Teaching Reading Skills
Teaching Reading Skills
When teaching reading skills, it should be stressed that reading is an activity with a purpose. Reading is done for a variety of reasons. A person may read to gain information, verify existing knowledge, or for enjoyment. Reading research shows that good readers read extensively, integrate information in the text with existing knowledge, have a flexible reading style and are motivated. They rely on different skills, such as perceptual processing and phonemic processing. The purpose for reading also determines the appropriate approach to reading comprehension. For example, a person reading poetry for enjoyment needs to recognize the words the poet uses and the ways they are put together, but does not need to identify the main idea and supporting details. However, a person using a scientific article to support an opinion needs to know the vocabulary that is used, understand the facts and cause-effect sequences that are presented, and recognize ideas that are presented as hypotheses and givens.
Teaching reading skills: Process and decode
One area of teaching reading skills is to stress the interactive process that takes place between the reader and the text, which results in comprehension of the material. The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning. The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is. These include: linguistic competence (the ability to recognize the elements of the writing system); knowledge of vocabulary; knowledge of how words are structured into sentences; discourse competence (knowledge of discourse markers and how they connect parts of the text to one another); sociolinguistic competence (knowledge about different types of texts and their usual structure and content); strategic competence (the ability to use top-down strategies); as well as knowledge of the language (a bottom-up strategy).
Teaching reading skills: Action
The purpose for reading and the type of text determine the specific knowledge, skills, and strategies that readers need to apply to achieve comprehension. Reading comprehension is much more than decoding. Reading comprehension results when the reader knows which skills and strategies are appropriate, and understands how to apply those skills. Reading decoding, or word recognition, is important and so is reading comprehension. There are children who can read aloud fluently and convincingly, but understand little of what they read. Therefore, word identification and comprehension are equally important. At LearningRx, we train readers to have better comprehension. We give them tools for success. Call a LearningRx Center near you or check us out at www.learningrx.com.
When teaching reading skills, it should be stressed that reading is an activity with a purpose. Reading is done for a variety of reasons. A person may read to gain information, verify existing knowledge, or for enjoyment. Reading research shows that good readers read extensively, integrate information in the text with existing knowledge, have a flexible reading style and are motivated. They rely on different skills, such as perceptual processing and phonemic processing. The purpose for reading also determines the appropriate approach to reading comprehension. For example, a person reading poetry for enjoyment needs to recognize the words the poet uses and the ways they are put together, but does not need to identify the main idea and supporting details. However, a person using a scientific article to support an opinion needs to know the vocabulary that is used, understand the facts and cause-effect sequences that are presented, and recognize ideas that are presented as hypotheses and givens.
Teaching reading skills: Process and decode
One area of teaching reading skills is to stress the interactive process that takes place between the reader and the text, which results in comprehension of the material. The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning. The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is. These include: linguistic competence (the ability to recognize the elements of the writing system); knowledge of vocabulary; knowledge of how words are structured into sentences; discourse competence (knowledge of discourse markers and how they connect parts of the text to one another); sociolinguistic competence (knowledge about different types of texts and their usual structure and content); strategic competence (the ability to use top-down strategies); as well as knowledge of the language (a bottom-up strategy).
Teaching reading skills: Action
The purpose for reading and the type of text determine the specific knowledge, skills, and strategies that readers need to apply to achieve comprehension. Reading comprehension is much more than decoding. Reading comprehension results when the reader knows which skills and strategies are appropriate, and understands how to apply those skills. Reading decoding, or word recognition, is important and so is reading comprehension. There are children who can read aloud fluently and convincingly, but understand little of what they read. Therefore, word identification and comprehension are equally important. At LearningRx, we train readers to have better comprehension. We give them tools for success. Call a LearningRx Center near you or check us out at www.learningrx.com.
