TOPIC 4

READING SKILLS

SYNOPSIS

Students are exposed to the definition and concept of reading here. Apart from that students will
find out about factors affecting reading readiness, basic reading skills , how to assess reading
ability as weil as techniques for teaching reading and remedial reading problems.

LEARNING OUTCOME

At the end of this topic, you will be able to :

1. Understand the definition and concept of reading

2. Explain the factors which affect reading readiness
3. Describe the basic reading skills
4. Assess reading ability for classroom reading instruction
5. Describe and use techniques for teaching reading and remediating reading problems

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TOPIC FRAMEWORK
4.1 Definition and concept of reading

4.2 Factors affecting reading readiness

Reading Skills 4.3 Basic Reading Skills

4.4 Assessing Reading Ability for Classroom Reading

Instruction

4.5 Techniques for teaching reading and

remediating reading problems

READING SKILLS

4.0 Introduction

Before you go through this topic, bare in mind that teaching reading to pupils with learning
difficulties requires the application of specialised instructional approaches. As such you
have to be well informed about the approaches given in the module and from other
sources.
Reading should be regarded as one aspect of an integrated programme of language
development which includes speaking, writing and spelling. Therefore, reading should not
be thought of as an isolated skill.

4.1 Definition and concept of reading

Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts. It is a complex skill requiring
the coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information (Anderson et al., 1985).

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Reading is also the process of constructing meaning through the dynamic interaction among:
(1) the reader's existing knowledge; (2) the information suggested by the text being read; and
(3) the context of the reading situation (Wixson, Peters, Weber, & Roeber, 1987, citing the new
definition of reading for Michigan).

Older, mechanistic definitions of reading as the translation of printed symbols into oral language
equivalents are incomplete, given the progress made in understanding the nature of the reading
process. There is widespread agreement that without the activation of relevant prior knowledge
by a cognitively active reader and the melting of that prior knowledge with the text information,
there can be no reading of text. Even definitions of reading that emphasize meaning indicate
that reading is activated by print. The reader must be able to translate the written words into
meaningful language. Virtually all four- and five-year-old children can communicate with and
learn from oral language, but very few can read, because they lack the ability to identify printed
words. While simply being able to recognize or "say" the printed words of text without
constructing the meaning of that text is not reading, constructing meaning from written text is
impossible without being able to identify the words.

The terms word identification, word recognition, and decoding are frequently used
interchangeably. The new Literacy Dictionary (Harris & Hodges, 1995) defines both word
recognition and word identification as "the process of determining the pronunciation and some
degree of meaning of an unknown word" (pp. 282-283). For words that are in a reader's meaning
vocabulary, unlocking the pronunciation leads to the word's meaning. If a printed word is not in
a reader's meaning vocabulary, word-identification skills may allow access to the pronunciation
of the word, but not its meaning. Being able to arrive at the pronunciation of a printed word
constitutes word identification in the most minimal sense; however, if the reader is unable to
attach meaning to the word, then he or she has not read the word, since reading must end in
meaning construction.

4.2 Factors affecting reading readiness

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Before carrying out formal reading instruction,always make sure that your pupils are ready
to learn because the development of reading skills begins at the readiness stage and
continues until reading competency has been achieved.

According to Savage and Mooney, (1979) reading readiness has been defined as a state
of maturity and development that will allow a person to begin to learn to read. Some of
the factors contributing to reading readiness are:

1. Physical factors – children should have acquired vision, hearing, speech and
coordination at a level that allows them to adequately see, hear, speak, manipulate
print, and deal with the type of instruction that they will encounter. Most commonly
associated with reading readiness are visual and auditory acuity, eye-hand
coordination, large and small muscle development and generally sound health.

2. Emotional factors – the children should also have attained a certain measure of
personal confidence and security, and the ability to maintain attention, to stick with a
task until completion, to work independently, to accept responsibility, and to adjust
well to a learning situation. These factors also include social readiness, that is, a
willingness to participate in social activities, the ability to work well with others, to
cooperate, and to share responsibility in a learning task.

3. Intellectual factors – the abilities of perception and thinking play a role as a readiness
factor. Perception involves an awareness of similarities and differences in the size,
shape, orientation, color and other relationships in objects and visual symbols. It also
involves an awareness of auditory stimuli, the ability to recognize similarities,
differences, and relationships in sounds, and the recognition of separate sounds in
spoken words. At the readiness stage, children are trained in the ability to interpret
pictures and experiences to recall ideas and details to see relationships and predict
outcomes, to think logically and reasonably and to grasp ideas. Since language and
thinking are so closely tied together, cognition also includes the ability to know the
meaning of words, to understand and interpret verbal messages, to express thoughts
and to otherwise manipulate verbal concepts.

4. Linguistics factors – these are factors related to language power and language
thinking. Language power deals with the language codes – learning letter names and
sounds. Language thinking factors are developed through oral language activities
such as show and tell, discussion, listening exercises, poetry and story telling, creative
dramatics, conscious vocabulary development, conversation, and all the other formal
and informal encounters with language that are typically a regular part of a child’s early
educational experience.

5. Experience – background experience is highly important in providing interests and

knowledge upon which the teaching of reading can be based. A child who has been
to many places and seen many things, listened to stories and retold them to others,

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 witnessed reading as an important part of the lives of those around him will likely be
more pbysically, emotionally, intellectually and linguistically ready to read.

4.3 Basic reading skills

Now that you know what reading readiness is, make sure that your pupils are ready before
you proceed with the teaching of basic reading skills which are described below:
4.3.1 Word recognition skills allows the reader to instantaneously identify words
upon visual contact. The child learns to recognise a word by sight and to
attach meaning to that word by seeing it over and over.
4.3.2 Word analysis is an essential part of the act of reading and an important
component in reading instruction. We usually analyze words that we don’t
recognise to get the pronunciation and meaning. These word analysis or
word attack skills are phonetic analysis and structural analysis.
4.3.3 Phonetic analysis is the process of analyzing unknown words on the basis of
letter sound relationships in the words. Phonics begins at the readiness
stage with an awareness of separate sounds in spoken words and a
knowledge of the written symbols that represent these sounds.
4.3.4 Structural analysis is a natural process of expanding knowledge of words both
identification and meaning. Structural analysis usually begins with the
identification of independent word parts in compound words. It extends to
the recognition of other meaningful units from which words are built – roots
and affixes (word endings, prefixes, and suffixes).
4.3.5 Comprehension – the ability to derive meaning and understanding from
printed language – is the consummation of the act of reading. Since
language is a tool of communication, and communication involves the
reception as well as the expression of ideas,then the act of reading is not
complete until comprehension has taken place

4.4 Assessing reading ability for classroom reading instruction

In order to assess your pupils’ achievement level, you must know the different types of
assessment measures for reading ability. An assessment of the pupil’s current reading

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ability can point to specific strengths and weaknesses and aid the teacher in planning
instructional objectives. To obtain a valid assessment of the pupil’s reading abilities, the
teacher should use a variety of assessment procedures.
For discussion purposes, assessment can be either formal or informal. Do not worry if in
some books the classification appears to be contradictory or confusing.
The most important thing is that you know how to assess your pupils’ reading
ability correctly

4.4.1 Formal assessment

Examples of formal assessment are:

 Standardized Achievement and Reading Survey Tests
 Diagnostic Tests
 Criterion-Referenced Tests
 Normed-referenced Tests

4.4.2 Informal assessment

Examples of informal assessment are:

 Teacher Observations
 Graded word Lists
 Cloze Procedure
 Teacher-made Tests
 Informal reading Inventory

4.5 Techniques for teaching reading and remediating reading problems

When teaching pupils with reading problems, it is often necessary to adapt developmental
programs to meet their needs, such as changing the sequence, providing additional
practice activities, and modifying the input-output arrangements of selected tasks.
Developmental reading approaches emphasize sequential instruction on a daily basis.
We are discussing the following approaches in this module:

4.5.1 Basal reading approach

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 A basal reading program is a core reading program that is used to teach children to read.
The term "basal" comes from the word "base," as the program acts as the basis for the
lessons that teach children reading skills.
Many teachers use a basal reading series as the core reading program. The content is
based upon common experiences and interests of the children. A basal series
systematically presents reading skills in word recognition, comprehension, and word
attack, and it controls the vocabulary from level to level.

4.5.2 Phonics approach

A phonic approach to reading is an approach that teaches the relation of the letters
(graphemes) to the sounds (phonemes) they represent to teach reading. (Halvorson
1992) This approach emphasizes word recognition through learning graphemephoneme
associations. Phonics should be taught directly, through demonstration of how the
strategy is used to decode a word. After learning the sounds of vowels, consonants, and
blends the child learns to sound out words by combining sounds and blending them into
words. Thus the child learns to recognize unfamiliar words by associating speech sounds
with letters or groups of letters. The learning of phonics should be a realistic experience.
The phonics approach can be added to a basal reading approach as well as the language
experience approach as soon as learners have mastered a basic sight vocabulary of
about 50-100 words.
There are two phonics methods; the synthetic and the analytic methods. Using the
synthetic method the sounds are taught in isolation, they learn that the letter represents
a certain sound, for example b = buh, and must then learn to blend the sounds to form
words or, in other words, synthesize. The analytical method, on the other hand, teafhes
the sound as part of a word, for example, b as in bat. The learners learn the new words
as the phonic elements are introduced to them. Although the two phonic approaches
differ, the end result is the same, as they teach the learner word-attack skills based on a
grapheme-phoneme approach. Using this approach a learner will soon be able to read
independently.
There are a few disadvantages to the phonics approach. Some learners may struggle to
combine and blend the sounds into words. Learners may focus so much on the

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pronunciation of words that comprehension of the sentence or paragraph is lost. The
exceptions to the basic phonic rules may also confuse learners.
However, beginning readers may find the use of phonics in their reading very helpful. It
can also be used as a support technique if a learner has sufficient sight vocabulary, but
finds it difficult to analyze.
It will be helpful if you can do some research for the connection between the words and
the sounds.

4.5.3 Linguistic approach

This approach emphasizes decoding – changing the printed words into verbal
communication. Words are taught in word families and only as wholes and does not use
exercises in sounding and blending.
The linguistic approach differs from the phonics approach in that linguistic readers focus
on words instead of isolated sounds. It differs from the basal reading approach in that
linguistic instruction places emphasis first on breaking the written language code before
meaning and comprehension are considered.

4.5.4 Language Experience approach

This approach integrates the development of reading skills with the development of
listening, speaking and writing skills. In this approach, the language patterns of the
reading materials are determined by the child’s speech, and the content is determined by
his experiences. The teacher tries to broaden and enrich the child’s base of experiences
from which he can think, speak, and read. Eventually, with help, the child can write his
own stories.

4.5.5 Individualized Reading approach

Each child selects his own reading material according to his interests and ability and
progresses at his own rate. The teacher’s role is to diagnose and prescribe.
The success of the program depends on the teacher’s resourcefulness and competence.
Individual work may be supplemented with group activities using basal readers and
workbooks in order to provide practice on specific reading skills.

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4.5.6 Multi-sensory approach
This approach is also known as VAKT (visual-audio-kinestatic-tactile) method. In learning
a word the child sees the word, hears the word, says the word, hears himself saying the
word and feels the muscle movement and tactile surface under his finger as he traces the
word.

4.5.7 Rebus approach

A rebus can be a method of helping involve young children in the act of reading, as well
as two types of puzzle in which letters, words, and pictures are combined to convey a
phrase or sentence. A rebus is a variation on a pun. In a pun, the sound and/or meaning
of two words is made into a play on words. In a rebus, the pun is created by using pictures
to evoke a sound that is identical or similar to a word or word part.

The rebus offers a way to enable children to help read a story before they can decipher
print. In this type of story, a picture of, say, an apple, a cat, or a bird – some simple object
that the child can identify and name – is substituted for the word, so the child can “read”
that part of the story.

The Rebus equations are often found in children’s pastime and puzzle books, one form
of a rebus appears in an equation form. In this kind of rebus, you will find examples like:
F + [picture of an ear] =. You add the sound characteristically made by the letter F to the
sound of the word ear to make the word fear.

Notice that this kind of rebus focuses on the sound of the word, rather than the spelling.
So if you saw F + [picture of an eye] =, you would be intended to gather fie, not feye –
which is not an English word. Benjamin Franklin used this kind of writing, without the plus
and minus signs, in his brief article, “The Art of Making Money Plenty in Every Man’s
Pocket.”

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In rebus puzzles, it is common to find

• 8 for ate or a syllable with that sound

• 4 for for, and
• 2 for to or too. So, you can have:

• gr + 8 = great
• 4 + T = fort
• 2 + L = tool

To this extent, the rebus has some common ground with texting language, also known as
txt or txtspk, but while texting language employs these devices to save space when
communicating on, for example, mobile phones, rebuses use them for entertainment.

Other popular rebus pictures include:

• a honey bee for the sound /be/

• a hand saw for the sound /saw/
• a knot in a rope for the sound /not/
• a sheep for the sound /ewe/
• an open food can for the sound /can/
• R for the sound /are/

Besides the puzzles, there are rebuses that convey meanings by the way words are
arranged on the page.

HEAD HEELS

shows the phrase “head over heels.”

SAILING CCCCCCC

means “sailing on the seven seas.”

This is a way that rebuses are enjoyed after childhood is past.

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A picture or a symbol of the printed word is used in the reading material instead of certain
printed words.

4.6 Remediating Reading Problems

Before we plan any remedial reading programme, it would help for us to know what are
the contributing factors to reading problems.

4.6.1 Contributing factors to reading problems

a. Physical factors
• Visual defects – ’...a child with poor sight will have difficulty identifying details of
the printed word..’ Goldberg et al(1983) in Kerk & Chalfant (1985)
• Hearing defects – major factors here are auditory discrimination, auditory closure
and auditory sound blending.
b. Developmental psychological factors
• Language – if a child does not acquire language he will have difficulty in learning
to interpret the printed page
• Attention – if a child is unable to concentrate on the printed page he will have
difficulty learning to read
• Auditory functions
• Visualization or visual memory – the ability to reproduce visual materials from
memory will affect reading ability.
• Closure – the term is used to indicate the response to familiar items from which a
part has been omitted. Closure can be either visual or auditory.
c. Relationship of contributing factors
• Reading, writing and spelling disabilities cannot be consistently explained
by any one of the contributing factors or developmental learning disabilities
alone. Studies have contradictory results because physical, environmental,
and psychological characteristics of children with difficulties cannot be
isolated from the method used in teaching them to read.

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Children with difficulties in reading, writing and spelling can often be helped when a method is
found that matches the child’s abilities, ameliorates the deficit in the task of reading or
compensates for the particular deficit.

Remediating reading problems should involve:

• The development of reading readiness
• The acquisition of a sight vocabulary of meaningful useful words
• The development of independent reading aided by the use of phonic
analysis and other word recognition techniques
• The development of speedy, relaxed, silent reading for content and ideas

Reference:
Halvorson, Marian A. 1992.Literacy and lifelong learning for women. Part of UNESCO series on
literacy in development. New York: Intermedia. 124 pages.

Exercise 1:

’... no single approach to teaching beginning reading is successful with all

children...’
a. Discuss and list down the possible advantages and disadvantages
of each approach.
b. Discuss other possible approaches to teach pupils to read.

Exercise 2:

Discuss the different types of assessemnt for reading skills. Describe one
way of testing in detail. Administer the test and write a report of the results.

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