The ability to read is critical to academic,
social and economic success. Beginning in the upper elementary grades
and certainly middle and high school, students are expected to read
and to comprehend increasingly difficult text in a variety of content
areas. Academic instruction shifts from an emphasis on learning
how to read and early reading skills (phonological awareness,
word identification and oral reading fluency) to reading to
learn content area text. Thus, students need to possess effective
reading strategies and skills, including basic early reading skills,
as a basis for accessing the general education curriculum and engaging
in content area classroom instruction.
Reading problems are the most significant reason that children
are retained, assigned to special education or given long-term remedial
services. It is estimated that 80% of school-age students with learning
disabilities receive services for a reading disability. Results
from the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed
that 30% of 8th. graders and 25% of 12th. graders were reading below
grade level.
There is a growing consensus that to the extent possible students
with reading disabilities are best educated in the general education
classroom. Nevertheless, a group of students with reading disabilities
remains who require intensive, individualized or small-group instruction
in reading in addition to the general education curriculum.
What do we need
to consider when developing a reading program for secondary students
who do not read well?
Students' needs: Identify the primary reading
problem of each student. For example, one student may have severe
decoding problems; another student may read the words accurately
but slowly or without comprehension. Other students may have difficulty
with decoding, fluency and reading comprehension.
Time: Struggling readers require more instructional
time than most educators realize. Some students require one regularly
scheduled class period a day for intensive, individualized reading
instruction. Others may require two class periods a day, depending
upon the extent of the reading difficulties and the amount of work
required to help students transfer their newly acquired reading
skills to the content area.
Teachers: Students deserve well-prepared teachers
who want to teach adolescents with reading difficulties. The teacher
must have specialized preparation for struggling secondary readers
that includes knowledge of all reading components and effective
instructional approaches. The teacher should willingly participate
in additional pertinent professional development.
Teacher-student ratio for instructional purposes:
Instructional grouping works best when there are between one and
four students per teacher at one time.
Reading components: Students may require intervention
in one or all of the reading components:
-
Decoding: Skilled readers rely on print rather
than pictures or context clues. Many struggling readers over-rely
on pictures and context clues. Their inability to automatically
decode interferes with reading fluency and comprehension. Decoding
strategies that need to be taught include:
- Fluency: Reading fluently means reading with
accuracy, adequate speed, appropriate phrasing and correct intonation.
Fluency building activities may include:
Timed reading
Daily practice
Word recognition of irregular words at an automatic level
Teacher modeling
Partner readings
- Comprehension: Effective comprehension not
only builds vocabulary and focuses on text content, but also teaches
students methods of developing and using reading strategies effectively.
Comprehension instruction includes:
Cognitive strategies that promote deep processing and understanding
Understanding where and how to use cognitive strategies
Ways to link background knowledge to new knowledge such as
setting a purpose, predictions, think sheets or graphic organizers
- Vocabulary: Vocabulary development is enhanced
through large amounts of reading. Therefore, it is imperative
that students have the opportunity to read independently and to
be read to. Note that having students read independently and reading
aloud to students must not take time away teacher directed instruction.
Activities that promote acquisition of vocabulary include:
Reading a variety of genres, both narrative and informational
Discussion of new words
Word banks
Word analysis of morphological, phonological and semantic
structures; multiple opportunities to use words
Development of word consciousness (e.g. word games)
- Spelling: Spelling is inextricably connected
to reading but is not acquired through reading exposure only.
Spelling is not mechanical, but involves the integration of phonological,
morphological, semantic and orthographic knowledge. Effective
spelling instruction includes:
Phonemic awareness
Daily dictation that includes sound dictation, real words and
sentences
Word analysis
Spelling rules and generalizations
Irregular words taught to automaticity
Syllabication principles and the six syllable types
Short manageable word lists
- Writing: Reading and writing share a reciprocal
relationship. Written expression provides students with the opportunity
to develop and shape ideas. Effective writing instruction includes:
Text structure or organizational strategies based on a writer's
purpose, the audience and content
Stages of writing including planning, organizing, writing
drafts, revising drafts, editing drafts and writing a final
draft
Standards of English including grammar, word usage, punctuation
and spelling
Critical
features of effective reading instruction The following
features of reading instruction are recursive and ongoing:
-
Systematic coverage of reading components
-
Sequenced from easy to difficult
-
Background information provided before new knowledge is introduced
-
Diagnostic
-
Explicit
-
Scaffolded including teacher modelling and think alouds
-
Frequent opportunities for students to respond
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Guided practice with specific feedback
-
Frequent and planned review that leads to more difficult applications
Progress
monitoring
Progress monitoring must be ongoing and specific, including:
-
Measurable reading goals and objectives (e.g. will read
passages from the grade 7 reading curriculum at 120 words per
minute versus will improve reading )
-
Individually set reading goals that include comparison to normally
achieving peers
-
Parental or family unit input
-
Use of student progress data to make decisions about the effectiveness
of reading instruction and to make instructional decisions
-
Language assessment and progress if student needs to acquire
English while improving reading
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