What Are the 5 Stages of Reading Development?

While instructors have extensive knowledge about reading development, the theories in education are ever-evolving. Educators are always seeking ways to stay up to date with the latest research. This principle is especially true for educators who specialize in early childhood education. 

Having an expansive knowledge of reading development is crucial in a teaching environment. Reading development can be dissected into five stages. These five stages include: 

• Emergent pre-reading (0 to 5 years old): This is the first stage of reading development. In this stage, students are beginning to identify and recognize letters and some words they may see on a page such as “stop” and “go.” This is known as letter identification and print awareness.
• Early reading (5 to 7 years old): This is the second stage of reading development where many children begin interacting with words and begin to learn to read through decoding and phonics. 
• Transitional reading (7 to 9 years old): This is the third stage and is described as the stage where students move from learning to read to reading to learn. Students expand their reading fluency, increase their reading independence, and begin interacting with varying types of literature. 
• Intermediate reading (9 to 12 years old): This is the fourth stage where students begin to incorporate critical thinking in their reading by reading more complex texts. 
• Advanced reading (12 years and older): This is the fifth stage of reading development and expands from 12 years old to adulthood. At this stage, students begin to evaluate, analyze, and synthesize the texts they are reading. 

Understanding Reading Development

Since the beginning of application is knowledge, having an understanding of the stages of reading development gives instructors the opportunity to utilize their personal knowledge in their students’ lessons by: 

• Creating space for focused lesson planning.
• Teaching from understanding, not just knowledge.  
• Creating interactive activities that meet students’ learning needs and goals through fun and creative approaches. 

The Initial Stage: Early Learning (ages 0–5)

This stage is significant because children begin to develop their early literacy skills. They learn sounds and begin to understand letters and words. Children in this stage of literacy are beginning to learn and respond to their names, recognize some letters and their sounds, sing the ABCs, and pretend to be able to read children's books. 

Teachers can support their students in this stage of their development through various teaching methods. To name a few: Incorporating music, colorful pictures, and performing “repeat back” lessons and exercises to reinforce the connection between words, letters, and sounds. Lessons for students in the early learning stage are designed to be short and repetitive. 

Moving Forward: Growth Into Early Reading (ages 5–7)

This stage can be referred to as the “alphabetic fluency” stage. Children in this stage are learning to build upon skills from the early learning stage where they were becoming familiar with letters, words, sounds, children’s books, and singing the ABCs. Students in this stage of reading development require heavy assistance and guidance as they learn to read. In this stage, children begin to exhibit these new skills, behaviors, and patterns: 

• They are no longer “pretending” to read books. 
• They point at words with their fingers as they read. 
• They recognize words. 
• They let instructors know when they do not know a word. 
• They are reading out loud to others, word by word.

The Transitional Phase: From Early to Intermediate Reading (ages 7–9)

The transitional phase can be summarized as the stage in the reading process where students begin to understand the words they are reading and are progressing from the earlier reading stages. In this stage, students begin to develop stronger reading comprehension and literacy skills. This is also the stage when students begin to vary the most in their skill levels. Each student is different and learns at their own pace. 

Students in this stage are beginning to feel confident in their reading and do not need to sound out words as frequently. Their reading skills are improving and expanding and they typically feel more comfortable with reading in general. They still require assistance with reading and learning new words, however, their ability to read and spell words is improving.

Advancing to Intermediate Reading (ages 9–12)

At this stage, children are less reliant on learning materials such as reading charts and visual aids and are becoming increasingly independent as they read. They require less assistance from instructors and are learning to extract information from the text. At this stage, they are learning more from the texts they are reading. 

Students in this stage have developed increased reading stamina. Since their attention spans are growing, they are able to read more text for longer periods of time, uninterrupted. Children are also developing their abilities to analyze various texts and elements throughout a text (i.e. plot, theme, character development, and figurative language). This also comes as students' reading comprehension skills expand. 

Instructors can support children in this stage by encouraging open discussion. Instructors can facilitate this in the classroom by having students read independently and then follow up with group or entire classroom discussions. Group discussion gives each student an opportunity to openly convey their thoughts while also hearing other students' interpretations. There are a number of ways instructors can facilitate this type of discussion: 

• Debates: Instructors can have their students read a text, then split them into different groups on either side of the classroom based on their opinions to perform group debates. This strategy also allows students to openly and safely express their thoughts in a controlled environment. 
• Classroom discussion: Students read a text and the instructor asks questions where students who want to answer raise their hands and give their thoughts.
• Small-group discussion: Students read a text together in small groups and then review a series of questions together to assist with text analysis. The instructor can then have each group choose one person as a representative to the class to discuss their group's answers. 

The Final Stage: Advanced Reading (ages 12+)

The final stage of reading development is known as advanced reading. This stage of reading development encompasses school-aged children and adults and is marked by these characteristics: Deep comprehension, synthesis and analysis, critical thinking, vocabulary advancement, and advanced writing skills. 

At this stage of reading development, children and adults are able to consume and understand various reading materials, genres, and texts. They are able to comprehend and interpret what they are reading independently and require little to no assistance with reading from their instructors. 

Instructors continue to play an important role in the final stage by encouraging their students’ reading development—they can develop their students’ reading abilities by providing access to various texts and genres to read independently and then giving them assignments that facilitate critical thinking and writing development. They can also encourage students to analyze the texts they are reading and explain their analysis. 

Incorporating Reading Development Stages in the Classroom

There is no doubt instructors carry a heavy burden ensuring each of their students is a successful reader in and out of the classroom. With this in mind, instructors can use their knowledge of reading development to create lesson plans that fit the needs of their students at each stage. 

General strategies instructors can use at each stage of reading development include: 

• Emergent pre-reading: Instructors teaching students at this stage can encourage reading growth through colorful charts, songs that teach various words and sounds, as well as hands-on activities that allow students to practice sounds like phoneme-grapheme mapping. 
• Early reading: At this stage, students begin decoding words. With this in mind, instructors can create lesson plans that focus on sight words, practicing phonics, and encouraging read-aloud exercises to improve fluency. 
• Transitional reading: Children in this stage can grow their literacy skills through discussion and increased reading. Since they are in a transitory stage and becoming more independent as they read, discussion can help serve as a catalyst to encourage reading as well as gauge where the child is in their abilities. 
• Intermediate reading: While parental involvement is critical at all stages of reading development, it is especially important in this stage. Instructors can encourage their students' growth by also encouraging parents to provide a wide variety of reading materials at home for their children. 
• Advanced reading: In this stage, introducing more complex reading materials as well as encouraging discussions in and out of the classroom aids in promoting the student’s reading development. Instructors can do this through short group assignments and long-term group projects to encourage discussion beyond the classroom. 

Instructors must evaluate their students’ progress and quickly intervene if any of them are showing signs of reading failure. In other words, if an intervention is required, the need is great for the individual. 

If a student is not succeeding with the provided materials and solutions, the instructor may consider taking a different approach with that student. The instructor can gauge the student’s progress through assessments at the beginning of the intervention, in the middle, and at the end of the intervention to determine improvement. 

As the instructor creates an individualized learning plan for their student, there are a number of different variables to consider including various teaching and supplementary materials, varying degrees of explicitness, time allocated to additional instruction, as well as the size of a reading group. It is also important to emphasize that personalized reading instruction does not necessarily require one-to-one student/teacher instruction. There is evidence that supports that even small groups of three students to one teacher in this setting can be beneficial, and students demonstrated notable reading improvement. While one-on-one instruction is highly beneficial, the success of three student group sizes has demonstrated great outcome measures (Vaughn, et al), suggesting students can also learn from each other in this setting. To summarize, timely intervention and personalized learning intervention are keys to student success and improvement for those in need. 

The Role of Evidenced-Based Reading Resources in Reading Development Stages

In the same way one might look for quality in various investments, the same mentality should be applied when it comes to reading instruction. Investing in quality learning solutions ensures students are receiving evidence-based instruction through each stage of reading development. These solutions are designed to deliberately ensure reading success. 

Voyager Sopris Learning^® provides educators with evidence-based reading intervention solutions to ensure students are successful in the classroom and in life. Our solutions provide information and ideas for instruction such as: How to teach reading comprehension, various activities instructors can use to promote fluency, and interventions for struggling students. 

Reference:

Vaughn, S., Linan-Thompson, S., Kouzekanani, K., Pedrotty Bryant, D., Dickson, S., & Blozis, S. A. (2003). Reading instruction grouping for students with reading difficulties. Exceptional Children, 69(3), 349-364. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ677107