HOW CHILDREN LEARN TO READ
Almost all children learn to speak naturally; reading and writing must be taught.
Literacy begins at birth. It is rooted in early social interactions and experiences that include regular exposure to oral language and print.
All good readers are good decoders. Decoding should be taught until children can accurately and independently read new words. Decoding depends on phonemic awareness; a child’s ability to identify individual speech sounds. Decoding is the on-ramp for word recognition.
Fluent readers can instantly and accurately recognize words in a text. They can read with expression and at an appropriate rate for their age. Reading fluency requires comprehension AND it supports comprehension.
Comprehension - the goal of reading – draws on multiple skills and strengths, including a solid foundation of vocabulary and background knowledge.
Direct, systematic instruction helps students develop the skills they need to become strong readers. Indirect, three-cueing instruction is unpredictable in its impact on word reading and leaves too much to chance.
English Learners/Emergent Bilinguals often need extra support to build their oral language as they learn to read and write in a new language.
To become good readers and writers, students need to integrate many skills that build over time.
Source: ReadingUnivers.org – Kelly Butler, Claude Goldenberg, Noel Gunther.
