Category: Phonological Awareness

Reading Development, in Relation to Cognitive Maturation Stage Two, Semiotic or Symbolic, 2 – 6

Cognitive development during the semiotic or symbolic stage is dependent on the amount and type of social interaction that takes place during the maturation process (Vygotsky, 1934). Children usually develop in a blurred manner. Each individual will move through the natural layers of maturation at different speeds, dependent on their environment and genetics. All children use a different formula to analyze knowledge and a different way of integrating the knowledge into their brains. All children demonstrate different tempos for processing information. Children will comprehend higher levels of oral language before using higher levels of oral language. The cognition of children will increase as they master social processes. Children begin imitating or playing the roles of other individuals. Children begin to process abstractly. At the end of this stage students should be able to complete more multi-layered tasks, like a simple two-step task or first take out the trash, then bring the trash can back in, and put a new liner in the trash can.

Symbolic play helps children work through their unsolved conflicts and self-identity. Children usually possess the desire for symbolic play within their genetic design. Piaget and Inhelder (1966) argued that there are four different types of symbolic play. The first type is exercise play, which involves repeating previous activities that children enjoyed learning. The second kind of symbolic play is actually called symbolic play. Children mimic other characters or individuals. They enjoy dress-up or make-believe. They often play out unresolved situations. The third form of symbolic play is playing games with rules, which children learn by playing with other individuals. Learning and playing games increases their social connections. This type of symbolic play typically begins during the first years of formalized schooling. The fourth type of symbolic play involves solving equations or playing games that involve more abstract thought. Children begin being able to visualize pictures or images not physical seen within their minds. The fourth type of symbolic play signals a transition into the next phase of cognitive development.

Regarding literacy development, learning how to read begins in the womb through genetic wiring. The environment stimulates and effects the genetic wiring. When this stage begins children have been soaking in their environment for about two years, gaining knowledge and assembling the wiring to express comprehendible words. Oral language usually increases as their cognition abilities increase. Children usually include two or more words in a sentence by the end of age two, when children begin developing syntactical rules. Children usually speak what has been modeled in their environment. Piaget and Inhelder (1969) argued that language is acquired through assimilation and “requires both linguistic and psychological competence” (p. 89).

Reading written words begins with oral language knowledge that is transferred to written language. Children at this stage of development are in the pre-alphabetic phase of learning how to read written words. Children are manipulating language sounds to develop coherent sentences. Children are listening and mimicking their environment about how sounds make words and sentences to communicate their needs and wants. Children at this age will also begin using pencil and paper type objects to convey their thoughts through pictures and letters. Children begin transferring images from within their mind to paper in the form of scribbling and drawing. The pictures become clearer as the child moves closer to age six (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). Children at this age usually move from little to greater explanation of their drawing. They will also begin “pretend” reading books. Children begin to learn that the written symbols or letters on a page represent oral sounds. The items related to reading and writing in their immediate environment usually impact the rate of growth.

In a formal learning environment, like pre-school children are usually receiving instruction in phonemic awareness. They are listening to books that are usually increasing their vocabulary and comprehension. Pre-school usually begins to teach grapheme-phoneme correspondences. Children usually begin the writing process through pictures before moving to letters and words. Children learn the correct way to hold a book. Children learning that English is read from left to right.

At this stage of learning how to read, we begin to see major signs cognitive processing issues that tend to clog or place road blocks for students learning how to read. One processing deficit that may become more apparent at this stage of learning how to read written words is phonological dyslexia. These children lack the natural wiring to begin learning how to read. They need certain ingredients to be present to develop the necessary wiring or processing routes to learn how to read. This type of dyslexia is genetically driven. Children with phonological dyslexia typically use the non-lexical route to process grapheme-phoneme correspondences, instead of the lexical route. Another processing deficit is surface dyslexia. Surface dyslexia is more environmental developed. These children typically have a lexical route in place that may increase their ability to learn to read. At this stage of learning how to read, identifying and providing intervention or explicit direct instruction is cost effective, in relation to both later emotional and instructional intervention needs.

References

Binet, A. & Simon, T. (1916). The development of intelligence in children. Williams & Wilkins Co.

Chall, J. S. (1983). Stages of reading development. McGraw-Hill Book Co.

Ehri, L.C. (2022). What teachers need to know and do to teach letter-sounds, phonemic awareness, word reading, and phonics. The Reading Teacher, 0(0),1-9. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2095

Fowler, W. (1983). Potentials of childhood (Vol. I). D.C. Heath & Co.

Healy, J. (1987). Your child’s growing mind. Broadway Books.

Johnson, G. (2010). Internet use and child development: validation of the ecological techno-subsystem. Educational Technology & Society, 13(1), 176-185.

Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. Basic Books.

Vygotsky, L. (1934). Thought and language. MIT Press.

 

Reading Development, in Relation to Cognitive Maturation (Sensori-Motor, Birth – 2)

The development of cognition and cognitive processing begins in the womb according to genetics. Most individuals have a unique genetic design from the mixing and matching of their maternal and fraternal genetics. The exception would be identical twins, who have the same unique genetics. Disabilities linked to genetic dispositions will begin to form at this stage. The child’s environment may alter (increase or decrease) possible impacts of a genetical directed disability. Children gain their intelligence through familial genetics. Their intelligence is usually altered through the environment before and after birth (Binet & Simon, 1916). Genetics also plays a role in child motivation (Fowler, 1983). Infant environment both in and out of the womb will also affect the beginning stages of cognitive growth (Binet & Simon, 1916; Piaget, 1966).

Cognitive development takes place in a layered manner (Binet & Simon, 1916; Vygotsky, 1934; Piaget, 1966; Fowler, 1983). Systematic in nature, building each skill upon the previously learned skill. Children learn how to move their limbs before, rolling over. Children learn how to say sounds before a whole word. Children usually begin to verbalize one-word sentences, before using two or more-word sentences. Students learn how to comprehend oral words and sentences before reading and comprehending written passages. The brain begins to prune the unused cognitive connections or highways and byways at about 12 months (Fowler, 1983). This begins and defines the structure of how an individual’s thoughts will be organized. New connections will develop based on their environmental layers of influence (Johnson, 2010).

Oral language develops naturally from different types of babbles or cries towards comprehendible sentences. Children develop oral language that echoes their immediate environment. For example, if a child hears simple words like pretty or yellow to describe a flower, the child will usually use those same words to describe the flower. If a child hears higher-level words, like elegant or marigold in their immediate environment then the child will follow the modeled use of those words. The child is dependent on the accuracy of the modeled use of the word to learn the meaning and use of the word. Children who hear a word often mispronounced will usually use that pronunciation of the word. Most children learning to speak words will initially mispronounce words, as some letters are naturally harder to learn how to pronounce correctly. If a child’s environment continues to correctly pronounce the word, they will usually make the self-correction.

During the Sensori-Motor stage of cognitive processing development children are developing their foundation for reading written words. Children are developing their oral language skills that are necessary for reading written words. They are learning how to manipulate sounds to form words and sentences to communicate their needs and thoughts. Most environments provide the right climate for individuals to learn how to manipulate sounds to make different words. This is the beginning or foundation of learning how to encode and decode written words. They are developing the highways and byways of oral comprehension. This is when written comprehension begins. They are developing subject categories and connections. This is the prerequisite of learning how to read written words.

The brain is a muscle that needs to be nurtured and exercised on a regular basis, similar to going to the gym and focusing on increasing the strength of a person’s leg or arm muscles. Some individuals need more exercise or practice to accomplish the goal of strengthening their leg muscles. This concept also applies to learning how to speak and comprehend oral words. The time spent exercising or practicing usually determines oral language growth. Genetics begins the process; environment assist in the growth process.

Reading is not a natural phenomenon. Reading is a taught skill that has a few prerequisites that need to be learned and practiced before actually being taught to decipher written symbols or the written form of oral language. One prerequisite is a solid foundation in phonemic awareness skills, which children begin building in the womb.

Definitions

  • Cognition – thinking skills
  • Cognitive processing – how the brain processes information – synergizing stored and gathered information to make conclusions. Individuals use the highways and byways of their brain to process and comprehend their environment.
  • Cognitive development – is how a brain typically maturates/grows over time within its environment.
  • Cognitive flexibility – “Ability to shift attention among competing stimuli and consider alternatives” (Birsh & Carreker, 4th, 2018, p. 818).

 

References

Binet, A. & Simon, T. (1916). The development of intelligence in children.             Williams & Wilkins Co.

Birsh, J. R. & Carreker, S., (Eds.). (2018). Multisensory teaching of basic language skills (4th ed.). P. H. Brookes Pub. Co.

Fowler, W. (1983). Potentials of childhood (Vol. I). D.C. Heath & Co.

Healy, J. (1987). Your child’s growing mind. Broadway Books.

Johnson, G. (2010). Internet use and child development: validation of the ecological techno-subsystem. Educational Technology & Society, 13(1), 176-185.

Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (2000). The psychology of the child. Basic Books.

Vygotsky, L. (1934). Thought and language. MIT Press.

Why Teach Spelling?

Spelling knowledge is a gateway to higher student achievement in literacy. Individuals begin learning how to spell, as they begin manipulating sounds. Individuals begin to encode words as they begin writing symbols that represent sounds. Individuals are not initially wired to encode words they must be taught how the sounds are represented in print – for any language.

Spelling instruction enables students to become better skilled at decoding and encoding written words, which usually increases student reading fluency. Students also increase their lexicon, building depth and width of knowledge about different subjects. Students also increase their ability to write and use higher level words within their writing. Students also build or strengthen their synthesizing skills and become more self-assured.

Spelling instruction should encompass several different components that are known to increase student retention of how individual words are spelled. These different components assist students in completing “word studies” of how words are encoded. Spelling instruction should increase in complexity as students grow academically—moving in a systematic, sequential manner. Spelling instruction should include the following components:

• Phonology – “the study of spoken sounds (phonemes)—rules of how sounds are encoded, such as why these sounds follow this pattern to form this sound(s). Individuals should have phoneme awareness skills before learning how to read. This is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulated individuals sounds in spoken words. Phoneme awareness is part of phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the ability to process and manipulate letter sounds, rhyming words, and segmenting of sounds within words. The study of phonology usually increases student ability to spell, pronounce, and comprehend written words” (Ray, 2019).

• Morphology – the study of the smallest units of meaning. Word analysis helps students understand how the smallest units of meaning dictate a word meaning. The word meaning determines spelling pattern. Morphology increases student lexicon and comprehension abilities of both oral and written language.

• Syllabification or syllable knowledge – how words are divided into different chunks or parts. There are six major syllable types in the English language. Understanding how words are divided into syllables usually increases student decoding and encoding skills. Syllable knowledge also increases the accuracy of language pronunciation and comprehension.

  • Orthography – the rules of how letters form written words. The internal structure of a word in print. Encoding words requires knowledge of how the letters and letter patterns of a word dictate its sound and meaning. In some cases, the same sound within words is generated by different letters, for example the long /ā/ sound is generated using these different letters or combination of letters:
  • -eigh (weigh)
  • ai (rain)
  • a – e (cake)
  • a
  • ei (vein)
  • -ay (stay)

Another example is the letter k that uses different single or combination of letters to create the /k/ sound, for example:

  • c (cut)
  • ck (back, chick)
  • k (kick)
  • ke (bake)
  • Orthography Mapping – “the mental process we use to store words for immediate, effortless, retrieval. It requires phoneme proficiency and letter-sound proficiency, as well as the ability to unconsciously or consciously make connections between the oral sound in spoken words and the letters in written words.” (Redding, 2023, slide 6). Instruction in orthography usually leads to faster retrieval of how words are spelled, which typically increases student reading fluency rates. Students memorize the letter layout of words and store them to be retrieved for later use—sight words.
  • Etymology – the study of word origins. English is deprived of many different languages that may have different rules of how letters are ordered within a word to create the same sounds. For example, words of the German or Latin language use different letters to form the same sounds of different origin. Some languages are more transparent than other languages. English is less transparent than other languages.

Students often resist being taught purposeful lessons about how to accurately encode letters into the “right” word. Students usually show less resistance to spelling instruction when it is embedded within other lessons.

Spelling should be taught systematically and explicitly. Students begin learning how to spelling written words through oral language. Students increase their knowledge of how to spell words when they begin bridging their oral language to written letters or combination of letters.

References

Redding, N. (2023). The importance of spelling instruction. Presentation International Dyslexia Conference (IDA).

Ray, J (2019). Structured literacy teacher, instructional knowledge. The Literacy Brain. https://theliteracybrain.com/category/structure-literacy-instruction/page/2/

Rosenberg, D. (2023). The forgotten skills needed for literacy success: spelling and handwriting. Presentation International Dyslexia Conference (IDA), Wilson Language Training.

Teaching Phonics Gives Students a Navigational Tool of Written Words

Would you allow a child to jump into the deep end of a pool without having instruction in how to swim? Some children might be able to surface and survive, most would need assistance to navigate the deep waters. Why put any child through the anxiety or possible drowning?  Students should be taught how to swim systematically to avoid a possible drowning. This should be the same for students navigating or learning how to read written words.

Instruction should begin at the basics or foundation to give students the tools to rescue themselves as they navigate the deepening waters of written verbiage. Instruction should be systematic moving students from basic to complex. Students use their knowledge of phonemic awareness to learn how to encode and decode written words. Phonemic awareness is the knowledge of how to manipulate sounds to develop words and sentences. Students examine the sounds of oral language and how the arrangement of letters within words represent unique sounds to convey meaning.  Oral language knowledge provides the initial layer of the foundation for reading written language.

Phonics instruction relies on student oral communication skills in particularly their ability to synthesize, comprehend, and mimic spoken sounds. Oral language usually develops naturally through an individual’s environment. They learn to mimic sounds of spoken language within their environment. Toddlers usually babble or play with individual sounds before they produce words and practice voicing a few words at time before moving to a full sentence. Written language is not a natural occurrence gained through their environment; it is a learned experience. The skill is best learned through an explicit, systematic format.

Phonics is the study of words, in particular the individual sounds that make a particular word and the symbols that represent those sounds of that word. The order of the letters dictates the individual sounds of a word. English Language has approximately 44 sounds that are used to develop written words. These sounds of are comprised of only 26 letters. Phonics instruction usually begins during the pre-school years of formal education. Not all students will gain the skills taught on the same timeline. Skipping this instruction is similar to throwing students into the deep end of the pool.

Written words composed into sentences have set doctrine that allows for comprehension. Words are read in a set pattern, from left to right. How the letters are arranged in a word dictate the pronunciation and meaning of the word. Explicit instruction teaches students this doctrine without confusion. Typically, students who are learning to read think concretely (black and white). Abstract thinking usually doesn’t begin to make an appearance until around age 7, when most students are already reading full sentences. Students who are learning how to read also benefit from visual or pictures of a new concept. Systematic instruction of written words helps students to learn new skills from basic to complex, such as learning about individual vowel sounds before learning about vowel digraphs.

Phonics instruction shouldn’t end in Grade 1, but continue until student(s) are able to automatically decode and encode words.

Relieve Student Stress—Teach Spelling

The stress and anxiety that students often feel when they are trying to spell words without the proper tools usually diminishes when students learn how the letters work together to form words of meaning. Students begin learning the sounds of letters and words as they begin mimicking the conversations of their environment. Students begin learning the rules of how letters are encoded into words through their daily interactions with people and their environment. Some letter phonemes are consistent, some phonemes or chunks of words are influenced by other letters within the word. Parents and educators often model how to orally sound out words to provide students the opportunity to mimic words and learn a new tool. This tool usually assists students to more accurately pronounce words. This is called phonological awareness, which is defined as “a reading skill that involves a range of understandings related to the sounds of words and word parts, including identifying and manipulating larger parts of spoken language such as words, syllables, and onset and rime. (Ray, 2017, pp. 13-14).

Students build on the foundation of phonological awareness when they begin to attach graphemes to the spoken sounds. This is when students begin learning letter-sound correspondences. Letter-sound correspondences is the second pillar of structure literacy (Ray, 2020, p. 38). Some graphemes are constant, some have variances that are dependent on how the letters are placed within a word. The rules of how letters influence other letters within a word is identified as phonics. Ray (2017) defines phonics as:

A form of instruction that cultivates the understanding and use of the alphabet, which emphasizes the predictable relationship between phonemes (the sounds in spoken language) and graphemes (the letters that represent those sounds in written language) and shows how this information can be used to read or decode words.” (p. 13)

There are many ways to teach how the letters are encoded to develop words. One type of instruction that may strengthen student sound-letter correspondences and how letters may change individual letter phonemes during the primary grades is to write the symbol(s) that represent the individual sounds of a word. Students begin to understand how letters change their individual sounds based on where they are placed in a word. There are many benefits of teaching students the letter-sound correspondences, such as improved spelling and comprehension. This practice should be taught throughout a student’s formal education, beginning when they start encoding or writing down the graphemes to build words. The complexity of how the letters create different sounds and words increases with each grade-level.

The following is an example of how I often model/instruct later primary students to examine the relationships of phonemes and graphemes. These students usually can read the words that they are examining.

Sound out the word gym.

What letter sounds do you hear?            /___/   /___/   /___/

What letters or letter diagraphs are used to

represent those sounds?                   ____   ____   ____

 

Sound out the word gym.

What letter sounds do you hear?              / j /   / i /   / m /

What letters or letter diagraphs are used to

represent those sounds?                        g       y       m

 

another example:

Sound out the word tardy.

What letter sounds do you hear?                / t /   / ä /   / r /   / d /   / e /

What letters or letter diagraphs are used to

represent those sounds?                          t       a       r       d      y

I usually use spelling words that students are expected to know how to spell at their particular grade level.

Educators might use a different format for teaching students at different grade-levels or complexities of words. When systematic, direct, explicit instruction is used students usually learn the “rules” of how letter placement affects the sounds of words and the spelling of words that are new or hard become natural. When teaching spelling you are essentially teaching all of the pillars of structured literacy (phonemic awareness→letter-sound correspondences→syllables→ morphology→ syntax→semantics).

References

Ray, J. S. (2020). Structured Literacy Supports All Learners: Students At-Risk of Literacy Acquisition – Dyslexia and English Learners. Texas Association for Literacy Education Yearbook, Vol. 7, pp. 37-43.

Ray, J. S. (2017). Tier 2 intervention for students in grades 1-3 identified as at-risk in reading. (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University). https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3826/

 

Developing the Reading Brain Connections is Hard Work!

The brain has elasticity or the ability to grow new connections and prune unused connections. This is an easier task for younger individuals, when their brain has a greater degree of elasticity. No matter the age growing new or different connections or routes of communication between the different parts of the brain for effective reading is usually very tiring. When a person has dyslexia, this impedes the process.

In his book The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read, John Corcoran (2008) describes living a life similar to a prisoner with no way to escape or get out for good behavior. In his 40s John stumbled upon or was talked into trying a program called, Lindamood Bell. He hesitated because no one else had been able to break through and help him learn the skills necessary to read.

Even though he read at about Grade 2, he had wholes or gaps in the necessary tools he needed to effectively read at Grade 2. He first began meeting with his instructional team at Lindamood Bell for four hours a day, after a week he moved his instruction time to six hours a day. He describes his plunge into intense therapy-training like a soldier readying himself for war. John states, “at times my shirt would be soaking wet as I strained to learn the new techniques. I never worked so hard at anything in my life, and I never felt so good” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 201).

John describes that his journey of learning how to read began with phonemic awareness (oral language), learning how to better manipulate sounds of words. He was lacking the phonemic awareness skills that many educators take for granted as this is usually acquired before students enter formal education. Once those skills were learned, he began learning the names of letters and their corresponding sounds. Instructors assisted John in learning how the movements of his face and mouth helped him to create the sounds of the individual letters, letter diagrams, and words.

He noted that part of his issue was a lack of correct sound linkage. Meaning his brain did not accurately connect the right oral sounds with their corresponding letter(s). He lacked sound discrimination skills that are necessary to distinguish between different sounds associated with each letter. He stated that nearly a third of individuals who possess normal hearing “do not have fully developed auditory conceptual ability” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 204). This skill is necessary for decoding words into the individual sounds and their corresponding letters. He noted that he had to use his senses of hearing, seeing, touching, and moving to accurately absorb the skills necessary to read.

After about three weeks, he began to feel the prison walls tumble as “the task went from being hard, physical labor to a fun learning activity” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 203). “I felt my own transition from being physically and mentally exhausted to being relaxed and confident” (p. 203). He began to unmask his deception of not knowing how to read, no longer feeling the need to manipulate his environment to protect himself.

After one month of instruction or 100 hours of treatment in the Lindamood-Bell Learning Process, John “gained 10 years in word-attack skill” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 206) moving from Grade 2 to Grade 12; “three years in word recognition” (p. 206) moving from Grade 5 to Grade 8; and “a year and a half in spelling” (p. 206). His therapy also increased his ability to follow oral directions and his reading comprehension skills.

The Lindamood Bell Program was developed in the late 1960’s to teach students with unreliable auditory perceptions known as Auditory Discrimination in Depth (ADD). The program teaches “students to perceive sounds in isolation and in context and how to produce them” (American Federation of Teachers, 1999). They have other programs such as Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing Program (LiPS), which focuses on reading and spelling. “Combining phonics with auditory discrimination in depth (LIPS) program is what I will call the Complete Intensive Systematic Phonics Learning System” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 209).

Each student is unique having different genetic and environmental factors that may affect students’ ability to learn how to read, making accurate diagnose of individual student learning needs a challenge.

Identifying dyslexic or literacy deficit students during grades Pre-Kinder – 2, when an individual’s brain in more flexible, decreases the dollars to educate and rehabilitate individuals during their teens and adulthood. Identifying them can be tricky! Many states have passed laws making dyslexia a learning disability and many districts have now adopted the necessary assessments to diagnose these students. The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) defines dyslexia as:

“a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge” (Adopted by the IDA Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002).

Classic dyslexia or developmental dyslexia is acquired through one’s genetics. These students are usually identified though their lack of phonological process skills. They rely on different parts of the brain to process written words. These students work twice as hard to process written words. This type of dyslexia was first discussed in research during the 1800s. Another type is dyscalculia, which affects an individual’s ability to effectively process math equations. Another type of dyslexia is dysgraphia—a student’s ability to learn how to process information into written language. There are programs outside of public education that can effectively diagnose and treat individuals of dyslexia. I encourage individuals to choose programs that are Orton-Gillingham based and endorsed by IDA.

“A good builder, like a good teacher, uses the best tools and material available, which includes a plan and blueprint” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 210).

References

Corcoran, J. (2008). The teacher who couldn’t read. Kaplan, Inc.American Federation of Teachers (1999). Lindamood-bell reading intervention      program. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/ lindamood-bell-reading-intervention-program

Phonological Awareness – Traditional Rhymes

Many students are arriving at school without the phonological awareness skills necessary to develop effective reading skills. The lack of phonological awareness skills may be attributed to a variety of entities. One entity that may be attributed to the lack of phonological processing skills is developmental dyslexia. These students typically acquire this disability naturally through their genetic gene pool. These students develop different connections in their brains that inhibit them from naturally developing and process the right highways to process written language. Another entity is poverty or living in an environment that doesn’t provide opportunity for exposure to rich oral or written language that includes rhyme, repetitive wording, word play, rhythm, etc. This may include traditional storytelling, reading of written books, nursery rhymes and songs. Another entity is that the educational community at-large has thrown out many traditional writings. These traditional writings are part of the fabric that lays the foundation for learning how to read English—oral language. These writings provide natural and planned instructional lessons to learn rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, syllable and phoneme awareness, and word play. These traditional stories and songs also assist in learning how to comprehend. These traditional stories also assist in character development. These writings lend to a variety of instructional formats for lesson delivery that helps students engage naturally in the learning process. These lessons are typically oral.

The following are examples of traditional writings:

  • Row, Row Your Boat – was first published in the mid-1800s. The song is about perseverance. This song includes opportunities to teach alliteration, rhyme, and rhythm.
  • Hickory, Dickory, Dock – was first put on paper in mid-1700s. This nursery rhyme is about the time it takes for the mouse to run up and down the clock. This rhyme also lends a hand in teaching alliteration, time, and rhythm.
  • Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star – was originally written as a poem by Jane Taylor in the early 1800s. This rhyme includes many opportunities for phonological awareness instruction – alliteration, rhyme, and repetition.
  • Pat-A-Cake, Pat-A-Cake – was first put on paper in the late 1500s. This nursery rhyme/song teaches sequencing, rhythm, and graphemes. This rhyme also teaches about the process of making pastry.
  • The Wheels of the Bus – is a fairly new song that was first published in the 1930s. The song was originally written as a song “entertain” students during long bus rides. The song is also good for teaching motion, coordination, rhythm, and alliteration.

Many of the traditional rhymes and songs have been rewritten. For example, the classical nursery rhyme Jack and Jill was originally written about two boys.

Jack and Gill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Gill came tumbling after (Mother Goose’s Melody, 1791 edition).

Later the name Gill was change Jill and other verses were written to further the “story” and fit the happenings of the time. Some newer versions of traditional rhymes/tales are for the better, some are not. Educators must be steadfast in choosing the appropriate version for instruction.

Students without these ‘natural” exposures and/or correct initial wiring of the brain usually need direct, explicit, systematic instruction that includes lots and lots of practice to overcome their lack of foundational literacy skills. These students typically arrive at school a year or more behind in developing the necessary foundational reading skills. Students that show lack of phonological skills usually benefit from kinetic and visual activities, such as writing or visually seeing pictures, letters, and words. These types of activities are also beneficial for students learning English as a second language and students at-risk of or that have symptoms of dyslexia. These students should receive daily 5–15-minute explicit, systematic instruction to gain the necessary foundational skills to learn how to read. These lessons may be taught in small groups or whole group settings. Small group instruction gives teachers the opportunity to provide more precise differentiation and scaffolding of instruction. While teaching one group of students the other groups can be independently practicing taught skill(s). Small group instruction also lends a way for practice of taught skill(s) using a variety of methods, such as exploration or collaboration that usually increases the retention of instruction. Teaching phonological awareness skills in a variety of methods lessens the often laborious or mundane task of learning these skills.

 

The Need for Purposeful, Explicit Instruction of Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness skills are the foundation of written literacy. Phonological awareness is “an awareness of various levels of speech sound system, such as syllables, accent patterns, rhyme, and phonemes” (Henry, p. 313). Students usually acquire most of their phonological awareness skills naturally through their environment. For most students, social interactions outside of the home environment stopped for more than a year. Students didn’t have the luxury of experiencing natural interactions with in their community. They were also not exposed to other “natural” environments, such vacation venues. Students lost the natural modeling of high-cognitive language and actions that usually takes place in their natural and extended environments. Students lost their natural venue to strengthen their lexicon and oral language skills. Most students did have access to technology that may have decreased the loss of oral language development. Students may have paid a higher price for oral language development through technology, as technology may have a negative impact on brain development. Dual language students may have suffered a greater loss, as they are missing the natural absorption of two languages. These natural social skills are the foundations for reading and comprehending written language. Many students may need to “catch-up” their oral language skills to learn how to effectively read and comprehend written words.

Phonological awareness can be taught purposefully during different types of instruction. Play is one kind of instruction that may boost social interaction and phonological awareness. The play may be unorganized or organized allows students to talk and explore different venues. Collaboration is another form of instruction that allows for social interaction. The collaboration might be students who are at the same learning levels or a higher and a lower student working together. Small group instruction lends to more explicit instruction that might focus on listening/hearing of sounds through learning letter sounds; isolating letter sounds within words; repeating dictated sounds, words, and sentences; listening for changes in rhyming or word families; listening for similar patterns within words; or encoding and decoding of words. Phonological awareness instruction should rely heavily on oral instruction.

References

Henry, M.K. (2010). Unlocking Literacy, Effective Decoding & Spelling instruction (2nd ed.) Baltimore: Brookes Pub.

Structured Literacy Supports All Learners-Dyslexic, ESL

Structured Literacy Supports All Learners:  Students At-Risk of Literacy Acquisition—Dyslexia and English Learners

Abstract

Learning to read is a complex endeavor that requires developing brain connections. The brain connections for reading written words begins forming during the development of oral language. The maturing of oral language and reading instruction continue the growth of the necessary brain connections to read and write. Structured Literacy instruction helps to develop and strengthen brain connections for reading and processing written language. Structured Literacy encourages educators to teach the essential literacy foundational skills during the pre and primary school years, so students have a better chance of achieving and maintaining proficiency in literacy. 

This article was published in the Texas Association for Literacy Instruction Yearbook, Volume 7, September 2020, Chapter 5, p. 37-43, downloadable at  http://www.texasreaders.org/yearbooks.html.

Literacy Instruction

The English language is more opaque than transparent. This makes learning how to read and write the spoken language seem more like taking a walk down a twisty, hard to navigate path that features many unmarked opportunities to walk in other directions. To better navigate the difficult path of learning how to read and write, scholars like Noah Webster simplified and organized literacy instruction. When America was separating from Britain and developing their own education system.

Webster (1790) saw that the strength of the United States was dependent on the education of its youth. He believed that language arts is the center piece of educating America’s youth. His patriotism led him to remold the education of young people. He believed that every young person, no matter their social economic status, sex, or cultural heritage should be educated.

Webster, a teacher while earning his college degree, witnessed that learning literacy was a challenge for the youth of America. Webster set out to improve the separate entities of language, both spoken and written. He simplified and regulated the spelling of words, utilizing didactical marks for punctuation; this method eased the learning of spelling and pronunciation (Webster, 1843). Webster (1843) also noted that spoken language involved the correct articulation of words utilizing an intricate team of the throat, tongue, palate, teeth, and lips. He believed that teachers should be looked upon to model correct articulation and to correct students on the spot in order to ensure correct articulation of words spoken or read.

Webster (1843) also believed that written language was a way to communicate a variety of thoughts, and to be utilized in a global sense that could be transported from place to place. Webster saw grammar as the science of organizing words together, utilizing firm rules that were seen as a model of organized language in order to communicate effectively. He developed and used a systematic, sequential, letter-based or a phonics approach to teaching reading and writing.

Educators today continue to develop instructional curriculum and tools to ease literacy instruction and student practice of literacy. During a recent webinar, I was reminded of an instructional tool that can ease the instruction and learning of spelling vowel sounds. The tool helps to bring better transparency of the English language. This chart titled, The Spelling Chart (Moats/LETRS) was developed by Dr. Lousia Moats. It is part of her literacy instructional program LETRS. The chart displays the different spellings of 19 vowels sounds, like the long ā sound can be spelled as make, rain and vein or the short sound ŭ can be spelled cup, flood and tough.

References
Moats, L. (2019). Hard words: what teachers don’t know about teaching reading and what to do about it, pg 26, the vowel spelling chart. Voyager Sopris Learning, 2019 Webinar Series
Webster, N. (1790). Collection of essays and fugitive writings on moral, historical, political and literary subjects. Boston: Fauet’s Statue.
Webster, N. (1843). An improved grammar of the English language. New York: Webster & Clark

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