What makes a skilled reader? Dr. Hollis Scarborough, a psychologist and literacy expert, created the idea of the “Reading Rope” to visually represent each component of skilled reading as a strand of thread that is woven together with other threads to create a “rope” that is skilled reading. The components are divided into two main subgroups: language comprehension and word recognition. Let’s dive deeper!
Language Comprehension
Language Comprehension is focused on understanding the content of what you are reading, which requires the following:
Background knowledge
Background knowledge refers to general world knowledge needed to understand basic concepts and ideas. For example, a child needs to have background knowledge of what a cat is (an animal with fur, four legs, whiskers, that says meow, etc.) in order to apply meaning to the actual word CAT.
Language structures
Language structures refer to grammar and syntax required for accurate meaning of words and phrases. For example, if a child has difficulties with how to understand sentence fragments, reading sentences such as “Let’s eat, Grandma.” and “Let’s eat Grandma.” could be problematic.
Literacy knowledge
A child must have a basic understanding of literacy in order to have robust reading skills. For example, knowing which portion of the book is the front or back cover, understanding that letters are combined to make words, and spaces indicate separations between words, are all crucial to master before being able to read.
Verbal reasoning
Verbal reasoning refers to the way a student thinks about words and their actual meanings to make sense of what is being read. It can include skills such as predicting and inferencing, which are crucial to understanding the content of what is being read. For example, if a text mentions a child crying, the student uses verbal reasoning skills to deduce that the child is sad.
Word recognition
Word recognition focuses on the process and “mechanics” of reading, including:
Decoding
Decoding is the process of utilizing sound-letter correspondence to “sound out” a word. Without knowing the letter sounds, a student cannot accurately read a word.
Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness refers to the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in language. This is a crucial skill that is often very difficult for students with dyslexia. For example, understanding that the word “shop” has three distinct sounds: sh – o – p, is using phonological awareness skills.
Sight recognition
Sight recognition is using automatic recognition of familiar words. Sight words are called as such because they cannot be decoded (sounded out), rather, the student must memorize the visual structure of the word. As readers continue to grow in their reading skills, words become more familiar and in turn become read more easily and efficiently, as the brain begins to see the familiar word as its own entire unit. For example, the word “one” is not pronounced as “own.” Fluent readers have memorized the word’s pronunciation and immediately interpret the letters o-n-e as “one”.
All of the components of Scarborough’s Reading Rope are critical to reading ability. Difficulties with any one strand can prevent the entire rope from being woven together. Intervention must focus on any and all strands that are impaired, from vocabulary knowledge to sight word recognition. Only then, when all of the strands are strong individually, can they weave together to create the wonderful rope that is skilled reading.