Foundations of Reading

A preschool child picks up an unfamiliar book, opens it to the end, points to the text, and begins to "pretend read" the story. These behaviors suggest that the child most likely:

• has well-developed book-handling skills

• knows where individual words begin and end

• has developed an understanding that print carries meaning

• understands the concept of print directionality

A preschool child draws a stick figure and makes some unintelligible scribbles around it. When she shows it to her teacher, she points to the scribbles and says, "This says 'I love mommy.'" This behavior suggests that the child most likely:

• is ready to learn the concept of letter-sound correspondence

• is beginning to develop awareness that words are made of distinct phonemes

• has a basic understanding of the alphabetic principle

• has grasped the idea that the function of print is distinct from that of pictures

At the end of each school day, a preschool teacher encourages the children to talk about the day's events. As the children describe each event, the teacher writes it on large block paper. Afterward, the teacher reads the list back to the class. This activity would contribute to the children's literacy development primarily by promoting their:

• basic understanding of the alphabetic principle

• awareness that speech can be represented by writing

• basic understanding of word boundaries

• awareness of the relationship between syllables and the spoken word

A kindergarten teacher hangs labels on key objects in the classroom, puts up posters that include words and captions, and always has a big book on display for the children's use. This kind of classroom environment is most likely to help promote children's:

• recognition that words are composed of separate sounds

• recognition of high-frequency sight words

• development of automaticity in word recognition

• development of an awareness of print

A preschool teacher is reading a story to his class. As he reads, he holds the book so the children can see the words and pictures while his finger follows the line of print. This activity would contribute to the children's reading development primarily by:

• promoting their development of letter recognition skills

• helping them recognize phonemes that occur frequently in print

• developing their awareness of left-to-right directionally

• promoting their understanding of letter-sound correspondence

Pointing out the title, beginning, middle, and end of a book to a group of preschool children before reading the book aloud to them contributes to their reading development primarily by promoting their:

• understanding of text directionally

• development of book-handling skills

• understanding of the concept of schema

• development of literal comprehension strategies

Which of the following strategies would be most effective in promoting kindergarten children's ability to recognize and name letters of the alphabet?

• The teacher says the name of a letter while the children each trace its shape on a cutout letter

• The teacher posts the entire alphabet around the room in several different formats

• The teacher reads aloud to the children from books that contain mostly words that follow regular phonics patterns

• The teacher emphasizes the initial sounds of words when reading to the children

Having kindergarten children practice tracing the letters of the alphabet in sand is most appropriate for children who are having difficulty:

• internalizing the alphabetic principle

• recognizing that print carries meaning

• understanding the relationship between spoken and written language

• developing letter formation skills

Phonemic awareness contributes most to the development of phonics skills in beginning readers by helping them:

• recognize different ways in which one sound can be represented in print

• count the number of syllables in a written word

• identify in spoken language separate sounds that can be mapped to letters

• understand the concept of a silent letter

Which of the following students is demonstrating the specific type of phonological awareness known as phonemic awareness?

• a student who after being shown a letter of the alphabet can orally identify its corresponding sound(s)

• a student who listens to the words: sting, ring, fling, and hang and can identify that hang is different

• a student who, after hearing the word hat, can orally identify that it ends with the sound /t/

• a student who listens to the word magazine and can determine that it contains three syllables