Ensuring that children develop word recognition and language comprehension

In the early years of learning to read, teachers need to focus on helping children develop their word recognition skills. Initially the focus is on helping children to master the alphabetic code, apply their phonic knowledge and skills as they decode words and develop a store of familiar words - developing automaticity in
their word reading. This work is set alongside work on developing speaking and listening skills, phonemic awareness, vocabulary development and language comprehension.

However, as children develop in their reading, attention should be paid to the transition from learning to read to reading to learn, where the balance of word recognition and language comprehension changes. Language comprehension will be developing alongside the growing skills of word recognition and as stated in the report, 'phonic work should be time-limited, whereas work on comprehension continues throughout life' (Independent review of the teaching of early reading, paragraph 129, page 39).

The focus of teaching for later reading development will emphasise comprehension and response as children develop as critical and fluent readers, moving from learning to read, to reading to learn, engaging and interacting with a wide range of texts for purpose and pleasure. In summary, the dimensions of word recognition and language comprehension processes are distinct but both are needed to secure effective reading in the longer term. Teaching needs to be staged so that priority is given to the development of word-reading processes in the early stages of learning to read, with a switch towards a greater emphasis on the teaching of language comprehension as children secure their knowledge of the alphabetic code and 'developing the abilities necessary to understanding and appreciating written texts in different content areas and literary genres'. (Independent review of the teaching of early reading, paragraph 19, page 78)

Ensuring that children develop word recognition and language comprehension

Children perform differently in the two dimensions of word reading and language comprehension

Teachers need to be clear about children's performance and progress in each of the two dimensions of word recognition and language comprehension and Figure 2, Different patterns of performance below, illustrates the four patterns of performance which reflect relative differences in the balance of word recognition and language comprehension abilities. Teachers need to monitor children's performance and progress carefully against these different patterns.

Figure 2. Different patterns of performance

Children may fall into any one of the four quadrants in the figure above. It is important that teachers recognise that 'the four patterns of performance reflect relative differences in the balance of word comprehension and language comprehension abilities: as both dimensions are continuous, children can vary continuously on each.' (Independent review of the teaching of early reading, Appendix 1, paragraph 30, page 80)

As teachers assess children's performance and progress within both word recognition and language comprehension processes, they need to identify children's particular learning needs and use this analysis to guide further teaching.

Ensuring that children develop word recognition and language comprehension

Development of word recognition skills

Children need to be taught:

• grapheme-phoneme (letter/sound) correspondences (the alphabetic principle) in a clearly defined, incremental sequence
• to apply the highly important skill of blending (synthesising) phonemes in order, all through a word to read it
• to apply the skills of segmenting words into their constituent phonemes to spell them
• that blending and segmenting are reversible processes

'The sequence of teaching phonic knowledge and skills should be such that children should have every opportunity to acquire rapidly the necessary phonic knowledge and skills to read independently.' Independent review of the teaching of early reading, paragraph 86, page 28

To develop their word recognition skills, beginner readers need to do the following.

• Set up processes for identifying letters.
• Acquire a store of essential phonic rules, processes to link graphemes to phonemes and blend phonemes into words. In the first instance, the store of phonic rules will contain the single letter-sound correspondences that are typically the first rules children are taught. Development involves expanding the number of stored rules and incorporating increasingly complex and conditional rules.
• Establish a store of familiar words that are recognised immediately on sight and linked to their meanings. Development involves expanding the store of words and completing their representations (storing all letters of the word in the correct sequence). The term 'sight vocabulary' is a shorthand label for this store.

Figure 3: Diagrammatic representation of the word recognition system

Understanding and application of the alphabetic principle underpin not only the application of phonic rules to decode words but also the ease with which a store of sight vocabulary is developed. As the store of sight vocabulary expands and representation of words in it becomes more complete, many - if not most -children develop a 'self-teaching' mechanism, which enables them to infer more sophisticated, complex and conditional phonic rules (see the Rose Report, paragraph 56, page 87).

For further and more specific guidance on the implications of the Rose Report for the teaching of early reading, please see Phonics and early reading, available on the electronic Framework.

Ensuring that children develop word recognition and language comprehension

Developing language comprehension skills

The idea that reading comprehension depends on oral language skill is captured in the 'simple view of reading'. According to this conceptual framework, comprehension means understanding of language whether it is spoken or written.

'Comprehension occurs as the listener builds a mental representation of the information contained within the language that a speaker is using… the listener's general knowledge and level of cognitive development will have a bearing on the comprehension of the message. To generate an accurate mental representation... the listener has to process the language and the concepts.'
Independent review of the teaching of early reading, paragraph 61, page 88

The comprehension processes children use to understand written texts are the same as those they already use to understand spoken messages. The difference lies in the fact that children access written texts through their eyes rather than via their ears. They have to incorporate visual word identification processes into the comprehension system, but the system remains the same be it for oral or written language.

Figure 4: The components of the comprehension system

Word recognition is vital to reading comprehension; if children cannot recognise written words, then they will quite obviously be unable to extract meaning from them. However, once words are recognised and understood, children must activate their oral language comprehension to understand what a writer conveys. There is widespread acknowledgement that children vary in the ease with which they can read the words on the page; they also vary in their listening comprehension, and hence in their reading comprehension.

From an educational perspective, what this means is that teachers must foster the development of oral language skills in order to safeguard children's reading comprehension. Teachers also need to support the development of specific strategies for reading comprehension and, importantly, they need to encourage children to practise their developing reading skills.

For further and more specific guidance on the implications of the Rose Report for the teaching of comprehension, please see Progression in comprehension and Teaching comprehension, available on the electronic framework.