Components of Language

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Chapter 5

The Components of Language and Reading Instruction

Multiple references have been made in preceding chapters to the use of

“balanced” reading instruction in studies of reading instruction. Prior to

describing the components of reading, an introduction to the components of

language that shape that foundation is warranted.

Components of Language

Reading would not exist without the human capacity for language.

Because the components of language and their associated terminology align

with our demarcations for many of the elements of reading, they are

described briefly in this section. Linguists have identified five basic

components (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics)

found across languages.

Language acquisition progresses across these

components with increasing quantity (e.g., sounds, words, and sentence

length) and gradual refinement, and understanding of the subtler and more

complex points of usage (e.g., using “taught” rather than “teached”). Readers

are encouraged to explore the literature in the field of language development

to better understand and appreciate the oral language skills students may

bring to the reading process. Speech and language pathologists are a great

resource for identifying resources in this area and assisting in determining

whether a child’s language skills are developing normally and providing

support when assessment and intervention may be required.

Phonology

The study of speech structure within a language, including both the

patterns of basic speech units and the accepted rules of pronunciation, is

known as phonology.

The smallest units of sound that make up a language

are called phonemes. For example, the word “that” contains three phonemes

the “th” represents one phoneme /th/, the “a” maps to the short a sound /ă/,

and the “t” to its basic sound /t/.

Morphology

Moving to the next level of language, we find the study of the smallest

units of meaning, morphemes. Morphemes include base words, such as “hat,”

“dog,” or “love,” as well as affixes, such as “un-,” “re-,” the plural “s” or “es,”

and the past tense “ed.” Knowledge of the morphology of our language is

critical to vocabulary development and reflects the smallest building blocks

for comprehension.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Syntax

The study of how individual words and their most basic meaningful

units are combined to create sentences is known as syntax. As words are

grouped together when we communicate, we must follow the rules of

grammar for our language, in other words, its syntax. It is the knowledge of

syntax that allows us to recognize that the following two sentences, while

containing different word order and levels of complexity, have the same

meaning.

 The boy hit the ball.

 The ball was hit by the boy.

Syntax also allows us to accept “I went to the store” as a meaningful

(grammatical) sentence while “To store went I” would not be acceptable

English.

Semantics

Not only does the grammatical structure of our language provide the

needed clues for understanding, we also have a wealth of figurative language

and rich description that adds color and nuance to our communication.

Semantics refers to the ways in which a language conveys meaning.

It is our

understanding of semantics that allows us to recognize that someone who is

“green with envy” has not changed hue, or that “having cold feet” has less to

do with the appendage at the end of our legs and more to do with our anxiety

about a new experience. Because semantics moves beyond the literal meaning

of words and is culture-dependent, this is among the most difficult aspects of

language for individuals who are not native speakers and even those who

speak the same language but come from different cultures and convey

meaning using words in unique ways. Anyone who has attempted to converse

with a teenager in his own vernacular can appreciate the importance of

sharing a semantic base for communicating clearly.

Pragmatics

“‘Pragmatics’ refers to the ways the members of the speech community

achieve their goals using language.”

The way we speak to our parents is not

the same as the way we interact with a sibling, for example. The language

used in a formal speech may bear little resemblance to what we would hear

at a lunch with five friends. The conversational style of day-to-day

interactions is quite different from the language used even when reading a

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

storybook to a toddler. Knowing the difference and when to use which style is

the essence of pragmatics.

Facility with language is critical to social interactions. Our ability to

effectively communicate with others through spoken and written language is

considered one of the ultimate goals of our educational system, with reading

receiving much-needed emphasis. “Reading is essential to success in our

society. The ability to read is highly valued and important for social and

economic advancement.”

In the following section the components identified

by experts as critical to developing reading skills are reviewed.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Developing an Integrated Reading Program

Effective and powerful instruction from knowledgeable teachers

is the key to successful early reading achievement. Balanced

instruction providing all children with opportunities to master

concepts of print, learn the alphabetic principle, acquire word

recognition skills, develop phonemic awareness, engage in and

sustain an interest in reading, and experience a wide range of

materials in the context of developmentally appropriate

instruction continues to be the major deterrent against reading

failure (Adams, 1990; Hiebert, Pearson, Taylor, Richardson, &

Paris, 1998; Snow et al., 1998).

The National Research Council Committee cautioned educators about

use of the word “balance” proposing that “integration” is more appropriate.

Balance does NOT mean dividing one’s time equally among the components

of a comprehensive reading program, but, instead, developing an approach

that is coherent and adjusts to the developmental reading needs of students.

While the term “balanced” may be used more frequently, to reflect the NRC

Committee’s suggestion, the term “integrated” will be employed in the

current review of the critical components of effective reading programs.

The consensus regarding the five components described below evolved

from the work of the National Research Council Committee and the National

Reading Panel, which subsequently became the foundation for the Reading

First initiative found in NCLB. Evidence regarding these components is

shaping state- and school-district decisions regarding reading program

adoption as is clear in the list of accepted Reading First Programs. In many

cases, it has significant financial and instructional implications. For example,

it was recently reported that Anne Arundel County in Maryland was

purchasing the Open Court reading series, which has a heavy phonics

emphasis that has been promoted by reading experts and credited with rising

test scores, including nearby Baltimore. The adoption would be an $8 million

expense at a time when the district’s budget was being cut by $13 million.

Although concerns have been voiced that the program limits teacher

flexibility, Arundel had begun implementing the program in schools with the

lowest performance and reported that the curricular assessments indicated

progress. Also, administrators noted that teachers were reluctant when the

program began, but were more accepting after working with the series.

Effective implementation of reading programs is influenced by such fiscal

pressures and educators’ difficulty accepting change.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Instructional Components of Teaching Reading

Quality instruction “includes explicit explanations, modeling, and

scaffolded practice that is engaging and meaningful …meeting students

where they are with respect to affect, motivation, and cognition; explicitly

teaching them strategies for taking charge of tasks, situations, and personal

styles; and scaffolding the successful completion of academic tasks.”

While

the full parameters for quality instruction cannot be included in this review

of reading components, we will incorporate as many as possible. Each of the

components will be described with several examples of how it may be

integrated into reading instruction and, finally, how the component may

apply to high-poverty/highly mobile students.

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is one of the underlying language skills

considered highly predictive of later reading success. CIERA identified

phonemic awareness instruction in kindergarten as closely related to

emergent literacy skills. Some researchers suggest that the best predictor of

reading difficulty in kindergarten or first grade is the inability to segment

words into their sound units.

Even among children with limited English

proficiency, strong phonological awareness in their native language was a

strong predictor English reading success.

Before describing this component

in early reading instruction, it is helpful to recognize that phonemic

awareness is a subset of phonological awareness.

Phonological awareness. Recall that phonemes refer to the smallest

units of sounds, but there are other units of oral language that are easier to

hear and manipulate, such as words and syllables. The ability to hear and

manipulate words, syllables, and phonemes is known as phonological

awareness. Children acquire the ability to identify and play with words and

syllables before they can do the same with individual sounds. These simpler

tasks are common preschool activities and the types of games that youngsters

often play with their parents and other caregivers. Phonological awareness,

including phonemic awareness, does NOT involve written alphabetic letters

or words. It focuses exclusively on oral language. While some children who

have difficulty hearing differences in sounds may benefit from the visual

representation, this component involves prereading skills. The following

tasks are samples of activities related to phonological awareness, starting

with the skills that are mastered earlier and progressing in complexity.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Type of Task

Description

Example

Rhyme

Being able to match the

ending sounds in words.

Hit, pit, sit, lit, mitt

(remember this is sounds,

not letters)

Alliteration

Being able to generate

words that begin with the

same sound.

Six, silly, squirmy, seals

sang

Sentence segmentation

Being able to break spoken

sentences into separate

words.

Tia hit the ball.

1 2 3 4

Syllables

Blending syllables into

words or segmenting words

into the corresponding

syllables. This skill begins

to emerge about the age of

/pup/ /pet/ - puppet

seven - /sev/ /en/

Onsets and rimes

Blending or segmenting the

initial consonant or

consonant cluster (onset)

and the vowel and

following consonant sounds

(rime). Around the age of 4

to 5, this skill becomes

evident.

/m/ /op/ - mop

stripe - /str/ /ipe/

Phonemes

Blending, segmenting, and

manipulating individual

sounds in words.

/t/ /r/ /o/ /t/ - trot

stick - /s/ /t/ /i/ /k/

sound substitutions: change

the /h/ in hat to /b/ - bat

Table 4. A Continuum of Phonological Awareness Tasks

Instructional considerations for developing phonemic awareness.

Rhymes and alliteration can be reinforced through a variety of children’s

literature, including nursery rhymes and poems, and children often enjoy

making up their own. (How many of us can remember our names being

manipulated to rhyme with words we would rather not have linked, such as

plain Jane or fatty Patty!) The activities listed in Table 4 involve greater

manipulation of speech sounds, both blending and segmenting. Several

simple techniques can be used regardless of the level being addressed. For

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

example, words, syllables, onset-rimes, and phonemes can be clapped, tapped

on fingers, or manipulated with concrete objects such as blocks. A technique

that incorporates the use of concrete objects is the Elkonin sound boxes.

Boxes (parking spaces or other terms that attract the children’s attention)

can be drawn on a board or sheet of paper and blocks, coins, counters, M&Ms

or any other item can be used to present each word, syllable, onset-rime, or

sound. The following examples model these activities using one of the speech

units; however, the same activities can be interchanged for different units.

1. Clapping words: the – dog – barks (3 claps)

2. Tapping fingers for syllables: de-li-cious (3 taps)

3. Blocks on onset-rimes: s – and (2 blocks) (push the blocks together to

blend or pull them apart to segment)

A word about onset-rime: Awareness of individual sounds within rime

units usually requires direct instruction. There are 37 rimes that appear

in over 500 different words commonly seen in early grades. These rimes

provide a more stable pattern for vowels than individual phonemes.

There is conflicting research regarding whether to start with phonemes

or with rimes.

Starting with the phoneme level may provide the best

results after some consonant and vowel knowledge is mastered; however,

rimes may assist children in making the leap to “chunks” and seeing

patterns when learning to decode.

Elkonin sound boxes for phonemes: Move one smiley face counter into

each box for each sound in “take”; slide the counters together

and say the word “take.” (A “parking lot” format with cars or

trucks may be used, as well as many other motivators.)

/t/

/ā/

/k/

take

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Notice that throughout these activities no written language is used.

Phonological awareness, including phonemic awareness, addresses speech,

not print. As a result, many of these activities can begin during preschool

years. The development of phonemic awareness is considered an important

component of reading instruction in kindergarten and first grade. When

explicit instruction is used to introduce a concept or skill, small-group and

one-to-one grouping is recommended.

Whole-group instruction for read-

alouds and incidental reminders through daily activities is appropriate for

reinforcement of previously introduced skills.

High-poverty/high-mobility and phonological skill development. The

development of phonological awareness and phonemic awareness, in

particular, are dependent upon language-rich environments. The quality and

quantity of verbal interactions young children experience play a significant

role in building reading readiness.

Children in poverty are less likely to be

exposed to the kinds of language play that nurture this foundation to

emergent literacy. Families who are moving frequently and facing the

stressors related to poverty may be focused on survival, making the adults

less “available” to their children, resulting in fewer verbal interactions.

Further, depression, whether clinical or situational, is common given the

challenges of poverty. Depression also suppresses the quantity of verbal

expression a child experiences.

The story books and nursery rhymes of

middle-class America may not be part of the culture of children moving

frequently and living in poverty, and the limited access to books in poor

communities compared to more affluent communities has been well

documented.

Also noted is a relationship between high school dropout and poverty.

Thus, it is parents without diplomas who are most likely to benefit form

quality preschools as a means to counter the limited resources in their homes

and communities; yet, these are the parents least likely to have access to

quality programs.

This is illustrated by the limited funding for Head Start,

which allows programs to serve only approximately 40% of those eligible and

the most recent USDE Homeless Child Estimate in which states identified

over 250,000 preschoolers who experienced homelessness and reported that

only 15% had access to preschool.

Programs serving these children may

need to consider how to incorporate the creative language-based play that

will nurture the development of such skills. That is, it may be necessary to

review or even introduce preschool-level skills when students have not had

the benefit of experiences to develop the phonological skills that form part of

the building blocks for early reading acquisition and to ensure that the

continuum of phonological awareness is addressed by beginning with larger

linguistic units and moving to phonemes as students are ready.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Phonics

While phonological and phonemic awareness focus on speech without

print, phonics brings speech sounds and print together. Knowledge of the

alphabetic principle and how letters are combined to represent the sounds of

our speech is phonics. The National Reading Panel noted that phonics taught

early is more effective than if introduced after first grade. Similarly, the

authors of the CIERA

studies for grades 1 through 6 reported a high level of

phonics instruction was NOT found to be helpful for students’ growth in

fluency in grades 2-3 or to their phonemic awareness development in

kindergarten. This does not mean phonics should be ignored at these levels,

but the proper mixture of a well-integrated reading program should include

more direct phonics during early reading in first grade and gradually

decrease in terms of direct instruction. Teachers continue to explore phonics

with their students, as needed, in other grades.

English is notorious for its lack of one-to-one correspondence between

letters (graphemes) and phonemes. The adoption of words from other

languages that have different pronunciation and spelling rules and the

introduction of the printing press have been identified as causes for some of

these challenges. In the 15

and 16

centuries, many words were pronounced

as they were spelled. Over the years, we have changed pronunciation, but

little has changed in the way the words are translated into their written

form.

The English language has only 26 letters to generate approximately 45

different sounds.

Some researchers have found that most comprehensive

phonics programs provide direct instruction in about 90 rules, yet there are

over 500 spelling-sound rules in English.

That means that we must use a

variety of letter combinations to produce the unique sounds. To further

confound this challenge, the same letter combinations can represent a variety

of phonemes. Consider the following unusual spelling for a common word

proposed by the author George Bernard Shaw:

ghoti

What word could this represent? Well, the “gh” refers to the /f/

phoneme as found in the word “enough,” the “o” refers to the /i/ phoneme as

used in the word “women,” and the “ti” refers to the /sh/ phoneme as in

“nation.” By mapping these sounds to the letter combination, we would arrive

at the word “fish!”

Instructional considerations for teaching phonics. Despite the number

of irregular letters and sound combinations, an understanding of the sound-

symbol relationship and mastery of basic rules is strongly associated with

early reading success. Some educators who work with students who are

highly mobile have noted their inadequate progress with whole language

approaches that lack structured phonics instruction as the explicit structure

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

is seen as a critical building block for these students.

Thus, explicit phonics

instruction in the primary grades, as noted in previously cited studies, was

associated with more effective classrooms as defined by acquisition of reading

skills; however, an emphasis on phonics in later grades was less effective.

Table 5 outlines developmental steps children go through in developing word

recognition skills, which is the purpose of phonics instruction.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Phase

Description

Pre-alphabetic

Children attend to distinctive visual cues.

For example, they focus on logos to

recognize brands or locations such as the

golden arches for MacDonald’s.

Partial alphabetic

Students have knowledge of some letters

and sounds and use those phonetic cues

when trying to read.

Full alphabetic

Students can fully analyze the spellings of

words.

Consolidated alphabetic

With reading practice, spelling patterns

become joined into “multiletter units

consisting of blends of letter-sound

matches”

and students use these larger

units to read sight words (e.g., onset-rime

patterns).

Table 5. Stages in Developing Word Recognition Skills

Despite the ability to directly teach all possible phonics rules and letter

combinations, this component of reading instruction plays an important role

in early reading development. Rather than ensuring students master all the

rules for decoding words, phonics provides children with an awareness of

word structure, and this awareness, in turn, allows them to generalize the

rules they have mastered to read new words. Practice in writing letters to

represent words, a common way to practice phonics skills, allows children to

recognize that their spoken words can be separated into smaller units of

sounds and a visual representation can be assigned. “Armed with this

awareness, a child can then go on to induce for himself the multitude of

spelling-sound correspondences that are actually required to read.”

Students need to understand the goals and rationale for the

instruction they receive as it allows them to develop metacognitive control

over the word-learning process. For example, they can think about how they

are learning words, the relationship between their reading and classroom

instruction, and even how to adjust their approach to reading tasks when

they are not successful.

There are several approaches to teaching phonics. Synthetic phonics

emphasizes letter-by-letter phonological decoding to combine sounds into

whole words, whereas analytic phonics focuses on breaking words into their

component sounds. A third approach involves the use of analogies with onsets

and rimes taught through the use of keywords or other known words to

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

identify unknown words.

These processes are similar to those described

under phonemic awareness, and similar activities may, therefore, be used for

instruction. The major difference is the addition of written words to the

verbal cues. Steps teachers or tutors may use include:

 Modeling of self-talk (verbalizing how you approach a new word so the

student understands the internal process);

 Guided practice where the students explain why number of sounds and

number of letter might not match;

 Letter substitution practice with Elkonin boxes (e.g., here is the word

“hat” if I change the “h” to “m,” the word is …“mat.”);

 Reading texts with controlled vocabulary and predictable rhyme pattern

or easy trade book;

 Reading to students having students point to the words and follow along;

 Echo and choral reading (students repeat after the teacher or everyone

reads along aloud together);

 Solo reading; and

 Maintaining “What-I-Know-About-My-Language” journals that allow

students to review features of our language. Students develop their own

observations of rules, which can be motivating because it gives them

control over their own word learning.

Despite such a variety of activities, teachers and students face

challenges when working with phonics to provide practice in the phonics

rules that have been taught. Reading is not intended to mean decoding words

in isolation, but rather getting meaning from print. As noted above, actual

stories and expository writing are needed. A variety of controlled vocabulary

texts and trade books are available that emphasize particular patterns and

gradually increase in complexity. The benefit of these books is that they give

students the opportunity to practice words they know and be successful. One

drawback to such controlled texts is that the limitations on word choices can

make the readings less interesting and sometimes force sentence structures

that are less common for students. This, in turn, can impede motivation to

learn if the students view the stories as dull or difficult to understand.

Teachers must balance the need for practice with the use of engaging

reading. The percentage of words that needs to appear in such texts is

another area for continued research.

Some researchers suggest phonics

texts may be considerably reduced and still achieve the goal of the text.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

“If children successfully negotiate all the texts normally encountered by the

end of eighth grade, they will encounter over 80,000 words. In third grade

alone, they will encounter over 25,000 distinct words”

Not all words can be deciphered by applying phonics rules; such words

are described as “sight words.” Students will need to learn additional

strategies to tackle the texts and storybooks they want to read. Juel and

Minden-Cupp

explored primary-grade reading to determine which and how

many strategies for word recognition should be used with first graders. (It

should be noted that the classrooms involved in the study were stable.

Whether these results would apply to classrooms with high mobility is

unknown.) The researchers observed students and teachers in four first-grade

classrooms that used different reading approaches (e.g., structured phonics or

trade book emphasis) and tracked when and how students were encouraged

to:

 Sound out words,

 Make an analogy,

 Use context clues (use the surrounding text meaning to predict the

unknown words; e.g., “Does it make sense?”),

 Apply a combination of strategies, or

 Have the teacher just tell the word.

In addition, the researchers looked at which students were encouraged to use

certain strategies and under what conditions (such as group size). Less

skilled decoders were encouraged to sound out words more frequently, and

those with some decoding skills were more likely to use the onset-rime

approach. The results suggested:

 Differential instruction may be helpful in first grade. While low-group

members in a trade book classroom tend to be relatively poor readers

at the end of first grade, their classmates in higher groups make

exceptional progress;

 Children who enter first grade with low literacy benefit from early and

heavy exposure to phonics; once they can read independently, however,

these children then profit from the increased vocabulary work, text

discussions, and variety of text types that is characteristic of their

higher range peers’ reading curriculum; and

 A structured phonics curriculum that includes both onsets and rimes

and sound and blending phonemes within rimes appears to be very

effective.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Furthermore, the most structured phonics classroom had the

strongest, statistically significant overall outcomes despite the lack of

beginning-of-year differences across classrooms; peer coaching was not

successful with poor readers, yet students with some reading skill benefited

from such coaching, suggesting that a threshold of competence may be

required before students can benefit from such a strategy.

The following

classroom practices were identified for students with minimal reading skills

as having the greatest success in learning to read:

1. Teachers modeled word recognition strategies by (a) chunking words

into component units such as syllables, onset/rimes, or finding little

words in big ones, as well as modeling and encouraging the sound and

blending of individual letters or phonemes in these chunks; and (b)

considering known letter-sounds in a word and what makes sense.

2. Children were encouraged to finger-point to words as text was read.

3. Children used hands-on materials (e.g., pocket charts for active sorting

of picture cards by sound and word cards by orthographic pattern).

4. Writing for sounds was part of phonics instruction.

5. Instructional groups were small with word recognition lesson plans

designed to meet the specific needs of children within that group.

How to balance the needs of highly mobile students who may be older

but lack mastery of phonetic relationships has not been addressed in the

literature to date and is an area for further research.

While meaning is the ultimate goal of reading, it is believed that

decoding must come first. A good reader uses meaning to determine if

decoding was done properly, but readers should not start by looking at

picture clues or context. They must attend to letters first. For skilled readers,

this occurs at such a rapid rate that it is almost automatic and they often are

unaware that the decoding process is occurring.

Automaticity is fostered by the intervention of a teacher who

provides explicit instruction in the use of externalized dialogue

to control learning (Lovett, et al., 1994), teaches students to fully

analyze words (Stanovich, 1991), and provides daily

opportunities for students to read connected text containing

words with high-frequency phonograms or spelling patterns

(Ehri, 1992). Students need plenty of practice reading words in

order for words to be stored in memory as fully connected sight

words that can be read automatically.

The goal of instruction should be to motivate students to be reflective and

analytic—in other words, to become “word detectives.”

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Vocabulary

The knowledge that students have for many words is far more

complex than could be attained through instruction that relies

primarily on definitions. Not only are there too many words to

teach them all to students one by one; there is too much to learn

about each word to be covered by anything but exceptionally rich

and multifaceted instruction.

Vocabulary in readings refers to students’ understanding of the

meanings of the words they encounter while reading. Part of the complexity

of this process may be explained by realizing that many aspects of language,

as well as reading, come into play at this stage. Knowledge of morphology,

syntax, semantics, and even pragmatics influences the student’s ability to

understand what a word means, both in general terms and, with time, the

subtle nuances of meaning that different words evoke in different contexts.

The concept of a “word” can be challenging for 5-year-old preschoolers,

who may have difficulty dissociating a word from its referent.

For example,

when a young child hears or reads the word “table,” he thinks about the

concrete object and cannot separate that object from the written or spoken

“word.” For young children, the object IS the word, and the word IS the

object. The ability to manipulate this abstract component of language usually

does not begin to emerge until age 7, and deeper understanding seems to

occur around age 9 or 10.

Thus, it takes time for children to realize that the

label we choose to use to identify an object is arbitrary and not inherently

linked to the object. (Why couldn’t a table be called a “splosh”? For a young

child, the answer may likely be, “No! It’s a table!”)

In one study of children’s vocabulary growth, Anglin found that the

number of root words children knew increased by about 4,000 words between

first and fifth grade. When derivations of these words (changes based on the

addition of a prefix or suffix) were included in the count, the increase in

vocabulary acquisition reached about 14,000 words! Anglin found a “veritable

explosion in children’s knowledge of derived words, especially between third

and fifth grades. . . the bulk of this increase appears to reflect morphological

problem solving, that is, interpreting new words by breaking them down into

their component morphemes.”

Incidental discussions and direction

instruction in root words (including etymology), suffixes, and prefixes have a

place in reinforcing this skill development.

The high rates of vocabulary growth seen in many children occur

only through immersion in massive amounts of rich written and

oral language. Students who need help most in the area of

vocabulary—those whose home experience has not given them a

substantial foundation in the vocabulary of literate and

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

academic English—need to acquire words at a pace even faster

than that of their peers, but by no means do they always find

this process easy or automatic.

The fact that exposure to rich written and oral language is so critical

for this component of reading makes it a likely area for further research for

children who are highly mobile as a result of poverty or other family

stressors. Such families are less likely to have the mental energy to engage in

rich dialogues with their children (or such interactions may not be part of

their cultural experience).

In addition, families living in poverty and moving

frequently are not likely to have expansive libraries in their homes, nor may

they find it easy to access books through the public library. Checking out

books is often tied to residency—something families on the move may have

difficulty substantiating.

Similarly, students with limited English

proficiency may have little access to print, especially in the family’s native

language, compared low income and middle income schools and

neighborhoods. There tend to be significantly fewer written sources in

preschools, libraries, and neighborhoods in high-poverty communities.

Spanish is a common language found in U.S. schools today, especially

among one subpopulation of highly mobile students—those of migrant

families. Certain characteristics of Spanish may assist these students in

acquiring English vocabulary. For example, researchers have noted that both

languages share many cognates with similar spelling, pronunciation, and

meaning. The large number of English words with Latin roots reinforces this

claim. Thus, researchers found that Spanish-English bilingual students’

ability to recognize morphological relationships increased dramatically

between 4

and 8

grade. Whether this was due to increased ability or

greater sensitivity at this age was unclear.

Looking for such commonalities

and sharing the similarities with all students in the class may provide

students who are learning English with an opportunity to be the “expert” and

instruct their classmates. Such acknowledgment of the special skills these

students have can enhance their self-esteem, build greater understanding of

similarities rather than differences, and strengthen community in the

classroom.

Effective vocabulary instruction must provide students with multiple

and varied encounters with words.

Table 6 summarizes key elements that

are part of the development of vocabulary skills.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Element

Description

Examples

Incrementality

Students develop

progressive

approximations of adult

understanding of words.

Simplified scale of increments:

o Never saw it before

o Heard it but don’t know what it means

o Recognize in text, know it has

something to do with …

o Knows it well

o Can use it in a sentence

While research supports that learning can

be incremental, we know less about what

limits the effectiveness of different

exposures to the word.

Multidimensionality

Word knowledge consists

of qualitatively different

types of understanding.

There are many ways to

categorize words and no

one aspect predicts how

well a student will grasp

another.

Examples: spoken form, written form,

frequency, association with other words,

semantic relationships (synonyms and

antonyms, morphological relationships

(affixes)

Learning tasks: new concepts, new labels

for known concepts, moving words into

students’ working/productive vocabularies

Polysemy

Understanding that words

can have multiple

meanings, even when

spelled exactly the same

way (e.g., “bear” – the

animal and bear as a verb

– to carry a load).

Students “must not only be taught to

choose effectively among the multiple

meanings of a word offered in

dictionaries, but to expect words to be

used with novel shades of meaning”

(e.g., the use of figurative language).

Interrelatedness

Word knowledge is

dependent on

understanding of other

words.

Students must learn that words are not

isolated units of meaning. Students benefit

from linking new knowledge to prior.

Therefore, a high level of mastery of

previous relationships among concepts

facilitates learning new words.

Heterogeniety

What it means to know a

word differs substantially

depending on the kind of

word.

This requires understanding of syntax and

being able to identify parts of speech and

how the word is being used grammatically

influences meaning (e.g., You have two

“eyes” differs from Tom “eyes” the

dessert table).

Table 6. Elements of Vocabulary Acquisition

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Instructional considerations for developing vocabulary skills. Many of

us recall the weekly vocabulary lists with words whose definitions were found

in a dictionary and copied verbatim. The culminating event was a Friday

test.

You may have memorized a word for Friday’s test, but did you recall

its meaning the following Monday? Could you use the word spontaneously in

your speech or writing? While definitions provide explicit information for

students and many such practices may be better than waiting for chance

encounters, traditional approaches to vocabulary run counter to what the

research tells us and do not address the nuances of meaning and usage. For

example, it will not help a student differentiate the subtle difference between

saying, “Maria was annoyed.” or “Maria was furious.”

So, what can we do if there are too many words to learn for teachers to

teach directly and the subtleties needed for deep understanding and effective

usage are missed by those common vocabulary tests? Here are a few

suggestions identified by researchers:

 Students need at least some information about the nature of words if they

are to take an active role in word learning and assume increasing

responsibility for their own vocabulary growth.

o Talk about words—where they come from, how they are used.

o Read aloud from high-quality children’s literature that uses rich,

descriptive language and discuss the author’s choice of words

and why they make the story more exciting and engaging.

o Provide students with opportunities to copy an author’s style in

their own writing or have them suggest alternative words to

make a dull passage more lively.

 Context training can increase students’ ability to learn words.

o Since meaning is not clear when words are in isolation, play

word games in which the same word has different meanings

depending upon the rest of the sentence or passage. Help

students identify cues surrounding the word that assist in

understanding its meaning.

o Use cloze passages (passages in which words are omitted) and

have students practice identifying possible ways to fill in the

blank. Discuss how those different options can change the

meaning of the passage.

 Metacognition (thinking about thinking), as used in strategy instruction,

can provide a structure for thinking about the meanings of words.

o When reading, model the thought process you use when

approaching an unknown word.

o Have students share their approaches to figure out words that

are unfamiliar.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

 Metalinguistic awareness, in other words, knowledge of morphology,

correlated with reading ability into high school

and makes a difference

even when phonemic awareness is taken into account.

Give the students

an opportunity to add to their skills as “word detectives.”

o Look at different parts of speech, and how they impact word

usage.

o Provide direct instruction in root words, prefixes, and suffixes.

o Find children’s books that emphasize a play on words.

Caution – for some irregular words, morphology must be used

strategically and flexibly as a strategy. Context also is needed to recognize

the difference between an “s” added to a present tense verb (runs fast) or

added to make a plural (runs in stockings).

Areas for future research

include the effects of varying levels of metalinguistic awareness on

students’ ability to profit from different types of vocabulary instruction

and what effects instruction has on word consciousness and students’

vocabulary growth.

 Syntactic awareness training can lead to improvement in reading

comprehension since knowledge of syntax impacts contextual

predictions.

o Grammar lessons do not need to be the drill-and-practice

activities out of a textbook. The ability to play with words and

grammatical structures is the basis for many children’s jokes

and our humor as adults.

The quality of vocabulary instruction must therefore be judged,

not on whether it produces immediate gains in students’

understanding of specific words, but also on whether it

communicates an accurate picture of the nature of word

knowledge and reasonable expectations about the word learning

process.

Fluency

Fluency refers to the ability to read smoothly with proper pacing to

ensure the meaning is captured. Three components are included in fluent

reading: rate, accuracy, and prosody (or intonation; i.e., reading with

expression).

Rate. Speed in reading is calculated by looking at the number of words

read per minute (wpm). This can include reading isolated word lists (such as

one-minute probes) or short passages that are timed. The timing can be done

for oral or silent reading on passages. Second graders should average

approximately 100 wpm silent reading passages, while fifth graders will have

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

doubled that rate. For oral reading, the target rates listed in Table 7 are

suggested.

Grade Level

Target Rate

Second

85 wpm

(50-80 wpm range at beginning of year)

Third

110 wpm

Fourth

120 wpm

Fifth

130 wpm

Table 7. Oral Reading Rate Targets

Accuracy. As would be expected, high levels of accuracy while reading

are associated with greater fluency. Reading experts often looks at students’

accuracy to determine the appropriateness of texts and other reading

materials being used by students. The following three levels are suggested:

 Independent reading level: When a student can read at least 98% of

the words accurately, the reading should be easy enough to be read

without teacher direction. This is the level to seek for work students do

on their own. In addition, when working on increasing other fluency

elements materials should be at the student’s independent reading

level.

 Instructional level: Materials that can be read with 95-97% accuracy

are appropriate when the teacher will be providing support while the

student is reading.

 Frustration level: Materials that a student reads with less than

95%accuracy is difficult for the student to navigate successfully, even

with teacher support.

Prosody. To read with expression, a student must be comfortable with

the text. The student must be able to decode the words accurately and

quickly in order to attend to the meaning as well. This will allow the student

to read questions as questions, that is, with a rising tone at the end of the

sentence, show excitement when reading exclamations, and even vary voices

when dialogue.

Instructional considerations for improving fluency. To nurture growth

in reading fluency several considerations should be addressed. Materials

should be carefully selected to ensure they are at the student’s independent

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

reading level. Repeated readings of familiar texts is one way to help students

increase their rate of speed while reading and become more expressive while

reading. How do we get students to reread materials they have already read?

Here are some practices teachers frequently employ that can be used in

tutoring programs as well as classrooms:

 Young children naturally enjoy rereading their favorite books. The

many parents who know a large repertoire of Dr. Seuss books can

attest to this! Use books the child enjoys. It will make the repeated

readings fun rather than work.

 Choosing the proper level of difficulty will increase a student’s

willingness to reread. It is reinforcing to successfully perform a

passage.

 Provide opportunities for the students to perform. This gives a reason

for practicing. It may involve reading to peers, parents, or younger

children.

 Practice reading into a tape recorder. Students can listen and evaluate

their own performance. Keep samples so students can compare early

readings with later efforts.

 Read along with the student or have a taped version of the passage

that the student can listen to while reading along for independent

practice.

 Graph the results of reading probes with the student. This provides a

visual representation of improvement in reading rate and accuracy.

Many students find such a concrete measure of progress motivating. If

the student is not progressing, the graphing provides documentation

and can be part of student-teacher discussions.

While practice does not make perfect, practice is a critical component

to improve reading fluency.

Comprehension

“All children have a hunger to read, think, and discuss ideas in

literature as a way of understanding the world around them.”

The fifth component in the reading process is comprehension. The

ability to understand what is read is the ultimate goal of all our reading

instruction. Gaining meaning from texts read requires the ability to

orchestrate all previously described components. Reading for meaning should

begin with the earliest reading activities; however, the focus on

comprehension and its direct instruction gains greater emphasis as students

master other reading components. A common expression is that the primary

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

grades focus on learning to read while the intermediate elementary grades

shift to reading to learn.

The National Reading Panel concluded that the most effective

instruction for comprehension uses strategies rather than relying on skill

instruction. The Panel described skill instruction as teaching in which

“students are engaged in traditional, lower level thinking activities, such as

identifying main idea, cause-effect, or fact-opinion. When students are

engaged in using a comprehension strategy, the skills used will transfer to

other reading, and explaining how the skill transfers is part of the

instruction. For example, predicting what will happen next can be addressed

as a skill with students simply practicing predictions for materials being

read. If the instruction includes how to identify clues and foreshadowing and

the teacher discusses how the process being used in a novel study can be used

when reading a history text, the skill instruction has been enriched and

would be considered more strategic in nature.

Strategy instruction for

comprehension also has been identified as a critical component when serving

students with limited English proficiency.

Instructional considerations for improving comprehension.

Comprehension skills vary based on the type of text being read. For example,

the structure of a storybook is very different from that of a history text, a

newspaper article, or a user’s manual to set the time on your VCR. Despite

the different types of reading materials (and writing expectations) students

are expected to navigate effectively by the time they reach middle school,

there tends to be a scarcity of informational texts in primary-grade

classrooms.

Researchers have analyzed the types of reading materials in

classrooms. Results included the following:

 A 1998 study found a mean of 16% for the ratio of expository texts to

total text types in classrooms compared with 38% on standardized

tests;

 A 2000 study found 14% of materials primary teachers read to their

classes was informational; another study identified only 6% of all

material read (read aloud and by students) was expository;

 There was a discrepancy in percentage of informational texts between

high and low SES districts with the gap more than doubling at middle-

high school levels. Higher poverty classrooms tended to have fewer

informational resources for students to read.

Stories and literature can be balanced with different informational

sources from early grades, especially when the informational materials are

linked closely with the students’ own experiences. Whether it is reading the

directions to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or an ice cream sundae

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

or describing the animals and their habitats that were seen on a visit to the

zoo, young students can benefit from such exposure.

Duke

offered the following arguments in favor of informational texts:

 Students become better readers and writers of such works;

 Facility with informational texts is an important survival skill,

especially as the world becomes more technological;

 Students gain increased content knowledge, vocabulary, and

comprehension skills and become better readers and writers of

informational texts;

 Results on the NAEP suggest that higher reading achievement

correlated with students’ self-report that informational works were

part of their reading habits. (Note: This is a correlation, and no

causality can be assumed. It may be that good readers are more likely

to select informational text.);

 Since there is more informational reading outside school (newspapers

and magazines in homes), reading more informational texts in school

could create a stronger link between school and home.

Instructional techniques for use with informational texts include read-

alouds, independent reading, writing, and research. Given proper scaffolding

and materials at the students’ independent reading level, even second

graders can begin creating research reports. Descriptions of comprehension

strategies for various text forms will be included in the Tool section.

In addition to providing a variety of reading materials, teaching

comprehension strategies, as the NRP recommended, should be incorporated

into activities with students. Samples of strategies may be found in the Tools

section of this document. One of the challenges noted for schools in high-

poverty areas is the presence of lower expectations for student learning.

Effective comprehension instruction requires changes in teachers’ perceptions

and common practices. Drill and practice with lower-level thinking skills

must give way to greater emphasis on higher-level thinking skills. Increasing

teachers’ use of inquiry-based instruction for all students, including the least

proficient readers, can improve reading skills and increase motivation.

Higher-level thinking skills depend less on finding the “right” answer and

more upon analyzing and supporting one’s position. This open-endedness can

be very engaging for students, but it may take teachers some time to adjust

to less control when leading a discussion and letting the students direct the

dialogue.

Finally, higher-order questioning is associated with higher

achievement and more effective schools.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Other Factors to Consider

The five components identified in the National Reading Panel Report and

incorporated in the Reading First Act were selected based on the presence of

research to support their importance; however, additional elements play a role in

successful programs, even if they are less objective and more difficult to measure.

One of these critical factors has been included in justifications for instructional

practices already listed. That is, a student must be excited and interested to remain

engaged in reading tasks. In other words, educators should consider motivation

when selecting instructional practices and materials. Allowing students to choose

topics of interest, collaborate with one another, and work with materials with which

they can experience success increases their motivation and interest in reading.

In addition, relationships are a powerful force. Building rapport with

students and being able to enjoy one another’s company even when tackling

challenging skills is important with all students. For students experiencing

mobility, the opportunity to feel connected to an adult, whether a teacher, tutor, or

mentor, can provide a needed anchor. For older students who have experienced

much moving, building rapport may require extra effort, as these students may be

cautious about establishing a relationship that will soon end. Patience and

consistent efforts to learn about the student while respecting personal boundaries

as trust is established may help the student feel more comfortable. Sometimes

asking another staff person or peer to take the role of mentor works well. Different

students may be more comfortable with different partners. While true for many

students, but especially for students experiencing mobility, feeling welcome, safe,

and valued is the foundation that must be established for learning to occur.

Summary

What is the ultimate goal for adult proficiency in reading? The answer to this

question will shape how teachers craft benchmarks and goals for interim levels

throughout students’ educational careers. To be considered literate in today’s highly

technological society requires a variety of skills, including the ability to read,

comprehend, critically analyze, and apply information from a vast array of sources.

Reading for pleasure and having a working knowledge of traditional and new

“classics” may impact one’s impression of being culturally literate; however, the

ability to read technical manuals in the course of carrying out one’s job or installing

a new home appliance, to analyze stock performances when deciding upon a

retirement plan, or to sift through the massive amounts of media information to

decide which candidates to support in an election are among the day-to-day reading

skills required to be a competent adult. Given the increasing demands of a literate

society for economic survival, there is an increasing expectation for our schools to

ensure 100% of the population is literate, a significant shift from the days of the

industrial revolution or the expectations of many other societies outside the United

States.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

It is this expectation for a fully literate society that has led to the increasing

attention to early literacy experiences that are seen as critical to preventing reading

failure and may be the key to achieving high levels of adult literacy. As Snow and

her colleagues described, early reading difficulties are highly indicative of future

reading success or failure. Research is emerging to suggest that if we can intervene

to change those early difficulties, we can prevent young readers from experiencing

later reading failure. One of the initial steps to providing appropriate instruction

and intervention (when needed) is to identify developmentally appropriate reading

skills that children should acquire at different ages and grades. A summary table

that identifies critical skills expected from preschool through the elementary grades

can be found in the Tools section. The guidelines for these benchmarks are based on

the work of the National Research Panel. It is important to note that these are

benchmarks, not hard and fast rules for each child. In fact, the NRC commented in

an addition to the preface of the third printing of their report concern regarding

over-interpretation of the recommendations for grade levels. Use these as general

guidelines, remembering that individual students have unique needs and may be a

different level of development than their peers or even vary in their mastery of

different components of reading. Identifying students’ unique needs requires the

ability to assess students in ways that inform effective instruction.

Endnotes for Chapter 5

The information in this section is based on the work of Elizabeth Wiig, Paula Menyuk and the following text:

Fromkin, V., & Rodman, R. (1974). An introduction to language. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Snow et. al. (2001). p. 22.

Ibid., p. 46.

Ibid. p., 17.

Fisher, C., & Adler, M. A. (1999). pp. 3-4.

Snow et al. (2001). pp. vii-viii.

Loh, S. (2003, January 12). Smith adopts plan on reading. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved January 13, 2003, from

http://www.baltimoresun.com.

Gaskins, I. (1998). p. 536.

Taylor, B. M., Pressley, M., & Pearson, D. (2000).

Lyon, G. R. (1995). Toward a definition of dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 45, 3-27.

Cohen & Horowitz. (2002). What should teachers know about bilingual learners and the reading process? Literacy

and the Second Language Learner, 1, 29-52. Citing Durgunoglu, Nagy, & Hancin-Bhatt, 1993. p. 42.

Juel, C., & Cupp-Minden, C. (2000). Learning to read words: Linguistic units and instructional strategies. Reading

Research Quarterly, 35(4), 458-492. (Page 463 discusses the work of Barbara Foorman, 1998.)

See Table 3 for a review of first-grade studies.

Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary

development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74(5), 1368-1378. and Gordon, S. B. (1970). Ethnic and

socioeconomic influences on the home language experiences of children. Retrieved June 21, 2004from Ovid,

(ED043377).

USDE. (1999). Round table meeting on early literacy and homelessness. Washington, DC:Author.

Allington, R. (2000). Keynote address at the Project STARS Conference. Williamsburg, VA.

National Center for Educational Statistics. (1999).National household education survey. Washington, DC: USDE.

USDE. (2000). Education for homeless children and youth program, Title VII, Subtitle B of the McKinney-Vento

Homeless Assistance Act: Report to Congress fiscal year 2000. Washington, DC: Author.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Taylor, B. M., & Pearson, P. D. (2002). The CIERA school change project: Supporting schools as they implement

home-grown reading reform. Retrieved July 29, 2003from Ovid, (ED468690). CIERA.

Fromkin & Rodman. (1974). pp. 297-298.

Depending on the linguist, the estimate of distinct sounds (phonemes) in English ranges from 34 to 52. Websites

of interest include: http://www.antimoon.com/forum/posts/4025.htm and

http://www.putlearningfirst.com/language.08sounds/08sounds.html

Juel, C. (1994). Learning to read and write in one elementary school. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Fromkin & Rodman. (1974). p. 33.

Anderson. (2003). p. 20.

Gaskins, I. W., Ehri, L. C., Cress, C., O’Hara, C., & Donnelly, K. (1997). Procedures for word learning: Making

discoveries about words. The Reading Teacher, 50(4), 312-327.

Lerner, J. (2000). Presentation at the International Association for Research in Learning Disabilities (IARLD),

Williamsburg, VA.

Gaskins et al. (1997). p. 316

Juel & Minden-Cupp. (2000). p. 461.

Gaskins. (1998). p. 539.

Juel & Minden-Cupp. (2000). p. 465.

Beck, I. L., & Juel, C. (1995). The role of decoding in learning to read. American Educator, 19(2), 8, 21-25, 39-

42.

Juel & Minden-Cupp. (2000). Citing Adams, 1990, and Carroll, Davies, & Richman, 1971. p. 461.

Ibid.

Juel & Minden-Cupp. (2000). p 459.

Juel & Minden-Cupp. (2000). p. 481.

Juel & Minden-Cupp. (2000). pp. 487-488.

See, for example, the work of Michael Pressley and Joe Torgesen for further discussion of this topic.

Gaskins. (1998). p. 317.

Nagy & Scott (2000). Vocabulary processes. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds),

Handbook of reading research, Volume III. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 269-284. p. 273

Roberts, E. (1992). The evolution of the young child’s concept of word in text and written language. Reading

Research Quarterly, 30, 158-218.

Nagy & Scott. (2000). p. 279.

Nagy & Scott. (2000). p. 275.

Nagy & Scott. (2000). p. 280.

Hunter, P. (2003). Keynote address for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and

Youth Conference, Arlington, VA.

Allington. (2000).

Neuman, S., & Celano, D. (2001). Access to print in low-income and middle-income communities: An ecological

study of four neighborhoods. Reading Research Quarterly, 36, 8-26; and Pucci, S. L. (1994). Supporting Spanish

language literacy: Latino children and free reading resources in schools. Bilingual Research Journal, 18(1-2), 67-

82.

Hancin-Bhatt, B., & Nagy, W. (1994). Lexical transfer and second language morphological development. Applied

psycholinguistics, 15, 289-310.

Stahl, S., & Fairbanks, M. (1986). The effects of vocabulary instruction: A model-based meta-analysis. Review of

Educational Research, 56, 72-110.

Paribakht, T. S., & Wesche, M. (1997). Vocabulary enhancement activities and reading for meaning in second

language vocabulary acquisition. In J. Coady & T. Hucking (Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition (pp.

174-200). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nagy & Scott. (2000). p. 271

Ibid.

Ibid., pp. 271-272.

Ibid., p. 272.

Nagy & Scott. (2000). p. 270.

Ibid.

Kuhn, M., & Stahl, S. (1998). Teaching children to learn word meanings from context: A synthesis and some

questions. Journal of Literacy Research, 30, 119-138.

Chapter 5: Components of Language & Reading

Nagy & Scott. (2000). Citing Nagy, Diakidoy, & Anderson, 1993, p. 274.

Carlisle, J. (1995). Morphological awareness and early reading achievement. In L. Feldman (Ed.), Morphological

reality (pp. 804-849). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

See for example Gwynne, F. (1988). A chocolate moose for dinner. A little girl pictures all the things her parents

talk about, such as chocolate moose, a gorilla war and shoe trees. ISBN: 0671667416 and Gwynne, F. (1988). The

king who rained. Confused by the different meanings of words that sound alike, a little girl imagines such unusual

sights as a “king who rained” and the “foot prince in the snow.” ISBN: 0671667440.

Nagy & Scott. (2000). p. 276.

Ibid.

Nagy & Scott. (2000). p. 281.

University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (UTCRLA). (2001). Essential reading strategies for

the struggling reader: Activities for an accelerated reading program. Austin, TX: Author. Retrieved May 21,

2004 from http://www.texasreading.org. p. 9.

UTCLRA. (2002). Supplemental instruction for struggling readings, grades 3-5: A guide for tutors. Austin, TX:

Author. Retrieved May 21, 2004 from http://www.texasreading.org. p. 4.

Wheelock, A. (2000). The Junior Great Books Program: Reading for understanding in high-poverty urban

elementary schools. ERIC Document: ED441927 (EDRS) p. 6.

Taylor & Pearson. (2002). p. 18

Muniz-Swicegood, M. (1994). The effects of metacognitive reading strategy training on the reading performance

and fluent reading analysis strategies of third grade bilingual students. Bilingual Research Journal, 18, 83-97.

Duke, N., Bennet-Armistead, S., & Roberts, E. (2002.) Incorporating informational text in the primary grades. In

C. Roller (Ed.) Comprehensive reading instruction across the grade levels (pp. 40-54). Newark, DE: International

Reading Association.

Taylor & Pearson. (2002). p. 26.

Duke, Bennet-Armistead, & Roberts. (2002).

Ibid.

Wheelock. (2000). p. 7.

Taylor & Pearson. (2002). p. 26.

Gaskins. (1998). Citing Deci (1995). p. 543.

Snow et al. (2001). pp. 19-20.