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Aspects of Literacy

Lecture 6

EDU 5100

Dr. Peter Olson

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Print concepts

Print concepts:

  • Upper case and lower case letters
  • Print is read left to right, top to bottom
  • Words are separated by spaces
  • Sentences include features, such as capitalization of the first word and ending punctuation
  • Book aspects include front cover, back cover, title page, author, and illustrator

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Activity: Find a children’s book and look for these print components in that book. Imagine that you were explaining these print concepts to young students.

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Alphabet: Which letters could be difficult for young students to differentiate

iA

​

A

a

B

b

C

c

D

d

E

e

F

f

G

g

H

h

I

i

J

j

K

k

L

l

M

m

​

​

N

n

O

o

P

p

Q

q

R

r

S

s

T

t

U

u

V

v

W

w

X

x

Y

y

Z

z

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Phonics

  • Phonics: Relationship between printed letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes)
  • Alphabetic principle: The concept that letters can represent the sounds in words.

English alphabetic graphemes

A

a

m

S

Phonemes

/k/

/p/

/ā/

/oo/

/ch/

Other symbols

7

&

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Alphabet--Letter names

  • Main benefits for learning the names of the letters in the alphabet:

1. Communication between teachers and students.

      • When a teacher mentions a letter, the students will know what letter the teacher is referring to.

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Alphabet--Letter names

  • Main benefits for learning the names of the letters in the alphabet:

2. Many of the letter names contain a sound the letter can make. Examples:

      • b = “bee”
      • n = “en”

Which letter names do not contain a sound that the letter often makes?

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Alphabet--Letter names

  • Main benefits for learning the names of the letters in the alphabet:

2. Many of the letter names contain a sound the letter can make. Examples:

      • b = “bee”
      • n = “en”

Which letter names do not contain a sound that the letter often makes?

Answer: h, w, y

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Key terms for the LPA

There are many key terms that may be used in the Literacy Performance Assessment. Below are some key terms:

    • Syntax
    • Morpheme
    • Automaticity
    • Digraphs
    • Phoneme
    • Grapheme
    • Phonemic Awareness
    • Phonics

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In class activity:

Discuss these key terms with a partner or group.

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Dyslexia: Effective instruction

Evidence from decades of scientific research has shown that with appropriate, intensive instruction, students with all but the most severe reading disabilities can be effectively taught in the early grades so that they stay on track toward academic success (Lyon, 2016).

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According to researchers at the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, for 90 to 95 percent of poor readers, prevention and early intervention programs that combine instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency development, and reading comprehension strategies can increase reading skills to average reading levels or above (Lyon, 1997).

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Structured literacy instruction

Structured literacy instruction can help students with dyslexia.

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Structured Literacy instruction is:

  • Evidence-based
  • Multisensory
  • Direct
  • Explicit
  • Sequential

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Asset-based instruction

Asset-based instruction builds on students’ skills and knowledge.

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Example:

A second-grade student is competently able to read CVC words. However, this student struggles when trying to read one-syllable words with vowel digraphs.

What are some possible phonics and word reading skills in which the student might be able to build on to learn how to read words with vowel digraphs?

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END