Reading Instruction Programs
Reading Instruction Programs
Reading instruction programs: Balanced approach
Reading instruction programs usually mean a balanced combination of whole language and phonics approaches. Researchers assert that children need training in phonemic awareness (by which they develop an awareness of individual sound) and in cueing strategies (through which they learn to decode the text and comprehend the material). Analytic and auditory students benefit from phonics instruction. Students with visual, tactile and global learning styles tend to profit from a whole language approach. The different stages of reading acquisition (selective cue, spelling-sound, and automatic) require different approaches. It is during the spelling-sound stage that phonics instruction is especially crucial. According to the California Department of Education, “the heart of a powerful reading program is the relationship between explicit, systematic skills instruction and literature, language and comprehension. While skills alone are insufficient to develop good readers, no reader can become proficient without these foundational skills.”
Reading instruction programs: Assessment
Reading instruction programs and practices may have a variety of designs. Children learn to read by a variety of materials and methods. No one approach is so distinctly better in all situations and respects than the others that it should be considered the one best method and the one to be used exclusively. Focus should not merely be on reading, but on literacy. This means integrating language and literacy across modes of language and across disciplines and attending to skills and strategies in context. Knowledge of word meanings is the most important single factor in reading or listening comprehension. Students must be able to interpret the meanings of most of the words in a text in order to make sense of it. Young children learn the meanings of new vocabulary words indirectly and directly.
Reading instruction programs: Action
Reading instruction programs should also focus on comprehension. Comprehension is the reason for reading. If readers can read the words but do not understand what they are reading, they are not really reading. Good readers are purposeful (they have a reason to read) and active (they think to make sense of what they read). Comprehension can help students understand what they read, remember what they read, and communicate with others about what they read. Text comprehension can be improved by instruction that helps readers use specific comprehension strategies. Those strategies include monitoring comprehension, using graphic and semantic organizers, answering questions, generating questions, recognizing story structure, and summarizing. Students can be taught to use comprehension strategies. Effective comprehension strategy instruction should be explicit, or direct (through direct explanation, modeling, guided practice, and help with application of a strategy). At LearningRx, we have proven methods that work. To learn more, go to www.learningrx.com or visit a local LearningRx center.
Reading instruction programs: Balanced approach
Reading instruction programs usually mean a balanced combination of whole language and phonics approaches. Researchers assert that children need training in phonemic awareness (by which they develop an awareness of individual sound) and in cueing strategies (through which they learn to decode the text and comprehend the material). Analytic and auditory students benefit from phonics instruction. Students with visual, tactile and global learning styles tend to profit from a whole language approach. The different stages of reading acquisition (selective cue, spelling-sound, and automatic) require different approaches. It is during the spelling-sound stage that phonics instruction is especially crucial. According to the California Department of Education, “the heart of a powerful reading program is the relationship between explicit, systematic skills instruction and literature, language and comprehension. While skills alone are insufficient to develop good readers, no reader can become proficient without these foundational skills.”
Reading instruction programs: Assessment
Reading instruction programs and practices may have a variety of designs. Children learn to read by a variety of materials and methods. No one approach is so distinctly better in all situations and respects than the others that it should be considered the one best method and the one to be used exclusively. Focus should not merely be on reading, but on literacy. This means integrating language and literacy across modes of language and across disciplines and attending to skills and strategies in context. Knowledge of word meanings is the most important single factor in reading or listening comprehension. Students must be able to interpret the meanings of most of the words in a text in order to make sense of it. Young children learn the meanings of new vocabulary words indirectly and directly.
Reading instruction programs: Action
Reading instruction programs should also focus on comprehension. Comprehension is the reason for reading. If readers can read the words but do not understand what they are reading, they are not really reading. Good readers are purposeful (they have a reason to read) and active (they think to make sense of what they read). Comprehension can help students understand what they read, remember what they read, and communicate with others about what they read. Text comprehension can be improved by instruction that helps readers use specific comprehension strategies. Those strategies include monitoring comprehension, using graphic and semantic organizers, answering questions, generating questions, recognizing story structure, and summarizing. Students can be taught to use comprehension strategies. Effective comprehension strategy instruction should be explicit, or direct (through direct explanation, modeling, guided practice, and help with application of a strategy). At LearningRx, we have proven methods that work. To learn more, go to www.learningrx.com or visit a local LearningRx center.
