Term Paper on Teaching Reading: Cognitive Development & Comprehension

Introduction

Within the cognitive development of children, they begin to acquire skills as they grow and develop. The occurrence creates the development of different methods of teaching reading along with others on reading comprehension. In both instances, growth and development are evident as students implement skills and knowledge through learning to read. When people about learning to read, it could mean different things to different people in differing instances. Regardless, the methods of teaching-learning and models or reading compression are imperative in either of the involved occurrences. However, this paper will contrast and compare plans of teaching reading, early models of reading comprehension, as well as the current models of reading comprehension. Together with describing the standard assumptions of present reading models, I will explain the application of various instructional methods and answer questions on teaching reading.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Comparison and Contrast of Methods of Teaching and Comprehension Reading

However, in comparison of the different methods of teaching reading, early models of reading comprehension, and current models of reading comprehension, there are various similarities that each of the methods renders. For instance, in consideration of the different teachings models (such as phonics method, language experience approach, the Whole-word approach, pre-literacy skills, and phonemic awareness), they are critical in learning to read since they encompass the relationship between letters and symbols. Similarly, the early and current models of reading comprehension, for example, literal awareness and evaluative knowledge compare in that they offer the understanding of what the levels of reading contain (Bruning, Schraw, & Norby, 2011).

Nonetheless, in contrast of the models of teaching reading and reading comprehension, Individuals learn to read in different ways, it means that one method of teaching reading and reading comprehension may work with one individual but not with another. In most of the teaching, the involved teacher needs to draw on all the methods to ensure higher chances of becoming independent readers. With every model and process, the learners acquire significant shreds of knowledge critical in different learning stages. According to Gregory (2016), there are different perspectives on reading majorly psychological and linguistic aspects. It means that there are different models whereby some of them include simple methods such as the bottom-up theory and complex models as well. Thus, each of the methods entails various aspects that maintain learning differently. Also, the difference in reading comprehension develops concerning other learning theories. Moreover, Rogers (2016) implies that the different learning models could occur in different contexts that involve the assemblages of artefacts and identities open to various ideological pleasures.

Common Assumptions of Current Reading Models

Reading is a complex skill and cognitive process involving the orchestration of different components. In understanding the standard assumptions of current reading models, it is critical to learn that these models work in line with word identification. The common assumptions revolve around concepts of bottom-up information, along the interaction with lexical knowledge to produce pronunciations. The first assumption on the current reading models is that a word's articulation can be generated in two ways whereby the application of grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence that converts the individual graphemes (letters) of a word into their appropriate phonemes spelling into pronunciation. This assumption provides that a word's pronunciation can be generated on the different linguistic rules specifying on the grapheme pronunciation or by retrieving the entire pronunciation from the lexicon.

Furthermore, the second common assumption of the current reading models pertains to the nature of lexical representations. Within this assumption, it delivers that words can be read; by mapping a word's graphemes onto the orthographic unit providing the best match. Also, the orthographic unit can be used to directly activate a phonological unit that corresponds with the pronunciation of that word (Bruning, Schraw, & Norby, 2011).

Application of Various Instructional Methods to Teaching

Within every instructional method and strategy, they provide that learning is a process. However, I would apply various instructional strategies and techniques of teaching in a specific grade level across the curriculum. For example, children or learners learn; differently, it means that, as a teacher, I will need to apply different teaching models to ensure that children learn. As far as learning to read goes, the different methods provide need theories to learning and reading; however, from the various assumptions, I would maintain that students understand the various "rules" behind certain words. For example, according to Camacho and Alves (2017), learning to read is fundamentally involved with writing. In as much as parents should play a significant role in ensuring that learners develop and write as well as they should, I could ensure that parental involvement is substituted with other teaching practices.

Nonetheless, in teaching beginning readers, a teacher should focus on the necessary reading skills, which include phonemic awareness and phonics. In many cases, beginner readers may fail to comprehend things they read, since supplemental phonics offer word-recognitions as children engage in reading. On the other hand, education theory contributes to current reading instruction for students' learning to read and comprehend in different ways. For instance, they ensure that the goal of instruction reading is met which certainly involves students ability to have confidence, understand what they read and that they find a source of pleasure and knowledge. Moreover, education theories offer a wide variety of experiences that focus on the meaning, which provides success in learning to read (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2011). Through the skills, they focus on word recognition, which aids in oral language that concentrates on the concept and vocabulary development. In conclusion, this contributes to current trends in the teaching and learning process since as students read print materials, they learn to combine their knowledge of print and sounds along with their understanding of language to read with meaning. It provides a significant contribution to the current trends in the process of learning and teaching.

References

Bruning, R. H., Schraw, G. J., & Norby, M. M. (2011). Cognitive Psychology and Instruction (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Camacho, A., & Alves, R. A. (2017). Fostering parental involvement in writing: development and testing of the program Cultivating Writing. Reading and Writing, 30(2), 253-277. Doi: 10.1007/s11145-016-9672-6

Gregory, E. (2016). Learning to read: A third perspective. Prospects, 46(3-4), 367-377. Doi: 10.1007/s11125-017-9403-z

Roe, B., Smith, S. H., & Burns, P. C. (2011). Teaching reading in today's elementary schools. Cengage Learning.

Rogers, A. (2016). Introduction: Learning to read, from research to policy and practice. Prospects, 46(3-4), 357-365. Doi: 10.1007/s11125-017-9407-8