Children need to understand that words are made of speech sounds (phonemes) represented by letters or combinations of letters of the alphabet (graphemes) before they can tackle phonics instruction. Phonemic awareness is a predictor of a child’s success in learning to read and is an essential skill for decoding words. As children develop phonemic awareness, they learn to isolate sounds at the beginning, middle and end of words before they're able to blend their sounds.
Phonics instruction teaches early readers the relationships between the letters and sounds in words. Research has shown that the best results are obtained teaching kindergarteners and first graders a systematic approach to phonics rather than randomly teaching it as new words are encountered in a reading text. Children with a strong understanding of phonics tend to be stronger in reading comprehension and word recognition.
Fluent readers quickly and accurately recognize words and are able to group them within the text to enhance understanding. Studies show that students who are fluent readers have better comprehension. Rereading a text (repeated reading) and guided oral repeated reading help develop fluency.
Students learn some of their vocabulary indirectly, but purposeful instruction is an important element of learning to read and reading to learn. Discuss new vocabulary words before assigning a reading passage, help the students use the words in sentences and repeatedly expose them to the words in different contexts. Encourage the children to relate the words to something they know about or have direct experience with. As they progress in their reading ability, students should be taught dictionary skills and root words.
Understanding what's read (comprehension) is the goal of learning to read. Students must be able to progress beyond applying phonics to reading passages; they must comprehend what they're reading. Teaching reading comprehension strategies and modeling them to the students is an effective way to increase comprehension in early readers with the eventual goal that they'll begin to apply appropriate comprehension strategies independently.