2PROFED10 Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across the Curriculum

Stages of Literacy Development

Considering language and literacy as developmental is really quite fundamental for us. This might sound
obvious, which will lead some readers to ask, “what’s all the fuss about? In fact, there isn’t a fuss. Instead,
we are noting an emphasis on observing how the capacity of a learner or a group or a class or a community
matures over time. We emphasize a developmental approach because we are sensitive to the long journey
of acquiring the rich skills that will prepare learners “to enter adulthood with the skills they will need to
participate fully in a democratic society. The child (or emerging learner) is not faced with the prospect of
developing such complex skills from the get-go. There should be a progressive, temporal dimension to this
learning where the child is supported by others to develop foundational skills which lead to competencies
which lead to mastery which leads to further disciplinary practices. There are six stages of reading
development as a framework, which accounts for reading development from birth to adulthood.

In Stage 0 (pre-reading), typically between the ages of 6 months to 6 years old, the child pretends to read,
and gradually develops the skills to retell stories when looking at pages of books previously read to him/her.
The child gains the ability to name letters of the alphabet, prints own name, and plays with books, pencils,
and paper. By six years old, the child can understand thousands of words but can read few (if any). In this
stage, adults are encouraged to scaffold the child’s language attempts through parallel talk, expanding on
verbalizations, and recasting the child’s verbalizations. Adults are encouraging children to use two to three-
word combinations within social contexts, and adults should implement dialogic reading or effective shared
reading for young children ages 2 to 5 years. Any instruction (phonics, vocabulary) should be linked to the
book reading, and such books should include rhyme, alliteration, and repetitive phrases. In one’s
environment, adults should verbally label objects with which children are involved and encourage children
to ask questions and elaborate on observations (Westberg, et al., 2006).

In Stage 1 (initial reading, writing, and decoding), typically between the ages of 6 and 7 years old, the
child is learning the relation between letters and sounds and between print and spoken words. The child is
able to read simple texts containing high-frequency words and phonically regular words and uses skills
and insight to “sound out” new words. In relation to writing, the child is moving from scribbling to controlled
scribbling to non-phonetic letter strings. Adults are encouraging the child to write about known words and
use invented spellings to encourage beginning writing, which can be extended through assisted
performance. In this stage, the main aims are to further develop children’s phonological awareness, letter-
sound knowledge, and ability to manipulate phonemes and syllables (segmentation and blending). These
skills should be taught in the context of print, and children should have ample opportunities to manipulate,

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2PROFED10 Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across the Curriculum

trace, and hear the sounds of letters. To encourage independent reading, adults should select books that
have few words on each page, with a large type size, and with illustrations on each page. During shared
reading, adults should increase the number of print-focused questions that they ask children. Literacy
instruction should incorporate listening to stories and informational texts read aloud; learning the alphabet;
reading texts (out loud and silently); and writing letters, words, messages, and stories. Teachers and
parents must ensure that children have ample opportunity to apply practices and strategies. (Westberg,
et al., 2006).

In Stage 2 (confirmation and fluency), typically between the ages of 7 and 8 years old, the child can read
simple, familiar stories and selections with increasing fluency. This is done by consolidating the basic
decoding elements, sight vocabulary, and meaning context in the reading of common topics. The learner’s
skills are extended through guided read-aloud of more complex texts. By this stage, adults should be
providing instruction that includes repeated and monitored oral reading. Teachers and parents must model
fluent reading for students by reading aloud to them daily and asking students to read text aloud. It is
important to start with texts that are relatively short and contain words the students can successfully
decode. This practice should include a variety of texts such as stories, nonfiction, and poetry, and it should
use a variety of ways to practice oral reading, such as student-adult reading, choral (or unison) reading,
tape-assisted reading, partner (or buddy) reading and reader’s theatre. In this stage, vocabulary needs to
be taught both indirectly and directly. Adults need to engage in conversations with children to help them
learn new words and their meanings. And during reading, it is important to pause to define unfamiliar words
and discuss the book upon completion of reading (Westberg, et al., 2006). At the end of this period, the
learner is transitioning out of the learning-to-read phase and into the reading-to-learn phase.

In Stage 3 (reading to learn the new), typically developed between the ages of 9 and 13 years old,
reading is used to learn new ideas, gain new knowledge, experience new feelings, to learn new attitudes,
generally from one or two points of view. There is a significant emphasis placed on reading to learn, and
writing for diverse purposes. There is time spent balancing the consolidating of constrained skills (spelling,
grammar, fluency) whilst providing ample opportunities to explore topics through reading, writing, speaking,
listening & viewing. By this time, the learner has transitioned to a stage where he or she is expected to
learn from their reading. Adults should teach specific comprehension strategies, such as comprehension
monitoring, using graphic and semantic organizers, answering questions, generating questions,
recognizing textual structures, summarizing, and identifying main ideas and important details.
Comprehension strategies can be taught through direct explanation, modeling, guided practice, and
application. Students benefit from cooperative learning and students should be encouraged to coordinate
and adjust several strategies to assist comprehension. At this stage, students should be encouraged to
use a variety of tools to learn new words, such as dictionaries, thesauruses, reference guides, word parts

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2PROFED10 Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across the Curriculum

(prefixes, base words, etc.), and contextual clues.

In the penultimate Stage 4 (synthesizing information and applying multiple perspectives), typically
between 14 and 17 years old, learners are reading widely from a broad range of complex materials, both
expository and narrative, and are asked to apply a variety of viewpoints. Learners are required to access,
retain, critique, and apply knowledge and concepts. Learners are consolidating general reading, writing,
and learning strategies whilst being required to develop more sophisticated disciplinary knowledge and
perspectives. These adolescent learners deserve content area teachers who provide instruction in the
multiple literacy strategies needed to meet the demands of the specific discipline. In these areas,
adolescents deserve access to and instruction with multimodal as well as traditional print sources. Effective
instruction includes ample opportunities to discuss disciplinary content and explore how these disciplines
apply to the world outside the school walls. Adults should encourage learners to refine their interest, pursue
areas of expertise, and develops the literacies reflective of the years ahead in post-school contexts
(International Reading Association, 2012).

In the final Stage 5 (critical literacy in work and society), reading is used for one’s own needs and
purposes (professional and personal). Reading serves to integrate one’s knowledge with that of others to
synthesize information and create new knowledge. Reading and writing are purposeful, strategic, often
specialized, and anchored. "Literacy" stratifies greatly in adulthood, since our reading and writing habits
are shaped by educational, cultural, and employment factors that become increasingly diverse in the post-
school landscape. In professional and specialized settings, individuals are required to synthesize
information from a diverse range of sources to form conclusions, shape audiences’ views, and navigate
multiple points of view (or perspectives).

Through the stages of development, the teacher’s role is to arrange tasks and activities in such a way that
students are developing. The teacher - therefore - must be "aware of the learning intentions, [know] when
a student is successful in attaining those intentions, [have] sufficient understanding of the students’ prior
understanding as he or she comes to the task, and [know] enough about the content to provide meaningful
and challenging experiences so that there is ... progressive development”. As noted by Snow (2004),
“literacy can be seen as dependent on instruction, with the corollary that quality of instruction is key. This
view emphasizes the developmental nature of literacy -- the passage of children through successive stages
of literacy, in each of which the reading and writing tasks change qualitatively and the role of the instructor
has to change accordingly."

Reference: https://www.theliteracybug.com/stages-of-literacy