Learners who knew all their letters at the end of grade 1 were on track with their reading by the time they reached grade 4. Learners with very limited letter-sound knowledge at the end of grade 1 were three years behind, only reaching grade 4 reading fluency levels in grade 7.

When decoding is a slow, laboured process this places demands on cognitive processes like working memory. By increasing speed and accuracy in reading, cognitive resources are freed and the child can begin to comprehend what they are rea

The Mzanzi kids multilingual language learning App was created for children between the ages of 2-6 years in South Africa. It was designed to stimulate visual, speech and language literacy skills at an early age by understanding basic everyday concepts and highlighting the correct pronunciation of speech in six (6) different languages; English, Afrikaans, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Sepedi and Setswana. The integration of images and phonetics provides a good foundation for children to learn and speak in their mother tongue or home language with confidence and fluency, but most importantly comprehend and appreciate the diversity of languages used by South Africans. This multilingual App provides a good introduction before entering a schooling environment, and offers a non-threatening, playful and fun way of learning languages using innovative technology.

HOW TO IMPROVE TO MOTHER TONGUE LEARNING
Begin literacy teaching in mother tongueA curriculum, rooted in the child’s known language, cultureand environment, with appropriate and locally-developedreading and curriculum materials, is crucial for earlylearning success. Using the home language in the early stagesof schooling in multilingual contexts supports child-centricpolicies. It starts with what is familiar and builds in newknowledge. It creates a smooth transition between home andschool; it stimulates interest and ensures greaterparticipation and engagement. This prepares children for theacquisition of literacy and encourages fluency andconfidence in both the mother tongue and, later, in otherlanguages, where this is necessary.
Ensure availability of mother-tongue materialsChildren need to be engaged in and excited about readingand learning and this can only be done if the materials areones which they will understand and enjoy. In mostdeveloping countries, the only reading material children seeare school textbooks, which are often in very short supply.Other materials to support learning are hardly everavailable. Without access to good materials, children struggleto become literate and learn. In most low- and middle-income countries, the majority of primary schools have nolibrary, and books are luxuries which families cannot afford.For children from minority language communities, thesituation is even more dismal. Textbooks are rarely availablein local languages.
Provide early childhood education in mother tongueLiteracy development starts early in life, and the homeenvironment is an important factor in children’s learningachievement. It helps build the knowledge and skills childrenneed for learning to read. Where parents and the communityare supporting literacy development, results show a markedimprovement. The earlier children are exposed to stories thebetter their reading is: reading for only 15 minutes a day canexpose children to one million written words in a year,thereby helping them to develop a rich vocabulary. Childrenwith access to materials at home are more likely to developfluency in reading

An exception is a recent study showing that children’s listening comprehension was uniquely related to text reading fluency after accounting for list reading fluency for first graders. However, this unique relation appears to depend on children’s developmental level of word reading proficiency such that listening comprehension was uniquely related to text reading fluency only for skilled word readers but not for average word readers in first grade (Kim et al., 2011). Thus, a certain level of word reading proficiency might be needed for listening comprehension to play a role in text reading fluency. These results lend support to the verbal efficiency theory (Perfetti, 1985, Perfetti, 1992), which posits that children’s word reading proficiency influences the consolidation of fluency component skills. For readers with slow and nonautomatic word reading, word reading will constrain meaning construction processes in text reading fluency and reading comprehension. For children with skilled word reading, cognitive resources are available for meaning construction (i.e., comprehension), thereby allowing listening comprehension to be related to text reading fluency (Kim et al., 2011).

Numerous studies have shown strong correlations between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension

text reading fluency (oral reading fluency and silent reading fluency)

reading fluency

The student should become as little conscious of his notebookas possible , that his mind may act reflexively ; that is, from habit, automatically.

People who are fluent in sign language, as Cooke is, have beenfound to have an enhanced ability to process visual and spatial information. Suchsuperior performance is exhibited by hearing people who know sign language, aswell as by the hearing impaired—suggesting that it is the repeated use of astructured system of meaning-bearing gestures that helps improve spatialthinking.

phenomenon known as cognitive fluency—the idea that we translate cognitive ease into actual ease.

Instead of viewing a 'digital' version of literacy as a pinnacle to be achieved or surmounted, the focus would be upon Flow. When dealing with digital 'texts' (widely defined) this would result in Digital Flow depending upon literacy. Literacy becomes a staging-post on the journey instead of the destination itself

He believed that the reason why non-Arabs were accepted as part of Arab society was due to their mastery of the Arabic language.

Broadly speaking, digital fluency is a combination of these three concepts:digital, or technical, proficiency: able to understand, make judgements about, select and use appropriate technologies and technological systems for different purposes; this might include knowing how to use technologies to protect one’s data, digital identity, and device security.   digital literacy: in digital spaces, being able to read, create, critique and make judgements about the accuracy and worth of information being accessed; being fluent in critical thinking and problem-solving online; Use digital tools to collaborate and construct information across all relevant and significant contexts social competence, or dispositional knowledge: the ability to be able to relate to others and communicate with them effectively; able to manage one’s identity, information, relationships in ways that are appropriate, responsible, safe and sustainable.

FITness goes beyond traditional notions of computer literacy to require that persons understand information technology broadly enough to apply it productively at work and in their everyday lives, to recognize when information technology can assist or impede the achievement of a goal, and to continually adapt to changes in information technology. FITness, therefore, requires a deeper, more essential understanding and mastery of information technology for information processing, communication, and problem solving than does the traditional definition of computer literacy. Acquiring TK in this manner enables a person to accomplish a variety of different tasks using information technology and to develop different ways of accomplishing a given task. This conceptualization of TK does not posit an “end state,” but rather sees it developmentally, as evolving over a lifetime of generative, open-ended interaction with technology.

A good educational system should have three purposes: it should provide all who want to learn with access to available resources at any time in their lives; empower all who want to share what they know to find those who want to learn it from them; and, finally, furnish all who want to present an issue to the public with the opportunity to make their challenge known.

“fluency”

’d love to hear thoughts on this approach to placing a lens on the Web Literacy Map. Please ask questions, push back, give feedback to this thinking-in-progress.