101642102_Victoria Johnson_Teaching Early Reading_Report_Januray 5 th 2024
Teaching and Assessing Early Years Reading.
Victoria Johnson 101642102
EDU30068
Teaching Early Reading
Due: January 8th 2024
Word Count
2200
Teaching and Assessing Early Years Reading...........................................................................1
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Discussion..................................................................................................................................5
Key Components....................................................................................................................5
1. Oral Language and Concepts of Print,.......................................................................5
2. Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness,.................................................6
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101642102_Victoria Johnson_Teaching Early Reading_Report_Januray 5 th 2024
3. Phonics.......................................................................................................................6
4. Vocabulary.................................................................................................................7
5. Fluency.......................................................................................................................7
6. Comprehension..........................................................................................................8
Strategies................................................................................................................................9
Shared Reading..................................................................................................................9
Read and Retell................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................14
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Executive Summary
Reading in the early years is an essential part of school readiness. It is imperative that
teachers take care when implementing teaching and assessment strategies in classrooms to
ensure all learning needs are met. The key components of reading are critical to forming a
strong foundation for children children’s development of essential skills for achieving good
reading. Each component builds on each other and works together to help children create an
understanding of text so they can use it for a purpose. The report found that shared reading is
an effective teaching strategy in Early Years classrooms that fosters development of all key
components. The evaluation of reading and retelling found that it is an effective method of
teaching and assessing comprehension of narrative text. It has been recommended that shared
reading be implemented into daily routine in the Early Years classroom. Small world play has
been recommended as means of implementing read and retell as an age-appropriate
comprehension assessment for early childhood reading capabilities.
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Introduction
Teaching reading in the early years is an essential part of school readiness. There are
six critical components to learning to read, each of which are discussed within this report.
These are: oral language and concepts of print, Phonological Awareness and Phonemic
Awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and, comprehension. Teaching and assessment
strategies need to be chosen carefully and demand consideration of the needs and capabilities
of the students within the learning environment. Utilising Gardener’s theory of multiple
intelligences and Vygotsky’s theory of learning; shared reading is evaluated as a teaching
strategy for reading in the early years and read and retell is evaluated as means of assessment
for relevant key reading components. In addition, two recommendations have been made for
the implementation of these strategies and assessments within early years settings.
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Discussion
Key Components
1. Oral Language and Concepts of Print,
Children’s overall language and literacy outcomes are shaped largely by their
interactions with oral language. Educators extend this learning experience through oral
interactions; supporting children’s reading development as they begin understanding
language structures, grammatical rules and complex sentence structures (Konza, 2014).
Between the ages of two and six children have a burst of language development where
they acquire more than 10,000 words; having a crucial impact on children’s later reading
ability (Konza, 2014; Paris et al., 2019). Children in this preschool age group – with strong
vocabularies – demonstrate better comprehension and word recognition in their primary
schooling (Konza, 2014). The three-year old kinder initiative supports this as the additional
years of kinder enable better development in pre-reading and language skills (Victorian
Government, 2022).
To learn to read, children need to be aware of the rules and conventions surrounding
reading text. This is referend to as concepts of print. These rules belong to two groups: book
print and screen print. These concepts are largely developed through engaging with texts of
varying kinds. For early readers this happens most often at their school settings with their
teachers (Winch et al., 2020).
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2. Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness,
Phonemic awareness refers to the smallest parts of the word that have meaning and is
characterised by a speakers ability to hear, segment and manipulate speech sounds (Winch et
al., 2020). This knowledge builds a basis for children to begin to understand the relationship
between sound and spoken langue. This is a critical for children’s ability to learn to read. To
recognise the links between written symbols and speech children need to be able to hear the
separate sounds in words. Oral language is a key platform to this learning.
Educators need to understand the links between oral language and reading skills, as
this is an essential part of ensuring all children have the skills necessary to develop their
reading abilities (Konza, 2014).
3. Phonics
Phonics is an extension of phonological awareness. It refers specifically to the
connection between the sound and the letter (Literacy Hub, n.d.-c). This is the foundation on
which children will learn to read the alphabetic language. There is evidence to support a
synthetic approach to teaching phonics, suggesting that there is a correct order to introduce
sounds and letters so children can learn to blend individual sounds. The process of teaching
children that sounds blend together allows them to develop an understanding of the reading
and writing process (Konza, 2014).
4. Vocabulary
Vocabulary refers to the collection of word’s children know and understand. When
children have a sound vocabulary, they have a better foundation for reading. Vocabulary can
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be split into three tiers. Tier one is words that are used most frequently. These are often
referred to as sight words and cannot be sounded out because their spelling doesn’t
correspond with their sounds. Tier two and three words are subject based and are more
complex. Children who hear a lot of words are more equipped to understand these in reading
contexts (Literacy Hub, n.d.-d). Vocabulary is critical to children’s ability to comprehend
texts (Konza, 2014).
5. Fluency
Fluency in reading is measured against the ease of which a child reads, and is affected
by rate, accuracy and expression (Literacy Hub, n.d.-b). Fluency is achieved when all other
skills in reading become automated. When a child becomes fluent in their reading, they are
able to focus on the meaning of the text (Konza, 2014). Encouraging children to read aloud
allows them to practice reading at a rate that sounds like spoken language. It is imperative
that teachers supply materials that are relevant to children’s skill level so they can read for
meaning not just accuracy. Enabling children to practice fluency also appeals to a child’s
confidence in themselves (Literacy Hub, n.d.-b). The importance of children developing large
vocabulary and engaging consistently with oral language forms is highlighted in that, the
more words a child knows and understands the more fluent their reading will become (Konza,
2014).
6. Comprehension
Comprehension is essentially the understanding of what is being read. There are
various ways this can look depending on what is being read and for what purpose (Literacy
Hub, n.d.-a). Competent readers are able to determine the purpose of reading and adjust their
reading strategies accordingly (Konza, 2014). Teaching comprehension within early reading
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comes from both reading texts and being involved in discussion surrounding the text. These
conversations need to promote thinking beyond basic retell in order to have children learn to
pose and answer questions about the text (Anderson, 2015). Educators facilitating early
reading in this way will have to lead the discussion and at times guide children towards
answers modelling the practice until children can answer on their own.
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Strategies
Shared Reading
Shared reading is a teaching strategy that demonstrates reading techniques and
behaviours (Department of Education, 2023c). This technique should always take place with
the intent to improve oral language (Queensland Department of Education, 2019). This
teaching strategy is vastly effective for supporting children’s development across the key
components necessary for them to move towards independent reading. Shared reading
provides a platform for teachers to implement Vygotsky’s theory of learning that children
learn through connecting existing knowledge to knew practices, particularly fluency and
comprehension (Brinker, 2013).
Vocabulary development is enhanced when children engage in shared reading
experiences. Early reading has been shown to enrich language development in toddlers.
Strong vocabularies are supportive of children’s reading capabilities as they progress.
Regular reading to children will help them achieve competency in reading skills earlier
(Hoyne & Egan, 2019; Konza, 2014). It is important that during this reading educators
facilitate the development of vocabulary and comprehensions kills through the use of
dialogue before, during and after engaging in text (Queensland Department of Education,
2019).
Shared reading experiences in the early years also support children’s development of
the concept of print. Children are able to recognise, through turning pages that text has a
direction and can develop and understanding of the relationship between text and meaning
(Department of Education, 2023b; Hoyne & Egan, 2019).
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It is important when engaging in shared reading experiences that while engaging in
the same text more than once can facilitate understanding, when children begin to learn letter
sounds they might look for patterns in the pictures to guess the words rather than decode the
text (Konza, 2014). Howard Gardener’s theory of multiple intelligences poses that all
children learn differently (Cherry, 2023). Meaning that what one child gains from a shared
reading experience another may not. For example one child may not gain a full
comprehension from the text but rather a hands on activity; but the same child may learn to
recognise fluency from listening to the text (Brinker, 2013).
Read and Retell
Assessment of children’s reading skills are essential in supporting teachers’ decisions
in addressing instructional needs and differentiation. Read and retell is primarily used to
measure childrens understanding of texts and their overall comprehensions skills. Kintsch's
Levels of Understanding proposes the situational model as a secondary level of understanding
relevant to the information presented within the text, and the readers knowledge of this. At
this level, children are able to both generate knowledge and retrieve existing knowledge to
build understanding of concepts that have been explored (Hosp & Suchey, 2014). The
retelling of a text supports this through providing educators with an overall picture of
children’s understanding of story content and structure, and their interpretation of the text
(Cao & Kim, 2021). Comprehension extends past the understanding of what occured in the
book, it also encompasses understanding of concepts within the texts as well as factual
information that has been presented depending on genre (Department of Education, 2023a).
Read and retell is most effective when children engage with narrative texts. When children
engage in informative texts they are more likely to answer questions about what they have
learned and understood about a topic but will not likely adapt these concepts to imaginative
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play (Cao & Kim, 2021). Using story prompts within planned early learning experiences will
help children make sense of literacy concepts (Maze Media, 2000).
Recommendations
1. Integrate shared reading experiences within daily routines: In
addition to having books available for children’s engagement within the learning
space, to implement shared reading as a teaching strategy, educators should be
embedding this into their practice. How this looks within a classroom setting will vary
depending on each child’s needs, but it should be regular and meaningful (Department
of Education, 2023c; Hoyne & Egan, 2019; Konza, 2014). Reading as a group before
shared mealtimes will enable teachers to facilitate discussion around concepts within
the texts. Shared reading within routine will help cement initial concepts of print for
the children, while exposing them to new patterns of language and vocabulary.
2. Small-world play in response to texts: Within the children’s early
learning environment, teachers should aim to have at last one small world play area
set up for children to engage with. To facilitate the teaching and assessing of
comprehension, teachers should ensure these learning experiences are linked to a text
child are familiar with. These learning spaces allow children to attach existing
understandings to their play and have the opportunity to retell and interpret the story
in their own way (Main, 2022). In turn they will be able to extend and practice their
vocabulary while engaging with their peers. Teachers can use this opportunity to
observe the children’s engagements and gain an overview of their understanding of
concepts, and overall development of key components of early reading skills. These
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learning spaces allow for the teacher to engaging in one on one teaching where
needed, and it also supports hands on learners in gaining a different understanding of
the text as opposed to auditory engagement on its own (Maze Media, 2000). Engaging
in these learning experiences also allows for children to exercise their various types of
intelligences, as well as adapt their knowledge and extend their understandings
through interaction with their peers and educators (Brinker, 2013; Main, 2022)
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Conclusion
The six key components of reading are essential building blocks for children’s early
reading development. Oral language and concepts of print are the first concepts and most
impactful on children’s reading ability. Children’s language skills are indicative of learnt
reading concepts and reading capabilities (Konza, 2014). The sound of language is an
essential understanding children need to develop in order to then learn to read and understand
the alphabetic code. Listening to text and engaging in oral language experiences allows
children to expand their vocabulary which is both supportive and indicative of future reading
and comprehension skills. Learning vocabulary and sounds of language allows children to
become fluent in their reading and develop the foundations of good comprehension.
Engaging in facilitated reading experiences in the early years teaches children how to
question a text to gain a full comprehension of the content. Shared reading is a sound strategy
that can be seamlessly integrated into and early years classroom. It is only limited in that it
cannot cater to a large variety of multiple intelligences and can encourage children to rely too
much on the imagery within a text to decode and make meaning. Small world play is a
positive method of integrating age-appropriate assessment of comprehension of narrative
texts. This method of read and retell allows children to learn from both teachers and peer
interaction, allowing for a greater scope of assessment by the teacher.
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References
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Comprehension?
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