
included in the manual.

In addition to using model activities from the Reading Readiness manual in the daily lesson,
teachers can incorporate these activities throughout the day. The Story Retelling manual
and deck provide additional tools for building oral language and comprehension. Repeated
exposures to these kinds of activities heighten students’ awareness of words and sounds
and develop the essential skills that lead to reading success.

Reading Readiness provides an effective, research-based approach for developing necessary

prereading skills.

Concepts taught include:

 Instant Letter Recognition
o Letter Shapes
o Letter Names
o Sequence of the Alphabet
o Rapid Recognition of Upper and Lower Case Manuscript Letters
 Phonological/Phonemic Awareness
o Segmenting Words, Syllables, Phonemes
o Alliteration
o Rhyme
o Oddity
o Blending Sounds to Form Words
o Unblending Sounds Within Words
o Omitting Syllables and Sounds
 o Sound Substitution and Manipulation
 Reading Concepts
o Same and Different
o Initial, Medial, Final
o Before and After
o Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds
o Blocked and Unblocked Sounds
o Vowels and Consonants
 Word Recognition Skills
o Sound/Symbol Correspondences
o Reading Phonetically Regular Words
 Handwriting
o Lower Case Manuscript Letter Strokes
o Numeral Strokes
 Oral Language and Comprehension
o Naming
o Describing
o Critical Thinking – World Knowledge and Relationships
o Story Retelling
o Vocabulary

Some Strategies in Teaching Reading

For Vocabulary Development
A. Structural Analysis
B. Context Clue
C. Intensive/Extensive Reading
D. Pleasure Reading

For Comprehension Development

1. Pre-reading Plan
2. Previewing
3. Anticipation Guide
4. QARs –Question-Answer Relationships
5. ReQuest – Reciprocal Questioning
For Activating Prior Knowledge
K-W-L (Know-Want to Know-Learned
Mapping

UNIT IV. Instructional Practices for Beginning Reading

 A. What are general instructional objectives for a second/Foreign Language reading
program?
B. Principles in designing effective and interesting lessons
C. Building word power for effective reading.
UNIT V. Adaption, Development, and Evaluation of Instructional Material for Beginning
Reading
UNIT VI. Reading Recovery Program