What goes into the activity of word recognition, of "seeing" a spoken
word? Fluent readers do this effortlessly, but the ability is a result
of a developmental process.
We know that a predictor of learning to read for children is rapid
recognition of all the letters. Rapid is important because fast, accurate
performance means that a task has not only been mastered but that the
learner has achieved a level of automaticity
for that task as well.
Learning the basics of the alphabetic system--that is, understanding
the predictable correspondences that exist between sounds and letters--develops
alongside letter recognition. We found that among the learners in the
ARCSRR 100% of those who tested below fifth grade level (21% of our sample)
did not know all the consonant sounds, the basic building elements of
word analysis and word recognition.
The purpose of achieving automaticity in print skills (alphabetics) is to free
a reader's attention for comprehension - the real purpose of reading.
Reading Components Pages - Sequence
Each Print and Meaning Skill has its own page on this website. You will get the most out of these sections if you follow the
sequence we have laid out, starting with "Phonemics," proceeding to "Word Recognition," "Sight Words," "Word Analysis" and so on, right through "Silent Reading Comprehension," the final page in the Reading Components sequence.
For your convenience, the sidebar follows this sequence, and at the
bottom of each component page, we give you a link to the next component
in the sequence. For example:
Click
here to begin with "Phonemics."
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