Learning to read doesn’t happen by chance. It must be taught through systematic and organized instruction. Reading is a skill that is built through stages and is an ongoing process.

If a developmental stage of reading has not been learned, students will fail in their reading ability, which will also affect their writing skills. It is imperative that teachers make certain students fully understand each stage of the reading / writing process before moving on to the next level.

Jean Chall, a world-renowned psychologist and reading expert for fifty years, and former professor emeritus at Harvard University, cites her five stages of reading development below:

Pre-reading stage:

Unsystematic accumulation of reading understandings between preschool and kindergarten.

Level 1:

Initial stage of reading or decoding (grades 1-2; ages 6-7)

The central task of the student is to learn arbitrary letters and associate them with the corresponding parts of the spoken words. The student acquires knowledge about reading. Phonics.

Stage 2:

Confirmation, fluency, untying of print, automaticity stage (grades 2-3; ages 7-8)

Consolidation of what was learned in Stage 1. Requires reading many easy and familiar books for developmental reading. Gradual increase in functional and recreational reading. Common use of basal readers. Important functional reading – content area texts – this is where we fail in our attempts to prepare our students. Increase the range of possible recreational readings.

Stage 3:

Reading to Learn the New Age: A First Step (Grades 4-8; Ages 9-13)

Readers must contribute prior knowledge to their reading. Children acquire facts.

Stage 4:

Multi-viewpoint stage: (high school; ages 14-18)

Must include instruction in reading / study skills and reading strategies for success.

Stage 5:

Construction and Reconstruction Internship: University; Over 18 years)

Adult literacy should emphasize the acquisition of skills useful to the participants and the ability to apply those skills.

These are the steps in the development of reading. They are built and scale as students grow in their literacy development. Sometimes students get stuck in one of the stages. It is my job as a literacy specialist to “take them off” so they can move on to the next phase and beyond, training them to become enthusiastic readers and writers.

Copyright © 2006 by Pamela Beers. All rights reserved.