Teaching Reading Skills & VocabularyTSL 3106

Topic 8:Reading Aloud Skills

•Enunciation•Pronunciation•Stress•Intonation•Rhythm

Reading Aloud Skills

Definition Examples

Enunciation the act of speaking clearly and concisely / an act of delivering a speech precisely

Dropping ‘g’s is one of the most common examples of poor enunciation.Eg. The words ‘jogging, walking’ are always being enunciated as ‘joggin’ and walkin.’

Pronunciation Any of the accepted or standard ways of pronouncing a word.In reading aloud, the importance is the way a teacher says words accurately in order to make children understand.

For example, the word "matter" is always pronounced "madder" /mædər/ in American English, whereas in British English it sounds /mætə/ in formal pronunciation and sometimes /mædə/ in informal pronunciation.

Reading Aloud Skills

Definition Examples

Stress To pronounce a particular word or syllable (part of a word) more loudly or with greater force than other words/syllables.

The noun ‘dessert’ is stressed on the first syllable.

*content words like nouns are always being stressed on 1st syllable. For compound nouns, the stress in on the first part.

Eg. housewife :/ˈhaʊswaɪf/

Reading Aloud Skills

Definition Examples

Intonation Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say. Listen to somebody speaking without paying attention to the words: the 'melody' you hear is the intonation.

He isn't flying to Paris tomorrow.

In this case, you mean that it’s not him who is travelling but someone else. As in: “He isn't flying to Paris tomorrow. His brother is.”

2. He isn't flying to Paris tomorrow.

Here, the emphasis is on the word “isn’t” to say that, it’s not true that he is flying. As in: “Do you know that John is flying to Paris tomorrow?” “He isn’t flying to Paris tomorrow. He was intending to but he changed his mind later.”

Reading Aloud Skills

Definition Examples

Rhythm The pattern of strong and weak stress and short and long pronunciation of different words in a sentence gives English its rhythm.

KEVin deCIDed to SEND a LETter to his RELatives in the VILlage.

The capitalised and bolded letters are stressed parts. If we read the sentence, we can feel the rhythm of it.

ReadabilityDefinition: the quality of written language that makes it easy to read and

understand

Example Of Reading Text for Year 1

One morning Toad sat in bed.“I have many things to do,” he said.“I will write them all down on a list so that I can remember them.”Toad wrote on a piece of paper: A list of things to do today.Then he wrote:Wake up.“I have done that,” said Toad, and he crossed it out.

(From Frog and Toad Together)

ContextDefinition :Context clues are hints found within a sentence, paragraph, or passagethat a reader can use to understand the meanings of new or unfamiliarwords.

Example:"Vertebrates, such as horses, cats, and other animals with backbones, are an important part of the ecosystem."

If the student is unfamiliar with the term "vertebrate", he or she can find the definition ("animals with backbones") and some examples (horses and cats), all of which are context clues, embedded in the sentence.