Teaching English Learners Decoding ReadingStrategies in Vocational Colleges

【Abstract】Reading strategies are used to help students become efficient readers.Decoding is a key skill for learning to read. Many English instructors in vocational colleges are struggling with understanding and explaining English and sometimes resort to telling students that memorization is the only way to hold on to all those confusing words.Learning to read is challenging for many students and it is necessary to teach them the effective reading strategy-decoding.This paper introduces decoding to English instructors in vocational colleges.

【Key words】Decoding ；Reading Strategies；English learner； Vocational College

【作者簡介】鄧雪梅（1977-），女，廣西武鳴人，南寧職業技術學院副教授，教育碩士，研究方向：課程與教學、英語教育、語言文化。

【基金項目】新世紀廣西高等教育教學改革工程項目《以個性化教學推進立德樹人的實踐——以高職高專英語閱讀教學為例》，課題編號：2014JGA311。

1. Introduction

Learning to read is challenging for many students in vocational colleges.The English language is complex. Many English instructors in vocational colleges are struggling with understanding and explaining English and sometimes resort to telling students that memorization is the only way to hold on to all those confusing words. Reading strategies should be taught and used to help students become efficient readers.Decoding is a key skill for learning to read. This paper introduces decoding to English instructors in vocational colleges.

2. Importance of Teaching Decoding Reading Strategies in Vocational Colleges

Much importance is attached to English reading instruction in Chinese vocational colleges. There still exist some weaknesses in it . The fact is that English instructors overemphasize on the teaching of words and grammar， but not on the understanding the content of the article；nor relevant language background knowledge.What makes it worse is that there is no reading strategies introduction to English learners（林娟，2018：178）. Therefore， English learners in vocational colleges must be taught decoding strategies very explicitly and systematically， meaning that we start with the simplest sound/letter concept and build to the more complex.

A key skill to becoming a good reader is the ability to sound out words you dont know. According to Reading Horizons Reading Program， decoding is the process of translating print into speech by rapidly matching a letter or combination of letters （grapheme） to their sounds （phonemes） and recognizing the patterns that make syllables and words. There is an area in the brain that deals with language processing and does this process automatically.

Decoding is important because it is the foundation on which all other reading instruction builds. If students cannot decode words their reading will lack fluency， their vocabulary will be limited and their reading comprehension will suffer. Teaching higher-level reading strategies to students stuck at the word level is ineffective. We might as well be banging our head against a wall.

3. Tips for How to Teach Decoding

3.1 Phonemic Awareness

Phonemes are the smallest units making up spoken language. English consists of about 41 phonemes. Phonemes combine to form syllables and words. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify and manipulate these phonemes in spoken words. It is also the understanding that the sounds of spoken language work together to make words. Phonemic awareness instruction helps learners learn to read， spell， and comprehend text.Teachers view phonemic manipulation best practices that they can easily replicate with students.For example， the word “stop” has four phonemes （s-t-o-p）， while “shop” has three phonemes （sh-o-p）. After this instruction， learners will easily tell that the word “best” has four phonemes （b-e-s-t）， while “bet” has three phonemes （b-e-t）.

3.2 Phonics Skills

English learners in vocational colleges are in a relatively low proficiency of English. They may often stuck when they encounter unfamiliar or new words in the process of reading. They may have learned to read and write in a native language in which the letters correspond to different sounds than they do in English， or they may have learned to read and write in a language with characters that correspond to words or portions of words. It means that teachers can teach phonics effectively if they are armed with knowledge about their students and their native language.Phonics is the understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes （the sounds of spoken language） and graphemes （the letters and spellings that represent those sounds in written language）. Readers use these relationships to recognize familiar words and to decode unfamiliar ones.Phonics enables beginning readers to use phonics skills to “attack” unfamiliar words as they are reading. If students have a strong foundational understanding of sound/spelling correspondence， they are more likely to become good readers. For instance， teacher should teach students vowel sounds in an explicit way. Vowel sounds are opened， the sound opens the mouth. Vowel sounds are always voiced.Every English word or syllable must contain at least one vowel. When it comes to “DR - Drum - /d//r/”， students are aware that the blend “d r” is found in the initial syllable position. When teaching“NT - Tent - /n//t/”， the blend “n t” is found in the final syllable position.As students use phonics skills as a decoding strategy for reading， it can be helpful to review specific sound and word blending techniques with them.

3.3 High Frequency Words

The master of high frequency words affects readers to understand the context. High frequency words include regular words and irregular ones. In contrast， there are no irregular words in Chinese. English instructors should bear the mind that irregular words do not conform to phonics principles and these words should be taught separately. Explicit， systematic instruction of both regular and irregular high-frequency words helps English learners gain confidence as they begin to decode longer and more complex reading passages.

3.4 Vocabulary Development

Vocabulary development is a primary determinant of reading comprehension（Beth Antunez）. It is possible for students to read completely phonetically and not comprehend what they have read because they do not have the vocabulary. In order to read fluently and comprehend what is written， students need to use not just phonics，but context. Therefore， vocabulary needs to be taught explicitly. For instance， when the career topic is taught in class， English learners should be introduced to the relevant words like profession，interview， interviewee， employer， employee，etc. English learners in vocational colleges may have the vocabulary to hold a conversation about weekend activities， but might not have the vocabulary to comprehend a science or social studies text. English instructors are suggested that they should teach the vocabulary of science or social studies in series， like how a butterfly is born or how to make a pancake.

3.5 Word Parts

It has been found that 97 percent of prefixed words in printed school English consist of 20 common prefixes （White， Sowell， and Yanagihara， 1989）.When students are decoding unknown multisyllabic words， it is to their advantage to know prefixes and suffixes.Such knowledge will also help in learning the meaning of a word （Chall and Popp， 1996）.Word parts， such as syllables， common prefixes and suffixes and their meanings， root words and phonograms such as oi， ar and igh are essential to help English learners read with increased speed and fluidity. In vocational colleges， English instructors are encouraged to carry out teaching activities， such as prefix and suffix simulations， expert modeling， detailed lessons， and supplied lists of the most common prefixes and suffixes.As students are exposed more and more rules about word parts， they will use their knowledge of word parts as a decoding strategy while reading .

3.6 Context Clues

Using context clues to determine a words meaning is an important strategy to further reading comprehension. For example， if a student comes to a word like “career” in a reading passage“ Shu Pulong has helped at least 1000 people bitten by snakes.‘It was seeing people with snakes bites that led me to this career， he said...”， this strategy allows them to figure out the meaning of the word “career” referring to “job”by using the context clues evident in the rest of the sentence or paragraph.

4. Conclusions and suggestions

Automatic recognition of individual words leads to fluent reading of strings of words， which in turn leads to full comprehension-the goal of reading instruction. English instructors are expected to help learners develop the fundamental insight that letters and sounds work together in systematic ways to form words. This understanding provides the foundation for the development of decoding skills. Chinese English learners in vocational college are often confused with some letters and sounds such as /b/ /d/ or/f/ /v/. Therefor， phonics instruction must be explicit and systematic.

English instructors are also expected to help students be more skilled learners， who should be able to （1）process words automatically and rapidly （2） look for known word parts in unfamiliar words （3） use context to confirm pronunciation and meaning.

Once English learners know how to apply their knowledge of decoding reading strategies， more effective reading strategies， like top-down， bottom-up， interactive reading model will be introduced to them.

References：

[1]林娟.圖式理論在高職公共英語閱讀教學中的策略研究[J].湖北函授大學學報，2018，19.

[2]Readinghorizons.What is decoding？A critical Foundation for Reading Success[OL].https：//www.readinghorizons.com/reading-strategies/decoding/what-is-decoding.

[3]Roxanne Hudson.2005.Word Work Strategies to Develop Decoding Skills for Beginning Readers[OL].http：//www.fcrr.org/staffpresentations/rhudson/word_work_rf_longisland_fcrr.pdf.