The Science of Reading

Five Essential Elements of Effective Reading Instruction

Phonological
Phonics Fluency Vocabulary
Awareness

1 10 Phonics is a system for 17 25

Phonological awareness is the approaching reading that focuses Fluency is the ability to read Vocabulary is the knowledge
ability to notice the sound on the relationship between a text quickly, accurately, of words and word meanings.
structure of spoken words. letters and sounds. and with proper expression.

2 11 18 26
The teaching has to move from Connecting meaning to
Phonemic awareness is the ability to
identify, isolate and manipulate letter/sound correspondences Fluency is determined by the spelling patterns of words can
size of your sight vocabulary. be critical to expanding a
WHAT

language at the individual sound level. to graphemes, syllables and

It is a part of phonological awareness. morphemes. student?s vocabulary.

3 12 19
Basic phonological awareness skills Orthographic mapping is the If a student is good at 27 Morphology is the study of
include phoneme blending and ability to quickly and efficiently orthographic mapping, reading segmenting words into prefixes,
segmentation and are generally practice is helpful to increase suffixes, roots, or bases and the
add words to your sight
mastered by most students by the origins of words.
vocabulary. fluency.
end of the first grade.

4
Advanced phonological awareness 13 20 If a student is not good at 28 Vocabulary knowledge is
skills involve manipulating Sight vocabulary is all the knowledge; the knowledge of a
orthographic mapping, reading word not only implies a definition,
phonemes which include deleting, words you instantly
substituting, or reversing
practice does not help to but also implies how that word fits
recognize.
phonemes within words. increase fluency. into the world.

5 14 By the end of first grade, students

21 29 Children?s vocabulary skills are
taught by a code-based approach Students who are fluent linked to their economic
Phonological awareness perform, on average, the equivalent of backgrounds. By 3 years of age,
readers are better able to
difficulties represent the most 7 to 8 standard score points higher on there is a 30 million word gap
tests of reading comprehension than devote their attention to
common source of word-level between children from the
students taught with a meaning-based comprehending the text.
reading difficulties. wealthiest and poorest families.
approach.

6 15 22 30
Guessing words from context is not as efficient
as phonetic decoding. Skilled readers can Fluency is the bridge between Vocabulary is the glue that holds
identify unfamiliar words with a high degree of
decoding words and stories, ideas, and content
Phonological awareness is accuracy by sounding them out, even irregular
words. By contrast, researchers have found understanding what has been together making reading
essential for skilled reading. that even proficient readers are not as skilled comprehension possible for
at correctly guessing words from context with
read.
children.
an accuracy rate of only about 25%.
WHY

7 16 23 31
When we see a word, the areas of the
A student needs to be able to
brain responsible for orthography There is a strong relationship
Phonemic awareness is needed (familiar spelling) and phonology read 130 correct words per
between vocabulary and reading
for efficient sight-word learning. (pronunciation) activate before the minute on a sixth grade level to
comprehension.
areas responsible for the semantic be successful in content reading.
system (meaning).

8 24 32
Early, explicit, and systematic instruction in phonics, along with direct
Awareness of morphology is a
instruction in phonological awareness, can prevent and also remediate As children become fluent strong indicator of and a
reading difficulties. readers, they are able to interact positive influence upon reading
with text on a higher level. comprehension.
9 The combination of explicit phonics and phonological training for all students
in kindergarten and first grade provides far greater results in word-level
reading skills than any other teaching practice that has been studied.

33 Phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, and vocabulary all lead to

COMPREHENSION
Reading aloud to children builds the foundation of literacy learning. Listening comprehension comes before reading comprehension.
.

34 For maximum academic gains, students need systematic, explicit, engaging and success oriented instruction.
HOW

To meet the goal of helping our students make the maximum possible academic gains in the 5 essential
Systematic means a teacher has a specific scope and sequence for introducing each skill.
elements of effective reading instruction, students need instruction that is both systematic and explicit as well
Explicit means that the teacher provides clear and precise instruction.
as direct, engaging, and success oriented. Systematic means that the teacher provides clear and precise
Engaging instruction that is success oriented involves increased active participation in the instructional activities while
instruction. Explicit means that the teacher has a specific scope and sequence for introducing each skill.
minimizing errors and providing immediate corrective feedback when errors occur.
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2. Honig, Diamond & Gutlohn, 2008
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Swaim & Williams, 2011
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