Chall's Reading Stages

-         Stage 0: Prereading – birth age 6

o        children master many prerequisites for reading at this stage:

o       Identifies a few letters of the alphabet, prints name, read a few words, has knowledge about books

-         Stage 1: Initial reading – age 6-7

o       Children acquire phonological recoding skill – ability to translate letters into sounds and to blend the sounds together to form words - /m/-/a/-/t/ = mat

o       Finish learning letters and sounds, begin reading simple texts

-         Stage 2: Confirmation Fluency  - age 7-8

o       Begin to read fluently, focus is on identifying individual words more quickly, become automatic in reading familiar texts

o       Reading is not focused on gaining new information or learning from reading, but is used to gain control of reading – read fluently and quickly decode words

-         Stage 3: Reading to Learning New Information– age 8-14

o       Reads to learn - children become capable of obtaining new information from print -  use reading as a tool to acquire new knowledge

o       Growing importance of word meaning, prior knowledge, and strategic knowledge

o       Children have a singular viewpoint when reading

o       Example: child goes to the zoo and sees a Siberian Tiger

-         Stage 4: Multiple Viewpoints – age 14-18

o       Reads material from multiple viewpoints

o       Improve their ability to think critically about what they read with a deeper understanding of the information

o       Example: understanding subjects such as history or politics

-         Stage 5: Construction and Reconstruction – age 18+

o       Forms knowledge from reading on a higher level of abstraction

o       Able to construct their own viewpoint of what they have read and critically analyze the viewpoints of others

o       Example: able to read information on the development of object permanence and construct their own views on this subject