PKB 3105 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

METHODOLOGY

TOPIC 4 2HRS
READING SKILLS

SYNOPSIS

Students are exposed to the definition and concept of reading here. Apart
from that students will find out about factors affecting reading readiness,
basic reading skills , how to assess reading ability as weil as techniques
for teaching reading and remedial reading problems.

LEARNING OUTCOME

At the end of this topic, you will be able to :

1. Understand the definition and concept of reading

2. Explain the factors which affect reading readiness
3. Describe the basic reading skills
4. Assess reading ability for classroom reading instruction
5. Describe and use techniques for teaching reading and remediating
reading problems
4.1 Definition and concept of reading

TOPIC FRAMEWORK

4.2 Factors affecting reading readiness

Reading Skills 4.3 Basic Reading Skills

4.4 Assessing Reading Ability for Classroom Reading

Instruction

4.5 Techniques for teaching reading and

remediating reading problems
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READING SKILLS

4.0 Introduction

Before you go through this topic, bare in mind that teaching

reading to pupils with learning difficulties requires the application
of specialised instructional approaches. As such you have to be
well informed about the approaches given in the module and
from other sources.
Reading should be regarded as one aspect of an integrated
programme of language development which includes speaking,
writing and spelling. Therefore, reading should not be thought of
as an isolated skill.

4.1 Definition and concept of reading

Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts. It is a

complex skill requiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources
of information (Anderson et al., 1985).

Reading is also the process of constructing meaning through the dynamic

interaction among: (1) the reader's existing knowledge; (2) the information
suggested by the text being read; and (3) the context of the reading
situation (Wixson, Peters, Weber, & Roeber, 1987, citing the new definition
of reading for Michigan).

Older, mechanistic definitions of reading as the translation of printed

symbols into oral language equivalents are incomplete, given the progress
made in understanding the nature of the reading process. There is
widespread agreement that without the activation of relevant prior
knowledge by a cognitively active reader and the melting of that prior
knowledge with the text information, there can be no reading of text. Even
definitions of reading that emphasize meaning indicate that reading is

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activated by print. The reader must be able to translate the written words
into meaningful language. Virtually all four- and five-year-old children can
communicate with and learn from oral language, but very few can read,
because they lack the ability to identify printed words. While simply being
able to recognize or "say" the printed words of text without constructing the
meaning of that text is not reading, constructing meaning from written text
is impossible without being able to identify the words.

The terms word identification, word recognition, and decoding are

frequently used interchangeably. The new Literacy Dictionary (Harris &
Hodges, 1995) defines both word recognition and word identification as
"the process of determining the pronunciation and some degree of
meaning of an unknown word" (pp. 282-283). For words that are in a
reader's meaning vocabulary, unlocking the pronunciation leads to the
word's meaning. If a printed word is not in a reader's meaning vocabulary,
word-identification skills may allow access to the pronunciation of the word,
but not its meaning. Being able to arrive at the pronunciation of a printed
word constitutes word identification in the most minimal sense; however, if
the reader is unable to attach meaning to the word, then he or she has not
read the word, since reading must end in meaning construction.

4.2 Factors affecting reading readiness

Before carrying out formal reading instruction,always make sure

that your pupils are ready to learn because the development of
reading skills begins at the readiness stage and continues until
reading competency has been achieved.

According to Savage and Mooney, (1979) reading readiness has

been defined as a state of maturity and development that will
allow a person to begin to learn to read. Some of the factors
contributing to reading readiness are:

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1. Physical factors – children should have acquired vision,
hearing, speech and coordination at a level that allows them
to adequately see, hear, speak, manipulate print, and deal
with the type of instruction that they will encounter. Most
commonly associated with reading readiness are visual and
auditory acuity, eye-hand coordination, large and small
muscle development and generally sound health.

2. Emotional factors – the children should also have attained a

certain measure of personal confidence and security, and the
ability to maintain attention, to stick with a task until
completion, to work independently, to accept responsibility,
and to adjust well to a learning situation. These factors also
include social readiness, that is, a willingness to participate
in social activities, the ability to work well with others, to
cooperate, and to share responsibility in a learning task.

3. Intellectual factors – the abilities of perception and thinking

play a role as a readiness factor. Perception involves an
awareness of similarities and differences in the size, shape,
orientation, color and other relationships in objects and visual
symbols. It also involves an awareness of auditory stimuli,
the ability to recognize similarities, differences, and
relationships in sounds, and the recognition of separate
sounds in spoken words. At the readiness stage, children are
trained in the ability to interpret pictures and experiences to
recall ideas and details to see relationships and predict
outcomes, to think logically and reasonably and to grasp
ideas. Since language and thinking are so closely tied
together, cognition also includes the ability to know the
meaning of words, to understand and interpret verbal
messages, to express thoughts and to otherwise manipulate
verbal concepts.

4. Linguistics factors – these are factors related to language

power and language thinking. Language power deals with the
language codes – learning letter names and sounds.
Language thinking factors are developed through oral
language activities such as show and tell, discussion,
listening exercises, poetry and story telling, creative
dramatics, conscious vocabulary development, conversation,
and all the other formal and informal encounters with

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language that are typically a regular part of a child’s early
educational experience.

5. Experience – background experience is highly important in

providing interests and knowledge upon which the teaching
of reading can be based. A child who has been to many
places and seen many things, listened to stories and retold
them to others, witnessed reading as an important part of the
lives of those around him will likely be more pbysically,
emotionally, intellectually and linguistically ready to read.

4.3 Basic reading skills

Now that you know what reading readiness is, make sure that
your pupils are ready before you proceed with the teaching of
basic reading skills which are described below:
4.3.1 Word recognition skills allows the reader to
instantaneously identify words upon visual contact.
The child learns to recognise a word by sight and to
attach meaning to that word by seeing it over and
over.
4.3.2 Word analysis is an essential part of the act of
reading and an important component in reading
instruction. We usually analyze words that we don’t
recognise to get the pronunciation and meaning.
These word analysis or word attack skills are
phonetic analysis and structural analysis.
4.3.3 Phonetic analysis is the process of analyzing
unknown words on the basis of letter sound
relationships in the words. Phonics begins at the
readiness stage with an awareness of separate
sounds in spoken words and a knowledge of the
written symbols that represent these sounds.
4.3.4 Structural analysis is a natural process of
expanding knowledge of words both identification

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and meaning. Structural analysis usually begins
with the identification of independent word parts in
compound words. It extends to the recognition of
other meaningful units from which words are built –
roots and affixes (word endings, prefixes, and
suffixes).
4.3.5 Comprehension – the ability to derive meaning and
understanding from printed language – is the
consummation of the act of reading. Since
language is a tool of communication, and
communication involves the reception as well as
the expression of ideas,then the act of reading is
not complete until comprehension has taken place

4.4 Assessing reading ability for classroom reading

instruction

In order to assess your pupils’ achievement level, you must

know the different types of assessment measures for reading
ability. An assessment of the pupil’s current reading ability can
point to specific strengths and weaknesses and aid the teacher
in planning instructional objectives. To obtain a valid
assessment of the pupil’s reading abilities, the teacher should
use a variety of assessment procedures.
For discussion purposes, assessment can be either formal or
informal. Do not worry if in some books the classification
appears to be contradictory or confusing. The most important
thing is that you know how to assess your pupils’ reading ability
correctly

4.4.1 Formal assessment

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Examples of formal assessment are:
 Standardized Achievement and Reading
Survey Tests
 Diagnostic Tests
 Criterion-Referenced Tests
 Normed-referenced Tests

4.4.2 Informal assessment

Examples of informal assessment are:

 Teacher Observations
 Graded word Lists
 Cloze Procedure
 Teacher-made Tests
 Informal reading Inventory

4.5 Techniques for teaching reading and remediating

reading problems

When teaching pupils with reading problems, it is often

necessary to adapt developmental programs to meet their
needs, such as changing the sequence, providing additional
practice activities, and modifying the input-output arrangements
of selected tasks. Developmental reading approaches
emphasize sequential instruction on a daily basis.
We are discussing the following approaches in this module:

4.5.1 Basal reading approach

A basal reading program is a core reading program that is used to
teach children to read. The term "basal" comes from the word
"base," as the program acts as the basis for the lessons that teach
children reading skills.
Many teachers use a basal reading series as the core reading
program. The content is based upon common experiences and
interests of the children. A basal series systematically presents

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reading skills in word recognition, comprehension, and word
attack, and it controls the vocabulary from level to level.

4.5.2 Phonics approach

A phonic approach to reading is an approach that teaches the
relation of the letters (graphemes) to the sounds (phonemes) they
represent to teach reading. (Halvorson 1992) This approach
emphasizes word recognition through learning grapheme-
phoneme associations. Phonics should be taught directly,
through demonstration of how the strategy is used to decode a
word. After learning the sounds of vowels, consonants, and
blends the child learns to sound out words by combining sounds
and blending them into words. Thus the child learns to recognize
unfamiliar words by associating speech sounds with letters or
groups of letters. The learning of phonics should be a realistic
experience. The phonics approach can be added to a basal
reading approach as well as the language experience approach
as soon as learners have mastered a basic sight vocabulary of
about 50-100 words.
There are two phonics methods; the synthetic and the analytic
methods. Using the synthetic method the sounds are taught in
isolation, they learn that the letter represents a certain sound, for
example b = buh, and must then learn to blend the sounds to form
words or, in other words, synthesize. The analytical method, on the
other hand, teafhes the sound as part of a word, for example, b as
in bat. The learners learn the new words as the phonic elements are
introduced to them. Although the two phonic approaches differ, the
end result is the same, as they teach the learner word-attack skills
based on a grapheme-phoneme approach. Using this approach a
learner will soon be able to read independently.
There are a few disadvantages to the phonics approach. Some
learners may struggle to combine and blend the sounds into words.

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Learners may focus so much on the pronunciation of words that
comprehension of the sentence or paragraph is lost. The exceptions
to the basic phonic rules may also confuse learners.
However, beginning readers may find the use of phonics in their
reading very helpful. It can also be used as a support technique if a
learner has sufficient sight vocabulary, but finds it difficult to
analyze.
It will be helpful if you can do some research for the connection
between the words and the sounds.

4.5.3 Linguistic approach

This approach emphasizes decoding – changing the printed
words into verbal communication. Words are taught in word
families and only as wholes and does not use exercises in
sounding and blending.
The linguistic approach differs from the phonics approach in that
linguistic readers focus on words instead of isolated sounds. It
differs from the basal reading approach in that linguistic
instruction places emphasis first on breaking the written
language code before meaning and comprehension are
considered.

4.5.4 Language Experience approach

This approach integrates the development of reading skills with
the development of listening, speaking and writing skills. In this
approach, the language patterns of the reading materials are
determined by the child’s speech, and the content is determined
by his experiences. The teacher tries to broaden and enrich the
child’s base of experiences from which he can think, speak, and
read. Eventually, with help, the child can write his own stories.

4.5.5 Individualized Reading approach

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Each child selects his own reading material according to his
interests and ability and progresses at his own rate. The
teacher’s role is to diagnose and prescribe. The success of the
program depends on the teacher’s resourcefulness and
competence. Individual work may be supplemented with group
activities using basal readers and workbooks in order to provide
practice on specific reading skills.

4.5.6 Multi-sensory approach

This approach is also known as VAKT (visual-audio-kinestatic-
tactile) method. In learning a word the child sees the word,
hears the word, says the word, hears himself saying the word
and feels the muscle movement and tactile surface under his
finger as he traces the word.

4.5.7 Rebus approach

A rebus can be a method of helping involve young children in the

act of reading, as well as two types of puzzle in which letters, words,
and pictures are combined to convey a phrase or sentence. A rebus
is a variation on a pun. In a pun, the sound and/or meaning of two
words is made into a play on words. In a rebus, the pun is created
by using pictures to evoke a sound that is identical or similar to a
word or word part.

The rebus offers a way to enable children to help read a story

before they can decipher print. In this type of story, a picture of, say,
an apple, a cat, or a bird – some simple object that the child can
identify and name – is substituted for the word, so the child can
“read” that part of the story.

The Rebus equations are often found in children’s pastime and

puzzle books, one form of a rebus appears in an equation form. In

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this kind of rebus, you will find examples like: F + [picture of an ear]
=. You add the sound characteristically made by the letter F to the
sound of the word ear to make the word fear.

Notice that this kind of rebus focuses on the sound of the word,
rather than the spelling. So if you saw F + [picture of an eye] =, you
would be intended to gather fie, not feye – which is not an English
word. Benjamin Franklin used this kind of writing, without the plus
and minus signs, in his brief article, “The Art of Making Money
Plenty in Every Man’s Pocket.”

In rebus puzzles, it is common to find

 8 for ate or a syllable with that sound

 4 for for, and
 2 for to or too.

So, you can have:

 gr + 8 = great
 4 + T = fort
 2 + L = tool

To this extent, the rebus has some common ground with texting
language, also known as txt or txtspk, but while texting language
employs these devices to save space when communicating on, for
example, mobile phones, rebuses use them for entertainment.

Other popular rebus pictures include:

 a honey bee for the sound /be/

 a hand saw for the sound /saw/
 a knot in a rope for the sound /not/
 a sheep for the sound /ewe/
 an open food can for the sound /can/
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 R for the sound /are/

Besides the puzzles, there are rebuses that convey meanings by

the way words are arranged on the page.

HEAD
HEELS

shows the phrase “head over heels.”

SAILING
CCCCCCC

means “sailing on the seven seas.”

This is a way that rebuses are enjoyed after childhood is past.

A picture or a symbol of the printed word is used in the reading
material instead of certain printed words.

4.6 Remediating Reading Problems

Before we plan any remedial reading programme, it would help
for us to know what are the contributing factors to reading
problems.

4.6.1 Contributing factors to reading problems

a. Physical factors
 Visual defects – ’...a child with poor sight will have
difficulty identifying details of the printed word..’ Goldberg
et al(1983) in Kerk & Chalfant (1985)
 Hearing defects – major factors here are auditory
discrimination, auditory closure and auditory sound
blending.
b. Developmental psychological factors

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 Language – if a child does not acquire language he will
have difficulty in learning to interpret the printed page
 Attention – if a child is unable to concentrate on the
printed page he will have difficulty learning to read
 Auditory functions
 Visualization or visual memory – the ability to reproduce
visual materials from memory will affect reading ability.
 Closure – the term is used to indicate the response to
familiar items from which a part has been omitted. Closure
can be either visual or auditory.
c. Relationship of contributing factors
 Reading, writing and spelling disabilities cannot be
consistently explained by any one of the contributing
factors or developmental learning disabilities alone.
Studies have contradictory results because physical,
environmental, and psychological characteristics of
children with difficulties cannot be isolated from the
method used in teaching them to read.

Children with difficulties in reading, writing and spelling can often be

helped when a method is found that matches the child’s abilities,
ameliorates the deficit in the task of reading or compensates for the
particular deficit.

Remediating reading problems should involve:

 The development of reading readiness
 The acquisition of a sight vocabulary of meaningful useful words
 The development of independent reading aided by the use of
phonic analysis and other word recognition techniques
 The development of speedy, relaxed, silent reading for content
and ideas

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Reference:
Halvorson, Marian A. 1992.Literacy and lifelong learning for women. Part of
UNESCO series on literacy in development. New York: Intermedia. 124 pages.

Exercise 1:

’... no single approach to teaching beginning reading is

successful with all children...’
a. Discuss and list down the possible advantages
and disadvantages of each approach.
b. Discuss other possible approaches to teach pupils
to read.

Exercise 2:

Discuss the different types of assessemnt for reading

skills. Describe one way of testing in detail. Administer
the test and write a report of the results.

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