In 2000, a National Reading Panel in the United States carried out a review of reading research and identified five crucial components for the effective teaching of reading as - phonemic awareness, phonics, oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

The five components are described by Quigley (2018) as “a crucial framework for understanding how children learn to read and how we should teach reading”.

This should include considering how we can differentiate learning for children and provide scaffolds or strategies which may be required to allow them to fully access and engage with texts.

This video focuses on vocabulary, oral reading fluency and comprehension as both phonics and phonemic awareness are considered in more depth in videos of their own.

Children need to know the meaning of words to fully understand a text (Reynolds, Education Endowment Foundation, 2022). As children begin to read, they will use the words they have heard to make sense of the words they see in print (Armbruster et al, 2006).

The ‘Put Reading First’ guidance outlines four types of vocabulary:

• listening vocabulary—the words we need to know to understand what we hear.
• speaking vocabulary—the words we use when we speak.
• reading vocabulary—the words we need to know to understand what we read.
• writing vocabulary—the words we use in writing.

(Armbruster et al, 2006)

Growing Up in Scotland research (2011) found that inequalities in expressive language ability exist upon entry to primary school, with less advantaged children already falling behind their more advantaged peers. In 2019, Growing Up in Scotland used their longitudinal data on expressive language to report that inequalities appear to persist throughout the primary school. It also recognised that social background, whilst important, is not the only factor that influences language performance.

Within our diverse society, many children are likely to have language experiences within homes and communities which may differ from their school literacy experience. When planning a teaching approach, educators should build an understanding and value of children’s home language experience so that vocabulary development takes account of potential strengths and helps to minimise any inequalities in expressive language experience as highlighted in the Growing Up in Scotland reports. (2011, 2019).

In order to meet the child ‘where they are’ in terms of vocabulary we can plan classroom approaches which allow for opportunities for both indirect and direct learning. Children can learn word meanings indirectly as they engage daily in oral language, listen to adults read aloud to them and read extensively on their own (Armbruster et al, 2006). Learning word meanings directly can be done through pre-teaching vocabulary, discussing the meaning of words, grouping/comparing words and using simple dictionaries to finding precise definitions (Quigley, 2018). Using information about word parts or context clues can also help to determine word meanings and the use of vocabulary tiers can help identify which words should be taught (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002).

Reading fluency can be defined as reading with:

• accuracy – reading words correctly,
• automaticity - reading words at an appropriate speed without great effort
• prosody – reading with appropriate stress and intonation.

(Reading Fluency Misconceptions, Education Endowment Foundation)

A fluent reader recognises words and groups them together in order to understand what they have read. Fluency develops gradually over time and through substantial practice. At the earliest stage of reading development, oral reading is slow and laboured as children are just learning to ‘break the code’ (Armbruster et al, 2006).

Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. When readers do not have to focus on decoding words, they can develop a greater understanding of the text, making connections to their own background knowledge and experience (Armbruster et al, 2006).

It is important for educators to model how a fluent reader sounds. We should try to read clearly, emphasising the gaps between sentences and gently accentuate the natural rhythms and tone in our voice (Such, 2021).

Another important feature of teaching reading fluency is repetition. Research shows that learners usually improve the quality of their learning with each repetition and this improvement transfers to the reading of other texts (Shanahan, 2005). Fluency develops as a result of many opportunities to practise reading with a high degree of success. Therefore, children should practice orally reading a text that is reasonably easy for them, containing mostly words they know and can decode easily (Armbruster et al, 2006).

Comprehension is the reason for reading, good readers have a purpose for reading and can think actively as they read (Armbruster et al, 2006). As we read, we construct a mental representation of the situation being described in the text, linking information from the text with relevant background knowledge (Castles, Rastle and Nation, 2018). This process relies on [our] background knowledge of vocabulary, oral language, language structure and wider life experiences.

Successful reading comprehension approaches allow activities to be carefully tailored to pupils’ reading capabilities, and involve activities and texts that provide an effective, but not overwhelming, challenge (Education Endowment Foundation, 2021).

Oral comprehension is a precursor to reading comprehension. Reading, and talking about reading should be central to everyday learning. Each interaction between educator and child can lift the print from the page and make it better understood (Quigley, 2020).

Not all teaching to improve reading needs to involve written text. McNamara (2007) found that comprehension can be developed across a range of media, well before children learn to read.

Explicit teaching of comprehension strategies is most effective when there is a gradual release of responsibility between the educator and the learner (Shanahan, 2005). We can begin with direct explanation of the strategy by the educator, then take steps which build towards the child being able to apply it independently (Armbruster et al, 2006).

Learners benefit from explicit and consistent teaching of a range of techniques which enable them to comprehend the meaning of what they read. A video appendix which provides a more detailed breakdown of each strategy has been added to the signposting section.

The skill of inference is a key aspect of comprehension.  Inference is a reader’s ability to use information from a text and draw on their background knowledge to understand things that are implied rather than explicitly stated (Inferencing, Education Endowment Foundation). We can model our thinking out loud to children, showing how we can make connections between different elements of the text, making explicit the thinking that takes place when we infer (Sealy, 2019).

The goal of early reading pedagogy is comprehension. If the child is insecure in one or more of these essential components or 'strands', then they may not be able to comprehend what they are reading. Therefore, as educators we need to continually monitor and support young children's progress within all five components.

The International Literacy Association (2019) acknowledge that phonics builds decoding and word recognition skills. The more words children recognise automatically, the better their reading fluency, which has a powerful effect on their comprehension of a text. However, they also highlight the dangers of overemphasising phonics, whilst ignoring other key aspects of early reading.

As educators, we should monitor and support progress within all five components, in order to reach our ultimate goal of supporting learners to understand what has been read.

Early reading success is built upon the 5 components of reading - phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency.

Buckingham, J. (2023). Need to know or nice to know … What is at the heart of the Science of Reading for teachers? Five from Five, p. 4.

Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the Reading Wars: Reading Acquisition From Novice to Expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5–51.

Quigley, A. (2018). Closing the vocabulary gap. Routledge, pp. 31–47.

Scarborough's reading rope: A groundbreaking infographic. (2018). International Dyslexia Association.

Shanahan, T. (2005). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers. Learning Point Associates, p. 4.

Such, C. (2021). The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading. Sage Publications Ltd.

The 'Reading Comprehension House' and foundations that support word reading. (2022). Education Endowment Foundation.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. National Institute of Child Health & Human Development.

The 5 components of reading should all be explicitly modelled, based upon the child’s current level of skill.

Armbruster, B., Lehr, F., & Osborn, J. (2006). Put Reading First, Kindergarten Through Grade Three: The research building blocks for teaching children to read. National Institute for Literacy: The Partnership for Reading, pp. 19–46.

Vocabulary

Armbruster, B., Lehr, F., & Osborn, J. (2006). Put Reading First, Kindergarten Through Grade Three: The research building blocks for teaching children to read. National Institute for Literacy: The Partnership for Reading, p. 29.

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing Words to Life. New York: Guilford Press.

Growing Up in Scotland: Changes in child cognitive ability in the pre-school years. (2011). Scottish Government.

Growing Up in Scotland: Changes in language ability over the primary school years. (2019). Scottish Government.

Quigley, A. (2018). Closing the Vocabulary Gap. Routledge, pp. 2–53.

Reynolds, A. (2022). Through the Keyhole of the Reading House. Part 1: Vocabulary, Comprehension and Word Reading. Education Endowment Foundation.

Shanahan, T. (2005). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers. Learning Point Associates, p. 26.

Oral Reading Fluency

Armbruster, B., Lehr, F., & Osborn, J. (2006). Put Reading First, Kindergarten Through Grade Three: The research building blocks for teaching children to read. National Institute for Literacy: The Partnership for Reading, pp. 19–46.

Education Endowment Foundation. (n.d.). Reading Fluency Misconceptions.

Education Endowment Foundation. (n.d.). Reading Fluency: Supporting pupils to develop fluent reading capabilities.

Education Endowment Foundation. (n.d.). Reading Fluency: What might fluency practice look like in the classroom?.

Education Endowment Foundation. (n.d.). Vocabulary and Language. [Podcast].

Shanahan, T. (2005). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers. Learning Point Associates, p. 19.

Such, C. (2021). The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading. Sage Publications Ltd., pp. 44–45.

Comprehension

Armbruster, B., Lehr, F., & Osborn, J. (2006). Put Reading First, Kindergarten Through Grade Three: The research building blocks for teaching children to read. National Institute for Literacy: The Partnership for Reading, pp. 19–46.

Breadmore, H. L., Vardy, E. J., Cunningham, A. J., Kwok, R. K. W., & Carroll, J. M. (2019). Literacy Development: Evidence Review. Education Endowment Foundation.

Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the Reading Wars: Reading Acquisition From Novice to Expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1).

Clements, J., & Tobin, M. (2021). Understanding and Teaching Primary English, Theory Into Practice. Sage, pp. 118-119.

Do you know what I mean? Reading for inference. (2019). Sealy, C. Research ED 11.

Education Endowment Foundation. (n.d.). Inferencing.

Education Endowment Foundation. (2021). Reading Comprehension Strategies.

Education Scotland. (2017). Benchmarks: Literacy and English.

Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies that work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement. Stenhouse Publishers, p.39.

Language and Literacy. Reading and comprehension. (2020). GTC Scotland.

McNamara, D. (2007). Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theories Interventions and Technologies. Psychology Press, pp. 35–39.

Quigley, A. (2020). Closing the Reading Gap. Routledge, pp. 65–77.

Shanahan, T. (2005). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers. Learning Point Associates, pp. 18–33.

The Inference collection. (n.d.). Once upon a picture.

Continually monitor progress across all five components in order to support learners to make meaning from texts.

International Literacy Association. (2019). Literacy Leadership Brief: Meeting the Challenges of Early Literacy Phonics Instruction (No. 9452), pp. 2–9.

Quigley, A. (2020). Closing the Reading Gap. Routledge, pp. 47–59.

Shanahan, T. (2005). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers. Learning Point Associates, pp. 11–12.

Such, C. (2021). The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading. Sage Publications Ltd, p. 30.