About Reading Theories in Elementary Schools

Elementary school is where the most basic tenets of reading are learned and built upon to use throughout the child's life. Teachers are saddled with the responsibility to teach these tenets to the children in the classroom. This is where the reading theories come in handy. They are theories centered around the way students learn and how the reading process is approached. Reading theories change continuously as more and more is learned about the way kids learn. There are three basic theories that teachers use.

Traditional Phonics

The traditional theories of reading are based upon the idea of giving children the basic pieces needed to eventually learn how to read. Phonics is a good example of the traditional view. Phonetic reading starts when the child learns how identify letters. They are taught the each letter has a sound and that sound can be placed with another letter to form words. The next step is using those word sounds to learn pronunciations. Children will eventually be able to identify words by "sounding them out." Phonics thus uses several steps and skills to teach a child to read. It can be used to expand the vocabulary as needed.

Cognitive, Top Down

Cognitive reading theories urge teachers to show students how to grasp meaning from the words on the page. The reader takes in the words on the page but applies their own meaning to them based on personal experiences, according to Colorado State University's Writing Center. The words are only "cues" for the reader to use in interpreting the story. Cognitive reading theory utilizes scanning techniques as well. The readers speed increases as the reading skills are mastered.

Metacognitive, Whole Word

With metacognition, the student is aware of the processes used in reading before and during the reading process. It is this awareness that teachers use to teach the child. Whole word reading methods are an example of metacognitive theory. The child learns the words by sight, using memory, while remaining fully aware the word learned is used to read. The words memorized are sight words, which are the frequently used words that the child needs to know in order to read. Metacognition also requires that the reader learn scanning and skimming as well as reading comprehension.

Considerations

These three methods all require that the child practice words and are exposed to reading at an early age. Although the approaches are different, the theories all have the same goal of reading progress.

D.R. Reutzel and R.B. Cooper, "The Relationship of Top-Down Reading Theories to Whole-Word Reading Instruction," Education.com.

"Whole Word vs. Phonics," Improve Education.org.

Jennifer A. Livingston, "Metacognition: An Overview," State University of New York at Buffalo.

"Cognitive Reading Theory," Colorado State University.