The document outlines the five elements of balanced literacy: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, as identified by the National Reading Panel. It provides detailed strategies for teaching and assessing each component, emphasizing the interconnection and systematic approaches necessary for effective reading instruction. Additionally, it includes instructional resources and assessment methods to support educators in developing these essential literacy skills.

1. 5 Elements of Balanced Literacy
Christina Betts
Wilmington University
MRD 6202: Foundations of Reading
Professor: Elizabeth Obold
February 19, 2022

2. 5 Elements of
Balanced Literacy
Identified by the National Reading Panel
(2002)
1) Phonemic Awareness
2) Phonics
3) Fluency
4) Vocabulary
5) Comprehension

3. Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and
manipulate the sounds letters represent, including blending
sounds to make words, creating rhyming patterns, and
counting phonemes (individual sounds). (McEwan, 2009)

4. Phonemic Awareness
• PA is a critical skill in learning the alphabetic principal.
• PA is an auditory skill.
• “Children do not tend to outgrow phonemic deficits or develop PA skills
with physical maturation.” (Liberman & Shandkweiler, 1985)
• Without the ability to identify and manipulate phonemes of the English
language, students are almost certain to fail formal reading instruction.

5. Phonemic Awareness
Instructional Resources
Print-based
• Nursery rhymes, word games, rhymes,
tongue twisters, poems
• Phonological Awareness : This website
provides an array of developmentally
sequenced phonological awareness
activities.
• Phonological Awareness Activities : This
sequenced set of phonological
awareness activities will help teachers
scaffold early reading instruction.
• National Center on Improving Literacy
2019 Phonological & Phonemic
Awareness
Non-print-based
• Clapping and tapping the syllables in words
• K12Reader
• Starfall Reading and Phonics
• www.phonologicalawareness.org

6. Phonemic Awareness
Instructional Strategies
Unison Response
The teacher signals all students
to answer together to maximize
practice and regularly monitor
student progress. The teacher
asks questions of individual
students as an additional check
of progress only after the whole
group is correctly answering all
the questions.
Advanced Organizers
Prior to beginning a lesson, the
teacher tells students what they
will be doing during the lesson,
why the activities are important,
and how they are to behave
during the lesson. A visual
organizer is frequently
presented along with a brief
verbal description of what will
happen during the lesson.

7. Phonemic Awareness
Assessment Strategies
Phonemic Awareness and identification of letter sounds, rapid naming of letters,
vocabulary knowledge, word reading, and word reading fluency are valid predictors for
the identification of students at risk of reading failure. These various skills have been
incorporated into the following early screening assessments:
• Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) for Grades K-3
• PALS-PreK for ages 4 and 5
• Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization Test (LAC) for any age individual who
understands the concepts of same and different, numbers to four, and left-to-right
progression.

8. Phonics
Phonics “enables students to phonemically decode
words by matching graphemes (letters of the
alphabet) to phonemes (the sounds the letters
represent).” (McEwan, 2009)

9. Phonics
• The goal of phonics instruction is to help children learn the alphabetic
principle – the idea that letters represent the sounds of spoken language –
and there is an organized, logical, and predictable relationship between
written letters and spoken sounds.
• Phonics instruction is most effective when it is part of a well-rounded program
that includes words and world knowledge, spelling, fluency, comprehension,
reading a lot, and writing.
• Systematic phonics instruction enhances children’s success in learning to
read and is significantly more effective than instruction that teaches little or no
phonics.
• Phonics should be taught when students have the prerequisite phonemic
awareness skills to identify and manipulate the various sounds (phonemes).

10. Phonics
Instructional Resources
Print-based
• Decodable texts
• List of decodable words
• Word ladders
• Softschools.com - phonics : This
website describes a number of
phonics-based activities for use in the
classroom.
• Kidzone - Phonics : This website
outlines a number of phonics-based
activities and suggestions for
instruction.
Non-print-based
• Clapping and tapping the syllables in
words
• www.abcmouse.com
• Starfall Reading and Phonics
• www.pbskids.com

11. Phonics
Instructional Strategies
Text at Reading Level
Decodable books
Leveled Readers
Studies indicate that choosing books that
are more limited in linguistic content and
cognitive load for intervention is
beneficial.
Differentiation/Grouping
Groups based on skill as identified by
assessment.
Within or outside the classroom, ensuring
that all teachers deliver same instruction
to each group, strict devotion to time with
routines to reduce transition time.

12. Phonics
Assessment Strategies
DIBELS Word Reading Fluency (WRF) is a standardized, individually
administered assessment that provides a measure of alphabetic principle and
reading fluency skills.
Word recognition should be assessed roughly three times each year for
students in kindergarten through second grade to help guide instruction.
The Basic Phonics Skills Test III (BTSTIII)is a phonics assessment that includes
the recognition of letter sounds, specific phonics patterns, and the blending of
single syllable and polysyllabic words out of context. It measures elements at a
given grade level.
Phonics elements should be assessed several times throughout the year in
grades 1-3 to help guide instruction.

13. Fluency
“Fluency is the ability to read so automatically that working memory is
available for the ultimate purpose of reading-extracting and constructing
meaning from the text. Fluency can by observed in accurate, automatic, and
expressive oral reading and makes possible, silent reading comprehension”
(Harris & Hodges, 1995, p. 85; Pikulski & Chard, 2005, p. 510).

14. Fluency
• In order to become fluent readers, students must read independently.
• Fluency cannot be taught, it must be facilitated in the following ways: making text
accessible, scaffolding instruction with explicit phonics instruction, providing lots of
time for structured, oral repeated reading of accessible text.
• Students who are most at risk of reading failure may need up to 30 repetitions of a
word before it becomes a part of long-term memory.
• Reading fluency rates are an excellent indicator of reading proficiency, including
comprehension abilities, through sixth grade.

15. Fluency
Instructional Resources
Print-based
• Short Patterned Word Phrases Drill :
These phrases can be used to help
students gain automatic word
recognition skills, a critical component
of reading fluency.
• Texts at instructional level
• Reader’s Theatre books
• National Center on Improving Literacy
Non-print-based
• www.getepic.com
• www.starfall.com

16. Fluency
Instructional Strategies
Print-based
Instructional practices that build fluency
(Walpole, 2007)
 Echo Reading: Teacher reads a
sentence and then the group rereads is
aloud
 Choral Reading: Teacher leads the
entire group reading aloud in unison
 Partner Reading: Pairs of readers
alternate reading aloud by following a
specific turn-taking procedure.
 Whisper Reading: Each child reads
aloud (but not in unison) in a quiet voice.
Guided Oral Reading
Students read passages orally with systematic
and explicit guidance and feedback from the
teacher.
Guided repeated oral reading procedures that
include guidance from teachers, peers, or
parents have a significant and positive impact on
word recognition, fluency, and comprehension
across a range of grade levels.
Make the process of reading easier by making
texts as accessible as possible. Scaffold
instruction with explicit phonics instruction as
needed to help decode new words and by
providing generous blocks of time for structured
oral repeated readings of accessible texts.
Predictable text is not accessible text.

17. Fluency
Assessment Strategies
DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)
measured by asking student to read appropriate passage of about 250 words in length. The
score is the number of words read correctly in one minute. Generally, omissions, insertions
and self-corrections are not counted as errors; substitutions and incorrectly identified words
are counted as errors. The ORF assessment is the most simple, quick, and sensitive way to
measure incremental changes. ORF is combination of accuracy and rate and is reported as
words correct per minute (wcpm). Minimum acceptable reading fluency rate for instructional
purposes in grade-appropriate texts is 80 wpm with < 2 errors (Lovitt & Hansen, 1976).
Texas Primary Reading Inventory is a highly reliable early reading assessment designed to
identify the reading development of students in kindergarten through third grade.
Running Records
Fluency Scale

18. Vocabulary
“Word Knowledge in its narrowest sense is simply knowing the meaning
of lots of words.” “World Knowledge is having an understanding and
awareness of many different subjects and disciplines or knowledge
domains.” (McEwan. 2009)

19. Vocabulary
• The ideal time to teach word and word knowledge is from birth. (McEwan,
2009)
• Word and world knowledge are important predictors of reading
comprehension.
• Vocabulary should be taught both directly and indirectly.
• Explicit instruction of vocabulary is highly effective.
• Repetition and multiple exposures to vocabulary are important.
• Word knowledge includes the five linguistic facets of word study:
1. Phonological awareness
2. Orthographic knowledge
3. Morphological awareness
4. Semantic awareness
5. Mental orthographic images (Apel, 2007)

20. Vocabulary
Instructional Resources
Print-based
 Nursery Rhyme Book - My Book of
Mother Goose Rhymes
 Multidimensional Fluency Rubric Chart
 Readers Theater Books
 Concept map template 1
 List-Group-Label
Non-print-based
• Vocabulary Instruction – Kindergarten
• www.pbskids.com
• www.sessamestreet.org
• www.starfall.com
• Help expand their vocabulary by
talking to them, reading aloud, and
even singing with them.

21. Vocabulary
Instructional Strategies
Word consciousness, an awareness of and
interest in words. It can be developed at all
times and in several ways: through
encouraging adept diction, word play, and
through research on word origins or
histories.
Word of the Week (Generative processing
in which students take information about a
word’s meaning and create a new product
like a sentence that expresses the word’s
meaning is one of the most effective ways
to actively involve students in word
learning.)
Provide multiple opportunities for
cognitive processing
There is great improvement in vocabulary
when students encounter vocabulary words
often (National Reading Panel, 2000).
 rehearsing responses in anticipation of
answering questions about a word
 connecting the word and its meaning to
prior learning or experiences
 personally paraphrasing the definition of
the word
 coming up with antonyms, synonyms,
examples of the word
Build a Word-and World-Conscious school

22. Vocabulary
Instructional Strategies
• Word map
• Frayer graphic model
• Concept maps
• Semantic mapping
• Word sorts
• Cloze sentences
• Vocabulary elaboration strategy
• Semantic feature analysis
Use nonfiction read-alouds
Tier 2 words format:
• Pronunciation of the word
• Student-friendly definition
• Sentence from the story that uses the
word
• Sentence starter to be used during the
first few weeks or until students are able
to start sentences on their own
Exemplary vocabulary teaching strategies
as identified by LFS

23. Vocabulary
Assessment Strategies
The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (Dunn & Dunn, 1997), is an individual
test that assess students’ receptive vocabulary. The test has four pictures on a page.
The teacher says the word corresponding to one of the pictures and the student must
point to the correct picture. The test begins with simple noun pictures that most students
know-words such as car, ball, money, and mail. The test becomes progressively more
difficult through the use of words such as attire, incisor, convergence, and bumptious.
WIDA (www.wida.us) provides assessments that measure the developing English of
English learners in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The tests are based on the
English learner proficiency (ELP) standards in the areas of listening, speaking, reading,
and writing skills.

24. Comprehension
“Comprehension is the extraction, or construction of meaning from text,
using the seven cognitive strategies of highly skilled readers as
appropriate.” (McEwan, 2009)

25. Comprehension
• Readers derive meaning from text when they engage in intentional,
problem-solving thinking processes.
• Text comprehension is enhanced when readers actively relate the
ideas represented in print to their own knowledge and experiences and
construct mental representations in memory.
• Explicit teaching techniques are particularly effective for
comprehension strategy instruction. The steps typically include direct
explanation, teacher modeling, guided practice, and application.
• Teaching a combinations of reading comprehension techniques is the
most effective.

26. Comprehension
Instructional Resources
Print-based
• Graphic and semantic Organizers
• Story Maps
• Summarizing
• Think-Alouds
• KWL chart
Non-print-based
• www.songsforteaching.com
• www.readingquest.org
• www.carolhurst.com
• Help with comprehension by asking
questions about what they are reading.
• Retelling, Questioning, Predicting,
Previewing/using prior knowledge

27. Comprehension
Instructional Strategies
Direct Instructing & Explaining
Research shows that explicit teaching techniques
are particularly effective for comprehension
strategy instruction.
• Direct explanation: Teachers tell readers why
and when they should use strategies.
• Modeling: Teacher models, or demonstrates,
how to apply the strategy.
• Guided practice: Teacher guides and assists
students as they learn how and when to apply
the strategy.
• Application: Teacher helps students practice
the strategy until they can apply it
independently.
Scaffolding
Bridging learning gaps between what
students have learned and what they are
expected to know and be able to do. How
you move a student toward stronger
understanding and greater independence
in the learning process.

28. Comprehension
Instructional Strategies
7 Cognitive Strategies of Highly Effective Readers
1. Activating
a. Recalling prior knowledge before and during reading about the content being read
b. Increases motivation and attention to the material
c. Retrieving known information makes it easier to make predictions
2. Inferring
a. Using what’s written in the text, unspoken (unwritten) in the text and what’s already known to make meaning
b. Inference can be in form of a prediction, conclusion about an idea in the text, or a brand new idea
c. Often requires modeling through think aloud for students to understand how it occurs
d. Has a heavy dependence on background knowledge of the reader
3. Monitoring – Clarifying
a. Monitoring is thinking about what one is reading to see if one understands
b. Monitoring is evaluative (Baker 2002)
c. Monitoring occurs while the student is reading and trying to construct meaning (Beck, et al, 1997)
d. Clarifying is fixing up things that interfere with understanding
e. Clarifying is regulatory (Baker 2002)
f. Clarifying is clearing up confusion
4. Questioning
a. Occurs regularly in schools on homework and tests, and doesn’t often help in constructing meaning
b. Generating and answering higher level questions requires deeper thinking and questioning becomes much more powerful
c. Teaching students variety of question types helps students through better memory for text, ability to answer questions and tell the difference between
types of questions and therefore the answers to them.

29. Comprehension
Instructional Strategies
5. Searching – Selecting
a. “The finding of text, browsing through information, or collecting resources for the purposes of answering questions, solving problems, or gathering information”
(Guthrie & Kirsch, 1987)
b. Considered an essential workplace skill
c. Students need specific, explicit instruction about this strategy, to include such steps as:
d. Formulating a goal or plan of action
e. Selecting appropriate categories of the text for inspection
f. Integrating new information from the text with prior knowledge
g. Monitoring the completeness of the answer to the question and repeating the steps until it’s done
6. Summarizing
a. More challenging cognitive process because it requires student to reread/rework and think about text
b. Required in most high-stakes tests in form of retelling story events, writing short text summaries, determining main idea and supporting details, paraphrasing, and
organizing
c. Requires explicit instruction and repeated modeling by teacher
7. Visualizing – Organizing
a. “Any sort of systematic attention to clues that reveal how authors attempt to relate ideas to one another or any sort of systematic attempt to impose structure upon a
text, especially in some sort of visual representation of the relationships among key ideas, facilitates comprehension as well as both short-term and long-term
memory of the text.” (Pearson & Fielding, 1991)
b. McEwan does say that graphic organizers aren’t enough in and of themselves; students must develop their own concept maps
c. Constructing a graphic organizer requires one to read a text, determine what type of graphic organizer would best fit the information, choose labels for the parts and
draw the organizer itself
d. Visualizing is another way to process information – including painting a picture, taking a snapshot or video in their minds of the scene or action in the story

30. Comprehension
Assessment Strategies
The Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT) measures the major components of the reading process and should
be used to diagnose students' strengths and weaknesses in reading. The results can be used by teachers to group
students according to their specific instructional needs. The test has four levels: Red, Green, Brown, and Blue. Red is
designed for students at the end of first grade through the second grade as well as for very low achieving third
graders. It measures skills in auditory discrimination, phonetic analysis, auditory vocabulary, word recognition, and
comprehension of short sentences and paragraphs. Green is for grades 3 and 4 as well as for very low achieving 5th
graders. It measures skills in auditory discrimination, phonetic and structural analysis, auditory vocabulary, and literal
and inferential comprehension. Brown is for grades 5-8 as well as for low achieving high school students. It measures
skills in phonetic and structural analysis, auditory vocabulary, literal and inferential comprehension of textual,
functional, and recreational reading material, and reading rate. and Blue is for grades 9-12 and community colleges.
This level measures skills in phonetic and structural analysis, reading vocabulary, literal and inferential
comprehension of textual, functional, and recreational reading material, word parts, reading rate, and scanning and
skimming. Norms are available for each level for both spring and fall, and a special multilevel norms booklet is used
when testing students out of grade level. Tests may be scored either by machine or by hand, and corresponding
answer sheets are available for either option. Raw scores are converted to percentiles, stanines, normal curve
equivalents, grade equivalents, and scaled scores.

31. Comprehension
Assessment Strategies
Qualitative Reading Inventory
The Qualitative Reading Inventory measures grade level reading, fluency, comprehension,
vocabulary, and oral reading accuracy. It is an on-going assessment and should be completed
several times throughout the child’s schooling. In kindergarten, perform the Informal Reading
Inventory twice per year, at mid-year and at the end of school. In first and second grades, it
should be done three times, at the beginning of the school year, at mid-year, and at the end of the
year. If a child is struggling, the inventory should be done more often in order to have an accurate
picture of the child's progress. This assessment can be given to students in grades one through
twelve. Students should be expected to master age-appropriate material. To administer the test,
choose a grade level passage for the student to read. As the student is reading complete the
Reading Accuracy and Reading Fluency assessments. After the student finishes the passage,
check for understanding through explicit and implicit questions. Also, ask open-ended questions
about the vocabulary found in the passage.

32. Resources
Faulkner, H. J., & Levy, B. A. (1999). How text difficulty and reader skill interact to produce differential reliance on word and content overlap in reading transfer. Journal of
Experimental Child Psychology, 58, 1-24.
K12 Reader (2012). Effective Strategies for Teaching Phonemic Awareness Retrieved from https://www.k12reader.com/effective-strategies-for-teaching-phonemic-awareness/
McEwan, E.K. (2009) Teach them all to read: Catching kids before they fall through the cracks. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, Press.
National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (2002). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: Findings and Determinations of the National
Reading Panel by Topic Areas https://www.icyte.com/saved/www.nichd.nih.gov/685157?key=68c386239799 96aecc7e737 51219d5
3c5d60990f
Osbold, E. (2022). Fluency (Week 3): Teach them All to Read Fluency [PowerPoint slides]. Wilmington University Foundations of Reading Blackboard: https://wilmu.instructure.com
Reading Rockets (2021). Phonological and Phonemic Awareness: In Depth Retrieved from https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/phonological-
and-phonemic- awareness/in-depth