Contents introduction chapter I. Approaches to teaching reading skills

Context clues. Figuring out what the word is by looking at what makes sense in the sentence.
PSR/morphemic analysis. Figuring out what the word is by looking at the prefix, suffix, or root word.
Word analysis/word families. Figuring out what the word is by looking at word families or parts of the word you recognize.
Ask a friend. Turn to a friend and say, “What’s this word? ”
Skip the word. If you are still creating meaning, why stop the process to figure out a word?
Phonics. Using minimal letter cues in combination with context clues to figure out what the word is an easy and natural direct method that facilitates oral work. The disadvantage of this method is that it encourages the learner the habit of reading one word at a time. All words cannot be taught by using pictures. There are abstract words, full meaning of which cannot be understood through single, separate words. Moreover, it ignores spelling .
The Phrase Method
The phrase method lies midway between the word method and the sentence method. It helps in extending the eye span. Phrases can be presented with more interesting material aids. The teacher prepares a list of phrases and writes one phrase on the blackboard. He asks the students to look at the phrase attentively. The teacher reads the phrase and pupils repeat it several times. New phrases are compared with the phrases already taught. It has all the limitations of the word method. It places emphasis on meaning rather than reading .
The Sentence Method
The most difficult thing in learning to read is to get information from a sentence or a paragraph on the basis of the knowledge of structural signals and not only the meaning of words. Pupils often ignore grammar and try to understand what they read relying on their knowledge of autonomous words. And, of course, they often fail, e. g., the sentence "He was asked to help the old woman" in which the word he becomes the subject and is not the object of the action. This method the whole sentence is the minimum meaningful unit. It is also a “look and say method”. This method is used in situational teaching. Students learn words and letters of the alphabet afterwards. Flash cards are used. The flash card contains the whole sentence. The method is useful for continuous reading. Words and sentences should be familiar to the children. The sentence method can be used effectively only when the children are already able to speak the language. The procedure of this method is sentence - >phrase->words->letters [22; 7]. The sentence method deals with the sentences as units of approach in teaching reading. The teacher can develop students' ability to read sentences with correct intonation. Later the sentence is split up into words. It facilitates speaking and is natural as well as psychological. It develops the eye span and helps in self learning. It makes use of visual aids. However, readers find it difficult to read a sentence without the knowledge of words and letters. Thus, it is rather a time consuming .