The Five Essential Components of Reading

By Joelle Brummitt-Yale
Reading is an astoundingly complex cognitive process. While we often think of reading as one
singular act, our brains are actually engaging in a number of tasks simultaneously each time we
sit down with a book. There are five aspects to the process of reading: phonics, phonemic
awareness, vocabulary, reading comprehension and fluency. These five aspects work together to
create the reading experience. As children learn to read they must develop skills in all five of
these areas in order to become successful readers.

Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is closely related to phonics because both involve the connection between
sounds and words. While phonics is the connection between sounds and letters, phonemic
awareness is the understanding that words are created from phonemes (small units of sound in
language). These may seem like the same thing, but there is a subtle difference in the two.
Phonics is used only in written language because it involves letters. Phonemes are sounds only.
While they can be represented using letters, they can also be simply the auditory sounds of
words. Phonemes are most often learned before a child begins to read because they are centered
on the sounds of language rather than written words.
Just like phonics, phonemic awareness can be taught and used in a number of ways. Phoneme
isolation involves the reader parsing out the individual sounds in a word in order to determine its
meaning. Similarly, phoneme segmentation asks the reader to break words into their
corresponding phonemes (which may involve one or more individual sounds) to figure out the
new word. Both of these approaches are very similar to synthetic phonics. Phoneme
identification relies on the readers general knowledge of phonemes (usually developed through
speaking) to identify sound patterns in words. For example a reader would identify the
phoneme /d/ he knows from the words dog and dad to help him learn how to read a new
word doctor. Finally, phoneme blending requires the reader to connect a series of phonemes
together to create a word. This strategy is always used in conjunction with one of the others.
What is Phonemic Awareness?
Phonemic awareness is an aspect of reading that is essential for children to develop before they
can begin learning to read. Based in oral language, phonemic awareness serves as not only the
foundation for reading it is also the strongest indicator of a childs potential for learning to read.
Phonemic awareness is the understanding that words are made up of phonemes or individual
units of sound that influence the meaning of the word. For example, the word drum is made up
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of four individual phonemes: /d/ /r/ /u/ /m/. If you change one of these, notice how the meaning
of the word changes. When /d/ is replaced by /st/ you have strum, a verb meaning to run an
object (usually ones fingers) across an object that makes sound. This is very different than
drum.
Phonemic awareness is not only the recognition that words are made up of small sound units it is
also the ability to break down, manipulate and blend phonemes. A reader needs to be able to
apply her understanding of phonemes in order to begin learning to read. She must be taught to
transfer her knowledge of phonemes used in oral language to written language.
Elements of Phonemic Awareness
There are three main aspects of phonemic awareness: syllables, rhymes and beginning sounds.
Children need to be able to identify and manipulate these elements in order to begin reading.
There are several ways that they can be taught to apply these elements to the words they use in
spoken and eventually print language. To help children develop skills for working with syllables,
adults can teach them to segment syllables by tapping or clapping and counting the sounds in a
word. Rhyming and its companion alliteration (repetition of same beginning sounds in a series of
words) are developed through categorization, identification and deletion. Categorization involves
recognizing differences in sounds in a series of words. For example, a child may be given bat,
but and hut to examine. He would need to categorize these words into two collections of
similar words (those beginning with a /b/ sound and those ending with /ut/). Similarly,
identification asks children to find the similar sounds in a list of words. This activity does not
require them to create a set of categories, but rather to simply identify which words sound the
same. Deletion allows children to play with words to see how they change when a phoneme is
deleted. Consider what happens when /d/ is removed from the word drum. It has an entirely
different meaning. All three of the elements of phonemic awareness are aided through blending.
This strategy is one that a reader uses to put all of the sound pieces of a word together.
Determining Phonemic Awareness
A childs phonemic awareness is most often assessed using a rubric fitting a particular language
task. Some of the most common tasks used to determine phonemic awareness are: 1) having a
child create a list of rhyming words beginning with a starter word provided by the teacher, 2)
asking a child to segment a word into its beginning, middle and end sounds and 3) having a child
count the number of syllables in a word.
Role of Phonemic Awareness in Reading

Young children must come to reading with phonemic awareness. Research has found that this
element of reading is the single strongest indicator for a childs success at learning to read. While
the reasons why phonemic awareness is a necessary pre-requisite to reading are not clear many
researchers speculate that the understanding that phonemes are sequences of sounds in language
makes children aware of how the alphabet works. In other words phonemic awareness helps
children realize that words, regardless of their form (oral or print), are made up of sounds.
Phonemic awareness allows young readers to build another important element of reading:
phonics. Phonics (the relationship between letters and sounds) builds upon phonemic awareness.
Phonemic awareness creates a bridge between spoken and written language. When a child
understands and can manipulate sounds verbally, they are ready to transfer this knowledge to
printed words.
Impact of Phonemic Awareness on Reading Ability
Beyond serving as an indicator of a childs ability to learn to read, phonemic awareness also
impacts other elements of reading. Strong phonemic awareness when used to segment and blend
words helps children increase their abilities to decode and comprehend what they are reading.
A focus on phonemic awareness in reading education seems to have the greatest impact on very
young readers. Instruction most benefits children in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and the
beginning of first grade. At-risk readers should receive more intensive phonemic awareness
instruction than their non-disabled peers.
Effective Strategies for Teaching Phonemic Awareness
Because phonemic awareness is a necessary pre-requisite to reading, it is important that it is
included in early reading or pre-reading instruction. While there are many ways to teach, the
following proven strategies should be considered when teaching phonemic awareness to young
children.
Timing and Grouping
Phonemic awareness should be a priority in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and early first grade
reading instruction. Studies have found that young children benefit the most from short
instructional sessions (up to 20 minutes long) offered in small group settings. Teachers working
with small groups should focus on between 2 and 3 phonemic awareness skills at a time to help
children solidify these important pre-reading abilities.
Teaching With or Without Letters?
While phonemic awareness is not dependent on print, children seem to benefit the most from
instruction presented with written words. At its very core, phonemic awareness is a listening and
speaking skill rather than a reading skill. Phonemes are, after all, sounds. Still, research shows
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that teaching phonemic awareness using letters helps children solidify their skills. Print words
allow them to see and apply the connection between sound and letters necessary for reading.
Adults working with young readers on developing their phonemic awareness should make
explicit connections between sounds and letters by not only including print words in instruction
but also drawing the childrens attention to sounds by saying and pointing to letters
simultaneously.
Individualized Approach to Instruction
Children come to school with different phonemic awareness levels. Some may have a strong
understanding of and ability to apply knowledge of how phonemes function in words while
others may have little to no phonemic awareness.
Just as with phonics instruction, phonemic awareness instruction should be individualized to
meet the specific needs of each child in the classroom.
Because it is the primary pre-requisite for reading and is such a strong indicator of future reading
ability, the greatest attention should be paid to those students with little or no phonemic
awareness.
Clapping and Tapping
One of the easiest ways to help children realize that words are made up of several sounds and
syllables is to allow them to break up words by clapping or tapping out their syllables. Tapping
can be performed with fingers, hands or an object such as a stick. When first introducing this
concept, adults should model clapping or tapping. For example, a teacher can show a child that
the word balloon has two syllables by clapping twice while reciting the word (/ba/ -clap- /loon/
-clap-). Once children understand the activity they should be encouraged to perform it
independently on a regular basis. This kinesthetic connection allows children to become actively
engaged with words.
Keyword Substitution
This activity aids children in developing an understanding of the role that phonemes play in the
meaning of words. When a phoneme is changed in a word, more often than not, the meaning
changes. Keyword substitution activities use familiar songs as a basis for playing with words.
Adults can take the lyrics of a familiar song and create new lyrics that substitute words with
small phonemic variations. For instance, the chorus of Pop Goes the Weasel could be changed
to Hop Goes the Weasel. After singing the song with the new lyrics adults should discuss how
changing a phoneme shifted the meaning of the song.
Picture Flashcards
Picture flashcards are excellent tools for helping children who do not have strong phonics skills
work on their phonemic awareness. Adults should create a series of flashcards featuring pictures
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that are familiar to the child. When using the flashcards the adult should ask the child to name
the picture featured on each card. After saying the word the child should be asked to identify the
first and second sounds (or phonemes) in the word. This activity helps children realize that words
are made up of a series of independent sounds or phonemes.
Home-School Connection
Because phonemic awareness precedes actual text reading, it is most often developed at home.
Parents play an important role in their childrens phonemic awareness. Research has shown that
children exposed to print-rich environments at home prior to entering school show much higher
levels of phonemic awareness. A print-rich environment is one where reading and writing are
evident and important. Parents can model phonemic awareness by reading aloud to their children
and allowing their children to see them reading in authentic ways. They can also give their
children opportunities to practice language by talking, singing, reciting nursery rhymes, playing
guessing games and engaging in early writing activities. Almost any activity involving spoken or
written language that parents engage in with their children benefits their development of
phonemic awareness.

Phonics
Phonics is the connection between sounds and letter symbols. It is also the combination of these
sound-symbol connections to create words. Without phonics, words are simply a bunch of
squiggles and lines on a page. If you think about it, letters are arbitrary. There is nothing innately
bed-like about the written word bed. It is simply the collection of letters and corresponding
sounds that we agree constitute the word bed. Learning to make that connection between the
individual sounds that each letter represents and then putting those together is essential to
understanding what that funny squiggle means.
There are a number of ways that phonics can be taught because there is a variety of ways to
apply this aspect when reading. Each approach allows the reader to use phonics to read and learn
new words in a different way. Synthetic phonics builds words from the ground up. In this
approach readers are taught to first connect letters to their corresponding phonemes (sound units)
and then to blend those together to create a word. Analytic phonics, on the other hand,
approaches words from the top down. A word is identified as a whole unit and then its lettersound connections are parsed out. Analogy phonics uses familiar parts of words to discover new
words. Finally, phonics through spelling focuses on connecting sounds with letters in writing. All
of these approaches can be taught and used independently or in combination to help young
readers learn to identify new words.
What is Phonics?

Phonics is one of the primary building blocks of reading. Without an understanding of the
relationship between letters and sounds, reading cannot occur. This multifaceted connection
between print and pronunciation is an important component of any instructional program in
reading because it provides readers with tools for discovering new written words.
Simply put, phonics is the connection between graphemes (letter symbols) and sounds. Because
we have been readers for a good portion of our lives this relationship seems apparent and
common sense. However, in reality there is no natural connection between words and their
meanings. For example, there is nothing innately cup-like about the word cup. Even more,
the written letters making up the word cup do not reflect anything about an actual cup. The
word and its written form are agreed upon by English speakers and thus must be learned in order
to communicate.
At the very core of phonics lies the alphabet. In order to master phonics a person must master the
alphabet. Letters then need to be connected to their corresponding sounds. As we know as
English speakers, this is easier said than done. Many letters can represent a number of different
sounds. Thus learning phonics is an ongoing process for a developing reader.
Elements of Phonics
The correspondence between letters and sounds presents itself in several different ways. While
letters remain the same, sound comes in different units: syllables, onsets and rimes and
phonemes. Each syllable is made up of an onset, a rime or a combination of both. An onset is any
consonants presented before a vowel in a syllable. For example, in the word star/st/ is the
onset. Conversely a rime is any vowel and consonant(s) following an onset. In star/ar/ is the
rime. Phonemes are the small units of sound that make up a word. While star consists of only
one syllable, it contains four different phonemes: /s/ /t/ /a/ /r/.
Role of Phonics in Reading
As you may have noticed phonics and phonemic awareness (the understanding that words are
comprised of small segments of sound) are intimately connected. Phonics relies heavily on a
readers phonemic awareness. The reader must not only understand that words are made up of
phonemes (small units of sound), he must also know a number of phonemes. Since a readers
primary phonemic awareness develops through speaking and listening, most children come to
reading with many phonemes stored in their knowledge banks. Phonics instruction connects
these phonemes with written letters so that they can transfer their knowledge of sounds to the
printed word. This is why phonics instruction is an important component of early reading
education.
The goal of phonics instruction is to help readers quickly determine the sounds in unfamiliar
written words. When readers encounter new words in texts they use the elements of phonics to
decode and understand them. There are a number of ways in which phonics can be applied to
reading. Synthetic phonics builds words from the ground up. In this approach readers connect
letters to their corresponding phonemes (sound units) and then to blend those together to create a
word. For example, if a reader encountered the word apple and did not recognize it, he would
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sound out each segment of the word (/a/ /p/ /l/) and then blend these sounds together to say the
entire word. Analytic phonics, on the other hand, approaches words from the top down. A word is
identified as a whole unit and then its letter-sound connections are parsed out. This approach is
especially helpful when a reader comes to words that cannot be sounded out (such as caught
and light) and reinforcement of sight words. Analogy phonics uses familiar parts of words to
discover new words. When applying analogy phonics to the word stun a reader notices that the
second half of the word is the same as other familiar words (sun and fun). She can then
apply her knowledge of this phoneme to easily decode the word.
Impact of Phonics on Reading Ability
Phonics instruction has a strong impact on the reading abilities of young children. Those
receiving phonics instruction in the early grades (K-1) showed significant gains in their reading
comprehension and spelling abilities and moderate growth in oral reading skills. Studies show
that children in grades 2-6 also show growth in these areas, but theirs is not as considerable as
that seen in primary grade students. At the upper grades, phonics instruction has a positive
impact on the reading abilities of disabled, low achieving non-disabled students as well as those
from low socio-economic backgrounds. These groups of children showed growth in their abilities
to decode and spell new words. However, their reading comprehension skills were not affected
by phonics instruction.
Best Practices in Phonics Instruction
Phonics instruction has become the most controversial of all areas of reading education over the
last ten years. Once the only aspect of reading instruction, it has now become one of five
important components of reading education (with phonemic awareness, reading comprehension,
vocabulary instruction and fluency building making up the other four areas). As such, there are
several best practices in phonics instruction recommended for educators and parents working
with young readers.
Timing and Grouping
Phonics instruction provides the most benefit for young readers. The critical period for learning
phonics extends from the time that the child begins to read (usually kindergarten) to
approximately three years after. In studies, children receiving phonics instruction starting in
kindergarten and continuing for two to three years after saw the greatest gains in learning and
applying phonics to reading tasks.
Phonic instruction for young readers can be offered in any grouping configuration. There was no
notable difference in children receiving instruction one-on-one, in small groups or as a whole
class. The most influential components were the age of the students and the instructional format.
Systematic Instruction

By far, the best way to teach phonics is systematically. This means moving children through a
planned sequence of skills rather than teaching particular aspects of phonics as they are
encountered in texts. Systematic instruction can focus on synthetic phonics (decoding words by
translating letters into sounds and then blending them), analytic phonics (identifying whole
words then parsing out letter-sound connections), analogy phonics (using familiar parts of words
to discover new words), phonics through spelling (using sound-letter connections to write words)
and/or phonics in context (combining sound-letter connections with context clues to decode new
words). Regardless of the specific method used what is most important in systematic instruction
is that there is a deliberate and sequential focus on building and using the relationship between
sounds and letter symbols to help readers decode new words.
Modeling Followed by Independent Practice
Because the connection between letters and sounds is not readily apparent to new readers,
modeling is an important aspect of phonics instruction. Both teachers and parents should model
ways that a reader uses the sound-symbol relationship to decode unfamiliar words by reading and
thinking aloud. The best texts for modeling are high interest or informational. These include (but
are not limited to) nursery rhymes, songs, non-fiction books and poems with repetitive language.
Once children have been exposed to adult modeling several times, they should be encouraged to
practice applying phonics to their own reading. This independent practice helps young readers
truly build the connection between symbols and sounds. Adults should guide children in
strategically applying phonics to authentic reading and writing experiences to help them develop
good decoding skills.
Literature-Based Instruction
For many years phonics was taught in isolation. Children were given worksheets or textbook that
asked them to decode and write lists of words. Researchers discovered that young readers could
not apply the decoding skills learned in isolation to real reading tasks such as reading a story
or a book. Therefore, it is now recommended that phonics be taught through literature. While this
may seem contrary to the systematic approach to instruction, it is not. Teachers and parents
should select pieces of age and developmentally appropriate literature that highlight the phonics
skills focused on at particular points in the sequence of instruction. For example, if children are
learning to identify the sound-letter connection in /b/ an appropriate piece of literature to teach
and reinforce this skill would be one that uses alliteration (repetition of beginning sounds) of
the /b/ sound.
Individualized Approach

Because children come to kindergarten at a variety of different reading readiness levels, it is

important that teachers assess where students are at and individualize their phonics instruction.
One child may begin the year already knowing single letter sound-letter connections making her
ready to work on blends. Another child may have very little phonemic awareness and exposure to
print texts. Therefore teachers must tailor instruction to meet each childs needs. This ensures
that s/he will continue to develop appropriate phonics skills.
Home-School Connections
As with every academic area, parental involvement is one of the keys to success. This is
especially true for reading development. The more a parent can read with a child at home, the
better chance she has of developing a strong interest in and ability to read. Parents should
reinforce phonics as they read at home with their children. Modeling phonics use to decode
unfamiliar words and guiding children as they attempt to apply these strategies to their
independent reading helps them develop as readers. Teachers can help parents by providing
information on phonics and how to use the sound-letter connection to decode words.

Vocabulary
In order to read words we must first know them. Imagine how frustrating and fruitless it would
be to read this article if all of the words were unfamiliar to you. As children become stronger,
more advanced readers they not only learn to connect their oral vocabularies (the words we know
when they are spoken) to their reading vocabularies (the words we know when they are used in
print) they also strengthen each of these areas by adding new words to their repertoires.
Vocabulary development is an ongoing process that continues throughout ones reading life.
There are two primary ways of teaching and learning new vocabulary words. The first is explicit
instruction. This involves someone telling you how a word is pronounced and what its meaning
is. That someone might be a teacher, a dictionary, a vocabulary guide or any other resource
offering definitions and pronunciations. Context clues provide another method for discovering
new words. Context clues are the hints contained in a text that help a reader figure out the
meaning of an unfamiliar word. They include other words in a sentence or paragraph, text
features (ie. bold print, italics), illustrations, graphs and charts. Context clues are basically any
item in the text that points to the definition of a new word.
Vocabulary Basics
Knowing the meanings of words on the page is essential for reading comprehension. While few
would deny this fact, the role that vocabulary plays in reading is often ignored or overlooked in
reading education. A strong vocabulary is one of the pillars of reading comprehension.

What Exactly is Vocabulary?

In its simplest terms vocabulary is words. Your vocabulary is the words you know and can use.
While children often have extensive oral vocabularies (words they use in speech) translating
these to print often poses challenges. Vocabulary, as it applies to reading, is not only a persons
knowledge of words, but also his ability to recognize these words in print. Learning new
vocabulary involves connecting the oral and print versions of the words and integrating them into
our vocabulary knowledge base.
Vocabulary is multifaceted and complex. Each new word a person learns has denotation(s) and
connotation(s). A words denotation is its literal definition. For example the denotation of
frugal is economic in use or spending. Connotations, on the other hand, are the implied
meanings of words. Consider the connotations of the word frugal. Calling someone frugal is
usually a compliment meaning that the person is careful and conservative in her spending. If you
were to change the word frugal to cheap the connotation would be different. While frugal
and cheap have essentially the same dictionary definitions, their connotations are very
different.
Relationship Between Comprehension and Vocabulary
Vocabulary is inextricably linked to comprehension. Simply put: you cannot comprehend a text if
you do not understand the words being used in it! Vocabulary knowledge is the greatest single
predictor of a readers ability to comprehend a text. When a reader comes to a text with
knowledge of its vocabulary or is able to use strategies to determine the meaning of unfamiliar
words while reading he is very likely to be able to understand what the piece is saying. This is
why vocabulary is often used to determine the difficulty of a text. The proportion of challenging
words in a piece of writing is the standard measure for determining a texts difficulty.

Methods for Acquiring New Vocabulary

There are four standard ways that we learn new vocabulary words: through explicit or implicit
instruction, multimedia and through association. Explicit instruction of vocabulary is the preteaching of words or root analysis strategies prior to a reading experience. Implicit instruction,
on the other hand, occurs naturally and spontaneously during reading. When a reader comes to an
unfamiliar word she is taught the word or discovers the meaning using independent strategies
such as context clue identification and analysis. Multimedia learning occurs when the reader uses
a non-print source to discover the meanings of unfamiliar words. Pictures, hypertext and
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American Sign Language are common methods for teaching and learning vocabulary through
multimedia. Finally, learning through association happens when a reader is able to connect a new
word to prior knowledge. This connection allows her to add the new word to her reading
vocabulary.
Any or all of these methods can be used alone or in combination for any reading task. Ultimately,
readers should be able to apply vocabulary learning methods flexibly and independently.
Impact of Vocabulary on Reading Ability
It is not surprising that vocabulary knowledge increases reading comprehension. This is
especially true when new words are taught prior to the reading experience and the reader has
multiple exposures to the words.
Vocabulary knowledge is not only essential for reading comprehension it is also critical for
academic success. Because reading is an important component of every instructional program,
regardless of the content focus, vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in a childs
academic performance. Each content area has its own set of vocabulary that is essential for
understanding its concepts and ideas. Vocabulary knowledge is thus a predictor of a childs
general academic success. Furthermore researchers have found that students coming into 4th
grade with significant vocabulary deficits not only have difficulty with reading comprehension,
they also are unlikely to catch up with their similar aged peers.

Fluency
Fluency is a readers ability to read with speed, accuracy and expression. Thus it requires him to
combine and use multiple reading skills at the same time. While fluency is most often measured
through oral readings, good readers also exhibit this skill when they are reading silently. Think
about the way a book sounds in your mind when you are reading silently. You hear the
characters speak with expression. Even passages that are not written in dialogue sound as if
the words fit the meaning. A particularly suspenseful action sequence moves quickly through
your mind creating a palpable sense of tension. Your ability to move through a piece of text at a
fluid pace while evoking the meaning and feeling of it demonstrates your fluency.
Fluency is intimately tied to comprehension. A reader must be able to move quickly enough
through a text to develop meaning. If he is bogged down reading each individual word, he is not
able to create an overall picture in his mind of what the text is saying. Even if the reader is able
to move rapidly through a text, if she cannot master the expression associated with the words, the
meaning of it will be lost.
What is Reading Fluency?
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Fluency is the most overlooked of the five essential aspects of reading. Because it is usually
measured through oral reading, many do not consider it important to silent, independent reading.
However, fluency plays an important role in a readers ability to comprehend texts.
At the most basic level fluency is the speed, accuracy and prosody (expression) that a person
uses when reading a text. Because it is multifaceted fluency involves a readers ability to use
multiple skills simultaneously. As a reader reads a text it is important that he is able to efficiently
decode and comprehend the individual words and complete phrases and sentences that he
encounters. When he must stop at each word and spend time trying to pronounce it or determine
its meaning he is unable to develop an overall understanding of the text. This aspect of fluency
makes perfect sense to us. However, the role that prosody plays in reading comprehension is a bit
fuzzier for many people. To see how expression influences comprehension consider the
experience of reading the following sentence without any sort of emotional expression: How
dare you take the last piece of my birthday cake! The sentence loses much of its meaning when
not read with expression. Prosody is not only the emotion represented in reading, but also the
phrasing and readers interpretation.
Determining a Readers Fluency
Accurate assessments should be aimed at determining a readers fluency focus on all three
components: speed, accuracy and prosody. The most standard measure for determining fluency is
one that primarily assesses speed and accuracy. A child reads a novel, but grade level appropriate
passage for sixty-seconds. As she reads the teacher notes the number of words read correctly.
This number is then divided by the amount of time that the student reads for (60 seconds). The
resulting number is the childs fluency rate. This rate is used to determine if the student is
reading on grade level. While this formula does not indicate prosody, the assessor can also
determine it by examining the same sixty-second reading session. By taping the child reading,
the teacher can go back and listen to the recording focusing on how appropriately she phrases her
reading and uses expression.
Role of Fluency in Reading
Fluency is inextricably tied to decoding and reading comprehension. It serves as the bridge
between decoding and comprehension. On one level fluency reflects a readers ability to decode
the words in a text. If he is able to quickly and accurately move through the words on the page,
his decoding skills are automatic. This means that the reader should be able to accurately
comprehend the text. This is not always the case though. Prosody plays a very important role in
reading comprehension. A reader may be able to efficiently decode words without really
understanding what they mean because he is not engaging with the text on an emotional and
personal level. When he reads with appropriate expression and is able to recognize and replicate

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the writers phrasing comprehension will follow. Expression allows the reader to make more the
complex cognitive connections necessary for true reading comprehension.
Because fluency is tied to decoding abilities, it fluctuates based on the difficulty and complexity
of the text a person is reading. While each reader has a general fluency rate (as determined by a
fluency assessment) it will increase if she is reading a text that is well below her independent
reading level or will decrease when reading one well above.
Impact of Fluency on Reading Ability
Focus on fluency in the elementary years is important to development of reading ability in young
children. Children in grades kindergarten through 4th grade show the greatest gains in fluency
when it is included in the reading education program. Students with reading difficulties continue
to show improvement in reading ability through high school when their teachers include fluency
instruction in their reading programs.
Fluency has the greatest impact on reading comprehension. Children with high fluency rates tend
to read more and remember more of what they read because they are able to expend less
cognitive energy on decoding individual words and integrating new information from texts into
their knowledge banks.
Fluency also has positive effects on word recognition skills. Those children exposed to reading
programs with a focus on fluency have shown greater gains in their abilities to efficiently
recognize words than those not receiving instruction with a fluency component.
Reading Fluency and Instruction
As the importance of fluency in reading ability has been recognized more educators are including
a fluency component in their reading education programs. There are a number of best practices
for helping children develop reading fluency.
Modeling
Adult modeling is essential for helping students, especially those in the elementary grades,
develop fluency. Many young readers do not intuit the pace at which they must read to
comprehend a text. Similarly, expression and phrasing may not be readily apparent to them. This
is why it is important that adults read aloud to children using appropriate phrasing, expression
and pacing. When we model these aspects of reading for children they begin to develop an
understanding not only of the ways that they can use fluency in their own reading, but also the
importance of it for reading comprehension.

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Teachers and parents should employ a wide variety of high interest texts in different genres for
modeling fluency. While the greatest impact on fluency is seen when adults model it with
younger children, read alouds should not be restricted to the elementary grades. Middle and high
school aged students, especially those with reading difficulties, continue to benefit from fluency
modeling through adult read alouds.
Sight Words Instruction
A strong foundation in basic vocabulary is one of the primary components of fluency. Because
fluency depends on a readers ability to quickly and accurately decode words, sight word
instruction has a significant and beneficial effect on this aspect of reading. Sight words make up
between 50 and 70% of all words in childrens literature. When a young reader is able to
efficiently move through this percentage of the words on a page, he is fluency and
comprehension rates increase. Therefore sight word instruction is essential to improving a
readers fluency.
Oral Reading Strategies for Increasing Fluency
Guided Oral Reading
Guided oral reading is an excellent tool for improving fluency. This strategy benefits children in
developing accuracy and word recognition skills, two of the components of fluency. In this
activity, an adult works one-on-one with a child. The child reads a text that is at or slightly above
her independent reading level aloud with the adult guiding her. The role of the adult is not to
constantly correct the childs oral reading, but to guide her in applying appropriate strategies for
comprehending the text. For example, if the reader comes to an unfamiliar word the adult can
encourage her to use phonics to sound out each phoneme in and then to blend these together to
create the entire word. Similarly, if a child is reading with little expression, the adult can ask her
guiding questions about the sort of emotional associations she might have with certain words to
help her elicit these when reading aloud.
Repetitive Oral Reading
Repetitive oral reading is a strategy for improving a readers fluency as well as his vocabulary.
Like guided oral reading, repetitive reading is conducted one-on-one. The adult should select a
text that is at least 50 words long and is at or slightly above the childs independent reading level.
The child reads the selection aloud several times with the adult providing guiding feedback
focusing on different elements of fluency each time the text is read. Each time the child reads the
piece his fluency should increase. By the final reading he should be able to read the passage
aloud at an appropriate rate of fluency. Repetitive oral reading does not have to be only an adultchild activity. Teachers can pair children together for repetitive oral reading practice. When
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choosing student pairs teachers should consider student personalities as well as reading abilities.
Generally, children with low fluency rates should be paired with compassionate students who are
at or above grade level in their fluency.
Choral Reading
Choral reading is another beneficial one-on-one oral reading activity for children. For this
activity the paired readers sit close together with a single copy of the text. The two read the text
aloud with the adult (or stronger student reader) reading it at a slightly faster rate than the other.
As the pair reads the adult (or stronger student reader) should track the words on the page with a
finger to help the other reader follow along. This encourages child to focus her attention on the
words on the page.
Readers Theatre
Readers theatre is an excellent whole class or small group activity for improving fluency. In
readers theatre the readers perform a dramatic script using only their voices. While there are
many texts specifically designed to be used for readers theatre (a good number are available
online) any piece of drama may be used. Students are assigned roles in the play and are given an
opportunity to silently read over the script. Then they read it aloud focusing on fluency. The
teacher should guide students in using appropriate pacing, expression and phrasing. Readers
theatre is most beneficial when the script is read aloud several times because this gives the
readers multiple opportunities to practice reading it fluently. This strategy is particularly useful in
developing the prosody component of fluency.
Silent Reading Strategies for Increasing Fluency
Silent Sustained Reading (SSR)
While most strategies for improving fluency are conducted orally and cooperatively, one of the
most beneficial, silent sustained reading is performed silently and independently. In silent
sustained reading or SSR children spend a pre-selected amount of time silently reading texts that
they have chosen. The goal of this activity is to give them opportunities to engage in pleasurable,
sustained reading. It is important that children are able to select what they read during this
activity because choice increases their motivation and ability to focus. It is also essential that the
SSR period be uninterrupted. Fluency increases when a reader is given the time to get into a
text.
Audiobooks
Audiobooks provide an excellent bridge between decoding and comprehension for struggling
readers. Children who are reluctant to read or who have particularly low rates of fluency benefit
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from hearing a text read aloud while following along in a print version of it. When they hear the
book these children pick up on the speed and prosody appropriate to the reading task and are able
to accurately identify more words. The audiobook serves as a positive fluency model for the
reader.

Reading Comprehension
Comprehension is what most people think reading is. This is because comprehension is the main
reason why we read. It is the aspect of reading that all of the others serve to create. Reading
comprehension is understanding what a text is all about. It is more than just understanding words
in isolation. It is putting them together and using prior knowledge to develop meaning.
Reading comprehension is the most complex aspect of reading. It not only involves all of the
other four aspects of reading, it also requires the reader to draw upon general thinking skills.
When a reader is actively engaged with a text, she is asking and answering questions about the
story and summarizing what she has read. Like vocabulary, reading comprehension skills
develop and improve over time through instruction and practice.
What is Reading Comprehension?
Apple banana blue walk tree happy sing. Surely you were able to read each of the words in that
sentence and understand what they meant independently. An apple is a fruit that is usually round
and red, green or yellow. A banana is another fruit that is yellow. Blue is a colorand so on and
so forth. However, when you look at the sentence as a whole, does it make sense? Probably not.
This nonsense sentence demonstrates the difference between being able to read words and
comprehend text. As practiced readers we may take this distinction for granted since the acts of
reading and comprehension occur almost simultaneously for us. For developing readers this
relationship is not as apparent, but is essential for them to become strong, capable readers.
Simply put, reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading. While the
definition can be simply stated the act is not simple to teach, learn or practice. Reading
comprehension is an intentional, active, interactive process that occurs before, during and after a
person reads a particular piece of writing.
Reading comprehension is one of the pillars of the act of reading. When a person reads a text he
engages in a complex array of cognitive processes. He is simultaneously using his awareness and
understanding of phonemes (individual sound pieces in language), phonics (connection
between letters and sounds and the relationship between sounds, letters and words) and ability to
comprehend or construct meaning from the text. This last component of the act of reading is
reading comprehension. It cannot occur independent of the other two elements of the process. At
the same time, it is the most difficult and most important of the three.
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There are two elements that make up the process of reading comprehension: vocabulary
knowledge and text comprehension. In order to understand a text the reader must be able to
comprehend the vocabulary used in the piece of writing. If the individual words dont make the
sense then the overall story will not either. Children can draw on their prior knowledge of
vocabulary, but they also need to continually be taught new words. The best vocabulary
instruction occurs at the point of need. Parents and teachers should pre-teach new words that a
child will encounter in a text or aid her in understanding unfamiliar words as she comes upon
them in the writing. In addition to being able to understand each distinct word in a text, the child
also has to be able to put them together to develop an overall conception of what it is trying to
say. This is text comprehension. Text comprehension is much more complex and varied that
vocabulary knowledge. Readers use many different text comprehension strategies to develop
reading comprehension. These include monitoring for understanding, answering and generating
questions, summarizing and being aware of and using a texts structure to aid comprehension.

How does reading comprehension develop?

As you can see, reading comprehension is incredibly complex and multifaceted. Because of this,
readers do not develop the ability to comprehend texts quickly, easily or independently. Reading
comprehension strategies must be taught over an extended period of time by parents and teachers
who have knowledge and experience using them. It might seem that once a child learns to read in
the elementary grades he is able to tackle any future text that comes his way. This is not true.
Reading comprehension strategies must be refined, practiced and reinforced continually
throughout life. Even in the middle grades and high school, parents and teachers need to continue
to help their children develop reading comprehension strategies. As their reading materials
become more diverse and challenging, children need to learn new tools for comprehending these
texts. Content area materials such as textbooks and newspaper, magazine and journal articles
pose different reading comprehension challenges for young people and thus require different
comprehension strategies. The development of reading comprehension is a lifelong process that
changes based on the depth and breadth of texts the person is reading.
Why is reading comprehension so important?
Without comprehension, reading is nothing more than tracking symbols on a page with your eyes
and sounding them out. Imagine being handed a story written in Egyptian hieroglyphics with no
understanding of their meaning. You may appreciate the words aesthetically and even be able to
draw some small bits of meaning from the page, but you are not truly reading the story. The
words on the page have no meaning. They are simply symbols. People read for many reasons but
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understanding is always a part of their purpose. Reading comprehension is important because

without it reading doesnt provide the reader with any information.
Beyond this, reading comprehension is essential to life. Much has been written about the
importance of functional literacy. In order to survive and thrive in todays world individuals must
be able to comprehend basic texts such as bills, housing agreements (leases, purchase contracts),
directions on packaging and transportation documents (bus and train schedules, maps, travel
directions). Reading comprehension is a critical component of functional literacy. Think of the
potentially dire effects of not being able to comprehend dosage directions on a bottle of medicine
or warnings on a container of dangerous chemicals. With the ability to comprehend what they
read, people are able not only to live safely and productively, but also to continue to develop
socially, emotionally and intellectually
Fostering Reading Comprehension and Retention
One of the most complex mental activities we can engage in is reading. When you look at brain
scans taken while the subjects are reading you see many of the areas of the brain lit up with
activity. As we read we are simultaneously using our knowledge of sound segments (phonemes)
and the connection between sound and letters (phonics) to make meaning of the text (reading
comprehension). This last element is most challenging to develop. Parents and teachers need to
explicitly teach reading comprehension skills while at the same time encouraging young readers
to keep practicing and honing their skills.
Explicit and Varied Teaching
Because reading comprehension is challenging and multifaceted it must be explicitly taught.
Most readers do not infer how to make meaning of texts. They need to be instructed in a variety
of strategies for understanding what they are reading. In addition, young readers need to be
taught and given opportunities to practice reading comprehension using a variety of texts in a
variety of different settings. This is one of the reasons why the partnership between parents and
teachers is so important. In the classroom, teachers should work with children as a whole class,
in guided reading groups and one-on-one to foster reading comprehension skills. At home,
parents can help reinforce and strengthen what their children are learning at school by modeling
real-life reading (newspapers, Internet, reading books for pleasure) as well as reading with and
to their children.
Reading Comprehension Strategies
In order to foster a childs comprehension of the many types of texts she will encounter, parents
and teachers need to equip her with a whole toolbox of reading strategies to draw from as
needed. While there is an almost infinite number of strategies that we employ as adult readers a
core set of reading comprehension strategies provides the foundation for all readers. These are
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the strategies that adults should explicitly teach young readers to help promote their reading
comprehension abilities.
Questioning
Whether we realize it or not we are constantly asking and answering questions as we read. To
foster this behavior in young readers, parents and teachers should model good questioning by
asking guiding questions before, during and after children read a text. Before reading questions
parents and teachers can ask children to make predictions or activate prior knowledge that will
help them comprehend the text. While the child is reading, adults should ask questions to check
comprehension as well as to guide understanding. After the child has completed the text we
should again ask questions to check for comprehension and to clear up misunderstandings.
Adults can foster deeper comprehension and retention by following up basic comprehension
check questions with those aimed at having children make personal connections with texts as
well as analyzing events and characters in the story. Children should also be encouraged to
generate and answer their own questions about texts to develop independent questioning skills.
Vocabulary Instruction
Understanding the vocabulary used in a piece of writing is essential to reading comprehension.
There are a number of strategies that parents and teachers can teach young readers to help them
comprehend new vocabulary. Unfamiliar words can be taught prior to reading the text. This can
be formal (a lesson on the definitions of words) or informal (a parent mentioning a new word and
its meaning before the child reads). Vocabulary can also be taught as it is encountered in the text.
When a child comes to a word that he seems to be struggling with the adult working with him
can provide the meaning. This practice works best when working one-on-one with a child.
Beyond this, adults can help children develop skills for conquering new words independently
as they are reading. Teaching children to use context clues (hints about the meaning of an
unfamiliar word provided in the sentence or paragraph where it is used) is one of the best ways to
help foster independent vocabulary discovery. Also, children can be taught common roots,
prefixes and suffixes that they can use to help understand new vocabulary used in a text.
Monitoring
Good readers constantly monitor their comprehension. They check to make sure they are
understanding what they are reading and if they do not, they adjust their approach to the text to
ensure comprehension. Young readers often do not realize that they need to regularly check in
with themselves while they are reading. Therefore, it is incumbent upon adults to help them
develop these important self-monitoring skills. Prior to reading, parents and teachers should help
children activate prior knowledge about the storys content, choose appropriate reading strategies
and understand the reading task. While the child is reading, we can help her reading
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comprehension by checking for understanding through questioning and encouraging her to use
text structure and other strategies to understand the text. Over time children will internalize these
monitoring strategies and will be able to practice them independently.
Summarizing
When we read we rarely sit down and formally create a summary of what weve read. Still, our
minds store a synopsis of the key ideas in a text. Young readers need to be taught how to
summarize what they have read to encourage their comprehension and retention. When a reader
is able to restate what he has read in his own words he has truly understood it. Parents and
teachers can foster this practice by asking children to summarize what they have read during and
after they have read a particular text.
Focus and Attention
Reading comprehension cannot occur when the flow of reading is repeatedly interrupted.
Think about how difficult it is to remember what you have read when sights and sounds prevent
you from focusing your attention on a text. Young readers rarely realize the importance of focus
and attention in reading. Parents and teachers can help foster good focus and attention by
teaching children to eliminate distractions while they are reading. One way to do this is to
encourage them to use an index card or a finger to track the words on the page as they are
reading. Also, adults can teach children to take periodic breaks from reading to summarize what
they have read.

Motivation (The sixth essential component of reading)

While building a full toolkit of reading strategies is an important element in fostering a
readers comprehension and retention, it is not the only factor influencing reading development.
As with almost any task the learner must be motivated in order to be successful. Parents and
teachers can help foster reading comprehension by encouraging their childrens motivation to
read. The easiest way to do this is to model enthusiasm for reading. If the adults around them are
excited about their own reading as well as the childs, he/she is more likely to become
enthusiastic about reading. In addition, adults can talk with children about the importance of
reading by highlighting what reading has to offer them (i.e. pleasure, information). Beyond this,
adults can motivate young readers by helping them pick texts that speak to them. Tapping into
a childs personal interest or encouraging them to continue exploring books by a particular author
can help sustain a young persons interest in reading. Along with this, adults should help children
pick texts that are doable. The reading level of a new story or book should be at the childs
independent reading level. When children experience success at reading, they are more likely to
continue reading. And when they continue reading their reading comprehension skills will
become stronger and stronger.
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Brummitt-Yale, J. (2010). The five essential components of reading. Retrieved from

http://www.k12reader.com/the-five-essential-components-of-reading/

Brummitt-Yale, J. (2011). Reading instruction resources. Retrieved from

http://www.k12reader.com/author/joelle/

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