Being literate does not happen by accident. In the same manner that one learns to walk, one does not become literate or wake up literate. It is not just a matter of physical maturation, nor is it inferred from the surroundings. Learning to read and write involves both practice and teaching, and it happens in phases. In her book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf (2008) postulated five stages of reading development, which are examined in the notes that follow. These five phases are:
The developing pre-reader – usually aged 6 months to 6 years
The beginning reader – usually aged 6 to 7
The reader who decodes -usually aged 7 to 9
The fluent, comprehending reader -typically between 9 – 15 years old
The expert reader – typically from 16 years and older
Stage 1: The Emergent Pre-reader, usually aged 6 months to 6 years
Throughout the first five years of life, the emergent pre-reader sits on “beloved laps,” samples and learns from a wide variety of sounds, words, concepts, images, stories, print exposure, literacy tools, and just plain conversation. This era’s key realization is that reading never just happens to people. Years of observations, growing conceptual and social development, and repeated exposure to written and spoken language all contribute to emerging reading. (Page 115 of Wolf, 2008)
By the end of this stage, the child can name the alphabet’s letters, recognize some signs, print their own name, “pretend” to read, and eventually recreate a tale when they look at pages of a book that has already been read to them. They can also play with books, pencils, and paper. An adult (or older child) who engages in dialogic reading with the child, answers their questions, and shows warmth in acknowledging their interest in books and reading helps the youngster develop abilities. By the age of six, the youngster can understand hundreds of words, but few, if any, of them can be read.
Stage 2: The Novice Reader, usually aged 6 to 7
The child is learning the connections between printed and spoken words at this stage, as well as between letters and sounds. In addition to using newly developed abilities and insights to “sound out” new one-syllable words, the youngster begins reading simple texts that comprise high frequency and phonologically regular syllables. Phonics, or the relationship between letters and sounds, is taught directly. To help them develop more complex language patterns, vocabulary, and concepts, the child is being read to at a level higher than what they can read on their own. The majority of children in late Stage 2 can read roughly 600 words but comprehend up to 4,000 or more when they are heard.
The next step for her is to learn all of the grapheme-phoneme relationship rules in decoding, which entails a lot of hard work and some discoveries. Three code-cracking abilities—the phonological, orthographic, and semantic domains of language acquisition—assist both. Wolf, pages. 117
“One of the best indicators of a child’s success in learning to read is their ability to hear and manipulate the smaller phonemes in syllables and words over time.” Wolf, pages. 117
The Decoding Reader (usually aged 7 to 9) is the third stage
The youngster is reading easy, well-known stories and selections with greater fluency at this point. This is accomplished by combining the fundamentals of decoding, sight vocabulary, and meaning through the reading of well-known passages and stories. Both extensive reading of well-known, engaging topics and direct training in sophisticated decoding techniques are provided. To help the child learn language, vocabulary, and concepts, they are still being read to at levels higher than their own independent reading level. In late Stage 3, about 3000 words can be read and understood and about 9000 are known when heard.
Indeed, decoding readers are young, cautious, and only starting to understand how to use their developing linguistic skills and influence to decipher a text. Some non-linguistic abilities that help these kids develop reading comprehension include their ability to use important executive functions like working memory and comprehension skills like inference and analogy, according to neuroscientist Laurie Cutting of John Hopkins. (Wolf, page 131)
Stage 4: The Fluent, Understanding Reader (usually aged 9 to 15)
By this point, reading is being used to examine issues from one or more points of view, experience new emotions, acquire new attitudes, and absorb new ideas in order to acquire new knowledge. Reading involves studying publications that contain new concepts and ideals, as well as unusual terminology and syntax, such as textbooks, reference materials, trade books, newspapers, and periodicals. Word meaning is systematically studied, and students are assisted in responding to readings through writing, discussion, question-generating, and other activities. Even at the start of Stage 4, hearing comprehension continues to outperform reading comprehension for the same content.
Stage 5: The Expert Reader (usually those aged 16 and up)
“Attention—in fact, multiple types of attention—is the foundation of all reading. The first three cognitive processes that occur when a proficient reader sees a word, such as “bear,” are (1) disengaging from whatever else is going on; (2) shifting our focus to the new focus (drawing our attention to the text); and (3) emphasizing the new letter and word. (Wolf, page 145)
“The first component of these changes was articulated by William Stafford when he described how we are given “a quality of attention.” Wolf, pages. 156
At this phase, the student is reading extensively from a wide variety of difficult texts, both narrative and expository, and from a diversity of perspectives. Students are reading extensively in a variety of subjects, such as the humanities, politics, current events, and the biological, social, and physical sciences. When it comes to difficult-to-read and difficult-to-understand subjects, reading comprehension is superior to hearing comprehension. Students are frequently required to organize their work and synthesize knowledge into writings that make sense.
