Reading helps a child develop language and literacy skills, which encourages academic progress. Moreover, it contributes to making them confident individuals. Reading entertains children, cultivates their imagination, helps them connect with others and learn to follow instructions, and teaches them about various topics.
The Art Of Learning To Read
Learning to read, however, does not happen in an orderly manner. Instead of learning only one reading-related skill at a time, many complex processes are happening simultaneously. A child has to learn to decode the text, grasp fluency, learn new words and vocabulary, and understand what the text means.
Parents can play a significant role in helping their children do all of these things simultaneously, and here is how. Continue reading to discover how children learn to read so that you can help them start the process as early as possible and help them grow into confident young readers.
Print Awareness
The initial step to becoming a good reader is having print awareness. Print awareness is knowing what books and their different components are. A child with print awareness would understand that a book has letters and words that are read from left to right.
You can develop print awareness in your child by holding different books, pointing to them, and telling the child these things. Repeat this practice often so that your child memorizes this.
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
Another critical requirement for learning to read is to have phonological and phonemic awareness. This means that the child should identify and play with rhymes, syllables, phonemes, and other parts of spoken language.
- Phonics: Once the child has learned to play with spoken language sounds, they should be taught the connection between sounds of speech and letters. Teach them phonics at an early age to learn that letters of the alphabet represent sounds of spoken language.
- Fluency: This is also an essential aspect of becoming a good reader. A fluent reader will not have to stop and decode each word and read at a reasonable rate. This skill comes with practice, so sit with your child and read with them. Rereading the same thing also helps to gain fluency.
Vocabulary
Reading will not be fun if the child does not know what the words in the text mean. Read with them so that they can learn new words and add them to their vocabulary.
Concluding Thoughts
All the skills mentioned above help achieve the goal of learning to read with comprehension. Children fully comprehend what they read when they know how language works and knows what the words mean. Read with your child often so that they become more familiarized with reading in general.
