Focusing on four skills leads to good reading achievement in children, we used to think. Then came a comprehensive US government report in 2000 saying five skills are necessary. In the ensuing 23 years, researchers tell us three more skills are necessary. Let’s look at those skills, starting with a chart showing four skills, followed by information on five skills, and ending with the latest three skills.
Previously, vocabulary was considered part of the fourth component of reading. Now it is considered a separate component, as are three previously unrecognized skills: oral language, writing, and background knowledge.
- Phonemic awareness, the ability to hear and identify individual sounds in words—such as the sound of “b” in “bat”—and to move sounds around to hear them in various parts of words. This skill is taught in pre-K and kindergarten to most American school children.
- Phonics, the ability to match the sounds of English to letters or to letter pairs in order to form words. This skill is usually taught in kindergarten and first grade.
- Vocabulary, the ability to recognize and understand three kinds of words: everyday spoken words, more complex words (SAT-like words), and domain specific words (words used in specific contexts, such as the baseball-related words of pitcher, shortstop, foul ball and bunt).
- Fluency, the ability to read text accurately at conversational speed, using expression.
- Comprehension, the ability to understand what is read.
The three other skills that have been identified as crucial to learning to read are
- Oral language, the ability to understand spoken language and to speak it. Proficiency in oral language precedes proficiency in reading.
- Writing, the ability to use written symbols to represent words and to transmit meaning
- Background knowledge, the ability to store and retrieve information and apply it to new knowledge gained from reading.
No wonder reading is such a complex skill for children to master.
comicphonics for early readers 