VELS Level 1 and 2 – Learning to Read

Reading is concerned with the construction of meaning. The process of making meaning goes beyond identifying words. Meaning depends on the cultural, social and physical contexts of both the composer of the text and the readers as they engage with the text.

Successful readers view reading as an interactive, meaning making process. They:

• expect what they read to make sense
• can predict what is to come in the text on the basis of their understanding of the content, of language and of print
• can confirm their predictions
• can correct themselves when they find their predictions to be unsatisfactory.

The theoretical context of literacy teaching and learning is multidisciplinary and complex. To ensure the best literacy learning outcomes for all students, schools need to take views of literacy teaching and learning from multiple perspectives and informing theoretical frameworks.

Literacy Teaching and Learning in Victorian Schools Research eLert (paper no.9, part A)

Theoretical frameworks: an overview

There are a number of both national and international researchers (e.g. Beach et al. 2005; Cumming et al; 1998) who work from the proposition that a single theoretical perspective cannot address all the issues faced by teachers and students in complex and diverse classrooms.

Multiple theoretical positions reflect the multidisciplinary nature of literacy and generate discussion on the teaching of literacy amongst educators to help learners to learn (Literacy Teaching and Learning in Victorian Schools Research eLert paper no.9 part A, p 4-5).

An overview of the following informing theoretical frameworks included in this resource, to support teachers in developing balanced reading programs at Levels 1 and 2 are as follows:

The reading process: Clay 2002

Clay states, that like thinking, reading is a complex process. The reader has to produce responses to words the author wrote, and in some way, the reader has to match the thinking of the author.

All readers need to find and use information that they find in print and combine the information that they find in print with what they carry in their heads from past experiences with language, including:

• knowledge of how the world works
• the possible meanings of the text
• the sentence structures of the language
• rules about the order of ideas, or words, or letters
• the words used often in the language
• the alphabet
• special features if sounds, shape and layout
• special knowledge about books and literary experiences.

Readers work on several of these features and ‘correct reading’ is a perfect match with the author’s text on all features. Clay, 2002 , An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement (p.14), Heinemann.

Multiple Levels of Text Processing (MLOTP) Munro 1995

The MLOTP (Munro 1995) identifies areas of text processing that can be integrated into a model of reading. Whenever we read, we simultaneously use and integrate information from the following information sources:

• word level knowledge
• sentence level knowledge
• conceptual level knowledge
• topic or theme level knowledge
• dispositional knowledge and reading comprehension
• self-management and control strategies
• oral language knowledge
• experiential knowledge

Word level knowledge

When readers encounter unfamiliar words they use various actions to identify them. They:

• match text word directly with stored letter cluster knowledge
• segment words into functional units, convert letter clusters to sounds and blend
• make analogy with words they know
• use the meanings of words that occur with it and the context in which it is used

Sentence level knowledge

Readers know:

• various grammatical forms and use grammar to link words. They know written sentence structures.
• sentence propositions: how word meanings are linked into sentence meanings
• sentence conventions used in writing such as punctuation

Conceptual level knowledge

When readers encounter paragraphs they don’t comprehend immediately at the conceptual level, they may:

• predict, anticipate, infer ideas, feeling
• backtrack, read ahead, work across sentences to link concepts
• form an image of a sequence of sentences
• consolidate what a sequence of sentences says

Topic or theme level knowledge

We know that ideas are linked into topics:

• when we know the topic of a text and we can anticipate the ideas that might be mentioned in it
• when we expect some ideas to occur with a particular topic
• when, sometimes ideas we wouldn’t have expected appear within a topic

Dispositional knowledge and reading comprehension

Readers know that:

• different texts are written for different purposes to convey attitudes, values and feelings.
• attitudes, values and feelings are conveyed in texts in different ways

Self-management and control strategies

Readers will:

• establish reasons or purposes for reading a text, plan how they will read
• monitor their reading, decide when to re-read, self-correct
• use existing knowledge to make meaning of texts
• review and self-question to see whether reading goals have been achieved
• review or consolidate what they have read
• organise the information gained from reading to fit the purpose for reading

Oral language knowledge

Students understand:

• at word level, what words mean, how they are said, sounds in words
• at sentence level, how ideas are linked into sentences, grammar
• at conceptual level, how ideas are linked into themes
• at topic or theme level, how a theme is communicated in a narrative, description
• at the pragmatic or dispositional level, the attitudes and values of the writer towards the ideas presented in the text

Experiential knowledge

When reading, students use:

• experiences, visual imagery knowledge
• action, motor knowledge
• knowledge of symbols.

Reference: literacy intervention strategies CD ROM: John Munro , 2004, The University of Melbourne.

Four Resources model (Luke and Freebody)

The Four Resources model situates reading in social practices to ensure that literacy programs address diversity and social and technological change.

The Four Resources model can be viewed as a framework for understanding reading and a lens through which to examine learning and teaching programs. Using this model, a balanced program may be planned, ensuring that all reading practices are taught.

• Code breaker: these practices have to do with breaking the code of the semiotic systems used in texts.
• Meaning maker: meaning maker practices are to do with making literacy and inferential meanings of texts.
• Text user: the focus of text-user practices is the use of texts in real-life reading situations .
• Text analyst: these practices involve readers in the critical analysis of texts in order to understand how texts work..

Reference: Literate Futures: Reading State of Queensland (Department of Education) 2002

Learning to read: reading to learn – a literacy pedagogy for the new generation Rose, 2005

This methodology draws on three theoretical traditions:

• learning as a social process
• language as text in social context
• education as pedagogic discourse.

Professional learning

Theories of reading

How do these theories match with what you know about how children learn to read?

What surprised you? What does this mean for your teaching of reading?

What are the similarities between the theories of reading presented? What are the differences?

Think of a student in your class and their knowledge, skills and behaviours for reading. What can you take from Clay’s theory to support you in scaffolding this student’s knowledge? What can you take from the work of Munro, Rose and Luke and Freebody?

The English Developmental Continuum P–10 provides evidence-based indicators of progress, linked to powerful teaching strategies, aligned to the progression points and the standards for the English Domain of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards.

These teaching strategies are designed to support purposeful teaching of individuals and small groups of students with similar learning needs. It is intended that teachers use the strategies in the context of their own classrooms, text or topic being taught.

See the department’s web page on the English Development Continuum.

Related material

Previous key concept - Oral language and schooling - Speaking and listening (Snow)

Next key concept - Comprehension (Brown, Palincsar, Pinnell, Pressley)

Teaching strategy - Reading strategies