Phonics and Word Walls

Jeanne Chall’s Stages of Reading Development

Stage O. Preceding: Birth to Age 6– Pre-literacy or emergent literacy- concepts of print

Stage 1. Initial Reading, or Decoding, Stage: Grades 1-2, Ages 6-7– Learning grapho-phonemic relationship

Stage 2. Confirmation, Fluency, Ungluing from Print: Grades 2-3, Ages 7-8– Consolidating previous learned skills and practicing for the acquisition of new ideas

Stage 3. Reading for Learning the New: A First Step: Grades 4-8, Ages 9-13– Reading and learning new material with one viewpoint– Important to know word meanings and build on prior knowledge– Learn the reading process and how to find information from print– End of this stage approaches adult-level reading

Stage 4. Multiple Viewpoints: High School, Ages 14-18– Deals with more than one point of view– Builds on prior knowledge– Developing analytical and critical thinking

Stage 5. Construction and Reconstruction- A World View: College, Age 18 and above– Integrating new information with prior knowledge, creating new knowledge– High level of abstraction and generality

Reading Model by Marilyn Jager Adams

Adams, M.J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Adams’ Reading Model

• Orthographic Processor- strengthening the associations by frequently seeing letters that appear together

• Phonological Processor- accepts speech from the outside and the spelling pattern becomes mapped onto the pronunciation of a word

• Meaning Processor- meanings of words are acquired after repeated interaction with the concept of the words

• Context Processor- constructs a coherent ongoing interpretation of the text; assists in the interpretation of the orthographic information, but cannot supersede the written word

Phonics & The Articulatory Loop

Phonics- maps the relationship between letters and sounds

By verbally practicing phonics, we: 1. speed up the processing of less familiar

words

2. create automaticity thus freeing up support for proper comprehension

LeapFrog Products & Phonics

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1mlsQWJjCE

Chunking

“Children who become overly reliant on letter by letter decoding must be systematically taught to process larger and larger chunks of words. Teaching children to break words into onset and rime (i.e., initial consonant(s) and the vowel plus ending consonant(s) is a very useful technique.”

Felton, R.H. (1993). Effects of instruction on the decoding skills of children with phonological-processing problems. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 26, 583-589.

Chunking Examples

• Electric Company

• St- sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMLZJVYckIc

• -ight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W1iL9I3XvU&feature=relmfu

Word Walls

1. Collections of words that are being studied in the classroom

2. Selected for a specific instructional purpose3. Cumulative collection- familiar words stay on

the wall, while introduced words are added4. Activities and discussion about word walls

allow for conversational scaffolding- see Vygotsky

5. Also act as visual scaffolds to assist in independent reading and writing