The majority of reading problems faced by our young today could have been avoided in the early years of childhood if only widespread reforms have been done to ensure that all children are equipped with the skills and instructions they need to learn to read. The key elements that children need in order to become good readers include learning letters and sounds and how to read for meaning. They should also be exposed with opportunities to practice reading with many types of books. Effective teaching and extra resources can make it possible for many “at risks” children to become successful readers. Excellent instruction is the best intervention for children who demonstrate problems in learning to read. Childhood environments that support early literacy development also plays an important factor in order to enhance children’s reading ability. Much more, they should be expose to frequent regular spelling-sound relationships, learn about the nature of the alphabetic writing system and understand the structure of spoken words. Adequate progress in learning to read English beyond the initial level depends on having a working understanding of how sounds which are represented alphabetically, sufficient practice in reading to achieve fluency with different kinds of texts, sufficient background knowledge & vocabulary to render written texts meaningful & interesting, control over procedures for monitoring comprehension & repairing misunderstandings, and continued interest & motivation to read for a variety of purposes. Giving emphasis on excellent instruction in order to prevent reading difficulties, it is highly recommended to pay much attention on every primary grade classrooms to the full array of early reading accomplishments, the alphabetic principle, reading sight words, reading words by mapping speech sounds to parts of words, achieving fluency and comprehension. Getting started in alphabetic reading depends critically on mapping the letters and spelling of words onto the speech units that they represent. Failure to master word recognition can impede text comprehension. And comprehension difficulties on the other hand can be prevented by actively building comprehension skills as well as linguistic and conceptual knowledge beginning in the earliest grades. Comprehension can be enhanced through instruction focused on concept & vocabulary growth & background knowledge, instruction about the syntax & rhetorical structures of written language, & direct instruction about comprehension strategies such as summarizing, predicting, & monitoring. Comprehension also takes practice, which is gained by reading independently, by reading in pairs or groups, & by being read aloud to.
By: PERLITA S. PARENO
