PRESENTATION OUTLINE
PHONEMIC AWARENESS
Phonemic awareness is a key component of learning how to read and spell. Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with individual sounds, also known as phonemes, in words and language. Educators can teach students phonemic awareness by practicing phoneme isolation, identity, categorization, blending, segmentation, deletion, addition, and substitution. Students can reassure teachers that they have phonological awareness if they identify and make oral rhymes, identify and work with phonemes and syllables in spoken word, and identify and work with onsets and rimes in spoken syllables. Teaching phonemic awareness is most successful if teachers have students manipulate phonemes by using the letters of the alphabet and when they focus on a few types of manipulation.
PHONICS
The goal of phonics instruction is to help children understand the association between written letters and spoken sounds and to help them use the alphabetic principle. Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is the most successful instruction as it is direct teaching of a set of letter-sound relationships in a defined sequence. Children can apply this knowledge while practicing their reading and writing. Phonics can lead to improvement of word recognition and spelling, improvement of reading comprehension, and can especially assist students who are struggling academically. It should begin in kindergarten or first grade. On the other hand, non-systematic programs do not track letter-sound relationships in a sequence.
FLUENCY
Fluency is the ability to read smoothly or accurately without pauses. Students who are fluent readers can focus on understanding the text and its meaning, while less fluent readers are focused on sounding out the words. That being said, fluency helps comprehension. To improve fluency, students should practice repetitive and monitored oral reading, practice independent silent reading, and teachers should model fluent reading daily.
VOCABULARY
Vocabulary refers to the words that students rely on to comprehend texts and communicate. Vocabulary can be learned indirectly or directly. For instance, students can indirectly learn vocabulary through daily conversations, listening to adults read, and reading on their own. Examples of students learning vocabulary directly include providing students with specific word instruction and teaching students word learning strategies, such as using dictionaries, using word parts, and using context clues.
COMPREHENSION
Text comprehension is the reason for reading. Students who are good readers have a purpose for reading and think actively while reading. To improve comprehension, students should monitor comprehension, use graphic or semantic organizers, answer questions, generate their own questions, recognize story structure, and summarize. Effective comprehension strategies can be taught directly or with cooperative learning.
