Developmental Reading

I. The Nature and Psychology of Reading

A. What is Reading?

- A complex process that require a great deal of active participation on the part of the
reader.

- Asking questions of printed text and reading with comprehension becomes a matter of
getting his questions answered (Huffman, 1999).

- The process of constructing meaning from the written texts (Anderson, 1998).
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He described that skilled reading 1.) Constructive: learning to reason about written
material using knowledge from everyday life and from disciplined fields of study; 2.)
Fluent: mastery of basic processes to the point where they are automatic so that
attention is freed for the analysis of meaning; 3.) Strategic: controlling one’s reading in
relation to one’s purpose, the nature of the material and whether one is comprehending;
4.) Motivated: able to sustain attention and learning that written material can be
interesting and information; 5.) Lifelong pursuit: continuous practices. Development, and
refinement.

- An active dialogue between the author and the reader, and the basic tool for learning in
all subjects.

- A suitable and complex process that involves five stages: sensation, perception,
comprehension, application, and integration.

- A process of thinking, evaluating, imagining, reasoning, and problem solving.

- Miles Zintz (1972) illustrates the reading process as: 1.) word perception: the ability to
pronounce word as a meaningful unit; 2.) comprehension: the skills in making individual
words construct useful ideas as they are; 3.) reaction: a judgment on what the author
has said; 4.) integration: ability to assimilate idea or concept into one’s background of
experiences so that it is useful as part of the individual’s total experience.

B. Based on research, the following facts about reading are:

1. Children’s literacy development begins long before children start from formal instruction in
elementary school (Allington & Cunningham, et al, 2009).

2. More than 4 in 10 pre-schoolers, 5 in 10 toddlers and 6 in 10 babies are not ready to read to
regularly.

3. Children benefit from experiences in early childhood that foster language development,
cultivate a motivation to read, and establish link between print and spoken words.

4. Reading aloud to children helps them develop and improve literacy skills –reading, writing,
speaking, listening.

5. Reading and writing are a developmental continuum rather than acquired skills.

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6. Children learn how to read and write by being read to, reading simple text, and experimenting
with writing.

7. Due to different brain signature, 20-40% of the population does not acquire phonemic
awareness (Grossen, 1997).

8. Certain abilities must be developed that work together to create strong reading skills. These
include: phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, sound-spelling correspondence, decoding
ability, spelling, vocabulary and writing skills, comprehension skills.

9. Learners become engaged in literacy as they grow more strategic, motivated, knowledgeable,
and socially interactive.

10. Some researchers describe two levels of literacy: emergent and conventional. More
traditional researchers define three levels: early reader, transitional reader, and fluent reader.

11. Reading and writing rely on specific set of cognitive skills such as attention, memory,
symbolic thinking, and self-regulation.

12. Children’s reading and writing abilities develop together.

13. All children need to have high-quality children’s books as part of their daily experience.

14. teaching with a flexible mix of research-based instructional methods, geared toward
individual students, is more effective than strict adherence to any one approach.

15. A well-organized, comprehensive approach to the teaching of reading that includes

systematic teaching of specific reading skills produces better readers.

16. Teachers need to know and understand the most up-to-date reading research and be able
to implement it in their classrooms.

17. Teachers must be able to identify reading difficulties in the learners early on and arrange
appropriate and effective interventions in response.

C. Reading as a process involves four stages:

1. Perception/recognition stage. Where the reader seas the printed symbols and is able to
pronounce them as meaningful unit.

2. Comprehension stage. Where the reader construct meaning from separate words seen
in print.

3. Reaction stage. Where the reader attempts to make judgement on what the author has
said.

4. Assimilation/integration stage. Where readers incorporate newly-acquired ideas to

related previous experiences.

D. Kinds of Reading Skills (Anderson, 1994)

1. Word Attack Skills – Let the reader figure out new words.

2. Comprehension Skills – Help the reader predict the next word phrase or sentence quickly
enough to speed recognition.

3. Fluency Skills – Help the reader see the larger segments phrases and groups of words as
wholes.

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4. Critical Reading Skills – Help the reader see the relationship of ideas and use these in
reading with meaning and fluency.

The Psychology of Reading

A complex field for the reason that reading, as an activity of learning can be
viewed from different and various vantage points.

E. The Facets of Readings (Smith and Dechant, 1961)

1. Reading as Sensory Process . This process is in keeping with the idea that the ability to
read may be developed through the use of different senses.

2. Reading as a Perceptual Process. This process refers to the act of recognizing the
meaning of written symbols through what one perceives at each fixation of the eyes.

3. Reading as a Response. This concept conforms with the theory that reading is a reaction to
a stimulus figured out in mind of the reader.

4. Reading as a Learned Process. This idea is exemplified through the application of

reasoning skills.

5. Reading as a Developmental Task. This process typically responds to the theory that
reading changes from what is primarily considered word recognition through the development of
sight reading may different methods of comprehension to a mature act involving higher mental
process.

6. Reading as a Tool for Learning. This concept lives up to the idea that reading could be a
means or a tool for the discovery of information, knowledge and wisdom.

7. Reading as a Growth Process. This refers to the process of reading through which the
reader psychologically and physiologically grows up with the pool of experiences.

8. Reading as an Interest. This concept corresponds to the development of the aret of reading
out of sheer enthusiasm.

F. Reading Techniques

1. Skimming. Involves reading hastily, giving particular attention only on headings, topic
sentences, or other specific parts of the selection.

- Preview, Overviewing, Survey

2. Scanning. Helps the reader to search quickly for the information he wants; done by simply
glancing through a page to look for a particular piece of information.

3. Idea Reading. Rapid reading for the main idea

4. Exploratory Reading. Done when trying to get an accurate picture of the ideas presented in
a selection; requires more concentration and longer time.

5. Study reading. Done to get full understading of the main ideas and their relationship; may
involve using some other kinds of reading and/or taking down notes.

6. Critical/analytic reading. Involves analyzing facts and ideas and their relationship; requires
readers to pay close attention to the ideas presented by stopping at times to better understand
these ideas.
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G. Learning Principles and the Reading Process

1. In deciding who should learn what, the capacities of the learner are very important. Brighter
people can learn things less bright ones cannot learn; in general, older children can learn more
readily than younger ones; the decline of ability with age, in the adult years, depends upon what
it is that is being learned.

2. A motivated learner acquires what he learns more readily than one who is not motivated.

3. Motivation that is too intense (especially pain, fear, anxiety) may be accompanied by
distracting emotional states, so that excessive motivation may be less effective than moderate
motivation for learning some kinds of tasks, especially those involving difficult discriminations.

4. Learning under the control of reward is usually preferable to learning under the control of
punishment.

5. Learning under intrinsic motivation is preferable to learning under extrinsic motivation.

6. Tolerance of failure is best taught through providing a backlog of success that compensates
for experienced failure.

7. Individuals need practice in setting realistic goals for themselves, goals neither so low as to
elicit little effort nor so high as to foreordain failure.

8. The personal history of the individual, for example, his reaction to authority, may hamper or
enhance his ability to learn from a given teacher.

9. Active participation by a learner is preferable to passive reception when learning, for example
from a lecture or motion picture.

10. Meaningful materials and meaningful tasks are learned more readily than nonsensense
materials and more readily than tasks not understood by the learner.

11. There is no substitute for repetitive practice in the over learning of skills.

12. Information about the nature ,of a good performance knowledge of his own mistakes, and
knowledge of successful results, aid learning.

13. Transfer to a new tasks will be better, if, in learning the learner can discover relationships for
himself, and if he has experience during learning of applying the principles within a variety of
tasks.

14. Spaced or distributed recalls are advantageous in fixing material that is to be long retained.

15. Learning is encouraged when it takes place under conditions that enhance the personality
adjustment of the learner.

H. Factors that Affect Reading

1. Physiological Factors. Reading makes constant use of the eyes.

Some technical terms related to how reading takes place are defined:

1.1 Fixation – made when the eyes stop. Good readers have fewer fixations than poor readers.

1.2 Inter fixation movements – caused by the eyes which moved from one stopping point to
another.
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 1.3 Return sweeps – refer to the quick swinging back of the eyes from the end of the line to the
beginning of the next line.

1.4 Regressions – backward or right to left movements made in a reverse direction.

1.5 Span of Recognition – or perception span is the number of words taken every time the eyes
stop.

1.6 Duration of fixation – the length of time the eyes pause.

2. Intellectual Factors. The innate capacity to learn, intelligence, and mental maturity affect
reading performance. The higher the IQ, the better the reading skills.

3. Psychological Factors. Feelings about self and others affect reading performance.
Emotional stability leads to better concentration; interesting topics and an attractive
presentational style promote the desire to read.

4. Linguistic Factors – To read well, the reader must understand sound –symbol relationships,
intonation, stress, rhythm, and pauses.

5. Sociological Factors – Reading is a social process affected by attitudes, loyalties, conflicts

and prejudices.

I. The Ladder of Reading Skills (Grace Godell)

1. Basic Sight Words 9. Inferring Meanings and Drawing Conclusions

2. Using Phonetic Analysis 10. Following Directions

3. Using Structural Analysis 11. Using Parts of a Book

4. Using Contextual Clues 12. Using the Dictionary

5. Using Vocabulary: Idioms, Figures of Speech, and other Figurative Terminologies

6. Finding the Main Idea 13. Using Reference Books (Atlas, Almanac, Encyclo-

7. Finding the Supporting Details pedia, Dictonary, Thesaurus)

8. Classifying and Organizing Facts

J. Reading Ranges. Refer to the degree or limit to which ones effort in reading utilizes.

Classifications:

1. Intensive Reading. It is a manner of reading which requires greater effort and serious
concentration in reading.

2. Extensive Reading. It is the process of recreatory reading.

K. Types of Reading

1. Oral Reading. It is the vocal way of decoding written words and symbols in a manner well.
Types: Rehearsal Reading; Sight Reading

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2. Silent Reading.The reader should not produce any vocal sound. (I) short pause; (II) longer
pause; (#) double cross, a pause indicative of the completion of an idea.

Note: The reader should look at the audience at least 3-4 words before the end of a long
sentences.

II. Theories on Teaching Reading

1. Top-Down Approach

- also known as inside-out model, and whole – to part model; uses the meaning given by
the reader to the text.

- also called concept-driven processing theory

- reading begins with the reader’s mind set to hypothesize and predict from paragraphs.

- “constr ucting meaning in response to text”

2. Bottom-Up Reading Model

- also known as part-to whole model, considers the importance of the written or printed text
as it brings about reading.

- also known as data-driven processing theory

- is considered a text-based

- (Bloomfield) Reading starts with the understanding of the code.

3. Interactive Reading Model

- the reader is seen here to use text features and background knowledge to understand
print.

- an attempt to combine bottom-up and top-down models.

- (Dechant) meaning is constructed by the selective use of information from various sources,
without relying on anyone set order.

III. Reading Comprehension

- Is the dynamic act of making sense or constructing meaning from what is being read, and
may be done before, during, and after reading.

- Requires a combination of the reader’s background experience (schema) with the new text
information from any reading situation.

- Is affected by: what the reader brings to the text; the nature of printed materials; the
strategies employed by the reader to obtain meanings/acquire learning from the material
being read.

- may be achieved through the use of the following strategies/skills:

1. Preparatory strategies/skills (used before the reading act): activating prior knowledge,
setting goal,a nd predicting

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 2. Organizational strategies/skills (maybe used during or after reading act): getting the
main idea, identifying important details, organizing details, sequencing events, following
directions, and summarizing.

3. Elaboration strategies/skills (maybe used during or after the reading act): making
inferences, imaging, degenerating questions, and evaluation of materials read.

4. Metacognitive strategies/skills (used during the reading act): being aware of regulating,
checking, and reapiring one’s thoughts while reading.

- comes in different levels:

1. Literal level. Refers to recognition of what is simply, directly and explicitly the textual
message; reading the lines of the textual message.

2. Interpretive level. Which goes beyond the direct and explicit statement and adds on by
enriching the meaning of the textual message; reading between the lines combining information
with inferred meanings.

3. Critical/evaluative level. Involves making judgment wherein the reader raises questions
and evaluates the printed text for its veracity, style, patter, etc.; reading beyond the lines.

4. Applicatory/creative level. The reader integrates all ideas and knowledge gained from
reading material and uses this in a real life situation; comes up with a creative outputs such as
writing poems, role playing etc.

IV. Developmental Reading

- Refers to the reading program that considers the developmental stages of learner-
reader’s growth; these stages imply that children learn to read in a series of interrelated,
cumulative stages where each one builds up on the previous stage.

1. Stages of Reading Skills Development

a. Emergent Literacy Stage (0-5 years old)

- also refers to the Reading Readiness Stage when the child gets ready to read;

- the stage where children learn through direct sensory contact and physical
manipualation to using intuitive kind of logic to form concrete concepts.

- children in this stage also begin to acquire basic functional listening and speaking
vocabulary and general language growth in a rapid manner.

b. Early Reading Stage ( Kindergarten-Grade I)

- Known also as the Beginning Reading Stage;

- this period is the time when the child begins to get acquainted with an idea or
experience, to see how the combination of symbols/letters that stand for an idea looks to
remember how this combination is different from other combinations;

- the child generally focuses on word recognition and comprehension.

c. Growing Independence Stage (Grade 2 and 3)

- referred to also as the Period of Rapid Growth and Development

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 - children at this stage are expected to apply with confidence and fluency the reading
skills acquired and internalized earlier in reading either for content or for recreation;

d. Reading-to-learn Stage ( Grades 4-6)

- also known as the Period of Expanding Power

- at this stage, the child reads primarily to learn, and are able to show wide application of
word-attack and comprehension skills.

e. Abstract Reading Stage (Grade 7-High School levels)

- referred to as the Period of Refinement in the use of Reading Tool

- children at this stage show skills in – constructing multiple hypotheses; evaluating

materials read in more elaborate way using standards that they formulated themselves.

V. Some Approaches/Strategies

A. Beginning Reading Teaching Approaches

1. The Four-Pronged Approach

- Its main goal is the development of genuine love for reading, critical thinking skills, oral
language, and decoding – encoding skills, by integrating literature and reading skills.

- Made up of four components: Genuine Love for Reading (GLR); Critical Thinking (CT);
Grammar and Oral Development (GOLD); Transfer Stage.

- Lessons using this approach have the following parts: Presentation of lesson, using a
story; Direct Instruction or Teacher Modeling to develop the lesson; Guided Practice
Exercise; Independent Practice Activity.

2. Balanced Reading Instruction: (whole-part-whole process)

- Starts with the whole texts for meaningful literacy activities; Example activities: use of
big books, shared reading, story charts; children at this stage learn with, through, and
about the whole written text.

- Focuses on knowledge about the parts of the language that are useful for reading and
writing;

- Returns to whole texts for application and practice, where students learn to apply what
was learned with, through, and about the written text.

B. Specific Reading Activities that facilitate Comprehension

1. Before the reading Act strategies

1.1 overview: teacher tells what the selection is about to activate relevant schemata;

1.2 vocabulary preview: making unfamiliar words that need to be understood clear to
reduce problems that relate to comprehension of the whole selection

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 1.3 use structural organizer: students are helped to give attention to how the selection is
organized (whether the cause or effect, problem-solution, comparison-contrast, chronology etc.)
what the key words or topic sentences, etc.

1.4 use of graphic organizers: Concept or Mind Mapping, KWL charts,List-Group-Label,

Anticipation Guide

2. During-the-reading-act Strategies: include activities with better reader-text interaction:

- use of guide questions - outlining - summarizing

- provision of oral feedbacks - use of timeline/charts - paraphrasing

- listing of main ideas

3. After-the-reading- act Strategies: activities done to help students clarify, remember,

evaluate, and learn from what has been read.

- follow up of pre- and during activities

- students given time to talk about what was read

- opportunities given to show creatively what students like or have gained from reading

C. Procedures followed in Using Some Specific Strategies in Teaching Reading

1. Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)

- Teacher asks students to get general idea about the reading selection by giving attention
to its titles, headings, pictures, asking questions as “what do you think is this section about?”

2. Guided Reading

- Teacher explains important concepts, provide directions, and build background knowledge
before actual reading.

3. ReQuest

- Teacher and students read together a section of the reading selection/text, usually the first
sentence. Teacher invites students to ask questions about this section of the text, then students
read the whole section and close the book as teacher asks them questions about what they
have read.

4. Clink-Clunk

- A strategy in assessing what information the students have understood and learned
(clinks) and what they missed out (clunks).

5. Jigsaw

- A collaboration strategy that allows the students to learn from each other by working in
groups. It ensures participation of all students.

6. Reciprocal Teaching

- A strategy that allows the students to work together and “teach” each other as they take
over the discussion.

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VI. Reading Skills

A. Vocabulary Building
1. Structural Analysis
A process of decoding unfamiliar words by visually examining the words to discover
component parts which may lead to pronunciation and meaning.
- Identifying the components of a word
a. Stem – A part of a word to which inflectional ending is added of in which inflectional
phonetic change is made.
b. Affixes – An affix may be a prefix or suffix added to a root word or base in order to
vary function, modify meaning or form a new word.
Prefix – a syllable or a group of syllables added to the beginning of a word.
Suffix – is joined to the end of a word.
Prefixes Meaning Examples
a Without asexual
ab Away antedate
arch Highest archbishop
counter Against counteract
epi On ,over
Suffixes Meaning Examples
- ee denotes recipient of an action licensee, employee
-ette denotes to female or amall usherette, kitchenette
size
- esque denotes style picturesque, romanesque

c. Compound words – words that are made up of two or more words.

These are examples of compound words:
bobbysoxer check-off rat race
teenager hanger-on blue stocking
kickback runner-up red house
blackout all-time standing invitation
2. Using Context Clues – These clues may be the words, phrases, or sentences surrounding
the unknown word.
- Include Semantic, Syntactic, and Presentation Clues
Semantic Clues – are clues derived from the meaning of the words co-occurring with the
unknown word.
Kinds of Semantic Clues:
1. Definition clue – A word may be directly defined in the context.
2. The Appositive clue – An appositive may offer a synonym or description of the word.
3. Comparison and Contrast clue- may give way the word’s meaning.
4. Explanation clue – Succeeding sentences may provide explanations that may clarify
the meaning of a unknown word in a previous sentence.
Syntactic Clues – are contained in the grammar of our language
Presentation clues – refer to the other aids that the author may use to make himself clear to
the reader.
3. Word Associations – the process of forming links as you think of the word.
May be classified a:
3.1 similarity ex. Road – street, path, highway.
3.2 contrast ex. Happy – sad
3.3 assonance ex. Site- cite, sight, scythe
3.4 subordination ex. Animal – lion, tiger
3.5 co-ordination ex. Violin – guitar, banduria
3.6 super-ordination ex. Cabbage – vegetables
3.7 derivation ex. friend – friendship
3.8 predication ex. Bird – fly, eat
4. Homonyms, Homographs, Heteronyms
Homonyms/homophones – words that sound alike but have different spelling and
meanings. Ex. to – two, way – weigh
Homographs – words that are spelled and sound the same but have different meanings.
Ex. bill – “the bird’s bill”; “electric bill”
Heteronyms – words that do not sound the same.
Ex. resume – “curriculum vitae”; “resume of the work”
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5. Idiomatic Expressions – are expressions peculiar to a language. These expressions have
meanings which are not readily understandable from their grammatical constructions and from
the meaning of their separate elements.
Examples:
Tongue-in-cheek- A joke. Ex: Although intended to be tongue-in-cheek, her comments during
the election made many voters unhappy.

Jump down someone’s throat- To get mad at. Ex: Maria quit her job today. After her boss
jumped down her throat she just couldn’t take it anymore.

Smell a rat- To be suspicious. Ex: When I came home to find my front door open I immediately
smelled a rat.

Shoot off one’s mouth- To give opinions without knowing all the facts. Ex: During our staff
meeting Jane kept shooting off her mouth about horrible last week’s performance was, but
everyone knows she left at intermission.

Go to the dogs- To be run-down, to be in disrepair. Ex: The Lopez family once had a beautiful
house on this island, but now the house has gone to the dogs.

Get in someone’s hair- To bother or annoy. Ex: When students are loud and messy they really
get in my hair.

Pull someone’s leg- To kid with, to joke. Ex: When you told me that you loved me I was worried
that you were just pulling my leg.

Cat got your tongue- To be silent or reticent. Ex: During the trial the wife didn’t utter a single
word in her own defense. It was if the cat had got her tongue.

Leave someone high and dry- To leave someone with work but no help. Ex: Because none of
his co-workers showed up on time Carlos was left high and dry during the busiest part of the
day.

On the line- To be in danger of losing. Ex: Your career is on the line if your recent performance
at work is all you have to offer the company.

Horse around- To play aimlessly, goofing off. Ex: It seemed as if everyone was just horsing
around until Jasmine broke her arm.

Feel like a million dollars- To feel healthy or wonderful. Ex: Despite the fact that she’s 85 years
old, my grandmother still wakes up everyday feeling like a million dollars.

Straight from the horse’s mouth- From a very reliable source or origin of the information. Ex: I
heard it straight from the horse’s mouth that Lucille is planning on getting married next year.

6. Synonyms and Antonyms

Synonyms – words that have the same or nearly the same meaning.
Antonyms – words that have different or opposite meaning.

7. Figures of Speech – use words not only in their literal meanings but with certain emotional
coloring. Ex. Simile, Metaphor, Hyperbole, Apostrophe, Metonymy etc.

References:

Developmental Reading. A S kill text for College Students by: Angelita D. Romero & Rene C.
Romero

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Developmental reading 2 by: Alejandro Sapitan Bernardo

Developmental Reading 1 by: Aida S. Villanueva & Rogelio Delos Santos

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