Description of How Children Learn to Read

Description of How Children Learn to Read

 

 

Practicum III 7998

               

 

William Venables

 

 

                Children learn to read through five components which are phonemes, phonics,

vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Each of these components has its own importance that

increases a child’s reading ability. However, these components are not just meant for children as

they could be meant for adults that do not understand the English language. Adults/students that

do not understand the English language will follow the same steps that a child would except for

obviously speaking, but even for a foreigner that does not understand the English language

speaking or sounding out words in the English language can be quite difficult as well. However,

unlike an adult (even one that does not understand English language) everything is new to a child

once they enter into this world. Children in the early years begin to learn what they see. In other

words, they begin to put labels to what they see, “During their first year, babies hear speech as a

series of distinct, but meaningless words. By age 1, most children begin linking words to

meaning. They understand the names used to label familiar objects, body parts, animals, and

people” (Koralek & Collina). This is an absolutely fascinating time being that I am a father of a

two year old girl. In the last year after she began to talk, I have watched her begin to put labels to

what she sees. With the help of her mother, she can say what she sees. For example, if she sees a

dog than she says dog.

            Once a child begins to speak and put labels to what they see and begin a sense of

understanding than they can continue to do this on a developing level. This is where phonemes

really being to soar. Phonemes are small units that make up spoken words, “Phonemes combine

to form syllables and words” (Antunez). In the beginning of a child’s life, he/she begins to

connect what they see with words. However, it is obviously very important that the parents or

loved ones of the child acknowledge that what he/she is calling a dog is in fact a dog. After

phonemes comes phonics, a process where readers use relationships to ultimately recognize

words that he/she does understand and to evaluate words that he/she does not, “Phonics is the

understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes (the sounds of spoken

language) and graphemes (the letters and spellings that represent those sounds in written

language)” (Antunez).  This is a very important stage in a child’s life because it is where a child

usually learns the alphabet and can begin to dissect letters into words. My daughter has not

reached this stage at the age of two. However, she is beginning to sing the alphabet without any

help and is beginning to say letters as we point them out to her. The process of phonemes to

phonics is huge because it begins the process of reading for a child, “What our NICHD research

has taught us is that in order for a beginning reader to learn how to connect or translate printed

symbols (letters and letter patterns) into sound, the would-be reader must understand that our

speech can be segmented or broken into small sounds (phoneme awareness) and that the

segmented units of speech can be represented by printed forms (phonics)” (Lyon).

            Although children utilize phonics consistently around the age of five, children have

learned so much prior to that age when it comes to language simply by living everyday life,

“Young children make numerous language discoveries as they play, explore, and interact with

others. Language skills are primary avenues for cognitive development because they allow

children to talk about their experiences and discoveries. Children learn the words used to

describe concepts such as up and down, and words that let them talk about past and future

events” (Koralek & Collina). Around the age of five is the age where everything generally begins

to take form and children learn to advance their vocabulary because they have learned to

understand and pronounce words, “By the time most children leave the preschool years and enter

kindergarten, they have learned a lot about language. For five years, they have watched, listened

to, and interacted with adults and other children. They have played, explored, and made

discoveries at home and in child development settings such as Head Start and child care”

(Koralek & Collina). The first five years of a child’s life allows him/her to put labels to images

that he/she sees and gives him/her confidence to investigate new words so that he/she can have a

more advanced knowledge of vocabulary.

            Ultimately, vocabulary development is when children begin to read. Children cannot read

if they do not have a sense of understanding when it comes to the words that they are sounding

out, “Vocabulary development is important for beginning reading in that when a student comes

to a word and sounds it out, he or she is also determining if the word makes sense based on his or

her understanding of the word” (Antunez).  This is so true because I can remember when my

little cousin entered the first grade and was asked to read a book on tree houses. He already had a

sense of what the words in the book stood for because of his obsession with tree houses.

However, he came to many words that he didn’t know how to pronounce, but he worked through

those words and ended the book with a better vocabulary, “Ultimately, children's ability to

understand what they are reading is inextricably linked to their background knowledge. Very

young children who are provided opportunities to learn, think, and talk about new areas of

knowledge will gain much from the reading process; with understanding comes the clear desire

to read more and to read frequently, ensuring that reading practice takes place” (Lyon).

            As children begin to enter grade years such as 1^st and 2^nd, the expectation of reading

fluency becomes a given for a teacher to anticipate. The teacher should never expect all students

to read fluently but a teacher has to prepare students and give students the opportunity to read

aloud so that he/she can diagnose student reading levels, “Reading fluency is a critical factor

necessary for reading comprehension. If children read out loud with speed, accuracy, and proper

expression, they are more likely to comprehend and remember the material than if they read with

difficulty and in an inefficient way” (Antunez). Reading fluency is the key to mastering

comprehension. Although most children begin to read fluently after the age of five, every child is

different in what they can read and how fast they can read it. This is where parents and teachers

need to realize the reading level that the child is at and help them in any way that they can so that

the child can catch up to his grade level. Obviously a child cannot read what a college student

can read and sometimes even college students have a hard time understanding some reading

material depending on what it is. With that said, once a child begins to understand words and

how to read them in a fluent manner than they comprehend and can move on to bigger words.

            Reading comprehension is the final component that shows us that a child understands

what he/she is reading, “Reading comprehension is the culmination of all of the reading skills

and the ultimate goal of learning to read. The purpose of mastery of each of the four previous

skills is to enable comprehension” (Antunez). Comprehension is essential because if a child

cannot comprehend what he/she is reading than he/she is not ready to take the next step which

may put him/her behind their grade level. The development of reading comprehension of a child

is very important to a teacher or parents. In other words, regardless of how much a child knows

he/she will always run into something that he/she does not understand. The reading

comprehension of child is beyond important, it’s absolutely essential to a child’s success in

school and in the outside world, “The development of reading comprehension skills, like the

development of phoneme awareness, phonics, and reading fluency, needs to be fostered by

highly trained teachers. Recent research shows that the teacher must arrange for opportunities for

students to discuss the highlights of what they have read and any difficulties they have had when

reading” (Lyon).

           Reference List

Antunez, B. (2002). English language learners and the five essential components of reading

instruction. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/341/.

Koralek, D., & Collina, R. (1997). How most children learn to read. Retrieved from

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/386/.

Lyon, G. R. (1997). How do children learn to read?. Retrieved from http://www.

readingrockets.org/article/356/.