1. Reading and spelling in English
1.1. Reasons on why English is not an easy language for beginner readers.
1.1.1. English is full of silent letters and unexpected sounds
1.1.2. English lacks 1:1 correspondence in sounds and letters
1.2. Learning to read skillfully
1.2.1. Mnemonic devices can be of assistance in this respect, as can repeatedly drilling vocabulary and taking a multi-sensory approach to learning.
1.2.2. The latter entails hearing a word read aloud, seeing it in its written form and even incorporating a tactile aspect, such as typing the word at the same time.
2. Reading Strategies that Can Help Overcome Reading Problems
2.1. Activate Ideas
2.1.1. Visual aids like graphics and pictures to analyse
2.1.2. Skimming a text to identify main ideas
2.2. Build vocabulary
2.2.1. Teachers can provide a glossary alongside a text.
2.2.2. Teachers can pre-teach the terms before begin reading.
2.3. Teach the Dolch List
2.3.1. Directly teaching these words using a program like Touch-type Read and Spell to reinforce them, can help kids read more quickly and efficiently.
2.4. For Dyslexia and Learning difficulties:
2.4.1. If an individual has a hard time hearing how individual sounds come together to make up words, they will inevitably struggle to sound out a word’s written form, or spell it correctly in writing.
2.4.1.1. Strategy instruction
2.4.1.2. "over-learning" in a multi-sensory way.
3. How the process of reading works
3.1. Reading begins with mastering pre-literacy skills, including learning the alphabet and enhancing phonemic awareness
3.2. Next, Identify phonics instruction that teaches children how to map sounds to letters and sound out words.
3.3. The process then speeds up via whole word recognition or sight-reading
4. Three Common Reading Difficulties
4.1. Issues with decoding
4.1.1. Decoding is when children are able to put sounds to letters in order to sound out written language
4.2. Poor comprehension
4.2.1. When a beginner reader encounters vocabulary they do not know or do not recognize due to inaccurate decoding, they are likely to skip ahead. The more blanks in a line of text, the harder it is to make meaning and the more cognitively challenging and frustrating the reading task becomes.
4.3. Speed of reading
4.3.1. An underlying problem of speed when reading includes slow processing