Mendoza, Marry Ann N January 6, 2021

BECE 3 ECE 3262

Comprehension Check

The most common definition of literacy is having the ability and means to read and/or
write. It refers to technical abilities of decoding and composing symbols on paper. Literacy is
acquiring, creating, connecting, and communication meaning in a wide variety of context. It is
critical in helping us make sense of our world. Literacy is not as simple as what we thought it
would be but because of the different cultures and contexts, and these too are constantly shifting
their reading and writing abilities of an individual is constantly shifting.

With this, the two major domain of early childhood development are the language and
literacy. It develops the skill used in communicating to other languages and the ability to read
and write. When we say about language and literacy of the children, this does not mean that we
are giving books to these young ones, we try to emphasize the more natural unfolding of skills
through the enjoyment of books, the importance of positive interactions between young children
and adults, and the critical role of literacy-rich experiences. In the early years of the child, they
have literacy behaviors that we can see even if they cannot fully read verbally or nonverbally.
First, the child has a physical manipulation or handling of books, such as page turning and
chewing. He also pays attention to and interact with pictures in books, such as gazing at pictures
or laughing at a favorite picture. They show recognition and a beginning understanding of
pictures in books, such as pointing to pictures of familiar objects. They also have this behavior
where they understand the pictures and events in the book, such as imitating an action seen in a
picture or talking about the events in a story. They also interact verbally on the books and
understand more the story as they see more printed images on the book by babbling in imitation
of reading or running fingers along printed words. With the early literacy behaviors they have
acquire, the components of reading will work together to create a strong, rich, and reliable
reading abilities.

First component is the phonics. It is the connection of different sounds with different
letters, or different groupings of letters. This component allows students to connect arbitrary
symbols on a page to verbally expressed language. Phonics also develops students’ ability to
‘read by sight’ i.e. register whole words at a glance without sounding out each individual letter.
These developments also translate to reading fluency, another component that we will discuss
later on but with this component students are able to read much faster and more efficiently
without having to stop and process the letters each time they are confronted by a new piece of
vocabulary. Next component is the phonemic awareness which is an understanding of how
individual phonemes (consonant or vowel sounds) can be manipulated and arranged to create
words. It refers to the sound-word knowledge which is different from the phonics that concerns
the letter-sound knowledge. It aims on the auditory understanding of reading which is as opposed
to words on a page. Another component is the vocabulary which is the range of words a student
is able to understand and use in context. Student’s vocabularies grow as they read and introduced
to new words. This is an important component because it gives the students more confident when
reading challenging or unfamiliar material. Their vocabularies will become broader and when
they encounter unknown words, they can figure it out based on context clues or resemblance to
familiar pieces of vocabulary. Fluency is the ability to read with speed, understanding, and
accuracy. It is one of the components where its skill allows allows us to ‘follow’ a text, picture
its descriptions, and hear the auditory expression of words in our heads even when reading
silently. A student cannot fully understand the meaning and ideas behind a text without the
ability to read it fluently. Lastly, comprehension is one of the components where the student’s
understanding is being imparted by a text such as who, what, when, where, ideas, and meanings.
It allows students to draw meaning and information from a text, and it also transforms reading
from a purely functional activity into one that inspires thought and feeling.