Young children's reading strategies
Young children's reading strategies.
By
Michelle Collins
The reading strategies of
emergent readers has been a major area of research in past years. Michelle
Collins reports here on her study of the reading strategies used by emergent
readers that she identified as she observed young readers 'read' self-selected
picture books.
There is much evidence
that indicates that for young children, learning to use different reading
strategies is inseparable from making meaning and sharing meanings while developing
literacy (Sulzby, 1985; Taylor, Wade & Yekovich, 1985; Juel, 1980; Depree
& Iversen, 1994; Biemiller, 1970; Brenna, 1995; Elster, 1994; Fehrenbac,
1991; and McIntyre, 1990). This study aimed to extend the knowledge in the area
of emergent reading of 5- to 7-year-olds. The purpose of the study was to
investigate young children's reading strategies: to identify any common
strategies that arise in a group of children, and to see whether there are any
patterns which may suggest that the use of reading strategies is developmental
in nature. Therefore, the research question of the study was: What are the
reading strategies that young children use when they read picture storybooks?
The study focussed on individual children's reading strategies, and used both
familiar and non-familiar storybooks.
The research literature
clearly demonstrates that literacy learning involves the integration of
information from many sources. Clay and Cazden (1990: p. 207), for instance,
suggest that all readers 'need to use, and check against each other' four
sources of information: semantic (text meaning), syntactic (sentence
structure), visual (graphemes, orthography, format, and layout) and phonology
(the sounds of oral language)'. The process of integrating information from
these four sources is linked to the formation of reading strategies, whereby
emergent readers use their knowledge of text and what it means and represents;
their knowledge of what a sentence and a word is; the sounds that make up these
words; and the role of pictures and other visual cues in a story.
Pinnell, Lyons, DeFord,
Bryk and Seltzer (1994: p. 11) suggest that when children are learning to read,
they seem to 'acquire a set of mental operations that make up a self-extending
system for reading and writing'. These 'individualised' systems contain
specific reading strategies that young readers use to gain meaning and
understanding as they read. In this sense, a reading strategy can be defined as
a procedure that aids the reader to gain information, from both pictorial, text
and structural cues.
By observing this reading
behaviour, it is suggested that one can infer the particular strategies being
implemented by readers (Depree & Iversen, 1994). Thus observing children's
reading behaviours has become a major focus of emergent reading research. This
research suggests that children seem to progress from focussing on
illustrations to focussing on print (Biemiller, 1970; Elster, 1994; McIntyre,
1990; & Sulzby, 1985). It is, however, possible that the use of strategies
is not merely developmental, but dependent on the individual child's prior
experiences and interest, and the level of difficulty of the text, as well as
the type of text read.
In attempting to describe
the beginnings of reading, Sulzby (1985) observed young children reading their
favourite storybooks. She classified her observations into two main themes:
dominated by pictures, and dominated by print. Sulzby claimed that these formed
a developmental sequence, in that readers are dominated by pictures before
print. Sulzby ordered the categories that emerged in the following
developmental sequence:
* picture-governed attempts where the
story is not formed
* picture-governed attempts where the
story is formed; oral-like language
* written-like language
* print not being watched
* print being watched
* attempts completely governed by
print.
McIntyre (1990) also
observed the reading behaviour patterns of emergent readers as they read
storybooks. Studying the children as they selected their own reading or writing
activity as part of the everyday classroom curriculum, McIntyre concluded that
eight strategies were used. These were:
* reading the pictures with oral-like
language
* reading the pictures with text-like
language
* saying the text from memory
* reading the text from memory
* reading the text but skipping words
* reading the text
* repeated reading, and
* browsing.
Unlike Sulzby, McIntyre
did not create a developmental proforma, but rather a list of strategies that
young children were observed using while reading.
Elster
(1994) studied the reading and talk strategies that emergent readers used
before they began to attend to print. She argued that emergent readers select
and deploy a controlled repertoire of strategies when they read, and that they choose
strategies from an ever-expanding ...
This report based on above articel..
Young Children's Reading
Strategies
Journal article by Michelle Collins;
Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Vol.
21, 1998
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|
Young Children
Reading Strategies
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|
Introduction
|
The
reading strategies of emergent readers has been a major area of research in
past years. There is much evidence that indicates that for young children,
learning to use different reading strategies is inseparable from making
meaning and sharing meanings while developing literacy. This study aimed to
extend the knowledge in the area of emergent reading of 5- to 7-year-olds.
|
Methodology
|
The
research literature clearly demonstrates that literacy learning involves the
integration of information from many sources. Clay and Cazden (1990: p. 207),
for instance, suggest that all readers 'need to use, and check against each
other' four sources of information: semantic (text meaning), syntactic
(sentence structure), visual (graphemes, orthography, format, and layout) and
phonology (the sounds of oral language)'. The process of integrating
information from these four sources is linked to the formation of reading
strategies, whereby emergent readers use their knowledge of text and what it
means and represents; their knowledge of what a sentence and a word is; the
sounds that make up these words; and the role of pictures and other visual
cues in a story.
This
observtion started by classified observations into two
main themes: dominated by pictures, and dominated by print.
|
Finding
|
The
purpose of the study was to investigate young children's reading strategies:
to identify any common strategies that arise in a group of children, and to
see whether there are any patterns which may suggest that the use of reading
strategies is developmental in nature.
|
Discussion
|
When
children are learning to read, they seem to 'acquire a set of mental
operations that make up a self-extending system for reading and writing'.
These 'individualised' systems contain specific reading strategies that young
readers use to gain meaning and understanding as they read. In this sense, a
reading strategy can be defined as a procedure that aids the reader to gain
information, from both pictorial, text and structural cues.
By
observing this reading behaviour, it is suggested that one can infer the
particular strategies being implemented by readers (Depree & Iversen,
1994). Thus observing children's reading behaviours has become a major focus
of emergent reading research. This research suggests that children seem to
progress from focussing on illustrations to focussing on print. It is,
however, possible that the use of strategies is not merely developmental, but
dependent on the individual child's prior experiences and interest, and the
level of difficulty of the text, as well as the type of text read.
These
formed a developmental sequence, in that readers are dominated by pictures
before print. Sulzby ordered the categories that emerged in the following
developmental sequence:
*
picture-governed attempts where the story is not formed
*
picture-governed attempts where the story is formed; oral-like language
*
written-like language
*
print not being watched
*
print being watched
*
attempts completely governed by print.
|
Conclusion
|
There
are eight strategies were used. These were:
*
reading the pictures with oral-like language
*
reading the pictures with text-like language
*
saying the text from memory
*
reading the text from memory
*
reading the text but skipping words
*
reading the text
*
repeated reading, and
*
browsing.
Emergent
readers select and deploy a controlled repertoire of strategies when they
read, and that they choose strategies from an ever-expanding.
|
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