Five+Components+of+Reading


 * Phonemic Awareness**

Phonemic awareness is commonly defined as the understanding that spoken words are made up of separate units of sound that are blended together when words are pronounced. However, it can also be thought of as skill at hearing and producing the separate sounds in words, dividing or segmenting words into their component sounds, blending separate sounds into words, and recognizing words that sound alike or different. It is defined by reading experts as the ability to "focus on and manipulate phonemes in spoken words" (NICHD, 2000). For example, hearing and saying that the word //cat //has three sounds, or phonemes /k/ /a/ /t/ is an example of phonemic awareness skill.

Therefore, we define phonics as a set of rules that specify the relationship between letters in the spelling of words and the sounds of spoken language. For the English language, these relationships are predictable, but not completely consistent. However, they are consistent enough to be very useful to young children in helping them learn to decode unfamiliar words. (Foorman et al., 1998).
 * Phonics**


 * Fluency**

Years ago, fluency was understood to mean rapid word recognition that freed up space in the reader’s working memory for use in comprehending the message of the text. That is, fluent readers need to put less effort into word recognition and therefore have more available for comprehension. Later studies of fluency (Rasinski, 1990; Hooks & Jones, 2002) expanded this understanding by clarifying that fluency can also involve grouping words within a sentence into phrases that make what is read easier to comprehend. Grouping words into meaningful phrases and reading with expression helps the reader understand the text by making what is being read resemble natural speech. Therefore, we now understand that fluency is recognizing the words in a text rapidly and accurately //and //using phrasing and emphasis in a way that makes what is read sound like spoken language.


 * Vocabulary**

The term vocabulary refers to words we need to know to communicate with others. There are four types of vocabulary: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Listening and speaking vocabularies are sometimes referred to collectively as oral vocabulary.

__Four Types of Vocabulary __ Listening: words we understand when others talk to us Speaking: words we use when we talk to others Reading: words we know when we see them in print (sight words and words we can decode) Writing: words we use when we write


 * Comprehension**

Comprehension involves constructing meaning that is reasonable and accurate by connecting what has been read to what the reader already knows and thinking about all of this information until it is understood. Comprehension is the final goal of reading instruction. While fluent decoding is an essential component of skilled reading, (Block & Pressley, 2002) it should be considered a prerequisite to strong comprehension rather than an end in itself.

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