Additional materials for Unit 7.7: Early reading
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The importance of talk for reading
Responding to texts
Phonic phases
The forty-four phonemes of spoken English
Articulating phonemes
Accent
Book selection: The level of text difficulty
The reading environment
Teaching contexts for more experienced readers
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The importance of talk for reading
The revised EYFS (Department for Education, 2012) recognises the importance of speaking
and listening to the process of learning to read. A stimulating and print-rich environment
can enable the exploration of imagination and reality. Through actively listening to stories,
children respond accordingly, and role-play, small-world play and child-initiated play will
help children develop their own narratives by connecting events in the world of stories to
their own experiences. Children need opportunities to play with language through
alliteration and rhyming in action songs, nursery rhymes and jingles. These songs and
rhymes echo children’s innate ability to play with sound from babyhood onwards. This
knowledge develops into an appreciation and understanding of the rhythm of spoken
language, of word order and sentence and text structure and speech patterns, so vital in
understanding texts.
This is not only true in EYFS, as all readers need time to discuss, reflect, raise questions and
speculate. This time needs to be planned for, but it is also important for a teacher to keep
a sharp ear out for incidental conversations during play, over lunchtime and at the end of
the day, and to interact with children when they discuss their experiences. These
interactions reflect children’s growing understanding and can be developed by the teacher
in future literacy learning and teaching. Such language experiences are vital in children’s
development as readers.
www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/a0068102/early-years-foundationstage-eyfs
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
For examples of how teachers can plan creative opportunities for talk to feed into the reading
process, read the case studies of Jump School and St Thomas of Canterbury School in the Ofsted
report Excellence in English.
www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/excellence-english, pp. 23–5 (sections 60–5) and pages 37–40
(sections 100–10) (Ofsted, 2011).
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Responding to texts
There are many frameworks to support children’s responses to texts, designed to develop children’s
confidence to share their understanding and ideas with others and to promote reading for pleasure.
Three are featured/discussed here:
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Reading passports: Steve Willshaw
Booktalk: Aiden Chambers
Book-talk: Pie Corbett
Reading passports: Steve Willshaw
Rooted in Reading (Steve Willshaw, CfBT Education Trust, 2012) uses a series of reading ‘passports’
for readers of all ages – EYFS to KS4. Positive outcomes for these passports are reported, relating to
both the increased amount of reading and children’s enthusiasm for reading.
Willshaw also guides readers’ book choices based on flow in reading (i.e. optimal experience) by
McQuillian and Conde (1996), who concluded that intensely engaging reading experiences were
based on four identified factors:
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the text should relate to a topic of which the reader has some knowledge;
the text should relate to a topic that the reader wants to know more about;
the text should relate to a topic in which the reader is interested; and
the text should relate to something that the reader would like to achieve.
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These are presented as a table to provide a sequenced approach:
http://stevewillshaw.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/20130531-181405.jpg.
McQuillan, J., and Conde, G. (1996). ‘The conditions of flow in reading: two studies of optimal
experience’, Reading Psychology: An International Quarterly, 17: 109–35.
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Booktalk: Aidan Chambers
Aidan Chambers (2011) gives a well-established Booktalk framework as a springboard for prompting
discussion about the books that children have read, in order to engage with and understand deeper
aspects of the text. Booktalk uses four basic questions for expressing ideas and for taking on the
views of others. Exposure to a range of different opinions extends children’s vocabulary and enables
them to make connections between texts and comparisons of texts.
Chambers’ Booktalk questions:
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Was there anything you liked about this book?
Was there anything you disliked about this book?
Was there anything that puzzled you?
Were there any patterns or connections that you noticed?
These four basic questions are supplemented by ‘General questions’ and ‘Special questions’, to be
used as appropriate.
Chambers, A. (2011) Tell Me (Children, Reading and Talk) and the Reading Environment, Stroud, UK:
Thimble Press.
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Booktalk: Pie Corbett
As part of his Talk for Writing project (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2008), Pie
Corbett incorporated and developed Chambers’ Booktalk approach as a key strategy. Corbett
highlights the importance of starting with quality texts to provide an open invitation to share
responses. This approach stresses the use of teacher modelling of thoughts, reactions and insights
into books to provide a thought frame (and then speaking frame) for children to adopt. Booktalk
uses tentative language to promote the discussion of a range of ideas, in which all responses are
valid, but subject to change through accommodating others’ ideas.
Corbett’s suggestions for tentative comments include:
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Perhaps …
Does anyone else think that …?
I was wondering whether …?
Corbett’s Booktalk general questions include:
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Have you read any other books like this?
How did they compare?
Which parts of the book stay in your mind most vividly?
How did the main character change?
What surprises are there in the book?
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110809101133/nsonline.org.uk/node/163592
Transforming writing
Pie Corbett’s Talk for Writing approach features in Transforming Writing, a project designed to
develop a model for the teaching and learning of writing that more fully incorporates a focus on
embedded formative assessment. The interim report (Rooke, 2012) evaluates to what extent the
model of writing, which includes Booktalk, impacts on children’s writing in terms of ‘attainment,
confidence and engagement’.
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
www.literacytrust.org.uk/research/nlt_research/5169_transforming_writing_interim_evaluation_re
port
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Phonic phases
The development of children’s phonic knowledge starts at a very young age, and continues throughout
childhood. Children must be able to hear and say sounds in words (phonemes) before they are expected
to read and write them. This important foundation for future success is crucial. The developmental
sequence below outlines the phases and stages of phonic development, showing how the skills of
blending and segmenting are continued into spelling investigations at KS2. This sequence draws on
Letters and Sounds (PNS, 2007), Spelling Bank (DfEE, 2001) and Support for Spelling (DCSF, 2010).
First phase
In this phase, children:
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speak and listen age appropriately;
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take part in meaningful conversations;
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discriminate sounds in the environment: e.g. listening walks, barrier games;
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play with language by exploring and experimenting with sounds and words;
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show an awareness of rhyming, onset and rhyme, alliteration;
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are immersed in a language-rich environment: songs, rhymes, nursery rhymes,
poems, action rhymes, ring games, counting rhymes, etc.
Second phase
In this phase, children:
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hear phonemes in words: first phoneme in own name, peers whose names start with
the same phoneme as their own;
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blend phonemes orally;
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segment phonemes orally;
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understand that words are constructed from phonemes, and that phonemes are
represented by graphemes;
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know grapheme–phoneme correspondences: know a small set of GPCs, e.g. s a t p i n,
from which lots of CVC words can be generated, introduced according to an agreed
sequence.
Third phase
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In this phase, children:
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blend phonemes in CVC words in meaningful contexts:
e.g. blend the sounds in cat when they want to read the word;
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segment phonemes in CVC words in meaningful contexts:
e.g. hear the sounds in cat when they want to write the word;
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learn grapheme–phoneme correspondences: more GPCs are introduced, according to
an agreed sequence.
Fourth phase
In this phase, children:
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blend phonemes in CCVC words: i.e. those with consonant blends/adjacent
consonants: e.g. frog, stop, plan;
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segment phonemes in CCVC words: i.e. those with consonant blends/adjacent
consonants: e.g. frog, stop, plan;
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blend phonemes in CVCC words: i.e. those with consonant blends/adjacent
consonants: e.g. best, soft, tent;
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segment phonemes in CVCC words: i.e. those with consonant blends/adjacent
consonants: e.g. best, soft, tent;
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apply this knowledge when reading and spelling unfamiliar words;
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learn grapheme–phoneme correspondences: know one grapheme for each of the
forty-four phonemes.
Fifth phase
In this phase, children:
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know alternative pronunciation of graphemes: e.g. ea in bead and ea in bread;
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know alternative spellings of phonemes: e.g. long-vowel phonemes: e.g. ay, ai, a-e;
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can read phonetically decodable, multisyllabic words;
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can make phonically plausible attempts to spell complex words.
Sixth phase
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In this phase, children:
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apply their phonic knowledge to read and spell an increasing number of complex
words;
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understand morphemes;
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understand affixes, prefixes, suffixes and root words;
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can spell plurals: –s, -es;
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can spell verb inflections: ed, -ing;
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understand syllables;
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understand homophones.
Seventh phase
In this phase, children:
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explore the relationship between spelling and meaning;
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learn that words with related meanings often have related spelling:
e.g., wise–wisdom, sign–signal.
In summary, by the end of Year 1, children need to learn:
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the forty-four phonemes and their corresponding graphemes;
how to blend for reading and segment for spelling;
how to apply phonic knowledge to reading;
to use phonic knowledge to spell.
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
The forty-four phonemes of spoken English
This list of the forty-four phonemes of spoken English, taken from Letters and Sounds, gives the
phoneme, then the grapheme(s), followed by some sample words:
Vowel phonemes
/a/ a ant
/e/ e, ea egg, head
/i/ i, y in, gym
/o/ o, a on, was
/u/ u, o, o-e up, son, come
/ai/ ai, ay, a-e rain, day, make
/ee/ ee, ea, e, ie feet, sea, he, chief
/igh/ igh, ie, y, i-e, i night, tie, my, like, find
/oa/ oa, ow, o, oe, o-e boat, grow, toe, go, home
/oo/ oo, ew, ue, u-e boot, grew, blue, rule, to, soup, through, two, lose
/oo/ oo, u look, put
/ar/ ar, a farm, father
/or/ or, aw, au, ore, al for, saw, Paul, more, talk
/ur/ ur, er, ir, or (after ‘w’) hurt, her, girl, work
/ow/ ow, ou cow, out
/oi/ oi, oy coin, boy
/air/ air, are, ear fair, care, bear
/ear/ ear, eer, ere dear, deer, here
/ure/
/ e/ many different graphemes corner, pillar, motor, famous, favour, murmur, about
Consonant phonemes
/b/ b, bb bat, rabbit
/k/ c, k, ck cat, kit, duck
/d/ d, dd, -ed dog, muddy, pulled
/f/ f, ff, ph fan, puff, photo
/g/ g, gg go, bigger
/h/ h hen
/j/ j, g, dg jet, giant, badge
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/l/ l, ll leg, bell
/m/ m, mm map, hammer
/n/ n, nn net, funny
/p/ p, pp pen, happy
/r/ r, rr rat, carrot
/s/ s, ss, c sun, miss, cell
/t/ t, tt, -ed tap, butter, jumped
/v/ v van
/w/ w wig
/y/ y yes
/z/ z, zz s, se, ze zip, buzz, is, please, breeze
/sh/ sh, s, ss, t (before -ion and -ial)
shop, sure, mission, mention, partial
/ch/ ch, tch chip, catch
/th/ th thin
/th/ th then
/ng/ ng, n (before k) ring, pink
/zh/ s (before –ion and -ure) vision, measure
‘Letters and sounds: notes of guidance for practitioners and teachers’, Primary National Strategy
00282-2007BKT-EN © Crown copyright 2007
Letters and Sounds
Articulating phonemes
When articulating phonemes with children, it is important to aim for a ‘pure’ pronunciation, which
omits any additional unvoiced vowel sound. For example, ensure you say ‘nnnn’ not ‘nuh’. This will
ease the practising of the processes of blending and segmenting. Please see ‘Mr Thorne does
phonics’, www.mrthorne.com, for models of pronouncing phonemes accurately.
Celebrating accent
Accent is unique to an individual. It indicates where someone comes from and can also reveal the
different language influences that individual has experienced. The variety and range of accents are
to be celebrated, and differences in intonation and stress in English accents make for interesting
classroom investigation.
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Ofsted’s (2011) guidance on accent is clear, ‘… some children in the north of England may pronounce
“but” to rhyme with “foot” and not with “cut”. Teachers need to be alert and sensitive to the
differences. However, the key point is that teaching starts with sounds and not with letters. The
teacher will know what letter(s) to teach to represent the sound the children say, even if it is not
what she says.’
Ofsted (2011) Getting Them Reading Early, Distance learning materials for inspecting reading within
the new framework, October 2011, No. 110122, page 18.
What is your approach to differences in regional accents?
Should a class teacher modify their accent if it is different to the accent of the
children in his/her class?
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Selecting books for developing readers: The level of text difficulty
When choosing books for developing readers, the children’s interests and enthusiasms will influence
the final decisions. Above all, teachers want to choose books that excite and motivate children.
However, when selecting books for children who are still learning to read, there are three levels of
challenge to take into account:
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Books that can be read correctly with no errors are ideal for reading at home or
in browsing time. This 100 per cent accuracy enables the young reader to
practise phrasing and fluency, reading with expression and enacting character
voices.
Books that children read at 90–95 per cent accuracy are moderately challenging
and offer opportunities to use developing problem-solving skills and consolidate
existing reading abilities. Every book should offer a small challenge, with some
reading ‘work’ to do, but not so much that the reader is overwhelmed. This is
the vital ‘instructional reading level’ (Clay, 1993, p. 23) that reading schemes and
book-banding systems aim to achieve.
When accuracy falls below 90 per cent, the young reader loses the support of
the text, because their efforts are directed only at word-level problem-solving.
Readers are not able to get the sense of the text and cannot determine whether
their attempts are appropriate or not. Young children who are emergent readers
should not read this frustratingly hard level, as their comprehension is known to
fall significantly.
An awareness of these three levels enables an appropriate match to be made between the child’s
current reading ability and the level of text difficulty. This should not be seen as a check on how well
the child can read, but rather as a measure of the skill of selecting an appropriate level.
Every effort must be made to prevent reading being seen as a chore and undertaken reluctantly and
mechanically, as this can impact negatively on the child’s view of the reading process, and also their
view of themselves as readers.
Clay, M. (1993) An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, London: Heinemann.
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
The reading environment
Learning to read is a complex business. However, though complex, it is a game that everyone can
play. The necessary climate for nurturing and protecting children’s beginning steps into literacy is
one that promotes all learning in a safe and inclusive arena.
A rich and broad reading curriculum includes:
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shared reading, where the whole-class reading experience is one that is pitched
just above the children’s ability to read independently, so that progression can
be made;
guided reading, where a group of children of the same ability read the same text
and have focused input from an enabling adult;
individual reading opportunities, such as ERIC (everyone reading in class) and
DEAR (drop everything and read). Children also need time to talk about texts
and time to browse texts;
building a community of readers by using techniques to extend the classroom
practice outlined above to create a buzz about books, through dedicated time
for book talk, teacher recommendations and displays of the teacher’s book
choices.
Bullock, K. (2013) ‘Building a community of readers’, The Reading Teacher, 66 (8): 631.
In what other ways can reading be promoted in the classroom?
In A Practical Guide to Teaching Reading in the Early Years (1998, London: Sage), Ann Browne
recommends:
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Make links between books and children’s own experiences.
Discuss the title, cover illustration and blurb to entice the children into the book and engender a
feeling of familiarity with the impending narrative.
Provide children with sequencing activities related to familiar stories to help them identify key
events and understand plot structure.
Produce story maps of texts used for shared reading to make the action of the story clear.
Provide props that enable children to recreate narratives and create their own narratives
through imaginative play.
Ask children to use previous experience to anticipate or predict key events.
Encourage children to use the book’s illustrations as a source of information.
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
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Remind children to read beyond the unfamiliar word in order to get a sense of the whole
sentence.
Ask children to read the sentence from the beginning if they get stuck on a word.
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Teaching contexts for more experienced readers
The teaching contexts for older readers require consideration of the shifting relationship between
being taught to read and learning to read, involving a degree of agency on the child’s part. Older
readers who have established strategies that enable them to monitor their own reading
independently can be said to have achieved a self-extending system of reading skills (Smith, 2004).
This self-improving system ‘… extends its own capacity’ every time the reader reads (Clay, 1991, p.
317). So, by reading more, children both consolidate the effectiveness of their existing reading
strategies, and gain the experience of increased competence and independence. They feel good
about themselves as readers as they get better at doing it! Clark and De Zoysa (2011) highlight the
dynamic relationships between attitudes to, and enjoyment of, reading, and how these factors
contribute to attainment in reading. However, these relationships can only flourish in a nurturing
environment that recognises the complexities of learning to read.
Reading
enjoyment
Reading
behaviour
Reading
attainment
Reading
attitudes
Adapted from Clark and De Zoysa (2011).
Clark, S. and De Zoysa, S. (2011) ‘Mapping the interrelationships of reading enjoyment, attitudes,
behaviour and attainment’, National Literacy Trust.
Smith, F. (2004) Understanding Reading: A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Reading and Learning to
Read, London: Routledge.
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