GIANNE KATE R.

GASPAR

BEED 2

1. In your own words what is reading? Why is it important?

When we read, we exercise our comprehension abilities and our analytical abilities. It
fires up our imagination and stimulates the memory centers of our mind. It helps recall
information as well as stabilize your emotions. And for me the importance of reading
habit is that it strengthens mental muscles.

2. Why does children need to be aware of how to use the sounds in words work before
they learn to read?

Children need to become aware of how the sounds in words work, and this can help to
develop skills like reading and spelling.

3. What are the 5 levels of phonemic awareness? Discuss each.

Phoneme segmentation.

The phenome segmentation can include the segmentation of syllables. It further

progresses to the segmentation of a word and then to that of a sentence. It involves
literally counting and sounding out the phonemes separately to understand a word’s
sound. Since phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize the sounds of parts of the
word/letter/sentence, it means differently while moving from word to sentence
segmentation.

Phoneme blending and splitting.

It refers to the blending and splitting of phonemes to create new words. Once the
student learns the sound of each phoneme, the correct blending is required to read the
word correctly. So, the concept of onset-riming, which means sounding out the
beginning (onset) and end (riming), is learned by splitting and blending the phonemes
mentally. When teachers ask to speak and write, they are giving the pretext to learn
spellings using phoneme splitting and blending.

Phoneme Rhyming and Alliteration

Phoneme rhyming and alliteration involve words that represent a common sound.
Rhyming focuses on the commonality of ending sound, while alliteration focuses on
learning words that start with the same sound. When the teacher asks a child to write
 rhyming words, the answers are mostly those words that have the same letters in
riming. Means, learning ‘pack’, ‘back’, ‘lack’ are examples of rhyming.

Phoneme Comparing and Contrasting

Words change when contrasting phonemes are used to make the word sound. Means, f,
and v are the contrasting phonemes because these are sound out by applying phonetic
difference. And, using these sounds replaceable changes the meaning of the word
entirely. Fan and Van may be rhyming, but phonetic difference leading to a different
meaning of words puts them in contrasting phoneme category. 

Phoneme manipulation
The ability to move or alter individual phonemes while retaining in mind their specific
roles in constituting a word’s sound is described as phonemic manipulation. Several
activities happen behind a simple act of reading. Learners cognitively delete, add,
substitute, or rearrange sounds to arrive at the correct way of voicing the word. This
process is required to be fluent in reading connected text.

4. What is phonics?

Phonics involves matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups
of letters. For example, the sound k can be spelled as c, k, ck or ch. Teaching children to
blend the sounds of letters together helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words
by sounding them out.

5. What is phonics instruction?

Phonics instruction is a way of teaching reading that stresses the acquisition of letter-
sound correspondences and their use in reading and spelling.

6. What is the importance of fluency instruction in reading?

Fluency is important because it builds a bridge between word recognition and

comprehension. It allows students time to focus on what the text is saying. They are
able to make connections between what they are reading and their own background
knowledge.
7. As a future teacher, how can you improve the fluency of your future students?
Elaborate your answer.

8. What is vocabulary? Is it important in reading instruction? Why or why not?

Vocabulary is key to reading comprehension. Readers cannot understand what they are
reading without knowing what most of the words mean. As children learn to read more
advanced texts, they must learn the meaning of new words that are not part of their
oral vocabulary.

9. What are the dimensions of reading comprehension? Discuss each. And cite examples.

Phonemic Awareness
Phonemes, the smallest units making up spoken language, combine to form syllables
and words. Phonemic awareness refers to the student’s ability to focus on and
manipulate these phonemes in spoken syllables and words. According to the National
Reading Panel, teaching phonemic awareness to children significantly improves their
reading more than instruction that lacks any attention to phonemic awareness.

Phonics
Phonics is the relationship between the letters (or letter combinations) in written
language and the individual sounds in spoken language. Phonics instruction teaches
students how to use these relationships to read and spell words. The National Reading
Panel indicated that systematic phonics instruction enhances children’s success in
learning to read, and it is significantly more effective than instruction that teaches little
or no phonics.

Fluency
Fluent readers are able to read orally with appropriate speed, accuracy, and proper
expression. Fluency is the ability to read as well as we speak and to make sense of the
text without having to stop and decode each word. The National Reading Panel’s
research findings concluded that guided oral reading and repeated oral reading had a
significant and positive impact on word recognition, reading fluency, and
comprehension in students of all ages.

Vocabulary
Vocabulary development is closely connected to comprehension. The larger the reader’s
vocabulary (either oral or print), the easier it is to make sense of the text. According to
the National Reading Panel, vocabulary can be learned incidentally through storybook
reading or listening to others, and vocabulary should be taught both directly and
indirectly. Students should be actively engaged in instruction that includes learning
words before reading, repetition and multiple exposures, learning in rich contexts,
incidental learning, and use of computer technology.

Comprehension
Comprehension is the complex cognitive process readers use to understand what they
have read. Vocabulary development and instruction play a critical role in
comprehension. The National Reading Panel determined that young readers develop
text comprehension through a variety of techniques, including answering questions
(quizzes) and summarization (retelling the story).

Spelling
The National Reading Panel Report did not include spelling as one of the essential
components of reading. The report implied that phonemic awareness and phonics
instruction had a positive effect on spelling in the primary grades and that spelling
continues to develop in response to appropriate reading instruction.