- Entry #3: Comment on the relationship between oral language and the reading process.
Oral language and the reading process are linked. Children learn to talk before they the can read. We start with phonemic awareness, what words sound like and move into making meaning from shapes (letters) which represent the sounds we hear. From there we can start to sound out words and construct meaning from them. Vocabulary and comprehension and meaning follow. The 5 Big Ideas of Reading are well researched and have well founded structure. When "reading" in foreign language, someone will default to the phonics they know, unless and until they know the second (or subsequent languages).
For example, I've told my students I can "read" Spanish, which is true to some extent. I grew up in California and know a small amount. I have heard enough of it that I can "read" a page of it. i can decode some/most of the words into "reading" but I have little to no understanding of it. Therefore, I'm not actually "reading" at all, I'm decoding and vocalizing words, but without constructing meaning, I'm not reading.
For example, I've told my students I can "read" Spanish, which is true to some extent. I grew up in California and know a small amount. I have heard enough of it that I can "read" a page of it. i can decode some/most of the words into "reading" but I have little to no understanding of it. Therefore, I'm not actually "reading" at all, I'm decoding and vocalizing words, but without constructing meaning, I'm not reading.
References
Freeman, D. E., & Freeman, Y. S. (2004). Essential linguistics: What you need to know to teach reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, and grammar. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Thanks for sharing this point, Jan:
ReplyDeleteWhen students are just decoding and vocalizing words, but not constructing meaning, they are not reading.
We need to make sure that we can first realize when our ELL's are not connecting; often they can be good at "flying under the radar" and not drawing attention to themselves, but this can be dangerous.
Heidi