Early+Years+Readers

__EARLY YEARS READERS__ ==

‘Reading is the process of constructing meaning from print and from other symbols.’ (Hill 2006 pg 139) When a child is taught to read it is crucial the teacher is aware that a child’s learning encompasses many different styles and that all children develop at different rates. Each child had emerged from a different background, with different funds of knowledge and previous experiences, affecting their level and ability to read. The child must adopt the four roles of a reader; code breaking (alphabet code, punctuation and vocabulary), making meaning (comprehending the text and pictures), text using (analyse the purpose and features of the text) and text critiquing (having a critical awareness of the intent and purpose of the text). (Hill 2006 pg172)

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Fluency – "the fluency and rate of reading are very necessary for both the reading comprehension and the child’s approach to reading. If the child is able to fluently read the sentences they can therefore understand what is being read and perhaps acquire a pleasure in reading." (Hill 2006 pg 168) If children are slow readers with long pauses they can often lose track of what the message is as they increase their focus on getting each individual word correct. A fluency rubric is used by the teacher to monitor the development of the child’s fluency The rubrics range from well-phrased, expressive reading at one end to word-by-word, monotonic reading at the other.

FLUENCY RUBRIC
|| **Level 2**  ||  **Level 3**  ||  **Level 4**  ||
 * || **Level 1**
 * **Rate** ||  Very little variation of rate  ||  some variation of rate to suit the text  ||  Attention to rate to suit the text  ||  Full attention to an appropriate rate to suit the text  ||
 * **Phrasing** ||  Reads word-by-word with frequent long pauses in between  ||  reads mostly word-by-word but some 2-word phrases and perhaps 3 or 4 word phrases  ||  mixture of word-by-word reading and phrased reading  ||  reads in larger meaningful phrases with few word-by-word slowdowns for problem solving  ||
 * **Pausing** ||  Very little awareness of punctuation  ||  some awareness of punctuation and layout of print  ||  Attention to punctuation and layout of print on the page  ||  full attention to punctuation and layout of print on the page  ||
 * **Stress** ||  Very little emphasis on appropriate words  ||  Some awareness of emphasis on appropriate words to reflect the meaning of the text  ||  Attention to emphasis on appropriate words to reflect the meaning of the text  ||  Full attention to emphasis on all the appropriate words to reflect the meaning of the text.  ||
 * **Intonation or expression** ||  Little expression interpretation  ||  Some expressive interpretation  ||  Consistent expressive use of tone, pitch and volume  ||  Varied use of tone, pitch and volume interpretation evident throughout  ||

“Comprehension is the act of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning from the text. Children have to extract meaning from the printed words on the page by working out how print operates to represent words.” (Hill 2006, pg 190) To assess comprehension the teacher can use comprehension questions, to gauge an understanding of what level the child is at. These questions range from Literal, which prompts the child to recall information that is written in the text, to Inferential, which encourages the child to think beyond the obvious information in the text and provide a critical or creative response fro their own experiences. (Hill pg 194) From the child’s response to these questions the teacher is able to get an insight into the child’s understanding of the text and their comprehension level.


 * STUDENT EXAMPLES**
 * We interviewed some early years learners, asked them to read to us and this is what we found from each student.**



Student 1* - After discussing comprehension with student 1,* results showed that the child had a solid understanding of the text and the illustrations and what they represented. When asked an inferential question about the text, Student 1* made judgment that the caterpillars would have felt scared and then also related the story back to their personal experience. Student 1* displayed a low level of fluency, some variation of rate was shown, but tended to pause until prompted between words, the student lacked emphasis on appropriate words, although showed some expressive interpretation when reading, elevating the pitch of her words when necessary.

Student 2* - After reading texts ‘My Dad’ and ‘Brian Banana Duck Sunshine Yellow’ the child responded well to several comprehension questions about both text’s. Student 2’s* results showed that the child had a greater understanding of ‘My Dad’. The child made several clear depictions between the text and the illustrations and what they embodied. This is predominately evident as seen in figure as the child presented direct and somewhat complex answers ‘Because they got bored of him always talking about his dad’ for the interpretive questions and referred to the illustrations ‘his friends were running away.’ Student 2* displayed between a level 2 and 3 fluency.

Student 3* performed a reading fluency test using the book “Where is the Green Sheep?” student 3* gained a level 3 in expression on the reading fluency rubric as she consistently read the line ‘but where is the green sheep?’ with more enthusiasm and inquisitive tone in her voice. I believe this level of text suited Ella’s level of fluency well as although she read it without many mistakes it seemed a harder book than those of her bring home readers set by her teacher. If the book had of been the next step up I think Student 3* may have struggled with it a little bit more.

Student 4* - With the child only being in grade prep her ability to read fluently was only there in certain parts of the two texts that were read. The flip picture book the child chose, titled Monster Mystery (Jorgensen 1993), was a bit too difficult this was the reason she needed assistance with sounding out words and also why she spent more time decoding than reading full sentences. The text did have repetitive sentences on most pages that the student was able to read in chunks for example when the boy is looking for the monster it reads ‘I followed the footprints’ (Jorgensen 1993). With reference to the reading fluency rubric (Hill 2006 pg170) the student would be in the middle of level 1 and 2. The student showed ‘some variation of rate to suit the text’ but did ‘read mostly word by word. The student was in level 1 when it came to placing stress on words and she put ‘very little emphasis on appropriate words.