Rationale for Encoding

1. Rationale for Encoding Why do we teach encoding before decoding? Becky Hahn

3. “It is easier for students to begin with encoding through the auditory channel because it follows the natural progression of language development.” Beth Slingerland

5. Spoken language is a phenomenon that develops without any specific kind of instruction. The auditory sounds of spoken language are heard and understood and are simultaneously associated in the brain with the kinesthetic feel for the words as spoken. The auditory-kinesthetic sensory channels are linked as a beginning step of the complete language function. Beth Slingerland

6. A child’s first few years of life are the foundation for the understanding and use of language. Inner-language develops through listening, talking and playing.

7. “Decoding a word for reading requires visual perception of awhole word, whereas encoding a word for spelling requires a student to complete the less difficult task of combining single units of sound to make a whole word.” Beth Slingerland

8. The single sounds are sequenced and associated with their visual symbols, or graphemes, to build a word. The whole word then becomes a visual representation of a sound pattern. Beth Slingerland

9. For about 15-20% of children, their language processing has a glitch and that glitch is in phonological processing.

10. Dyslexia reflects a localized weakness within a specific component of the language system: phonological processing - processing the distinctive sounds of language. This includes word boundaries, stress patterns, syllable patterns, onset-rime units and phonemes. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

11. The phoneme is the fundamental element of the language system, the essential building block of all spoken and written words. Different combinations of forty-four phonemes produce the tens of thousands of words in the English language. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

12. Phonemic Awareness, the most advanced level of phonological awareness, requires the conscious awareness of individual phonemes in a given word, along with the ability to manipulate these sounds. In children with dyslexia, the phonemes are less well developed. Marcia Henry, Unlocking Literacy

13. Think of such a phoneme as a child’s carved letter block whose face is so worn that the letter is no longer prominent. As a consequence, such children when speaking may have a hard time selecting the appropriate phoneme and may instead retrieve a phoneme that is similar in sound. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

15. In reading we begin with the intact printed words on the page: The blocks representing phonemes are all lined up correctly. The reader’s job is to convert the letters into their sounds and appreciate that the words are composed of smaller segments or phonemes. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

16. Dyslexic children and adults have difficulty developing an awareness that spoken and written words are comprised of these phonemes or building blocks.

17. Children who are dyslexic perceive a word as an amorphous blur,without an appreciation of its underlying segmental nature. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

18. They cannot hear /c/ /a/ /t/The child must come to know that the letters he sees on the page represent the sounds he hears when the same word is spoken. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

19. Think of the little boy that got his first pair of glasses and then said,“I never knew that building was made of red bricks. I always thought its wall was just one big smudge of red paint.” Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

21. The process of acquiring this phonemic knowledge is orderly and follows a logical sequence.During the encoding process, we explicitly teach the manipulation of sounds (both auditorally and kinesthetically) Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

22. A child begins to realize that the letters are related to sounds he hears in words and that the printed word has the same number and the same sequence of phonemes (sounds) as the spoken word. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

23. Finally, he comes to understand that the printed word and the spoken word are related. He knows that the printed word has an underlying structure and that it is the same structure he hears in the spoken word. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

24. He understands that both spoken and written words can be pulled apart based on the same sounds, but in print the letters represent these sounds. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

25. Once the child has made this linkage, he has mastered the alphabetic principle. He is ready to read. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

26. ENCODING STEPS

27. PRE-ENCODING:Vowel Perception identify the vowel sound that opens your throat name its letter while forming it in the air Vowel Discrimination identify the vowel sound from a choice of words with varying vowels name its letter while forming it in the air

28. ORAL: Encodes WordAt the Pocket Chart(a beginning procedure)uses the cards on the chartlocating vowel sound firstsometimes beginning with the first letterconsonant or vowel substitution Without the Pocket Chart(the standard procedure)

29. WRITTEN PROGRESSION: • At Pocket Chart to Board • At Pocket Chart to Board to Paper • At Pocket Chart to Paper • At Board to Paper • At Seat to Paper (the standard procedure)

30. FullScope and Sequence for Encodingis found in the Slingerland Practical Guideon pages 82 - 95.

31. “When children have become automatic in encoding words, (they can encode without teacher coaching), they are ready to begin decoding printed words. If they are truly automatic in their encoding skills, this will be easy to teach. If they are not automatic, that is, they really don’t have the phonemic skills, decoding will be difficult. Nancy Sanders Royal, Preparing Children for Success in Reading