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Development of Reading Skills

THE IMPORTANCE OF PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

LAURIE HANKS 4/28/22

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LANGUAGE SKILLS COME FIRST

  • 2 months-
  • vowel utterances
  • 6 months-
  • babbling
  • 9-18 months-
  • patterns, rhythm and phrasing of adult language
  • 34 months-
  • simple sentences

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Mean Length of Utterance�-R. Brown 1973

  • 12-26 months: Semantic role and grammatical relations (MLU: 1.0-2.0)
  • 27-30 months: Grammatical morphemes and the modulation of meaning (MLU: 2.0-2.5)
  • 31-34 months: Modalities of the simple sentence (MLU: 2.5-3.5)
  • 35-40 months: Embedding one sentence within another (MLU: 3.5-4.0)
  • 41-46 months: Coordination of simple sentences and propositional relations (MLU: 4.0+)

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Preschool Years

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  • Negation: learning to put it in the proper place

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  • Pragmatics: learning about the listener and how listeners react to requests

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School Age Children

  • Syntax- become experts on how to combine words to make meaning
  • Semantics-become experts at selecting words to convey thoughts
  • Pragmatics- constructing sentences while keeping the listener in mind
    • Passive Voice- “The book was put on the shelf”
    • Conjunctions and Complex Language- “I went to Elm Park with my cousins for a party over the weekend.”
    • Embedding clauses- “My bike, which is very old, is broken.”

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Jeanne Chall: �Six Stages of Reading Development

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Chall’s Six Stages

Pre-reading

Rhyming, sound manipulation, letter names and sounds, phonological awareness (Birth through Kinder)

Decoding

Phonics, syllable patterns, vocabulary, sentence structure, narrative skills (Grade 1)

Fluency

Fluency skills, structural analysis of multi-syllabic words, vocabulary, sentence structure, story grammar, background knowledge (Grades 2 and 3)

Reading for

Learning

Focus on meaning, narrative and expository structures, strategies for comprehension, background knowledge (Grades 4-8)

Multiple

Viewpoints

Focus on higher level language, inferential thinking, genres, perspective, technical concepts and vocabulary (Grade 9-12)

Worldview

Focus on verbal reasoning, inferencing, genre analysis, text structure, style, and author’s perspective (college)

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Linnea Ehri: �Spelling Development and Reading Acquisition

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Ehri’s Four Phases

Pre-alphabetic

Chall’s Pre-reading Stage (phonological)

Partial-

alphabetic

Knows some letters and sounds and attempts to recognize words using context and letter cues

Full-

alphabetic

Chall’s Decoding Stage (Phonics, syllable patterns, vocabulary, sentence structure, narrative skills)

Consolidated

alphabetic

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Chall’s Fluency Stage (decoding, fluency skills, story structure, background knowledge).

Also called the Orthographic Phase.

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Vocabulary used in this discussion:

  • Phonological Awareness: Noticing and/or manipulating the sound structures of spoken language
  • Phonics: Letter and sound knowledge
  • Phonemic Proficiency:  Starting point of how we acquire reading in phonetic/alphabetic-based writing systems; how phonological processes facilitate reading development
  • Orthography: Correct way to represent spoken language in print
  • Sight Word: A word that is instantly and effortlessly recalled from memory, regardless of whether it is phonetically regular or irregular

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How Words are Learned

Word memory is not based on visual memory. The orthographic mapping process turns an unknown word into a sight word by attaching the stored phonemic version to the printed letter sequence represented by the pronunciation.

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Word memory is not based on any kind of visual memory

    • Picture of a dog and the word “dog” light up in different areas of the brain

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    • Stroop Color-Word Test or D-KEFS Color-Word Interference Test

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Sight word vocabulary is NOT based on visual memory/visual skills

  • Printed words are read instantly and effortlessly based on orthographic memory, not visual memory.

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Word identification vs. Word Recognition

  • Unfamiliar words
  • Effort
  • Poor fluency
  • Phonic decoding
  • Familiar words
  • Effortless
  • Good fluency
  • Instant sight word/recognition/orthographic memory

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Word-Level Reading Success

In order to achieve word-level success, phonological awareness skills must be at an advanced level. Students must have letter-sound skills and extensive opportunities to read connected test.

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Phonological Proficiency

  • More difficult tasks (manipulation) and timing/automaticity are better estimates of Phonological Awareness needed for reading
  • Deletion and substitution tasks are better estimates of phonemic proficiency
    • It is about automaticity and implicit access to the phonemic segments
    • Phonemic segmentation tasks do not necessarily measure that
    • Segmentation assessment is not enough

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Orthographic Mapping

    • The process we use to turn an unfamiliar word into an instantly and effortlessly accessible word
    • Making letter sequences familiar by attaching the stored phonemic version to the printed letter sequence version that represents that pronunciation

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How orthographic �mapping works

  • The process of establishing orthographic memories of written words
  • Phonological long-term memory (LTM) is the foundation for orthographic memory
    • Phonological LTM refers to all of the words (and word parts) orally familiar to us, regardless of whether we know their meaning

Vocabulary

(semantic lexicon)

Phonological LTM

(phonological lexicon)

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How orthographic �mapping works

  • Phonological LTM is the anchoring point for remembering printed letter strings
  • Phonological proficiency is the means by which orthographic sequences attach to phonemic sequences in phonological LTM, making those strings familiar
  • Without phonological proficiency, there’s no efficient way to make use of spoken words stored in phonological LTM as the anchoring point

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How orthographic �mapping works

  • Poor phonological memory = underdeveloped word-level reading skills
  • Orthographic mapping must not be confused with phonics
  • Phonics goes text to brain
  • Mapping goes brain to text

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Word-Level Reading Development�Phase 1A: letter name knowledge

Basic Phonological Awareness

Visual Discrimination Visual Memory

Visual-Phonological Paired-Associate Learning

LETTER

NAME

KNOWLEDGE

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Word-Level Reading Development�Phase 1B: letter sound knowledge

Basic Phonological Awareness

Letter

name knowledge

LETTER

SOUND

KNOWLEDGE

Visual-Phonological Paired-Associate Learning

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Word-Level Reading Development�Phase 2: phonic decoding skills

Phonological Blending

Letter-sound

skills

Phonic

Decoding

Vocabulary/

Phonological LTM

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Word-Level Reading Development�Phase 3: rapid sight-word building

Vocabulary

Phonological LTM

Phoneme

Awareness

(Analysis)

Orthographic LTM

Letter-sound skills

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The relationship between phonological skills and reading

  • Basic phonological skills assist in learning letter names
  • Basic phonological skills and letter names produce letter sounds
  • Letter names & sounds promote basic phonemic awareness
    • Letter sounds are phonemes, so this gets kids exposed to phonemes as parts of spoken words
  • Phonological blending and letter sound knowledge produce phonic decoding
  • Phonic decoding promotes advanced phonemic awareness
  • Advanced phonemic awareness is central to efficient orthographic mapping

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Kids with phonological �core issues

  • Learning letter names and letter sounds is typically delayed
  • Weak phonological blending and letter sound knowledge hinders phonics skills
  • Developing basic phonics skills do not produce advanced phoneme skills
  • Lack of advanced phoneme skills inhibits sight word encoding and fluency
  • Different “symptoms” arise at different points in reading development, despite being part of a singular process/cause

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Phonological Processing: Primary Cause of Most Reading Disabilities

Phonological Awareness

Phonological Memory

Rapid Naming

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Phonological Terminology

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  • Phonological Awareness: general awareness of the sound structure of the language
  • Phonemic Awareness: words can be divided into individual phonemes.

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Phonological Awareness:�Start Big, Think Small

  • All children become phonologically aware in the same way:
  • Utterances (sentences) consist of individual words
  • Words consist of syllables
  • Syllables consist of individual speech sounds. This awareness occurs in the following order: initial, final, and then medial.

INITIAL

MEDIAL

FINAL

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Phonological Awareness Tasks

Oral Motor

Blending

Rhyming

Basic

Segmentation

Identification

Heavy Duty

Elision

Substitution

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Rapid Naming

  • Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN) is a measure of executive functioning, i.e., the captain part of the brain that governs how we take in, store, and retrieve language-based information from memory.
  • RAN tasks require that we integrate visually based processes and language/motoric processes.

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Rapid Naming

Take in symbol through the eyes

Retrieve symbol label

Command lips, teeth, tongue & breath

Speak & Verify

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Profile A: Dysphonetic

Profile B: Surface

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Profile C: Mixed Dual

(triple) Deficit

PA

PM

RAN

Weak

Good

Good

PA

PM

RAN

Good

Good

Weak

PA

PM

RAN

Weak

Weak

Weak

Classic Dyslexic/RD: Needs to learn that words have sounds as a foundation for phonics and spelling instruction

May or may not have accurate decoding skills. Requires instruction designed to enhance PA, target sound-symbol correspondence, and develop fluency.

Requires highly individualized intense instruction designed to enhance PA, target sound-symbol correspondence, and develop fluency

Dosage: Children in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade will require about 90 minutes of direct, systematic phonics-based instruction per school day. Older children will require significantly more.

Dosage: These children will require more instruction than their peers with RDs if the intent is to close the gap.

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Poor readers do not �bloom; they wilt

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  • Three Seminal Studies:
  • Juel (1988) confirmed that almost 90% of poor readers who lacked PA in 1st grade remained poor readers in 4th grade.
  • Francis et al. (1996) confirmed that the poor readers in 1st through 9th grades never caught up.
  • Shaywitz et al. (1999) confirmed that poor young readers never caught up.
  • Early reading weakness and lack of PA have consequences for lifelong learning.

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Stanovich’s Matthew Effects

  • Stanovich (1986) coined the term, “Matthew Effects:” the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
  • He stated that good readers become better readers due to what is essentially a practice effect. Poor readers tend not to read, and they do not receive the additional benefit that practice brings. As a result, poor readers do not access the higher-level language that is found in books.
  • In the end, poor readers struggle with additional challenges in vocabulary, higher-level language skills, text structures, and background knowledge.

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Matthew Effects for Reading

Poor decoding skills

Less practice

Less access to literacy language

Impoverished background knowledge & higher-level linguistic skill

Less proficient & less enjoyable

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Reducing Reading Failure

  • There are numerous studies that speak to the effectiveness of direct instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics in kindergarten and grade one.
    • National Reading Panel (NICHD, 2000)
    • Ontario Ministry of Education (2003)
    • United Kingdom (Department for Education & Skills, 2006)
    • Australia (Australian Government, 2005)
    • Hatcher et al. (2004) meta-analysis
      • Trained students outperformed untrained students by 13 standard score points immediately after training.
      • 6 month to 20 month follow-ups showed a 20-point difference.

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Benefits of Phonological Awareness Training

  • Research shows that reading programs that feature systematic, direct instruction in PA and decoding skills produce better results in children with weak PA compared to reading approaches that do not.

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Sequence of Phonological Awareness Skills- Kinders

Word Awareness

Clap once for each word in a sentence

Syllable Awareness

Clap once for each syllable in a word

Identify Rhymes

Tell if two words rhyme (i.e.) box and sox

Generate Rhymes

Give a word that rhymes with another (i.e.) generate “hat” as a rhyme for “cat”

Identify Beginning Sounds

Tell if two words begin with the same sound (i.e.) big and bat begin the same

Isolate Beginning Sounds

Tell the beginning sound of a word (i.e.) mop begins with /m/

Segment into onset/rime

Separate a word into beginning sound and rime (i.e.) dog become /d/ and /og/

Early Blending

Blending a consonant and vowel sound (i.e.) /i/ /t/ = it or /g/ /o/ = go

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Sequence of Phonological Awareness Skills- Grade 1

Identify Ending Sounds

Tell if two words end with the same sound (i.e.) bat and hat end the same

Isolate Ending Sounds

Tell the ending sound of a word (i.e.) beg ends with /g/

Blending CV-C , C-VC, and CC-V segments

Blending consonant and vowel sounds (i.e.) /si/ /t/ = sit, /h/ /op/ = hop,

/sn/ /o/= snow

Blending 4 or 5 phonemes into a word

Blending consonant and vowel sounds (i.e.) tips, trip, trips

Segmenting sounds in a 4 or 5 phoneme word

Tell the sounds in a word (i.e.) pins= /p//i//n//s/, spins= /s//p//i//n//s/

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Sequence of Phonological Awareness Skills- Grade 2 and Beyond

Segmenting

Clusters

Tell the sounds in a longer word,

(i.e.) springs= /spr/ /i/ /ng/ /s/

Manipulate

Phonemes

Delete the initial sound (i.e.) thin becomes in

Delete the final sound (i.e.) belt becomes bel

Delete a medial sound (i.e.) melt becomes met

Reverse the sounds (i.e.) pin becomes nip

Substitute sounds (i.e.) Say, “tin”. Now say it again, and change the /i/ to /e/. Ten.

Play “Pig Latin”. “I like pig latin”, becomes “i-ay ike-lay ig-pay atin-lay”.

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Developmental Teaching Hierarchy

Type of Activity

Assistance/Cues

Skill (Developed or reinforced)

Use of letter sounds

Visual-spatial or oral

Letter sound knowledge

Use of tokens to represent phonemes

Visual-spatial or oral

  • Segmentation of a word
  • Isolation of a phoneme
  • Oral blending

Use of clapping or tapping to reinforce segmentation

Kinesthetic and oral

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  • Segmentation of a word
  • Isolation of a phoneme

Use of stretching, repeating or emphasizing sounds to reinforce isolation of a phoneme

Oral

  • Isolation of a phoneme
  • Oral blending

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Deleting of substituting sounds

Oral

  • Segmentation of a word
  • Isolation of a phoneme
  • Oral blending

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What Can We Use to Improve �Phonological Awareness

Florida Center for Reading Research

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  • Go to fcrr.org
  • Go to “ FCRR Student Center Activities”
  • Choose the grade level you need
  • Go to “Phonological Awareness”

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Equipped for Reading Success A developmentally appropriate approach designed to boost phonemic awareness, phonics and word recognition by David Kilpatrick.

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Other materials you can use to improve Phonological Awareness

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What about reading comprehension?

  • Should we teach reading comprehension strategies?
  • Yes, because:
    • Research has shown the effectiveness of teaching reading comprehension strategies
    • Language development involves oral and printed language –reading comprehension strategies apply to listening comprehension and vice versa
  • But:
    • While reading comprehension strategies help all students, they have less impact on student with decoding problems
    • With these students, it won’t “close the gap”

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Reading Comprehension = D x LC

  • Decoding (word-level reading) is based on:
    • Cipher Knowledge
      • Code vs. Cipher
      • 007 vs. Kbnuh Chts
    • Word specific knowledge
      • Regular vs. irregular words
      • Based to a large degree on cipher knowledge

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Reading Comprehension = D x LC

  • Language Comprehension is based on:
    • Verbal comprehension (crystallized intelligence)/receptive language
    • Background knowledge
    • Executive functioning skills
    • Inferencing
    • Visual-Spatial/Imagery skills
    • Working Memory

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Language Comprehension (LC)

  • Less commonly the source of reading comprehension issues that decoding
  • Research on LC related to reading comprehension is far behind research in decoding
    • The nature and relationship of the LC components are less clear than with decoding

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Questions