It is important that your reader is aware that reading should make sense and
sound like language and if it does not, there are strategies other than
sounding out or asking for help that will move her along in text and help it
make sense.
Strategies That Can Help
Some of the strategies that can help your readers and writers become
proficient and develop strategies other than sounding out or asking for help
are listed below. These will encourage your child to make predictions and
take risks based on meaning, syntax, and sound/symbol relationship.
About sounding out . . .
Sounding out is a perfectly good strategy, and one we all use, but when
sounding out is the major strategy a reader uses, it begins to take so much
time that the reader has forgotten the meaning of what came before the
unknown word. Comprehension as well as fluency is affected.
STRATEGY ONE - READ TO THEM
The most important thing you can do for your reader is to read to him. Read
things that he is interested in and things for just pure enjoyment. Stop and
talk with him about what you have just read - you thought it was funny, he
liked the way the author said something, you liked that idea. Talk about any
part of the story or writing that you want.
Point out different aspects of the text like: see how the pictures help tell
the story, did you hear all those rhyming words, what do you think will
happen next, look at all the lines that repeat, see how long that word is,
did you notice all the words that started with Z, we already know a lot about
this story because of something else we've read or heard about, etc.
Remember, as a significant adult in your reader's life, your uses of reading
and writing for real purposes, including enjoyment and information, are the
most powerful demonstrations you can give. Just as your child learned about
speaking from your demonstrations, she will learn about reading through your
modeling of it.
STRATEGY TWO - UNINTERRUPTED READING
Remember that the most important aspect of reading is constructing meaning.
If you have a reader who reads making some miscues (unexpected responses to
text) that are mostly meaning-making, do not interrupt except when the
miscues do not make sense or do not sound like language.
If a reader reads the sentence " The horse ran down the road" as "The pony
ran down the road," do not "correct" her. That sentence made sense in the
context of the story and sounded like language. But if she reads "The house
ran down the road," ask her if that made sense.
Then ask her to reread the text to make it sensible. If the reader says it
did make sense, ask her to reread it anyway because it didn't make sense to
you, the listener. Focusing readers on reading to make sense is what is most
important.
STRATEGY THREE - SKIP AND GO ON
Too often we have readers who will not take any kind of risk in an attempt to
read something unknown. They use no other strategy than sound-it-out or ask
for help. So, when a reader comes to something he doesn't know and cannot
identify, after a very brief sounding out attempt (no more than a couple of
seconds), ask him to skip the unknown word (phrase, concept, etc.) and read
on to try to gain the meaning through the context of the rest of that
sentence or maybe several of the following sentences to help determine the
unknown word.
Or, suggest that he rereads the previous context to help find the meaning of
the unknown word. Sometimes just hearing the rest of the sentence or the
beginning of the sentence again provides enough information to give a clue to
the unknown word.
This is an automatic strategy used by efficient and proficient readers. Since
reading is a meaning construction process, knowing how to say the word is
much less important than knowing what the sentence says in this particular
context.
STRATEGY FOUR - PREDICT TO MAKE SENSE
When the reader comes to something she doesn't know and she is unable to
identify the unknown word through a very brief sounding out attempt, ask her
to skip the word and go on. If she is uncomfortable skipping words entirely,
try covering the unknown word up with your (or the reader's) finger. Then ask
the reader to predict a substitute word that would make sense.
You can narrow the possible predictions by focusing the reader on the
beginning sound of the unknown word. For example, the sentence might say "The
giant fell into the ocean and drowned!" and the reader does not know the
word "ocean". There may be enough context in the first part of the sentence
for her to predict a meaningful substitution (if not, you would encourage the
reader to read the rest of the sentence to gain more meaning from context to
help predict the unknown word. (See Strategy 1).
Ask her what would make sense there or what would make sense that starts with
the letter O. The reader may use picture cues, previous context, sound-symbol
relationships (phonics), her background knowledge, syntax (his intuitive
sense of how language should sound) and previous experiences - all of the
linguistic knowledge he possesses - to predict something that will make sense
at the sentence level and at the whole text level.
STRATEGY FIVE - MODIFIED CLOZE PROCEDURE
The modified cloze procedure is also a way that readers can practice these
strategies. To use this procedure block out words that could easily be
predicted based on meaning and replace them with a blank. With the unknown
words eliminated, the non risk-taking reader should be more willing to try to
predict instead of sounding out.
This will help your reader gain confidence when he sees that the word does
not need to be in place for there to be a meaningful substitution. You can
also block out all but the beginning sound of a word which will narrow the
possible predictions.
STRATEGY SIX - LINE MARKER
Some readers have trouble focusing on lines of text or get distracted when
there are several lines. Have your reader use a word or line marker such as a
pencil, index card or his finger to act as a guide to help her stay on track
with the text as she reads.
The marker will help your reader focus on phrases or chunks of language which
will help with fluency. It will also help her focus on the beginning sound,
which will help with predictions more than middle or end sounds do.
STRATEGY SEVEN - RETELLING
After your reader has completed a piece of text (a story, chapter, article,
etc.) or at any good "stopping" point along the way have him pretend that you
were not there listening and have him retell you what he read. Or, actually
have him tell someone who was not there listening.
If he has problems retelling all of the text, stop him along the way and have
him tell you about what he has read so far. The reader can also make
predictions about what will happen next. Again, the most important aspect of
reading is understanding what is read.
This retelling strategy will give you a very good indication whether the
reader has comprehended, even if he has had many miscues. NOTE: Be aware that
children, especially non proficient readers, are often asked surface level,
recall questions that may require only one word or very brief answers. The
more readers are asked to retell, the better they will become - if indeed
they are reading for meaning.
STRATEGY EIGHT - RESPONSIVE WRITING
Ask your reader to write about the parts of the story that she likes best and
share that writing with you. This will be a first draft effort, so again the
focus is on meaning. Editing is important but will come later, after there is
good content to edit.
You can vary open ended questions in any way including what he or she would
do to change the story, what the reader liked best or least about the story,
what she would do if she was the main character, what she would ask the
author, etc. Try to keep the questions open-ended and more like a grand
conversation than a school-like inquisition.
STRATEGY NINE - REREADING
There are many things which will help your reader develop fluency. Encourage
him to reread several pieces of text that he feels comfortable with. Each
time he rereads the piece, the reading will become more comfortable and make
your reader more sure of himself. These "warm-up" pieces of text will make
your reader feel good and confident about his reading.
STRATEGY TEN - READING IS FUN
Providing lots of fun poems, rhymes, short jokes, riddles, and predictable
books etc. will also help your reader develop fluency and feel good about
reading. This will let her hear that she can make reading sound like language
and that it can be fun and easy.
STRATEGY ELEVEN - LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE
Language experience (an adult writes exactly what the child orally composes -
a story, poem, etc.) and writing his own stories can benefit your reader's
reading and writing.
This will allow your reader to read something that he is familiar with, has
background knowledge of, and also interests him. These are factors to take
into consideration when choosing materials to help a reader become more
fluent and interested in reading.
STRATEGY TWELVE - ECHO/PARTNER READING
Echo reading- the child's voice is close behind the proficient reader's voice
as they read a favorite book or try out a new piece, or partner reading - the
child and the proficient reader read a piece in a duet- are both strategies
that can help your reader become more fluent in reading, support her efforts
and help children move toward becoming independent readers.
These strategies are to reading what running along side a child trying to
ride a two wheeled bike is to bike riding - the adult supports until the
child can do the act independently.
STRATEGY THIRTEEN - READING TO OTHERS
Having your reader read to younger children, into a tape recorder to share
with younger readers, or even to a stuffed animal can help him achieve the
fluency needed to develop good comprehension.
This encourages reading "for a purpose," and can help readers understand that
they must read so that it can be understood by their listening audience.
STRATEGY FOURTEEN - SUSTAINED SILENT READING (SSR)
Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) can help your reader become exposed to a wide
variety of materials while experiencing reading. As part of SSR it is
important that your reader is given a wide range of choices including story
books, chapter books, reference materials, popular periodicals - any fiction
or nonfiction that holds his interest. This will build background knowledge
that will help him understand what has been read.
Being exposed to a variety of materials and reading them silently for his own
pleasure or information will contribute to the proficiency and efficiency of
your reader. Again, one of the best things you can do for your reader as a
significant adult in his life is read yourself while the child is reading.
Nothing works better than lots of good demonstrations.
STRATEGY FIFTEEN - WRITTEN CONVERSATION
To help your reader become more fluent in writing you can take part in a
Written Conversation. This involves a conversation in which two people "talk"
to each other about topics of interest to both of you - on paper.
Again, this is first draft writing and the focus should be on the content,
not the spelling or form. You can demonstrate standard spelling and form in
your end of the conversation. If you are not able to read what the child
writes, ask the child to read it to you.
STRATEGY SIXTEEN - PREVIEWING A TEXT
Previewing a text can be an excellent strategy for familiarizing your reader
with text. Previewing involves looking at pictures, graphs, charts, chapter
questions, etc. to gain vital information from text. It also allows the
reader to see if the content is something the reader already knows something
about. If it is, previewing can help make those connections.
STRATEGY SEVENTEEN - JOURNAL WRITING
Journal writing can benefit all readers and writers because it connects both
reading and writing. After reading a story both you and your writer can
express your thoughts about what you have read in a journal.
Topics that you can write about vary and can include such things as what you
liked/disliked about the story, your favorite character, what made the
reading hard/easy for you, etc.(See Strategies 1, 7 & 8 for other topic
suggestions.)
Journal writing can help both you and your reader connect text with your
personal background experience and your lives in general.
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The strategies listed above focus on reading and writing. It is important to
remember that the only way to improve at either is to constantly engage in
those literacy acts.
Provide your reader with fun things to read and write about that are
interesting to him. Have him read things silently or aloud and have him talk
to you about what he has read in the form of a grand conversation, not a
school-like inquisition.
The most important thing to remember is to have your reader keep on reading
because the more he reads the better his reading will be.
As always, our intentions are to help build your reader's strengths and to
help him become a more proficient, independent, and joyous reader and writer.
If we can be of any further help to you, please let us know.
