Phonics Based Reading and Decoding Essay Example For Students

Phonics Based Reading and Decoding Essay The reading process as a whole is a very multifaceted area, and is relentlessly changing. As a future upcoming school teacher, it is imperative for me to understand the process and theories behind the reading act itself. Therefore, before I started my assignments working with my student, I researched some theories about reading in order to know the reason behind the importance of it. The three theories which I consider are the most essential, and which I feel are disheveled to account for the reading process are sub-skill theories, interactive theories and trans-active theories. I deem that all three of these theories have mechanisms that fit simultaneously to account for reading and the understanding of reading. One theory alone cannot account for every phase of the reading process. The sub-skill theory reading approach is one that has been around for a long time, (since I was a little girl playing outside eating dirt and making mud pies) and is based on instructional strategies to teach letter-sound relationships, sight words and decoding skills (along side others), until the reading act becomes routine. Comprehension does play a role in this theory, but in my opinion it played a very small role. I know this system works, because it is the way I was taught to read. I believe it is essential for young children to understand the connection between sound and symbol relationships. This approach gives children a tactic for sounding out words that are unfamiliar to them. Decoding the pronunciation of a word can sometimes lead to the word’s meaning, only if the child is familiar with the word. However, the goal of reading is to gain meaning from the text, not just to pronounce the words correctly. When the reader is unable to attach meaning to the word, the decoding skill becomes useless. Being an employee of a school district and working in the classroom with students, I have witnessed many students who are prolific readers, can sound out even the most difficult words, but do not have an indication about the meaning of what they have read. Studying a reading skill in isolation does not give assurance of its use in practice. This is the point where I believe the interactive theory comes into play. The interactive theory makes the connection between the reader and the text, and the theory states that the result of this uninterrupted interaction produces meaning. One of the most significant aspects of this theory has to do with the reader making predictions about what they are reading (top down processing) while at the same time, they are using visual cues from the text to test these predictions (bottom down processing). Unlike the sub-skill theory in which there is extreme focus on words and skills are stressed more than meaning, however, the trans-active theory takes it one step further and gives value to the reader. In this case, the reader uses their background knowledge and experiences to bring meaning to the text. If the reader is unable to relate to the text, they are unable to obtain meaning from it. This is an indispensable characteristic of the reading process, in my opinion. At Rose City Middle School we have learned that good teaching bridges the gap between previously learned knowledge and new material. The reading process is no different- it must link the spaces between the print and the information contained in it to background knowledge. However, the interactive theory explains this connection, but I believe it leaves out another imperative characteristic of the reading process, and that is the characteristic of the reader’s emotion. The trans-active theory is the only theory that includes emotion, which in my opinion, is an essential part of any reading experience. I think it is true that reading stimulates both cognitive and affective aspects, and the reader brings to the reading their own beliefs, values and attitudes. These feelings affect their responses to the reading, and the framework of the text plays a role, too. The trans-active theory relates to the whole language profile, which I am a vast advocate of, because I think that learner-centered instruction in reading is the most consequential and advantageous way to teach reading to a young child. Instead of skills being taught in isolation, as in the sub-skill theory, with the trans-active theory, skills are entrenched in whole-language reading and writing approach where meaning, comprehension and communication are emphasized. During this approach, the reader may not identify all of the words with the text but not realizing that comprehension was in effect. Many times, this is true- a reader does not have to read every word in order to obtain meaning. However, the most essential test is whether or not the student recognizes when he/she has read something wrong, and is able to self-correct, and if the student can construe and understand what he/she has read. The trans-active theory takes all of these areas into thought. I believe that all three of these theories have legitimacy in an elementary classroom, as well as a middle school classroom and I know that I will use aspects of all three in my teaching. I plan to use the sub-skill theory approach because I want reading to become automatic for my students, and I plan to use the interactive and trans-active theories because I want reading to be a pleasurable experience for my students. The trans-active theory will come into play when I select books that will evoke emotion from my students. I think I can best meet the learning needs of my students with a balanced approach, taking the best ideas from all three theories to help my students become independent readers who read fluently, understand what they read and most of all, love what they read. I was able to use and understand these theories in my lesson assignments for weeks 2, 3, and 4. As you review my week’s activities with my student you will see that I was able to understand the meaning of most teaching and learning styles when using the FUNdamentals Action Reading Program. I was able to present my student with the understanding that there is a relationship between phonemes and graphemes, and that letters symbolizes sounds in written language. Civil rights outline EssayThe next activity included â€Å"alphabetic principle† and â€Å"emergent literacy/emergent reading and writing† in which the strategy was to teach the student how to write the sounds of the pictures using the two for one sound (i. e. thumb, itch, nail, forming the word thin). This assignment was a little difficult for my student because she was a little confused by the use of vowels. We then played the picture sound game by making a word from the pictures by using the two for one, short cuts, and Aah-Buh-Cuh’s. At this point, â€Å"analytical phonics† was being used. Since K’Mya is a cheerleader we did cheer movements while saying the sounds (she really enjoyed doing this activity). After a 15 minute break, my student learned how to write and connect words in cursive at this point â€Å"direct instruction† is being used. After this activity, my strategy was to teach the student â€Å"cueing system† by teaching her to write the words in print then to turn that printed word into a cursive word based on rather the word is slanted to the left, right, or straight. The second part of our session began with me recalling all of the sounds that she learned. Again, using â€Å"fluency† the Aah-Buh-Cuh’s, two for one, and short cut sounds were repeated as fast as the student could say them (which weren’t very fast). By this time, K’Mya was getting tired so I ended her day with the â€Å"emergent literacy/emergent reading and writing† by allowing her to draw pictures and write about the pictures. This concluded my session for the day with my student. Week 4 During my experience this week, my focus and strategy was to teach my student â€Å"sounds†, however, I was out sick this week, therefore I was unable to teach my student so I will give an explanation of what CD’s 5 and 6 were about. In this week’s assignment, I learned that phonemic awareness focuses on the perception of spoken language. When children are phonemically aware they can tell the teacher that â€Å"bat† or â€Å"car† is the word the teacher is representing by saying the three separate sounds in the word. They are also able to tell you all the sounds in the spoken word â€Å"dog†. They can tell you that, if you take the last sound off â€Å"bark† you would have â€Å"bar†. However, phonics on the other hand, is knowing the relation between specific, printed letters (including combinations of letters) and specific, spoken sounds. You are asking children to show their phonics knowledge when you ask them which letter make the first sound in bat or car or the last sound in bar or bark. The phonemic awareness tasks that have predicted triumphant reading are tasks that insist that children focus on spoken language, not tasks that simply ask students to name letters or tell which letters make which sounds. This week’s CD’s 5 and 6 demonstrated that the acquisition of phonemic awareness is highly predictive of success in learning to read in particular of successful reading acquisition. Programs for teaching phonics often put emphasis on rules rather than patterns and focus on separate sounds, called phonemes. In contrast, the most successful and proficient phonics teaching focuses childrens attention on noticing letter/sound patterns in the major components of syllables: that is, on noticing the letter/sound patterns in initial consonants and consonant clusters and in the rime, which consists of the vowel of a syllable plus any following consonants, such as -ack, -eck, -ick, -ock, -uck (Eller, 2009). Conventional blending and segmentation instruction improves the ability to exercise phonemes. When instruction emphasizes phoneme manipulations, children learned what they were taught. In addition, phonics is the basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds. Emergent readers and writers should be able to identify that there is a relationship between letter patterns and sound patterns in English (the alphabetic principle), and eventually develop an awareness of the separate sounds in words. Without the acknowledgment of words, there would be an unfinished foundation for constructing meaning. Phonics, along with other use of context, word parts, syntax, and automaticity enables a reader to identify words. Learning the basics- relationships between letters and sounds- enables children to decode words they have never seen before. As this process becomes more automatic, it releases childrens attention to the higher-level activities involved in comprehending the texts meaning. When children have a perspective in which to learn the code system, teaching of phonics is most triumphant. Children who have been exposed to print during the early child development years have a concrete foundation for learning to read. For children lacking this foundation, activities such as listening to stories, shared reading of Big Books and matching print in nursery rhymes on charts provides them with a context of phonics awareness. After listening to both CD’s, I found that most of the phonics used in the activities included; alphabetic principle, balanced approach, blending, decoding, direct instruction, consonants and consonants blends. The overall process of learning the meaning of reading and teaching a student how to read was a meaningful experience to me. I never knew that it had meaning behind the way sounds were made. The online phonics dictionary located on the web-site http://www. indiana. edu/~reading/phonics/glossary/a_c. html was a very enlightening experience for me. To learn the alphabet principle, analytic phonics, balanced approach, blending, consonants, decoding, fluency, etc. they all were interesting ways of learning or teaching a child or an adult as well to read. I will continue to use these strategies in my teaching career as I strive to make a difference in a child’s life. I have enjoyed this class and deem it to be one of the best classes that I have taken those far and look forward to my endeavor in the field of teaching.