Swaleha Chandoo
8 November 2009
Arusha — The start of the official reading program normally occurs in grade one, but, reading may begin at an earlier or later stage depending on the learner, because each child develops at a different pace.
The initial stage in learning how to read: Several methods are used for the early stages of reading. Some children begin reading with the phonics method; some begin with a pre-primer, yet others begin with new materials such as linguistics or the programmed reading approach.
What typically happens at this stage is children begin to associate visual symbols with a particular sound. They learn to follow a line of print from left to right across a page. They develop a 'sight' vocabulary where 'sight' words have to be recognized at sight, which is without trying to sound out the word phonetically. Much of the reading at this stage is oral and children start understanding that reading is actually 'talk written down'.
We may have forgotten what it was like to learn to read. Most people who can read fairly well do it automatically, unaware of how many twists and twirls their minds are going through. Reading is considered by many researchers to be the most complex function we require our brains to perform.
Most of us may have heard about computer software that performs visual character recognition. It 'reads' an image of printing and converts it into text characters that can be used in a computer program. In some countries the Post Office uses it to read typed postcodes for mail sorting. These programs take a long time to work as they crawl along, letter by letter. They also tend to make many mistakes. It's a wonder they work at all, considering the complexity of what they have to do.
When you read, your brain has to do the same thing (though you probably recognize many entire words). Then you have to look up the words in your mental dictionary and string them together so that they make sense within the context of a complete sentence or thought. You are actually converting characters into word sounds, then combining those words into speech. For a dyslexic, this poses two problems.
First, when disorientated, a dyslexic's optical character recognition software isn't getting a clear picture of the characters on the page- it's trying to read the equivalent of a poor copy, so it makes more mistakes.
Secondly, a dyslexic doesn't really 'hear' thoughts internally. This means that he/she doesn't mentally sound out the words as he/she reads. In fact, despite the popularity of phonic methods to teach reading, dyslexics usually do better at sight reading, where they simply recognize an individual word as a concept.
Rapid development of reading skills is one of the sequence of stages that the child normally goes through in acquiring reading skills. However, this phase generally takes place when the child is in class 2 and 3. It is an extension of the improvement and escalation of the skills acquired. A child, progressing normally with reading skills now rapidly develops advanced word recognition skills. The child also builds a substantial sight vocabulary and starts becoming capable in using context clues.
The technique of phonic and structural analysis is also established. The end of the third grade deals with the bulk of the phonics program. This would imply that the child developing normally has learned phonic generalizations and uses them effectively by the end of the primary years. This is important since it lays the foundation for later reading development.
Stage of wide reading: at this stage, the basic skills acquired in the primary classes are improved and strengthened. A child progressing normally can now read for pleasure. Voluntary reading is at a maximum during this time. Children draw on books that fire their imagination and they share their enthusiasm of a good book with their peers. Soon there is a long line of children waiting to read a newly discovered 'good book'.
Refinement of reading: this is the final stage in the development of reading. This is also where the pupil develops advanced comprehension and study skills, an increase in reading rate and achieves flexibility in reading for different purposes. It is at this point, especially when longer periods of concentration are required that many children fail in reading.
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