Why Reading?
Why Reading?
The facts:
Our children are not reading proficiently
- Asian: 49.2% are reading at grade level
- Black: 18.1% are reading at grade level
- Hispanic: 18.3% are reading at grade level
- White: 49.44% are reading at grade level
Why?
For the past three decades, America switched from a phonics-based reading curriculum to something called the whole language approach.
The whole language approach took out almost all phonics instruction. This approach completely throws the science of reading out the window.
Ps. Science of reading is body research done over decades about how we learn how to read and write. Phonics is only a part.
What is phonics?
Phonics is known as the first step to learning how to read.
How?
Phonics focuses on letter-to-sound recognition. It focuses on spelling patterns in common words.
Is the phonics “the end all be all”?
No, there is so much more that goes into teaching people how to read, but like I said, it’s one of the first stops and an important stop.
So, how do we learn how to read?
Well, to learn how to read, readers must be able to recognize words. They need to be able to pull on background knowledge to help define unknown words or make meaning of sentences. You must understand literacy knowledge and verbal reasoning, which means being able to make inferences about what you are reading and see patterns or themes in a passage.
What skills make up reading comprehension? What is the reading rope?
The reading rope was created to visually illustrate how we learn to read by breaking down the “Simple View of Reading“ developed by Philip B. Gough and William E. Tunmer in 1986.
The “Simple View of Reading“ entails:
Word recognition(decoding) is recognizing that letters have sounds and that when letters are combined, they can make a word.
Language Comprehension is the ability to understand written or spoken language.
Below are the different components of language comprehension:
Background knowledge: The bank of knowledge one possesses based on life experiences and previous learning that is stored in memory and acquired over time.
Vocabulary knowledge: A language user’s knowledge of words.
Language structure: Understanding sentence structure is crucial for reading comprehension.
Verbal reasoning: "Verbal reasoning" involves articulating learning, explaining answers, making inferences, conceptualizing, connecting ideas, and verbalizing thinking.
Literacy knowledge: Text formats vary in structure and purpose. Literacy involves understanding expository text structures such as description, sequence, comparison, cause and effect, and problem/solution, as well as the use of headings and other organizational features.
Ps. While these are individual strands (skills), it must be noted that they need to work together for reading comprehension to happen.
So Why Reading??
Reading gives access to social and economic opportunities.
IE.: social groups or educational institutions
Reading can give more independence to learn at will.
It promotes the understanding and use of different types of print.
IE.: how to read a textbook, newspaper, or peer-reviewed journal article
Writing skills will increase as reading skills are developed.
As you read more texts, you will inevitably increase your vocabulary knowledge and develop ideas on how to structure your own writing.
As your writing develops, you will also increase reading comprehension.
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