There are seven basic stages to teaching reading: Vocabulary, Print Motivation & Awareness, Letter Knowledge, Phonological Awareness, Narrative Skills, Fluency and Comprehension. Below is a brief description of the various stages of reading comprehension. For more in-depth information download the Teaching Reading 101 PDF.

1. Vocabulary

Vocabulary refers to the words we must know in order to read, speak and comprehend. Vocabulary is a real issue for Learn United volunteers: Statistics* show that children enter school knowing between 3,000 and 5,000 words on average. Children from low-income homes typically enter school knowing 800 words, while higher-income children will know about 10,000 words. (source)

Singing the ABC's is a great way to memorize letters. But knowing the alphabet is not the same as knowledge of the alphabet. To be good readers, children need to understand how letters function in written language.

2. Print Motivation & Awareness

Print motivation is a child's interest in, and enjoyment of, books. A child with print motivation enjoys being read to, plays with books, pretends to write, asks to be read to and likes trips to the library. Print awareness includes learning that writing in English follows basic rules such as flowing from top-to-bottom and left-to-right, and that the print on the page is what is being read by someone who knows how to read. Children should understand that reading and writing are used in everyday life.

An example of a child's print awareness is their ability to point to the words on the page of a book.

3. Letter Knowledge

Letter Knowledge includes learning that letters have names and are different from each other, and that specific sounds go with specific letters. For instance, recognizing what a "B" is and the sound it makes is letter knowledge. Letter knowledge can be developed by using a variety of fun reading or writing activities, such as pointing out and naming letters in alphabet books, picture books or on signs and labels.

4. Phonological Awareness

Phonics involves the ability to hear and manipulate the smaller sounds in words, as well as hearing and creating rhymes, saying words with sounds or chunks left out, and the ability to put two word chunks together to make a word. Most children who have difficulty in reading have trouble in phonological awareness.

5. Narrative Skills

The ability to understand stories, tell stories and describe things is important for children so they can comprehend what they are learning. An example of a narrative skill is a child's ability to tell what happened at a birthday party or on a trip to the zoo. Children with good narrative skills will be able to describe the events of a story you've read in the correct sequence.

THE SEQUENCE OF LEARNING:

PHASE 1: birth to age three, children listen to lots of words spoken and learn how to talk.

PHASE 2:Three to four year olds have growing vocabularies, and they learn how to rhyme.

PHASE 3:In first grade, children are taught how to blend letter sounds, to "sound out" words, and memorize sight words. They begin reading simple sentences and patterned text.

PHASE 4:Second and third graders learn how to read "chapter" books and read fluently with comprehension.

6. Fluency

Fluency is the ability to read a text aloud easily and accurately. Fluent readers read at a pace that demonstrates thoughtful thinking — not too slow, not too fast.

This does not mean that fluent readers never make mistakes; rather they are able to recognize words and comprehend them at the same time. Less fluent readers, however, must focus their attention on figuring out the words, leaving them little attention for understanding the text. Because fluent readers do not have to concentrate on decoding the words, they can focus their attention on what the text means and, eventually, they'll learn to adjust the power, pitch and pace of their reading to convey the ideas accurately.

7. Comprehension

Text comprehension is the ability to understand and get meaning from what has been read. Generally, a child's comprehension can be determined by asking them questions: "What did you enjoy most in this story?" "How did this story make you feel?" "Have you had an experience like this or ever read or heard anything like it?"

Children may need to encounter an unfamiliar word six times in context to understand and recall its meaning. (source)

Comprehension is at the core of a child's ability to learn from what they read. A child who comprehends what they've read should be able to reflect on the passage, relate to it, and use their narrative skills to summarize it in their own words.

Want to know more? Download the full PDF here. More explanation about each stage and ways to help your student's progress are included.

(*See all sources.)