Five Components of Reading

Introduction

Discussed the importance of focusing on the components related to reading comprehension.
Difficulty in comprehension can stem from issues in other areas of reading.
Use of colored ribbons to demonstrate the five components of reading.

Taught primarily in pre-K to 2nd grade; some older students with language-based learning disabilities might need it.
Phoneme: smallest unit of sound in a language (44 phonemes in English).
Importance: Helps in detecting and manipulating sounds in words, essential for understanding the alphabetic system.
Example Activity: Identifying and manipulating sounds in the word “cat.”
Related to reading: Enables understanding of letters representing sounds in the alphabetic system.

Requires the lights on; focuses on letters representing sounds.
English: 26 letters representing 44 sounds; uses combinations of letters (e.g., TCH, CH).
Complexity due to historical layers of the English language; over 200 ways to spell 44 sounds.
Importance: Helps in decoding words accurately and fluently.

Fluency involves accuracy, speed, prosody (intonation and pauses), and comprehension.
Example: Learning a new skill (e.g., golf, knitting) requires guided practice.
In reading: Practice helps in rapid and accurate decoding, allowing focus on meaning.
Fluency components: Accuracy, speed, prosody, and comprehension.

Essential for comprehension; familiarity with at least 95% of words is crucial for understanding text.
Vocabulary and comprehension are closely connected.
Importance: Weak vocabulary can hinder meaning-making in reading.

Comprehension relies on other components of reading.
Sub-components:
- Vocabulary
- Strategies (e.g., finding main ideas, note-taking, summarizing, questioning)
- Background Knowledge: Pre-existing knowledge helps in understanding text.
- Text Structures: Complexity of sentences can affect comprehension.