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Reading as Skill/Skills

A Comprehensive Report in
MSC 7-05
(Developmental Reading)

Reading as Skill/Skills

Reading Skills Ladder

By Grace Goddel

Covers mainly reading activities as these happen while students are in school
Cover a lifetimes endeavour to use reading not only as a tool for school learning, but a
tool for work and leisure in the professional world.
Learning Outcomes
Acquaintance with the reading skills ladder.
Ability to apply the skills ladder in lesson planning.
Motivation to see the skills ladder as a pedagogical challenge to teacher.
Reading Skills Ladder

1. Basic sight words

2. Using phonetic analysis
3. Using structural analysis
4. Using contextual clues
5. Vocabulary building
6. Finding the main idea
7. Finding the supporting details
8. Interfering meanings, drawing conclusions
9. Classifying and organizing facts
10. Using parts of the book
11. Using the dictionary
12. Using the encyclopedias and other reference books
13. Borrowing library books for research and enjoyment
14. Starting your private library collection
15. Exposure to reading from mass media
16. Reading from the Internet
Basic sight words

The Dolch words are the 220 most frequently found words in books that children
read. Many of these words cannot be sounded out because they do not follow decoding
rules, so they must be learned as sight words.
a

as

again

about

any

all

away

ate

after

better

am

be

over

always

both

an

black

but

around

bring

and

brown

cold

ask

carry

are

by

cut

because

clean

at

came

fast

been

could

big

did

first

before

done

blue

eat

five

best

dont

call

fall

fly

buy

draw

can

find

four

does

drink

come

for

give

far

eight

do

get

goes

found

every

down

going

from

full

hurt

funny

have

got

gave

know

go

her

green

grow

light

good

him

had

hold

myself

he

his

has

how

never

help

if

hot

just

own

here

into

its

keep

pick

laugh

long

kind

right

These words are usually learned

in first and second grade;
students who learn these words
have a good base for beginning
reading. One way estimating a
primary students reading level is
by having the student identify the
220 Dolch Basic Sight Words.
The number of words recognized
is the basis for assigning his/her
equivalent reading level.
The scale is as follows:
# OF DOLCH
ESTIMATED
WORDS
READING
RECOGNIZED
LEVEL
0 - 75
Pre-primer
76 - 120
Primer
121 - 170
1st Year
171 - 210
2nd Year
Above 210
3rd Year +

in

let

made

much

seven

is

live

many

must

shall

it

may

new

now

show

jump

my

not

off

their

like

no

of

once

them

little

old

open

only

then

look

on

please

round

there

make

one

or

sleep

these

me

put

our

small

think

out

saw

pull

take

those

play

said

read

tell

together

pretty

she

start

thank

use

ran

sit

say

that

very

red

some

sing

they

want

ride

stop

six

this

warm

run

three

soon

too

wash

see

today

ten

try

went

so

two

upon

under

what

the

was

us

walk

when

to

will

who

well

where

up

work

why

were

which

we

yes

wish

white

would

you

yellow

your

with

Ehri's Four Phases of Development in Sight Word

Pre-Alphabetic Phase
Beginners connect visual attributes of the word & its letters to pronunciations & meaning
of the word. For most students, this first phase occurs through paired associates
learning. As such, the cue is paired with the pronounced word & stored in long-term
memory, rather than learning letters with their associated letter sounds.
Partial Alphabetic Phase
Children begin to learn that certain letters are associated with letter sounds. Children
begin to use phonological awareness skills to associate certain letters in the word to
pronounce the word. They would use partial cues because they had not yet mastered all
phonemes & graphemes.
Full Alphabetic Phase
Children become more proficient with letters in words & their associated phonemes. As
children encounter familiar & new words, they are able to apply their phonological
awareness skills to segment the word into letter sounds & blend these sounds back
together to pronounce the word. They can correctly discern between similarly spelled
words.
Consolidated Alphabetic Phase
Children are able to pronounce words by recalling word parts or letter patterns. They
use their knowledge of word parts when they encounter multisyllabic words in their
reading. Spelling becomes part of the reading process. Research has confirmed that
spelling instruction improves students' abilities to read & decode words.

Using phonetic analysis

Phonetic
Study of speech sounds
Relating to the sound of a word or to the sounds that are used in languages
Phonetic Analysis also called phonics, is the study of sound-symbol or phonemegrapheme relationships.
Using Structural analysis

The process of using familiar word parts (base words, prefixes, and suffixes) to
determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. Breaking down unknown words into prefixes
& suffixes, then into syllables.
"By fourth grade, most of my students are already skilled at letter=sound associations," she
says. "But they're now dealing with harder words, and even when they've pronounced a word
correctly, they might not know what it means. So we focus on context clues and whatever
meaning clues the word itself might contain."
Be sure your students understand that many prefixes and suffixes have more than one
meaning, as in inactive and inroad, and that even when they know the correct meaning of an
affix, they might still come up with an incorrect definition. Emphasize the importance of checking
a word's context to see if their guessed meaning makes sense.

Using Contextual Clues

Hints that the author gives to help define a difficult or unusual word. The clue may
appear within the same sentence as the word to which it refers, or it may be in a
preceding or subsequent sentence.
Types of context clues

Synonym-word with the same meaning, is used in the sentence.

My opponents argument is fallacious, misleading plain wrong.
Antonyms- word or group of words that has the opposite meaning reveals the meaning
of an unknown term.
Although some men are loquacious, others hardly talk at all.
Explanation-the unknown word is explained within the sentence or in a sentence
immediately preceding.
The patient is so somnolent that she requires medication to help her stay awake for
more than a short time.
Examples- Specific examples are used to define the term.
Celestial bodies, such as the sun, moon, and stars, are governed by predictable laws.

Vocabulary Building
According to language expert W.B. Elley, "a rich vocabulary is a valuable asset and an
important attribute of success in any walk of life." In other words, your vocabulary plays
a large role in determining if you will succeed in life or not.

7 steps in building vocabulary

Step 1: Read, read, read
The more reading you do, the faster you will reach your goal of building your vocabulary. You
can read books, or websites on how to build vocabulary. Each time you run into a new word
while reading, remember to write it down so you can learn its meaning later.

Step 2:

Repeat words several times

Saying a word several times a day for many days is a surefire way of making you remember it.
We will be teaching you tips on how to make repeating words even more effective.

Step 3: Look at words with the mind of a child

Young children learn words very quickly. Children under 10 years can actually learn more words
in one week than the typical adult can learn in one year. Find out how you can approach
vocabulary-building like a child.

Step 4: Have fun by playing word games

The next time you hang around with your family, instead of just sitting on the couch and
watching TV, invite them to play word games. This is a great tool for building your vocabulary,
and it's loads of fun as well.

Step 5: Make it personal

Making words personally meaningful to you will make them stand out, and you will retain them
better. There are many ways to add personal meaning to words, and we will show you
examples.

Step 6: Use your imagination to create images of the word

This technique is used most often for concrete rather than abstract objects. Just use your
imagination to create a corresponding image for the words that you are studying.

Step 7: Practice using elaboration

Elaboration is a technique a lot of people use to remember words. It involves expounding on a
word's meaning to remember it better. Once you get the hang of it, eminent psychologists
suggest that a 670% recall of new words is possible.

Finding the Main Idea

The main idea sentence of a paragraph tells what the paragraph is about. It is the "key
concept" being expressed. Understanding the topic, the gist, or the larger conceptual

framework of a textbook chapter, an article, a paragraph, a sentence or a passage is a

sophisticated reading task Textbook chapters, articles, paragraphs, sentences, or
passages all have topics and main ideas.
Three types of paragraphs:

Introductory paragraphs tell you, in advance, such things as the main ideas of the
chapter or section; the extent or limits of the coverage; how the topic is developed; and
the writer's attitude toward the topic.

Transitional paragraphs are usually short; their sole function is to tie together what you
have read so far and what is to come - to set the stage for succeeding ideas of the
chapter or section.

Summarizing paragraphs are used to restate briefly the main ideas of the chapter or
section. The writer may also draw some conclusion from these ideas, or speculate on
some conclusion based on the evidence he/she has presented.
Finding the supporting details
Details, major and minor, support the main idea by telling how, what, when, where, why,
how much, or how many.
Interfering meanings, drawing conclusions
Drawing conclusions refers to information that is implied or inferred. This means that the
information is never clearly stated. Inference is just a big word that means
a conclusion or judgement. If you infer that something has happened, you do not see,
hear, feel, smell, or taste the actual event. But from what you know, it makes sense to
think that it has happened.

Classifying and organizing facts

Classifying is separating various things on the basis of some criteria
Organizing facts are how to classify the facts and how to use that classification to
arrange those facts in a particular rational order.

Using the parts of a book

title page

It has the information about when and where the book was published. It will give you the
name of the author. It will tell you the copyright date or the date the book was written or
published.

table of contents
It will help you to find the names of the chapters of the book and the page number
where each chapter begins. Each chapter of the book will have a name and usually has
a chapter number.

glossary of a book
It will give meanings to words used in the book. Vocabulary words or new words in the
book will be here. The glossary can help you to understand your reading and will make
it easier for you to learn and study the information.

index of a book
It is very valuable to learners. You will find a listing of each topic in the book, names of
people, maps in the book, or any other information in the book listed here. This listing
will be in alphabetical order and will have the page number in the book where you can
find the information you are looking for. This is very helpful to learners.
Using the dictionary
It also called a word reference, wordbook ,lexicon, or vocabulary) is a collection
of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically (or by radical and
stroke for ideographic languages), with usage
information,definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other
information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also
known as a lexicon

Using the encyclopedias and other reference books

It is a type of reference work a compendium holding a summary of information from
either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge Encyclopedias are
divided into articles or entries, which are usually accessed alphabetically by article
name.
Borrowing library books for research and enjoyment

Give the importance of reading in the library not only for academic use but also for
enjoyment because there are section of a library where you can find books that are
entertaining but still educational books intended for the needs and wants of the
students. Aside from it, teach the pupils/students on how to borrow books and other
references from the library through the use of library cards and with the aid of authors
card, title card and subject card in order to asked for the right book/s from the librarian.
Starting your private library collection
Reading of books and other references will encourage children to create and start a
mini library of collection of books from his/her past years in learning and also to other
references that he/she is reading. It will encourage them to read more as well as his/her
siblings and parents at home. the family that reads together stays together
Exposure to reading from mass media
The mass media are diversified media technologies that are intended to reach a large
audience by mass communication.

a.
b.
c.

Forms of mass media

Broadcast
Film
Video games
Audio recording and reproduction
Internet
Blogs (web logs)
RSS feeds
Podcast
Mobile
Print media
Book
Magazine
Newspaper
Reading from the Internet
Reading from the Internet is the most and easiest way not only for the children but also
to the adults to gather information from a certain topic but always teach children to
examine if the article or information that they are reading is based on facts or not. Try to
teach also the dos and donts in using the Internet. Only view and surf educational sites
and not the sites that is not suitable for their ages.