An example of structured literacy in the classroom is implementing sound drills to explicitly teach phonemes. These drills involve the teacher modeling correct pronunciation of sounds and having students repeat them in unison.
Structured Literacy Examples in Practice
Structured literacy is a research-backed approach to teaching reading that emphasizes systematic and explicit instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Here are some examples of how this can be implemented in the classroom:
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Sound Drills: These activities focus on the explicit teaching of phonemes (individual sounds). The teacher models the correct pronunciation, and students practice repeating the sounds. This helps students develop phonemic awareness, a crucial foundation for reading.
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Phoneme Manipulation Exercises: These activities involve manipulating sounds in words. For example, students might be asked to change the first sound in "cat" to make "hat," or blend individual sounds to form a word (e.g., /c/ /a/ /t/ - cat). This strengthens phonological awareness and the ability to decode words.
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Multisensory Instruction: This approach engages multiple senses (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile) in the learning process. For example, students might use letter tiles to build words (tactile), say the sounds as they build (auditory), and see the written words (visual). This multi-faceted approach can enhance learning and memory for all students, particularly those with learning disabilities.
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Explicit Phonics Instruction: Instead of incidental or implicit teaching of phonics, structured literacy emphasizes direct and explicit instruction of sound-letter correspondences. This includes teaching common spelling patterns and rules in a systematic way.
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Systematic Instruction: Lessons build upon each other logically and sequentially. Students learn simpler concepts before moving on to more complex ones. This ensures a solid foundation and prevents gaps in understanding.
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Decoding and Encoding Practice: Decoding refers to reading words, while encoding refers to spelling words. Structured literacy involves ample practice in both skills, helping students to connect sounds to letters and letters to sounds.
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Morphology Instruction: Teaching students about morphemes (meaningful units of language, like prefixes, suffixes, and root words) helps them understand the meaning of complex words and improve their vocabulary.
By implementing these structured literacy strategies, teachers can provide students with the necessary skills and knowledge to become proficient readers. The systematic and explicit nature of structured literacy makes it particularly beneficial for students with dyslexia or other reading difficulties, but it is effective for all learners.
