Reading Comprehension - Phonological, Semantic and Syntactic

Language can be one of the most complex systems to understand and yet children as young as 3 or 4 years of age already begin to hold conversations in their daily lives. In learning a language, there are different cueing systems: Phonological, Syntactic, and Semantic. Each cueing systems have different terms that signify the structure of that particular cueing system. Phonological cueing system is based upon sounds.  Syntactic cueing system, or Syntax, is about grammatical organization.  The Semantic system conveys meaning of words. Phonological cueing system is based upon sounds.  In this system, children learn to how the pronounce the sounds while simultaneously learning how to talk, eventually learning that these sounds are associated with letters when they learn to read and write.  “There are approximately 44 speech sounds in English.  Sounds are called phonemes, and they are represented in print with diagonal lines to differentiate them from graphemes, or letter combinations.  Thus, the first letter in mother is written m, while the phoneme is written /m/; the phoneme in soap represented by the grapheme oa is written /əʊ/” (Reading and Language Arts, 2002). Syntactic cueing system, or Syntax, is about grammatical organization.  It teaches the proper order of sentences. One main component in the syntactic system is grammar.  Grammar is the rules of combining words to sentences. “This system is the grammar that regulates how words are combined into sentences. The word grammar here means the rules governing how words are combined in sentences, not the grammar of English textbooks or the conventional etiquette of language. Children use the syntactic system as they combine words to form sentences” (Reading and Language Arts, 2002).  Knowing grammar can help improve reading and decoding abilities. Word forms are another component at work in syntax.  According to Reading and Language Arts (2002), morphemes are the smallest meaningful units in language. Meaningful unit refers to the word conveying meaning without any additional units.  There are different ways to change the morpheme to add different meaning.  For example, adding –s at the end of a word makes it plural, which is why it is called a plural marker.  A past-tense marker –ed can be added onto the end of a word to make it occur in the past.  Free morphemes, such as dog and play are called such because they convey a meaning and purpose without adding on morphemes. The Semantic system conveys meaning of words.  According to Reading and Language Arts (2002), vocabulary is a key component in this system.  The importance of this system is that children can learn the meaning of words when they learn to talk from preschool through elementary grades in order to use them in proper syntax and in phonics.  Meaning through text is also learned through semantics.  Often, children learn that some words hold more than one meaning based on the surrounding words.  “At the same time that children are learning new words, they are also learning that many words have more than one meaning. Meaning is usually based on the context, or the surrounding words” (Reading and Language Arts, 2002). According to Reading and Language Arts (2002), “As children learn to talk, they develop an implicit understanding of the systems, and they apply their knowledge of the four systems whenever they use words—whether for listening or talking, reading or writing, or viewing or visually representing. Students integrate information simultaneously from these four language systems in order to communicate. No one system is more important than any other one”. Sources: University of Phoenix (Ed.). (2002). Reading and language arts. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing. http://threes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3078:reading-comprehension-phonological-syntactic-and-semantic&catid=80:language&Itemid=59

How does the reading brain work?

Reading is a complex process. It requires different areas of the brain, namely temporal lobe, frontal lobe and angular gyrus,  to be activated in a coordinated and synchronised way.

We have made the following video to demonstrate the reading process of our brain. 




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The Reading Brain

For this topic, we have made a short video so that readers can easily understand the 'reading brain' and how does our brain acquire reading skill.



Click here for a Chinese version of this video. 

What is segmenting?

Segmenting is an essential skill in learning to spell. 'Segment' means 'break' or 'separate'. When we segment a word, we break the word up into its individual sounds.  This video shows how segmenting is taught in Unik’s Phonics Fun programme.

Click here or Chinese version of this video.

What is blending?

Blending is an essential skill in learning to read. 'Blend' means 'join together'. Blending letter sounds means joining the sounds of letters together. We blend sounds to make a word.

For your better understanding, we have made this video to show how blending teaches reading.



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Why is reading especially difficult?

For this topic, we have made a 11-minute video so that audiences can get a clearer picture why reading is difficult: reading is not a skill acquired naturally, and it must be taught correctly!

This video links neuroscience to the teaching of reading with the systematic synthetic phonics approach.

Why use the systematic synthetic phonics method in teaching to read?

Research has shown that phonics taught in a systematic or structured way - starting with the easiest sounds, then progressing through to the complex ones - is the most effective way to drive up standards in reading. This approach aligns with our brain’s ability to learn.

Additionally, as pointed out by neuroscientists and researchers of human cognition, the foundation of reading is speech, and the organization of reading skills in the brain must be built on this foundation. This is important because recent brain research suggests that we must set right any incorrect teaching methods used, since early instruction determines how the brain organizes itself for reading. The systematic synthetic approach builds on these findings, by teaching sounds before letters. 

Evidence from the Clackmannanshire Study (1997-2003) conducted in the United Kingdom showed that children who used this method became better readers much earlier compared to children who used the analytic phonics approach.

What is Phonics?

'Phonics' has become a hot topic amongst parents over these few years, especially when it was integrated into KSSR curriculum. There are a few types of phonics in the market, yet many parents are unaware of what type of phonics their children learn in kindergartens or schools. This post aims to give more insight about phonics and hopes to clear the confusion created by the different types of phonics.

What is phonics?

•  A system of relationships between letters and sounds in a language
•  A method of teaching reading by correlating sounds with letters

Phonics as a method of teaching

There are several approaches that use phonics as the basis of teaching reading: synthetic phonics, analytic phonics, analogy phonics and embedded phonics.

Synthetic phonics

-     The teaching of reading in which phonemes (sounds) associated with particular graphemes (letters) are pronounced in isolation and blended together (synthesised).

-     Children are taught to take a single-syllable word, e.g. “cat”, apart into its three letters, pronounce a phoneme for each letter in turn /k, æ, t/, and blend the phonemes together to form a word.

-     This method is currently adopted by the Malaysian Ministry of Education in the KSSR syllabus.

Analytic phonics

-     The teaching of reading in which the phonemes associated with particular graphemes are not pronounced in isolation.

-  Children identify (analyse) the common phoneme in a set of words in which each word contains the phoneme being studied. For example, teachers and pupils discuss how the following words are alike: pat, park, push and pen.

Analogy phonics

-     A type of analytic phonics in which children analyse phonic elements according to the phonograms in the word.

-     A phonogram, known in linguistics as a rime, is composed of the vowel and all the sounds that follow it, such as –ake in the word cake.

-     Children use these phonograms to learn about “word families”, e.g. cake, make, bake, take.

Embedded phonics

-     An approach in which phonics forms one part of a “whole language” programme.

-    Embedded phonics differs from other methods in that the instruction is always in the context of literature rather than in separate lessons, and the skills to be taught are identified incidentally rather than systematically.