Reading for Success

Reading for success is a series of four books designed to support teacher-directed lessons and independent pupil activities in the five key elements of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Titles in this series are: Reading for success (Book 1) Reading for success (Book 2) Reading for success (Book 3) Reading for success (Book 4)Reading and the teaching of reading have always been at the forefront of discussions in education and recent discussions are no different. Some, such as the media, criticise schools for not knowing how to effectively teach reading, and yet we know more today than ever about effective reading instruction. Research has identified five key elements of reading instruction: Sound and letter knowledge Phonemic awareness (sounds of language) Sounds and alphabet knowledge Interpreting, analysing and evaluating Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension strategies The terminology below is commonly used when discussing reading instruction and will be helpful in understanding and discussing the five elements of reading. Phonemic awareness phonemic awareness-an individual's ability to attend to the sounds of spoken words phonological awareness-ability to recognise phonemes, graphemes, rhymes, syllables etc. phonemes-sounds in spoken language graphemes-the smallest parts of written language phonics-relationship between the sounds and symbols of spoken and written language syllable-part of a word that contains a vowel or vowel sound onset-the initial consonant in a syllable rime-the syllable part that contains a vowel (Example: In dog, the onset is d and the rime is og.) Phonics synthetic phonics-the ability to convert letters into sounds and blend them together analytic phonics-the ability to analyse the letters and sounds in words analogy-based phonics-using knowledge of word families to read unfamiliar words phonics through spelling-the ability to break words into sounds for writing embedded phonics-the instruction of letters and sounds within text onset-rime phonics-instruction that involves the identification of the initial sound in a word part (onset) and the remaining part of the word (rime) Fluency fluency-reading quickly and accurately automaticity-the quick recognition of words Vocabulary specific word instruction-the teaching of individual words word-learning strategies-the instruction of strategies that help pupils determine word meaning word parts-using parts of words (prefixes, suffixes, base words) to determine meanings of words context clues-surrounding phrases, sentences and words that provide hints that lead to a word's meaning Comprehension metacognition-thinking about one's thinking or the ability to identify what is known and not known when reading semantic organisers-maps or webs used to illustrate the connection between concepts or ideas direct explanation-a teacher's explanation of the use of comprehension strategies modelling-teacher demonstration of the use of strategies guided practice-guidance by the teacher as a pupil applies strategies application-reading strategies used by pupils General terminology explicit instruction-direct instruction of strategies by the teacher implicit instruction-indirect instruction, often embedded in context Book format This book is divided into five sections featuring each of the elements of reading. Within each section there are activities for teacher-directed instruction, as well as small-group and individual practice of reading skills. Many of the activities include follow-up games and copymasters intended to provide additional practice of skills. The use of these activities, games and practice sheets, in addition to a comprehensive reading programme, will give pupils the skills necessary for reading success.