Reading skills

According to the report by the US National Reading Panel (NRP) in 2000, the skills required for proficient reading are phonological awareness, phonics (sound-symbol correspondence), fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension.

Skills required for proficient reading
According to the National Reading Panel, the ability to read requires proficiency in a number of language domains: phonemic awareness, phonics (sound-symbol correspondence), fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension.


 * Phonemic awareness: The ability to distinguish and manipulate the individual sounds of language. The broader term, phonological awareness, also includes rhymes, syllables, and onsets and rimes.


 * Phonics: Method that stresses the acquisition of letter-sound correspondences and their use in reading and spelling. This helps beginning readers understand how letters are linked to sounds (phonemes), patterns of letter-sound correspondences and spelling in English, and how to apply this knowledge when they read.


 * Fluency: The ability to read orally with speed, accuracy, and vocal expression. The ability to read fluently is one of several critical factors necessary for reading comprehension. If a reader is not fluent, it may be difficult to remember what has been read and to relate the ideas expressed in the text to his or her background knowledge. This accuracy and automaticity of reading serves as a bridge between decoding and comprehension.


 * Vocabulary: A critical aspect of reading comprehension is vocabulary development. When a reader encounters an unfamiliar word in print and decodes it to derive its spoken pronunciation, the reader understands the word if it is in the reader's spoken vocabulary. Otherwise, the reader must derive the meaning of the word using another strategy, such as context.


 * Reading Comprehension :The NRP describes comprehension as a complex cognitive process in which a reader intentionally and interactively engages with the text. Reading comprehension is heavily dependent on skilled word recognition and decoding, oral reading fluency, a well-developed vocabulary and active engagement with the text.

Chall's Stages of Reading Development
Jeanne Chall's model of the stages of reading acquisition is well known. In Chall's model, each stage builds on skills mastered in earlier stages; lack of mastery at any level can halt the progress beyond that level.


 * Stage 0. Prereading: The learner gains familiarity with the language and its sounds. A person in this stage becomes aware of sound similarities between words, learns to predict the next part in a familiar story, and may start to recognize a few familiar written words. Chall's Stage 0 is considered comparable to what is often called "reading readiness." Typically developing readers achieve this stage about the age of 6.


 * Stage 1. Initial reading stage, or decoding stage: The learner becomes aware of the relationship between sounds and letters and begins applying the knowledge to text. This demonstrates the reader has achieved understanding of the critical concept of the alphabetic principle and is learning sound-symbol correspondences, the alphabetic code. Typically developing readers usually reach this stage by the age of 6 or 7.


 * Stage 2. Confirmation: This stage involves confirming the knowledge acquired in the previous two stages and gaining fluency in those skills. Decoding skills continue to improve, and they begin to develop speed in addition to accuracy in word recognition. At this point, the reader should be able to give attention  both to meaning and to the print, using them interactively to build their skills and fluency.  This stage is critical for the beginning reader.  If the developing reader stops making progress during this stage, the individual remains, in Chall's words, "glued to the print."  Typically developing readers usually reach this stage around the age of 8.


 * Stage 3. Reading to learn: At this stage, the motivation for reading changes. The reader has enough reading skill to begin to read text in order to gain information.  Readers' vocabulary development accelerates at this point resulting from increased exposure to the written word.  Typically developing children usually achieve this stage in 4th grade, around the age of 9.


 * Stage 4. Multiple viewpoints: The reader at this stage begins to be able to analyze what they read, understand different points of view, and react critically to what they read. Typical readers are developing this skill set during the high school years, around ages 14 to 19.


 * Stage 5. Construction and judgement: At this stage, readers have learned to read selectively and form their own opinions about what they read; they construct their knowledge from that of others. This highest level of reading development is not usually reached until college age, or later, and may in fact be achieved only by those who have an intellectual inclination.

Other views

 * Phase 1: Uta Frith's view of phase 1 as the logographic phase. Linnea Ehri calls it the visual-cue phase.


 * Phase 2: Ehri's phonetic cue, or rudimentary alphabetic, stage.


 * Phase 3: Gough and Hillinger's cipher or alphabetic phase


 * Phase 4: Orthographic phase

Reading difficulties
Reading difficulties have a common source. Problems processing spoken words hinder a student’s ability to translate written words into speech. Regardless of age, subtle auditory or phonological (speech-sound) processing issues hinder reading.