Stages of Reading Development Learning to read Learning to read, as with learning arithmetic, takes place in stages. When a young student begins to study mathematics, he or she is gradually introduced to it in simple stages. The first stage usually begins with learning to count. Then simple addition is introduced, followed by simple subtraction, and learning progress bit by bit. Only after knowledge in these stages is successfully acquired can students advance to higher mathematics. Thus it is with reading. The first stages of reading and math are simple. In both math and reading, if one stage is missing, the entire process is rendered valueless.       Stage 1 - Decoding (reading) the words The entire written English language has at its foundation the understanding that letters are coded symbols which stand for sounds. (The word phonics comes from the Greek word phonos, which means sound.) An understanding of the phonetic structure of the language is a must if a poor reader is to become a good reader. The majority of students who experience difficulty with the all-important first step in learning to read do so not because of visual perceptual problems or neurological problems, and not because of a basic flaw in the would-be reader, as was commonly believed in the past, but because they have not learned how to approach an unfamiliar word and successfully "conquer" that word—that is, pronounce it correctly. Stage one must be mastered before proceeding to any of the following stages. Stage 2 - Comprehension—understanding the meaning As passages are read, the meaning of each word must be incorporated into the context of the passage. At first, reading is slow and laborious as students carefully examine each word. But when the decoding process becomes automatic, that is, both accurate and rapid, attention is freed from the slow and labor-intensive effort of decoding to the acquisition of higher-level comprehension skills. Stage 3 - Fluency and reading for intent Once reading becomes both accurate and fluent, the task of reading becomes one of understanding the content and its intent. It is during this stage that students expand their knowledge base. Stage 4 - Evaluation, relationships, and viewpoints In stage four, students learn to read more complex materials from various sources, and to assess its value and relate it to the subject at hand. This is critical to success. Stage 5 - Synthesis Even very young students can learn to relate material to their own situation if the material is on their appropriate level of understanding. Ideally, this type of intellectual pursuit increases until it eventually reaches a college or university level. The reader synthesizes information from a variety of sources to form and evaluate hypotheses. Stage five reading develops as a result of intensive study in a content area. For students to succeed in school and in today’s world, it is imperative that they become good readers by the third or fourth grade. Students who cannot read fluently by then almost never become good readers without targeted intervention.       More... To learn more about Academic Associates, call us at 800.550.9194 (California) or 800.861.9196 (Missouri), or click on the link below.  Academic1@verizon.net

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