Evie, Tindall. “Exploring the Essential Components of Reading.” Journal of Adult Education Information Series, No.1 Vol.39 (2010): 1-9.
The journal focuses on both adult learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) and those have English as their native language and covers written English and spoken English.
For effective teaching of the English language by teachers, the author recommends five vital areas for success in the learning, which are knowledge of phonology, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.
The author’s thesis is “description of components accompanied by instructional considerations and recommendations for teaching reading to adult English language learners.”
The author aptly put it that the learner should listen to the sounds and know how to use the words (phonological awareness) by listening to the syllables. The author recommends the teacher use teaching styles that sear into the minds of the students such as clapping after every syllable. To understand the phonics of the English language, the learners should listen to both the sounds and the letters and incorporate with onsets for the learners to be able to spell the words. For the learners to have the ability to construct words, they have to be acquainted with rimes using the onset such as black, back, sack. To understand how English works such as in monosyllabic words, the learners can for example, disintegrate the prefixes and suffixes and then use the root word to know the meaning.
For the learners to understand vocabularies, more so native speakers of Roman languages, they can relate the English vocabularies to cognates, which may be either borrowed from other languages or have spelling and meaning similarities. Such words include adventure (English), aventura (Spanish), avventura (Italian). However, the author warns of the teachers to make the learners wary of false cognates such as bizarro (Spanish for brave) and bizarre (English for strange).
To help the learners recognize the cognates, the author recommend use of the procedure outline courtesy Rodriguez. The procedure outline involves the learner reading and discussing the text (grammatical dissimilarities and generalizing about English) to other learners; see and hear the words being pronounced, compare with other cognates and know the cognates that cannot be got with context hints.
For the learners to be fluent in the language, they have to devote their attention and strive to know the meaning of the text. Therefore, there may be intricacy in the ESL learners’ fluency if there is intricacy in understanding the meaning. Nevertheless, the author notes that the learners of English as Second Language can have fluency albeit with a touch of a native language accent but the teachers should not substitute a hint of accent for fluency. The author sums it by saying that the learner requires many chances to hear English read loudly such as through oral reading, tape-recording and then saying alongside them.
To understand the meaning of the text, as the author asserts, the learners must intermingle their scope of knowledge and stimulate other strategies that can make them arrive at the meaning. Then to grow those skills they have to get involved in verbal communication.
Evie soberly pipes how English learners of both those who have English as their native language and ESL can understand, the language. The scope of the description of the author is extensive but uses it to describe concisely and precisely from the syllables to mastering fluency: like a painter, a stroke of brush at a time. The author has such a masterly in description, such as by taking adavtage of what is at ‘arm-length’ like cognates, and leaves the reader gasping for more.