Advanced Skills Necessary for Proficient Reading

First we have discussed the reading skills which are not sufficient to become a
skilled reader. To become a skilled or proficient reader, the student still needs
to develop higher level advanced skills in handling multi syllable words,
building fluency, expanding vocabulary and developing comprehension
skills.

Higher Level or Advanced Reading Skills

1. Skill in handling multi syllable words

The multi syllable or longer words are more difficult to read than “short” words.
To read multi syllable words the student needs to apply a more advanced
strategy. Some students automatically develop the proper strategies for
reading multi syllable words but many do not and struggle with multi syllable
words. Direct instruction and guided practice teaches the student how to
handle multi syllable words. The majority of English words are multi syllable
so it is critical to read them effectively.
Syllable is a unit of sound. It is a sound uttered with a single effort. It is said
with a single puff of air. Every syllable has at least one vowel sound with or
without the surrounding consonant sounds. Multi syllable words are made up
of a combination of these distinct sound units. To read multi syllable words the
student has to break the word down by distinguishing different sounds to form
the correct syllables and then smoothly combining these correct sound units
with all the adjacent syllables into one fluid word. It is tricky and it absolutely
takes practice to master this complex skill.
Miss
Mistake
Mistaken
Mistakenly

2. Fluency
Fluency is ‘fast’ or ‘automatic’ reading. Fluent readers are able to read quickly
and accurately. The student knows words instantly and reads them in a fast
way. By simply ‘knowing’ the words the individual reads easily and quickly.
According to the neuroscientists, Fluent reading is established after the
individual reads the word at least four times using accurate phonologic
processing (slow accurate sounding out). Fluency is build word by word and
entirely dependent on repeated, accurate, sounding out the specific word.

3) Vocabulary
As can be expected, vocabulary knowledge is important to reading
development. Vocabulary is beyond correct decoding. It is understanding the
meaning of the word. Expanding the student’s knowledge bank of vocabulary
words is important to comprehension. The greater the student’s vocabulary
the easier it is to make sense of and understand text. Vocabulary is generally
related to understanding individual words where ‘comprehension’ generally
refers to understanding larger parts of the text. Vocabulary and overall
comprehension are related.
Vocabulary knowledge is distinct from the skill of decoding print. A student
can fully understand words that he is not able to read/decode. For example a
five year old has a much larger speaking and understanding vocabulary than
a printed reading vocabulary. He may not be able to decode the printed words
‘gorilla’, ‘vacation’ or ‘chocolate’ but has the vocabulary knowledge to
understand exactly what these words mean. In contrast a student may be able
to correctly decode a strange word perfectly and still now know what it means.
The student may correctly decode the word ‘placid’, ‘leviathan’ or ‘mizzen’ but
have no idea what these words mean. This would be a vocabulary knowledge
issue. Of course for comprehension, the student needs to both accurately
decode the word and know what the word means. Expanding a student’s
vocabulary knowledge is important to reading development.

See the article Expanding Vocabulary Knowledge for additional information

and specific techniques for helping your student develop vocabulary.

4) Comprehension
Comprehension is deriving meaning from the text. Obviously, comprehension
is critically important to the development of skilled reading. Comprehension is
an active process that requires thoughtful interaction between the reader and
the text. Vocabulary development is critical to comprehension.
Comprehension, or reading for meaning, obviously is the goal of reading
instruction.
Remember, to achieve comprehension, the student must first develop
accurate phonological decoding skills and build fluency. Fluency and accuracy
are critical to reading comprehension. If the student struggles with accurate
fluent decoding this inability to easily convert print into language will continue
to limit reading comprehension. If decoding takes significant effort, the student
has little energy left to devote to thinking about what they are reading. When
the student can easily, accurately and fluently decode the printed text, he then
is able to focus energy on higher level comprehension skills.
Reading comprehension is a skill that needs to be developed. Comprehension
is a complex higher level skill that is much greater than decoding. It is
important for students to develop comprehension strategies. Comprehension
strategies focus on teaching students to understand what they read not on
building skills on how to read/decode. While readers acquire some
comprehension strategies informally, explicit or formal instruction in the
application of comprehension strategies has been shown to be highly
effective in enhancing understanding (from the Report of the National
Reading Panel). In other words you can take specific actions to help students
develop comprehension skills.

See the article Developing Reading Comprehension for additional information

and specific actions you can take to help your child or student develop reading
comprehension.

Summary
Skilled reading requires the mastery, integration and application of numerous
skills and knowledge. An effective direct-systematic-phonics program
provides the essential foundation for accurate effortless decoding so the
student can begin to achieve the higher goals of reading. Help the student
develop higher level skills in handling multisyllable words, building fluency,
expanding vocabulary and developing comprehension. Other essential
language curriculum areas in spelling, grammar, creative and technical
writing, exposure to literature, appreciation and enjoyment of writing and
ability to extract and research information are also essential to
education. Directly help your child build advanced reading skills.

Additional information, articles and resources on teaching children to read

proficiently can be found on the Free Reading Information page of the Right
Track Reading website.
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This article was written by Miscese Gagen a mother with a passion for teaching children to read
proficiently by using effective methods. She is also a successful reading tutor and author of the
reading instructional programs Right Track Reading Lessons and Back on the Right Track
Reading Lessons. The purpose of this article is to empower parents and teachers with
information on teaching children how to read. We CAN improve reading proficiency, one student
at a time! More information is located at www.righttrackreading.com ~ Copyright 2007 Miscese
R. Gagen