Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

i

Written for SERVE by:

David Collins and Ann Collins

Edited by:

Donna Nalley, Publications Director, SERVE

Karen DeMeester, Senior Program Specialist, SERVE

Christy Casbon, Assistant Program Specialist, SERVE

Designed by:

Jeremy McClellan, Graphic Designer, SERVE

List of Reviewers for Advancing Reading Achievement

Mary Apodaca, SERVE Program Director, Tallahassee, FL

Jody Bolla, Miami-Dade County Schools Reading Coordinator, Miami, FL

Diana Bowman, SERVE Project Director, Greensboro, NC

Gloria C. Correro, Professor and Associate Dean Emerita

and Member of the National Reading Panel, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS

Richard Culyer, Professor of Education, Coker College, Hartsville, SC

Paula Egelson, SERVE Project Director, Greensboro, NC

Betty Fry, Higher Education Leadership Coordinator, SREB, Atlanta, GA

Pamela Kahlich, Reading Consultant, Bloomington, IN

Wendy McColskey, SERVE Program Director, Greensboro, NC

Nancy McMunn, SERVE Senior Program Specialist, Greensboro, NC

Rebecca Rhoden Ogletree, SERVE Project Director, Tallahassee, FL

Annemarie Palincsar, Professor, School of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Denver Raney, District Reading Manager, Marion County Schools, FL

Joyce Speas, SERVE Project Director, Greensboro, NC

Brad Walker, Associate Professor at UNC-Wilmington, Wilmington, NC

Jan Williamson, Reading Consultant, Greensboro, NC

Jodi Bolla, Reading Coordinator, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL

The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the

Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, nor

does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement

by the U.S. Government.

This document was produced with funding from the Office of Educational Research and

Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. ED-01-CO-0015.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

ii

Introduction ............................................................................................... 1

What will this book do for me as a reading teacher? ............................................. 2

Why study reading? .................................................................................................. 2

Why become a professional learning community? ................................................ 3

How is Advancing Reading Achievement organized? ........................................... 4

How can teachers study Advancing Reading Achievement as a team? .............. 5

Learning About Reading........................................................................... 7

Establishing a Common Frame of Reference ......................................................... 8

What is Reading? ............................................................................................................ 8

The Process of Reading: Word Recognition ................................................................ 9

The Process of Reading: Comprehension .................................................................. 15

Helping Children Become Readers ........................................................................ 18

Print Awareness: Introducing Young Children to Print ............................................. 18

Phonemic Awareness ................................................................................................... 23

Discovering the Alphabetic Principle: Teaching Phonics Effectively ...................... 27

Phases of Learning New Words .................................................................................. 32

An Overview of Kindergarten Strategies .................................................................... 43

An Overview of Primary-Grade Strategies .................................................................. 48

Connecting Reading and Spelling Instruction ........................................................... 53

Using Systematic Observation .................................................................................... 57

Motivating Young Readers ........................................................................................... 60

Building Comprehension Skills.............................................................................. 62

Comprehension ............................................................................................................. 62

Fluency: Where Word Recognition and Comprehension Meet................................. 68

Cognitive Strategies ..................................................................................................... 71

Teaching Cognitive Strategies through Scaffolding.................................................. 74

Teaching Comprehension through Reciprocal Teaching ......................................... 76

Vocabulary Development ............................................................................................. 82

Sources of Comprehension Difficulty ......................................................................... 85

Learning From, With, and For Each Other ............................................ 89

Building a Professional Learning Community ...................................................... 90

Understanding Professional Learning Communities ................................................ 90

Analyzing Your Current (and Your Ideal) Professional Culture ................................ 97

Getting Things Organized ............................................................................................ 99

Managing Change: Striking a Balance Among Conflicting Advice ........................ 102

Turning Your Vision into Practice......................................................................... 106

Creating a Vision for Your Reading Program ........................................................... 106

Developing a Set of Guiding Principles .................................................................... 107

Glossary ................................................................................................. 109

Appendix ................................................................................................ 115

Bibliography .......................................................................................... 123

Table of Contents
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

About SERVE

SERVE, directed by Dr. John R. Sanders, is an education organization with the mission to promote and support the

continuous improvement of educational opportunities for all learners in the Southeast. The organization’s commitment to

continuous improvement is manifest in an applied research-to-practice model that drives all of its work. Building on theory

and craft knowledge, SERVE staff members develop tools and processes designed to assist practitioners and policymakers

with their work, ultimately, to raise the level of student achievement in the region. Evaluation of the impact of these

activities combined with input from affected stakeholders expands SERVE’s knowledge base and informs future research.

This vigorous and practical approach to research and development is supported by an experienced staff strategically

located throughout the region. This staff is highly skilled in providing needs-assessment services, conducting applied

research in schools, and developing processes, products, and programs that inform educators and increase student

achievement. In the last three years, in addition to its basic research and development work with over 170 southeastern

schools, SERVE staff provided technical assistance and training to more than 18,000 teachers and administrators across

the region.

SERVE is governed by a board of directors that includes the governors, chief state school officers, educators, legislators,

and private sector leaders from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

At the core of SERVE’s business is the operation of the Regional Educational Laboratory. Funded by the U.S. Department

of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement, the Regional Educational Laboratory for the Southeast is

one of ten programs providing research-based information and services to all 50 states and territories. These Laboratories

form a nationwide education knowledge network, building a bank of information and resources shared nationally and

disseminated regionally to improve student achievement locally. SERVE’s National Leadership Area, Expanded Learning

Opportunities, focuses on improving student outcomes through the use of exemplary pre-K and extended-day programs.

In addition to the Lab, SERVE operates the Southeast Eisenhower Regional Consortium for Mathematics and Science

Education and the SouthEast Initiatives Regional Technology in Education Consortium (SEIR◆TEC). SERVE also

administers a subcontract for the Region IV Comprehensive Center and has additional funding from the Department to

provide services in migrant education and to operate the National Center for Homeless Education.

Together, these various elements of SERVE’s portfolio provide resources, services, and products for responding

to regional and national needs. Program areas include

 Assessment, Accountability, and Standards

 Children, Families, and Communities

 Education Leadership

 Education Policy

 Improvement of Science and Mathematics Education

 School Development and Reform

 Technology in Learning

In addition to the program areas, the SERVE Evaluation Unit supports the evaluation activities of the major grants and

contracts and provides contracted evaluation services to state and local education agencies in the region. The Technology

Support Group provides SERVE staff and their constituents with IT support, technical assistance, and software applications. Through its Publications Unit, SERVE publishes a variety of studies, training materials, policy briefs, and program

products. Among the many products developed at SERVE, two receiving national recognition include Achieving Your

Vision of Professional Development, honored by the National Staff Development Council, and Study Guide for Classroom

Assessment: Linking Instruction and Assessment, honored by Division H of AERA. Through its programmatic, technology, evaluation, and publishing activities, SERVE provides contracted staff development and technical assistance in

specialized areas to assist education agencies in achieving their school improvement goals.

SERVE’s main office is at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, with major staff groups located in Tallahassee,

Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia, as well as satellite offices in Bonita Springs, Florida; Durham, North Carolina; and Shelby,

Mississippi. Unique among the ten Regional Educational Laboratories, SERVE employs a full-time policy analyst to assist

the chief state school officer at the state education agencies in each of the states in the SERVE region. These analysts act as

SERVE’s primary liaisons to the state departments of education, providing research-based policy services to state-level

education policymakers and informing SERVE about key state education issues and legislation.

iii
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Introduction

What will this book do for me as a teacher? ..................................2

Why study reading? ..........................................................................2

Why become a professional learning community? .......................3

How is Advancing Reading Achievement organized? ..................4

How can teachers study Advancing Reading

Achievement as a team? ..................................................................5
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

What will this book do for me as a reading teacher?

This book is intended to provide the content and structure for a group study of reading

and instructional practices that advance reading achievement. It includes concise summaries of research that reflect sound practices in reading instruction and the most current

understanding of the process of reading.

Advancing Reading Achievement pulls together a good deal of what has been learned in

recent years about reading and the teaching of reading. The real power of this book

emerges when teachers engage in discussions about this content. The best way to gain the

most from this book is to

 Join together with other teachers and spend time talking about what you read

here and in other sources (a set of questions that can be used to guide your

discussion on any of the topics in this book appears in the appendix).

 Organize your joint study of the research findings it contains so the

responsibility for learning is shared.

 Plan and conduct “experiments” in which you try the ideas you find useful (suggestions for follow-up activities and collective action can be found in the appendix).

 Talk with your fellow teachers about the results your study and experimentation

are producing for students.

The activities for collectively studying reading are designed to build a professional

culture of collaboration among those who participate in the study. This type of professional culture, frequently referred to as a professional learning community, is highly

beneficial in implementing new practices and developing the school’s capacity to become

self-diagnosing and self-renewing.

The following two objectives summarize the dual purposes of this book:

 To make the best available research on effective reading instruction accessible to

teachers and administrators

 To guide and support teachers and administrators as they form a professional learning

community through the study and application of effective reading instruction

Why study reading?

The following eight points from Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, a recently

published review of research and practices related to reading instruction, highlight the need for

teachers and administrators to engage in the in-depth study of reading:

1. Reading is essential to success in school and in an information-driven society.

2. A significant number of young children experience difficulties in learning to

read. The proportion of students in American schools who are identified as

learning disabled is increasing, and the most common characteristic of these

children is difficulty in reading.

3. The debate over reading instruction continues to be heated and divisive. This

debate does not appear, however, to engage teachers in collective inquiry into

instructional practices.

4. Teachers would benefit from a deeper, while still practical, understanding of

how children actually learn to read and develop as readers.

5. Knowledge of how teachers can use what they know about individual children, their

family environments, and the larger community in which the children live to predict

and prevent reading difficulties is available but not typically accessible to teachers.

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Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

6. When teachers are teaching, they are engaged in two time-intensive activities—

teaching students and managing the classroom—so their time outside of teaching

must be used wisely and efficiently. It is difficult, however, to find materials that

present research on complex, multi-dimensional strategies (many of which are

designed to be used in conjunction with other complex, multi-dimensional strategies) in a form that is practical, usable, and quickly and easily understood.

7. Useful assessments of reading instruction are of critical importance to teachers

trying to design effective instructional practices or to modify existing ones.

8. The ability to analyze instructional materials and to “fill in the gaps” with

features that support young readers is a critical skill for teachers.

Two conclusions can be drawn from these points. First, even as reading is becoming of greater

and greater importance in our information-driven society, an alarming number of young children

are having difficulty learning to read. Students who do not develop into skilled readers face

significant challenges as they make their way through school and out into the world, because a

great deal of the ever-increasing volume of information individuals must process is communicated through print. Those who cannot read fluently and with strong comprehension will find

their options limited by their inability to process written information quickly and accurately.

Second, the advances in our understanding of reading and reading instruction have not been

made readily accessible to teachers. Every day, teachers throughout America take on the

extremely complex task of teaching young people to read (the American Federation of

Teachers appropriately titled its recent paper on reading instruction, “Teaching Reading IS

Rocket Science”). Statistics on reading performance suggest, however, that many of these

teachers have not been provided with the tools needed to advance reading achievement. The

content of this book provides both the knowledge teachers need to become more effective

reading teachers and a structure for acquiring and applying that knowledge through

collaborative professional relationships.

Why become a professional learning community?

Four major points comprise the rationale for working toward a professional culture that is

structured as a professional learning community.

1. Change takes place more readily when the professional culture provides a

collaborative structure.

Changing how students read will involve changing instructional practices. Part of bringing

about real change is creating a context or climate in which change is less difficult. According

to Roland Barth (1990), a school that has a strong context for change resembles a “community of learners”: “a place where all participants—teachers, principals, parents, and students—engage in learning and teaching.” Barth reminds us that “school is not a place for

important people who do not need to learn and unimportant people who do. Instead it is a

place where students discover, and adults rediscover, the joys, difficulties, and the satisfactions of learning” (p. 43).

2. Teachers learn through active engagement, in other words, by getting involved

with what they are studying and with their colleagues.

Teachers “learn by doing, reading, and reflecting (just as students do); by collaborating with other teachers; by looking closely at students and their work; and by sharing

what they see” (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995). This description of how

teachers learn is supported by the findings of a study by Smylie and Denny (1989)

that listed the following as the top four ways teachers improve their teaching skills:

 Direct experience as a teacher (learning by doing)

 Consultation with other teachers about teaching and learning (collaborating

with other teachers)

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Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

 Study and research pursued on one’s own (reading and reflecting)

 Observation of other teachers (sharing what they see)

These activities are all essential elements of a professional learning community.

3. Continuous assistance is a requirement for strong teacher learning.

A professional learning community is a powerful vehicle for providing the continuous

assistance teachers need to implement new practices. For the majority of teachers, the first

year of using a new practice is a time of trial and experimentation (Guskey, 1990). Support

during this period of experimentation is essential. Without it, Guskey (1986) reports, many

teachers will not be able to see the potential benefits of a new strategy or program and are

less likely to stay with the new strategy long enough to refine their use of it. They “will

abandon their efforts and return to the old familiar strategies they have used in the past.”

Joyce and Showers (1988) claim that learning a new strategy “will require 20 or 25 trials

and the assistance of someone who can help us analyze the students’ responses and enable

us to stick with the process until we have executive control over our new skill.”

4. Teaching—especially the teaching of reading—is a complex act that requires

high levels of analysis, synthesis, and application. Teachers will be more

successful in performing at these higher levels of thinking when they have

collegial support and engagement.

Judith Warren Little (1996) sums up this justification for building a professional learning

community in this way: “The need for ongoing learning, problem-solving, collaboration,

and experimentation results not from the deficiency of the teacher, but from the inherent

complexity of teaching. And further, it assumes that good teaching and more uniformly

high levels of student achievement cannot be accomplished byteachers working alone.”

How is Advancing Reading Achievement organized?

Advancing Reading Achievement is divided into five sections. The brief initial section

provides sound advice on getting started as a study team as well as a vignette that describes

how a study team might resolve questions about getting started. The first of the content

sections, Establishing a Common Frame of Reference, provides an overview of the process

of reading. It takes a closer look at the two components of reading: word recognition and

comprehension. Discussion of the content of this section will begin to dig deeper into what

you know and what you believe about reading.

Helping Children Become Readers is the title of the major content section of Advancing

Reading Achievement. It begins with the concept of print awareness and proceeds through

key elements of learning to read, such as phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle,

and strategies for learning new sight words. The next section is entitled Building Comprehension Skills. It begins with an in-depth look at comprehension and goes on to cover topics such

as fluency, vocabulary development, and sources of comprehension difficulty.

The final section is a combination of research findings on creating a professional learning

community and a “tool kit” of activities and examples to help you build a professional

culture that enhances and sustains continuous learning. This section is a good resource for

study teams that want to strengthen their effectiveness in studying reading and in other

areas of professional collaboration. These activities are followed by suggestions for

drafting a vision of reading instruction and developing a set of guiding principles that can

help you turn your vision into reality.

A glossary is included to provide definitions of the key terms introduced throughout the

content sections. The appendix that follows the glossary includes materials for studying the

content sections and experimenting with new strategies and practices through action research.

Note: To avoid the awkwardness of using “he or she” to refer to individual readers and teachers, a

decision was made to use “he” to refer to a reader and “she” to an individual teacher, throughout the text.

4
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

How can teachers study Advancing Reading Achievement as a team?

Although teachers are adept at structuring students’ learning experiences, there may be

some initial uncertainty about planning their own learning. Here is a set of ideas that can

help you organize your study team’s work:

1. Give each member of your study team an opportunity to browse through

Advancing Reading Achievement so that he or she becomes familiar with its

structure and content. This will help the group determine the “path of study”

that will be most effective.

2. Get together and answer these questions:

a. What is our purpose in studying Advancing Reading Achievement? What

do we hope to gain from studying about reading and reading instruction?

b. How often should we meet?

c. How much time should we set aside for each session?

d. How will we allocate that time between talking about what we have read

and planning how we can apply those ideas in helping our students become

better readers?

e. How will we assign or share responsibility for planning and leading

each session?

f. What ground rules will we need to help us work together effectively

and efficiently?

g. What type of documentation should we keep so that others can know

what we have learned and how our study has impacted student learning?

3. Choose a path of study that is right for your study team. Study teams may

consider taking one of three “paths” through this book:

a. A topical study in which study team members select topics of interest and

explore them using the sections of the book that address those topics as

the basic content of the study.

b. A “problem-centered” study in which critical questions about teaching

reading are investigated by integrating ideas and strategies from

various sections.

c. An overview study in which study team members work through the entire

book as a yearlong professional development activity.

4. Determine the topic of your first session and select the most appropriate format.

Here are two suggestions:

a. Use the Discussion Questions in the appendix or create your own

questions to guide the group’s discussion of the content of this section.

b. Select one or more of your study team members to develop a mini-lesson

that highlights the most important aspects of the section you will be

studying. Follow their presentation with a discussion of the key ideas.

5. Choose the best way to apply what you learned from each section of Advancing

Reading Achievement and from the discussion with your study team members.

a. Use the Follow-Up and Collective Action Activities in the appendix to

enrich the group’s understanding of the content.

b. Design an Action Research Project to explore how the content can be

used to improve the reading achievement of your students.

c. Use the Plan-Teach-Revise-Reteach Cycle described in the appendix to

experiment with the ideas and strategies.

(The vignette on the following page describes how a study team might handle getting

their study of Advancing Reading Achievement up and running.)

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Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

6

Getting Ourselves Started

Grace: We’re all here, so let’s get started. We agreed that we wanted to work through this

book as a yearlong professional development activity, but we really didn’t finalize what we

wanted to achieve through this study. What is our main purpose?

Velma: I really want to understand what is going on when my students have difficulty

applying what I’ve taught them.

Ruth: I agree, but I also want to know why the teacher’s guide says to do this or that.

It doesn’t always explain things enough for me to know what I’m really looking for from

my students.

Grace: That’s sort of what I’m looking for too. I want to know how to select the right

strategy for meeting each student’s specific needs.

John: So, if we focus on getting a clearer understanding of the process of reading and on

what we can do that makes a difference for students, then we’ll learn what we need to

meet their needs.

Grace: That sounds good. Now, do we want to meet once a week or once a month?

Ruth: Once a month won’t be enough. I think once a week is better.

Velma: I agree. We can meet on Tuesdays, from 2:30 to 3:30 and not interfere with

our faculty meetings or other inservice sessions on Wednesdays. But, is an hour

long enough?

Ruth: If we all come prepared. I think the reading and other things can be done on our own, but

we need to agree to get our homework done so we can make the best use of that hour.

Velma: I saw discussion questions in the appendix. Can we use them to structure

our meetings?

Grace: I think that would be good, but we need to set aside some time to plan how

we’re going to try out some of these ideas.

Ruth: Let’s set aside the first half hour for discussion of what we’ve read and then the last

half hour for planning or talking about how things are going with our students.

Velma: Do we want to have someone be “in charge”?

Grace: I’d like to take turns. I’ll go first and we can meet in my room.

John: That’s great, Grace. I want you to take the session on phonemic awareness when we

get to that because I really like how you teach that through oral games.

Grace: Thanks, John.

Velma: We have to keep a log to get inservice points for our sessions. Can we combine that

with a journal of some kind so we can keep track of what we’ve learned?

Ruth: Maybe we could take turns keeping minutes rather than a journal. That way we’re

sharing the responsibility rather than each of us doing it on our own.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Learning About Reading

7

Establishing a Common Frame of Reference ................................ 8

What is Reading? ......................................................................................... 8

The Process of Reading: Word Recognition ............................................. 9

The Process of Reading: Comprehension ............................................... 15

Helping Children Become Readers ............................................... 18

Print Awareness: Introducing Young Children to Print .......................... 18

Phonemic Awareness ................................................................................ 23

Discovering the Alphabetic Principle: Teaching Phonics Effectively ......... 27

Phases of Learning New Words ................................................................ 32

An Overview of Kindergarten Strategies .................................................. 43

An Overview of Primary-Grade Strategies ............................................... 48

Connecting Reading and Spelling Instruction ......................................... 53

Using Systematic Observation .................................................................. 57

Motivating Young Readers ........................................................................ 60

Building Comprehension Skills ..................................................... 62

Comprehension .......................................................................................... 62

Fluency: Where Word Recognition and Comprehension Meet .............. 68

Cognitive Strategies ................................................................................... 71

Teaching Cognitive Strategies through Scaffolding ............................... 74

Teaching Comprehension through Reciprocal Teaching ....................... 76

Vocabulary Development ........................................................................... 82

Sources of Comprehension Difficulty ...................................................... 85
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Establishing a Common Frame of Reference

What is Reading?

There are a number of ways to define reading, hence the confusion about the

goals of reading programs. Proponents of different instructional models tend

to view the concept of reading in different ways. For example, some people

tend to view reading purely in terms of decoding, whereas whole language

theorists tend to view reading in terms of responding to and appreciating

literature. These differing views have led to the acrimonious debates that

have typified our field. When we talk about reading, in whatever context, it

is important to state exactly what aspect of reading we are talking about.

—Stahl and Murray, 1998

Reading is a mental process. Although the eyes are involved in sending information about

print to the brain, the brain performs the real act of reading. The mental process we call

“reading” has two parts: word recognition and comprehension (Gough, Hoover, & Peterson,

1996). To perform the act of reading is to recognize words in print and to comprehend their

collective meaning. One without the other is not reading. When a student correctly pronounces the words of a sentence in print but does not understand anything about their

collective meaning, he has fallen short of reading. Similarly, if an adult reads a story to a

young child and the child understands the collective meaning of the words read to him, we

can say that he has performed a type of comprehension but has stopped short of reading.

The child’s comprehension was based on listening, not on word recognition.

In everyday classroom situations, the term reading may be applied to tasks that do not meet

the definition of reading. For example, a child may be asked to read a list of words that do not

form a meaningful, connected text. That is to say, the words do not have a collective meaning

as words in a sentence do. Is this reading? According to the above definition, the child is not

reading because reading words in isolation requires word recognition but not comprehension.

Our goal as reading teachers is to advance children beyond the recognition of single words

to rapid, effortless recognition of words in connected texts. Effortless recognition frees the

brain to devote its energy to comprehension, which is understanding the collective meaning

of those words. We want the student to be able to recognize a great many words quickly and

to hold the meanings of those words together in his brain so he is able to use what he

already knows to think about their collective meaning until it is understood. With this goal

in mind, reading may be defined as recognizing words in print, combining the meanings of

those words with relevant prior knowledge, and thinking about the collective meaning of

this information until it is understood.

Before beginning a more in-depth discussion of reading, it will be helpful to examine

some basic assumptions about print, word recognition, and comprehension.

What is print?

Print is a term used to refer to any form of written language. It can be used to describe a

single written word, one or more written sentences, or longer passages. Print includes

handwritten words as well as words that appear in a typeface or font. Print provides a means

for the writer to convey a message apart from spoken language. It enables the writer to

encode his ideas into symbols (the letters of the alphabet) that the reader can use to access

the same or similar meanings from within the reader’s mental dictionary. The code lies in the

sequence of letters. That code is what makes a change in the sequence of letters produce a

change in the meaning and pronunciation of a word. For instance, the letters c, a, and t, in this

sequence, form cat and refer to a feline animal, but in a different sequence, they form act and

refer to a single segment of a theatrical play, a law, etc. When multiple meanings are associated with the same sequence of letters, such as in the case of act, the single printed word does

not carry enough information to allow the reader to distinguish which of those various

meanings the word represents; consequently, the reader must rely on the context—the

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Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

meanings of other words in the sentence, paragraph, or passage—or information outside

the printed text to select the most appropriate meaning. For example, the single word

frame may mean “a structure for holding a picture or painting” or “to cause someone to

be blamed for something he or she did not do.” Apart from the context of a sentence, it is

not possible to know which meaning the writer intended.

What is word recognition?

Word recognition occurs when a reader sees a sequence of letters (a word) in print and

matches that sequence of letters with a pronunciation and meaning(s) located in his or her

brain where information about words is stored. The information about the word—its

pronunciation, meaning, and typical role in a sentence—is then transmitted to the reader’s

working memory. The storehouse of information or oral vocabulary is built by language

experience (learning new words by hearing them used or explained) and by reading

(discovering new words by reading or inferring their meanings).

There are several ways that word recognition can occur, and these are explored in greater

detail later. At this point, however, it is important to know that all forms of word recognition

involve processing words in print, accessing their pronunciation and an appropriate meaning

from within the reader’s brain, and moving this information to the reader’s working memory.

What is comprehension?

Comprehension requires the reader to combine the meanings of a number of words in his

working memory until he can think about their collective meaning. To illustrate this idea,

read the sentence fragment in the first textbox, then read the entire sentence as it appears in

the second textbox. The relevant prior knowledge that is brought together with the literal

meaning of the words in the first textbox may lead to several different interpretations.

Without the missing words, it is impossible to fully comprehend the meaning of the entire

sentence. Reading the complete sentence shows that accurate comprehension can occur

only when the reader has all of the meanings held in working memory.

The process of reading needs to be considered in the broader context of education.

Reading is an essential skill, perhaps the most important skill, taught in schools. Generations ago, people did not have a great need to be highly competent readers. The amount

and types of information needed to function adequately in the society of that day could be

communicated orally. People had little need for print, and very little print was available to

the average person. Citizens of contemporary society, however, are bombarded with

information, and they need a great deal of information to accomplish their responsibilities. Much of this information is accessed in the form of print. People need to read

(recognize the words and understand their collective meaning) for nearly every task they

perform. Those who can read well have many opportunities to be successful. Those who

cannot read well will most likely have many disappointments and failures.

Our role as reading teachers goes beyond teaching young people the processes of word recognition and strategies for comprehension in order to prepare them for a test. We are equipping them

with an essential skill and developing in them a positive attitude toward their use of that skill so

that they are able to build a secure and fulfilling future for themselves and others.

The Process of Reading: Word Recognition

We say a reader recognizes a word when he sees the word and makes a connection between

the sequence of letters in print and an appropriate meaning and pronunciation in his brain.

This connection allows him to bring information about the word to his working memory, the

place in the brain where comprehension takes place. This information can include the

word’s pronunciation, one or more meanings, and its function in a sentence (a noun, verb,

modifier, or article). Developing skill in word recognition is essential to becoming a skilled

reader. Becoming a skilled reader means to attain the ability to recognize printed words

rapidly and effortlessly so that more of the reader’s attention can be given to arriving at an

understanding of their meaning (Adams, 1990).

The clouds gathered above, dark

and full of rain, as the farmer and

his wife danced with joy at the

end of the long drought.

The clouds gathered above,

dark and full of rain....

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Advancing Reading Achievement:

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One of the primary goals of reading instruction is to equip readers with strong connections between words in print and information about those words stored in their brains.

Stronger connections mean the reader is able to bring information about the word to his

working memory faster and with less mental effort and to use the additional working

memory to comprehend the collective meaning of the words that are being read.

Linnea Ehri (1998) identifies five ways in which words are recognized and connections are

made: sight, decoding, analogizing, processing spelling patterns, and contextual guessing.

These methods of recognizing words in print differ in terms of how the reader makes the

connection between the word in print and information about the word stored in his brain.

Each one of these methods can be thought of as a bridge. These bridges represent five

different routes that connect print to meaning. A skilled reader will be able to use all five

bridges and determine which is the best one for each situation. A skilled reading teacher

will understand what happens in the mind of the reader who is using a particular bridge, so

she can support the reader with clear and accurate instruction. By understanding what goes

on in the brain of the reader as he uses each type of bridge, the teacher can help him

improve his ability to select the right bridge for a particular situation and to use each of

these bridges effectively. Building the capacity of young readers to select the right bridge

and use it to connect print with meaning is at the heart of teaching word recognition.

The following descriptions of the five methods of word recognition focus on three things:

1. When each type of connection is appropriate

2. How each connection works (what goes on in the mind of a reader when he is

using a particular bridge)

3. How teachers can help readers strengthen their use of each type of bridge

Recognizing words by sight

Words are read by sight when the connection between the words in print and information

about each word is made instantaneously and without conscious effort. Enabling readers to

access information about words by sight is an important goal of reading instruction. Information about words read by sight is brought to the reader’s working memory very quickly.

Imagine this “sight bridge” as a six-lane, super-highway bridge over which traffic flows

rapidly, even at rush hour. In the mind of a skilled reader, information is accessed so rapidly

that he is not fully aware that the information had to be retrieved from storage in his oral

vocabulary. The reader sees the word in print, and the information just seems to appear in his

working memory. No conscious effort to retrieve the information is needed.

There is an obvious advantage to having as many words as possible in the reader’s sight-word

vocabulary (the number of words he can recognize by sight). If information such as a word’s

spelling, pronunciation, meaning, and function in a sentence can be brought to the reader’s

working memory without effort, a much greater percentage of the reader’s working memory

can be devoted to understanding the collective meaning of all of the words in the sentence.

Conversely, if more effort is required to access information about the words being read and the

reader must use one of the other four bridges, then less working memory can be dedicated to

understanding their meaning and comprehension may suffer.

Teachers can increase a student’s sight-word vocabulary through strategies that include

repetitive encounters with words and clear and explicit information about those words.

Words become part of the reader’s sight vocabulary when repetition has formed an easy

access route for retrieving information about those words. This repetition may occur

when the words appear frequently in texts or in the reader’s environment, or it may come

about from rereading a text that includes the words.

What happens when reading by sight is not possible? Even the most skilled and experienced

reader occasionally comes across an unknown or unfamiliar word. For the adult reader, this

may occur when an extremely rare word or a highly technical term is encountered. In these

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Alphabetic principle

 Analogizing

 Contextual guessing

 Decoding

 Oral vocabulary

 Phonemes

 Processing spelling

patterns

 Sight

Definitions appear in the glossary.

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situations, the problem may involve a word that is not even in the reader’s oral vocabulary. For younger readers, an unknown or unfamiliar word is likely to be part of his

speaking vocabulary but not recognizable to him in print. In other words, important

information about the word, such as its pronunciation and meaning, may be stored in

the reader’s brain, but visually processing the sequence of letters does not automatically bring that information to his working memory. In such a case, the reader must

cross one of the other bridges to get that information. These other bridges can be

though of as “toll bridges,” because the reader must exert a conscious effort before he

is able to make the connection between the word in print and information about the

word in the brain. What distinguishes these bridges from one another is the process

the reader uses to get across each bridge. One such “toll bridge” is decoding.

Visual information about the

word in print is processed. The

reader looks at each letter of

the word.

Phonological information about

the word (its pronunciation) is

brought to the surface.

The word’s meaning (in some

cases, multiple meanings) is

located through its connection

to the word’s pronunciation and

its sequence of letters.

The selected meaning is held in

memory until all of the words of

the sentence (or clause or

phrase if it is an especially long

sentence) are read, then their

meanings are assembled and

the skilled reader attempts to

make sense of them.

Action Explanation

11

The skilled reader processes virtually every letter of every word. Longer words are also

broken down into syllables using subconscious rules developed through experience

with spelling patterns. Skilled readers know which letters are likely to begin and end a

syllable, even though they might not be able to tell you explicitly how they know.

As each letter is processed, the reader’s brain creates an expectation of what the next letter

might be based on experience. For example, the letter d is followed by the letter r 40 times

more often than by the letter n. When the reader visually processes a letter, he anticipates

the next letter and either confirms or rejects that prediction as he visually processes the

next letter. These learned associations speed the visual recognition of words.

The sequence of letters is recognized as a known word and this information is sent to

the site of phonological processing—where sounds are mapped onto letters to allow

the reader to hear the word—and to the reader’s mental dictionary.

Because the word is familiar, a connection already exists between the visual

information (the sequence of letters) and the word’s pronunciation. This connection

is reinforced and can be accessed more rapidly through repetition.

Spelling to sound translations help the reader identify less familiar words when at

least some part(s) of the word match known spelling patterns and can be used to

make an estimate of the word’s pronunciation.

It is perfectly acceptable (in fact, it can be helpful) for readers to say the words they are

reading in their minds as they read.

The selected meaning is held in memory until all of the words of the sentence (or

clause or phrase if it is an especially long sentence) are read, then their meanings are

assembled and the skilled reader attempts to make sense of them.

The reader’s mental dictionary contains meanings and shades of meanings for an

incredible quantity of words. The word’s pronunciation and spelling information may

bring up several possible meanings because these meanings are linked together in

the reader’s mind.

The skilled reader uses information from contextual processing (comprehension) to

confirm the selection of the appropriate meaning.

Reading speed is essential to comprehension. Readers who cannot get to the end of

a sentence before the words they read at the beginning of the sentence have faded or

leaked out of memory have a difficult time comprehending what they have read.

The Mind of a Fluent Reader
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Recognizing unfamiliar words by decoding

Before looking at the technical aspects of how decoding occurs, it is important to

understand why the term decoding is used to describe this process. The explanation

begins thousands of years ago.

Spoken language existed long before a system of writing was developed. When the need to

be able to communicate in writing arose, people in different parts of the world developed

different ways to meet that need. Some cultures developed a character-based writing system.

Chinese and Japanese are examples of this type of writing system. For other languages, like

English, an alphabetic system of writing was developed. Those who developed the English

writing system created the letters of the English alphabet to represent the sounds of

spoken English. They put spoken language into a code composed of letters used in

different sequences to represent the sounds of different words. Therefore, writing is

thought of as encoding, putting a message into a code. Print encodes the sounds and

meanings of spoken language into letters, so the process of getting pronunciations and

meanings from printed letters is described as decoding.

Decoding is appropriate when a reader encounters an unknown or unfamiliar word. That

is, when no immediate connection is made between the sequence of letters that make up

the word and information about the word in the reader’s brain. Decoding is typically a

three-step process. When a reader uses decoding to recognize an unfamiliar word, he begins

by identifying the small units of speech sounds (phonemes) represented by each letter or

cluster of letters. It is this part of the process that teachers typically refer to when they

encourage students to “sound it out.” The result of this first step is a sequence of separate or

segmented speech sounds. Before the reader can use these sounds to access other information

about the word, he must blend the sounds of the letters.

This blending of individual sounds to create a single word is a critical part of the process

of decoding. To match up the sequence of sounds the reader has gleaned out of the

unfamiliar word with a word in his oral vocabulary, he will need to blend them into a

single word and to pronounce them as a relatively seamless unit.

Once the reader creates a trial pronunciation through the blending of individual phonemes, he uses it to search his oral vocabulary for a word that has the same or similar

pronunciation. When a match is made, the reader confirms the word’s identity by checking to see if it makes sense in the context of the sentence. If it does, the reader returns to

reading by sight. If it does not make sense, it is possible that the initial attempt to

pronounce the word was flawed. The reader then reviews the individual phonemes he

identified earlier to make sure that they are correct, and he assembles them again into an

alternate pronunciation and searches his oral vocabulary for a match.

A final word on understanding the process of decoding: Decoding requires use of the alphabetic principle. The reader must understand that letters in printed words relate to the sounds

that make up spoken words in a systematic (although not completely consistent) way.

Recognizing unfamiliar words by analogizing

An analogy is a comparison that uses an understanding of one thing to enhance understanding of another. In literature, analogies are used to help the reader to understand the

meaning of an idea or thing by explaining it as if it were something else, something more

clearly understood by the reader. For example, an analogy was made previously for the

different methods of word recognition by comparing them to bridges. The concept of

analogy as a way to understand an unfamiliar idea in terms of its similarity to a familiar

one is similar to how a reader uses analogizing to recognize an unfamiliar word by

identifying its similarity to a known word.

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When the reader encounters an unfamiliar word, he may recognize part of the word as similar

to or containing the same chunk of letters as a known word. For example, a young reader who

comes across the word mouse for the first time in print may recognize its similarity to house, a

word he already knows by sight. If he is able to see that the last four letters of mouse are the

same as the last four letters of house, he can generate an accurate pronunciation by substituting the initial phoneme /h/ with the phoneme /m/ and blending the two parts to produce the

word mouse. The reader can then check to see if the word mouse makes sense in the sentence.

After confirming his guess by determining it makes sense, he returns to reading by sight.

Skill in analogizing is developed primarily through teacher modeling and guided practice.

When teachers introduce new vocabulary words that share chunks of letters with a word

that has been introduced previously, it is a good opportunity to show students how to use

parts of the known word to identify the new word. One way the teacher might do this type

of modeling is to lead students in modeling the strategy for each other, as follows:

Recognizing unfamiliar words by processing spelling patterns

A spelling pattern is a sequence of letters that appears in a number of words. For example, the

letters ack make up a spelling pattern because there are a number of words that include this

cluster of letters (back, hack, jack, knack, lack, pack, quack, rack, sack, track, and whack). A

group of words that contain the same spelling pattern is referred to as a word family because

all the words in the group resemble one another.

A reader can recognize an unfamiliar word more easily if he detects that it belongs to a word

family that contains words he already knows. If a reader encounters the word attack and is not

able to read it by sight, he might notice that it contains the ack spelling pattern. This insight

would enable him to construct a pronunciation for attack by blending the phonemes represented

by the first three letters with the known pronunciation of the ack spelling pattern.

Processing spelling patterns and analogizing are very similar. They differ, however, in

that when the reader analogizes, he matches a part of the unknown word with a part of a

known word, but when he processes spelling patterns, he matches a part of the unknown

word with a cluster of letters from a family of words.

The teacher writes the word yield on the board.

Teacher: Let’s look closely at this new word. Can you see a part of this word

that is similar to a part of a word we’ve already learned? Ron?

Ron: The last four letters are the same as the last four letters in the

word field.

Teacher: That’s correct, Ron. So, how could we use that to figure out how to

pronounce this new word? Shelly?

Shelly: If we drop off the first sound of field and replace it with /y/, we would

have the word yield.

Teacher: Good. Did everyone see what Ron and Shelly did? Ron saw that

part of the new word was the same cluster of letters in a word he already

knew. Then, Shelly told us how we could come up with a pronunciation for

our new word by using the sound of the letter that is different together with

the sound of the part that is the same.

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ack ail ain ake

ale all ame an

ank ap ash at

at ate aw ay

eak eat ed eet

ell est ice ick

ide ight ike ill

in ine ing ink

ip it iver ock

ole one ool ooth

op ough out uff

ug ump unch unk

Recognizing unfamiliar words by contextual guessing

Studies of young readers report that when they encounter an unknown word, they often

substitute a word that makes sense in the text they have read up to that point. This strategy

indicates that these readers have an expectation of what they will read next based on what

they read just prior to encountering the unknown word. The process of predicting the

identity of an unknown word by using the meaning of what has been read so far is called

contextual guessing. Because it produces the correct pronunciation only 25 to 30 percent of

the time (Nicholson, 1991), contextual guessing is not adequate as the sole basis for

identifying unknown words in skilled reading.

Although contextual guessing is the least reliable method for identifying unknown words, it can

play an important role in supporting the skilled reader’s use of the other four methods of recognizing unfamiliar words. In Reading Ability, Perfetti (1985) describes an interactive model of skilled

reading in which the other methods provide confirmation for the word identification made through

sight-reading. For example, when a reader identifies a word by sight, context clues may be used to

confirm its pronunciation. In other words, a skilled reader will confirm that the identified word

makes sense in the sentence. Such confirmation can ensure accuracy and provide efficient selfmonitoring and auto-correction of errors that could erode comprehension.

Teachers can help their students to build skill in the use of contextual guessing through

modeling, especially “think aloud” strategies for modeling, and through practice with text

that replaces selected words with a blank space. Text that includes blank spaces can be

designed in two ways. One type selects words at random for omission, for instance every

tenth word or every twentieth word. A more difficult type of omission occurs when key

words are left blank. These meaning-bearing words are even more difficult for the reader to

guess than randomly selected words because they contain the very clues the reader needs to

predict their identity.

Conclusion

The five methods of recognizing words described in this section represent tools that should

be mastered by skilled readers. A primary goal of reading instruction (and of providing

opportunities for young readers to read many books) is to enable readers to develop a large

sight-word vocabulary, that is, a large volume of words that can be read by sight. A large

sight vocabulary reduces the amount of the reader’s memory needed for word recognition

and allows more of it to be devoted to comprehension. Readers who are reading widely,

however, will still inevitably encounter unfamiliar words, so they must have fallback

strategies for recognizing these words in print. The other four methods or bridges are

necessary and effective for recognizing words that are not part of the reader’s sight vocabulary. Therefore, it is important that teachers understand all five methods, how to equip

readers to use them when it is appropriate, and how to use them effectively and efficiently.

Teachers should introduce students to word families when teaching them how to recognize

unfamiliar words by processing spelling patterns. The following is a list of useful spelling patterns:

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The Process of Reading: Comprehension

Comprehension is when the reader constructs meaning by combining the ideas from the

text with his own background knowledge. The reader must hold the meanings of the

words he has recognized in his brain—in the space known as working memory—until he

can think about and understand their collective meaning. Although this definition makes

comprehension seem simple, it is not. If we think more carefully about what is going on

in the mind of the reader, we will realize how challenging comprehension of text can be.

The process of word recognition brings information about the words in print to the

reader’s working memory at a rapid pace. As this information begins to pile up, the reader

must sort through it and begin to make sense of it. This requires

1. Keeping the meanings of the words in the sequence in which they were read.

This is what enables the reader to distinguish between “George called to

Martha” and “Martha called to George.”

2. Recognizing functions of words that do not carry meaning—words like the and of.

3. Making sure that each word was identified correctly—checking to see that each

word makes sense in terms of the other words in the sentence or paragraph.

The reader is trying to make sense of the collective, literal meaning of the words as well

as infer meanings that were left unspecified by the writer. For example, the writer of this

sentence intends his reader to go beyond the literal meaning of the words: “When this last

lead proved as worthless as all of the others, he knew he’d reached a dead end.” Yet, the

author does not tell the reader specifically if the person in the sentence is on an actual

dead end street. Instead, he leads the reader to infer that the character is investigating

something and does not know how to proceed. Such inferences require the reader to apply

the appropriate background knowledge.

This example highlights a central difficulty in teaching comprehension—it is a complex

cognitive process that involves a variety of mental activities going on simultaneously in

the mind of a reader. Furthermore, not as much is known about how comprehension takes

place as about how word recognition does. The following section is intended to give a

brief overview of comprehension so that you can combine it with what you have studied

about word recognition in the previous section to get a complete picture of reading. A

more extensive look at comprehension is found later in this book.

The process of word recognition can be described in fairly precise detail. We know what

goes on in the minds of skilled readers as they identify familiar words and try to identify

unfamiliar words. Our understanding of comprehension is not as complete. More is known

about comprehension problems than about how comprehension actually occurs.

The following table describes important aspects of what takes place as a reader comprehends a sentence. A reader is reading the following sentence: He picked up his bow and

arrows and put them in the back of his truck along with the other things he was taking to

his friend’s garage sale. On the following page, the thought process of the reader is

explained as he progresses through the sentence.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Comprehension

monitoring

 Inferences

 Prior knowledge

 Word knowledge

 Word recognition

 Working memory

Definitions appear in the glossary.

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A careful look at this example reveals several fundamental components of comprehension:

 Word recognition—the speed and accuracy with which the reader is able to

recognize familiar and unfamiliar words

 Working memory—a measure of the mental capacity the reader can apply to the

tasks of decoding and comprehension

 Word knowledge—knowledge of the meanings of individual words

 Prior knowledge—the concepts and organized structures that help the reader

determine the literal meaning of the text as well as form inferences that go

beyond what was actually stated in the text

 Inferences—assumptions or hypotheses the reader forms based on the text and his

background knowledge that supply meaning that is not explicitly stated

 Comprehension monitoring—thinking about obstacles to constructing meaning

(words, phrases, or ideas that do not make sense with the rest of the passage)

and about how well the meaning that is being constructed makes sense and

agrees with background knowledge and other passages in the text being read

Comprehension cannot occur without word recognition, because it is through word recognition that the reader accesses the meanings of words stored in his oral vocabulary. Readers

who have poor word recognition skills will have difficulties with comprehension. The

formal theory that supports this assumption is called the verbal efficiency theory (Perfetti,

1985). Stated simply, if a reader must devote too much working memory to decoding or

word recognition, he will have too little working memory left for comprehension. Classroom

1. Word recognition allows the

reader to access the meaning or

multiple meanings of words in

a sentence. The functions of

non-meaning bearing words

(articles, prepositions, etc.) are

also identified.

2. As more word meanings are

accumulated in the reader’s

short-term memory, the

reader is able to sort through

multiple meanings and select

the appropriate one.

3. As the number of meanings

held in short-term memory

increases, the reader begins

to form an expectation of the

complete meaning of the

sentence. This occurs as the

reader assembles those

meanings and connects them

to prior knowledge.

4. Only when all of the meanings

have been assembled can the

reader finally determine the

meaning of the sentence.

1. He picked up his bow...

He—refers to a male person

picked—could mean selected, lifted, or pulled

off, like “picked the apple from the tree”

up—clarifies picked, now I know it means the

same as lifted

his—belongs to the he

bow—could be for shooting arrows, for playing

a stringed instrument, a type of necktie, or the

front of a boat

2. He picked up his bow and arrows and...

bow—for shooting arrows, not the other

possible meanings

3. He picked up his bow and arrows and put them

in the back of his truck...

(literal) He took his bow and arrows and

placed them in the rear of his vehicle.

(inference) He is going to shoot his arrows

at a target range.

4. He picked up his bow and arrows and put them

in the back of his truck along with the other

things he was taking to his friends’ garage sale.

(corrected inference) He is going to sell his

bow and arrow.

How Comprehension Works Examples of a Reader’s Thoughts

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teachers see this problem with readers who take so long to recognize individual words

that by the time they get to the end of a sentence, they have forgotten the meanings of the

words they read in the beginning of the sentence. Without all the pieces of the sentence,

the reader cannot construct a complete and meaningful picture.

As the reader adds the meanings of subsequent words to those already in his short-term

memory, he is able to select the most appropriate meanings for words that have multiple

meanings and to eliminate meanings that do not make sense in terms of other words that

have been identified. The key elements of this process are word knowledge and prior or

background knowledge (Perfetti, Marron, & Foltz, 1996). Comprehension may collapse if

the reader does not know many of the words within a passage or text, and the meaning of a

passage may be lost or even misconstrued if the reader does not understand the meaning of

key words. Similarly, without adequate background knowledge, the reader may not be able

to construct an adequate picture of what the writer is trying to communicate. This is

especially true if the text relies heavily on the reader’s use of inference.

Inferences are made at several levels. The simplest inferences are those that arise reasonably

from the text when the reader combines the literal meaning of the passage with background

knowledge. On a more complex level, the reader may infer the motives for an action being

described, the viewpoint of the writer or subject of the passage, or the outcomes of events or

actions described in the passage. Each of these is illustrated below.

Types of Inference Sample Text

Motives for an action

being described

Viewpoint of the writer

or someone who is the

subject of the passage

Outcomes of events or

actions described in

the passage

The young boy dashed past his mother, grabbing his lunch box from the counter and

streaked out of the kitchen door. His strides

lengthened as he saw the last child climb

aboard. (Why was the boy in a hurry?)

Quality of life is measured by more than dollars

and cents. The growth needed to build a tax

base that can fund the initiatives being proposed

will squeeze out much of what is valued by the

people who came to live here while it was still a

sleepy little town. (Is the writer for or against the

proposed initiatives?)

The home team’s fans’ cheers of encouragement

and exhortation became less confident and less

frequent as the numbers on the game clock moved

closer and closer to zero. Why did those numbers

move so steadily, while the numbers on the

scoreboard remained unchanged? (Who is likely to

win the game, the home team or the visitors?)

Comprehension monitoring refers to the reader’s ability to detect problems with comprehension. This can be as simple as detecting a word that is misspelled, used incorrectly, or

is beyond the reader’s vocabulary. Monitoring involves the application of a standard that

analyzes the meanings of individual words in terms of the mental picture the reader is

forming. A more sophisticated level of monitoring comprehension takes place when the

reader detects information that contradicts or is not consistent with the reader’s background knowledge. This type of monitoring requires the use of a standard of external

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consistency. Another type of monitoring involves detecting internal inconsistencies. The

reader notices that one part of the writer’s message does not agree with or support another

part. Comprehension monitoring through the identification of internal and external

inconsistencies is complex, and, therefore, younger or poorer readers do not use it as

frequently (Baker, 1984).

Conclusion

Comprehension of connected text is the final outcome of the effective application of a

complex set of mental processes: word recognition, the integration of the literal meaning

of the text with appropriate background knowledge, and the verification of the meaning

that is produced against standards of internal and external consistency. Considering the

complexity of the process, it is no wonder many readers find comprehension a challenging endeavor. Fortunately, teachers who have a clear understanding of what is involved in

the comprehension of meaningful, connected text and are equipped with strategies for

teaching comprehension are entirely capable of bringing young readers to a high level of

skill in comprehending what they read.

Helping Children Become Readers

Print Awareness: Introducing Young Children to Print

Print awareness is a term applied to a wide range of ideas young children need to understand as they begin formal reading instruction. Parents teach many of these ideas informally

through unplanned, spontaneous conversations with their children or as they interact with

their children in day-to-day routines. For instance, when parents are reading to their

children and point out that they are reading the words on the page not the pictures, children

begin to understand that the print carries the meaning and that it differs from pictures.

Another example of such informal instruction occurs when the parent prints the child’s

name on a piece of paper and tells the child the name of each letter as he or she is writing it.

These kinds of interactions begin to build awareness that print has specific forms and

functions—it is something that grownups use and children need to learn.

Unfortunately, not all children come to school with fully developed print awareness.

Because children learn informally what print is and what its purpose is, there may be gaps

in what they know when they come to school. School is where instruction about print

becomes systematic. Consequently, teachers should understand what is meant by print

awareness, its importance in learning to read, and how it can be developed.

To benefit from formal instruction in reading, young readers must possess some measure

of print awareness. They must be able to

 Understand the structure of print (how it is organized) and the function of print

(to convey meaning).

 Recognize that printed words are made up of letters and that it is the words, not

the pictures, in a book or in the environment that are read.

 Identify and distinguish the printed forms of individual letters.

Young children who have had significant exposure to print come to school with the

understanding that print is different from pictures and that print has the same function

even if it appears in a book, on a sign, or on a television. Many of them know that print

contains information. They become aware that adults look at print and appear to draw

meaning from it. With this exposure to print can come functional knowledge of print,

such as the fact that it is read from left to right and from top to bottom. However, more

and more children are arriving at school without these understandings. This is a critical

point because awareness of print provides a strong motivation to learn to read and a

framework within which learning to read and to write takes place (Adams, 1990).

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Big books

 Concepts about print

 Environmental print

 Fingerpoint reading

 Language experience

 Print awareness

 Word awareness

Definitions appear in the glossary.

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As young children enrich their understanding of print, they begin to look at words as individual units within the text on a page. Pointing out the space between words can help develop

this word awareness. Talking with children about why different words are different lengths

(why words that take longer to say have more letters) can also build word awareness. Word

awareness is a step toward reading readiness (Rozin, Bressman, & Taft, 1974).

In addition to the concept of words as individual units of printed and spoken language,

young children must also come to understand that words are made up of letters. A child

who “knows his letters” is frequently more interested in the idea that letters are used in

spelling words and that they represent segments of spoken language. Children who can

name many of the letters of the alphabet find it easier to think of words as unique

sequences of letters rather than shapes. This knowledge is necessary for rapid word

recognition because skilled readers visually process every individual letter of every word

as they read (Adams, 1990).

One of the more challenging problems with learning to recognize individual letters is that

many of them look similar. Nevertheless, a reader must be able to recognize printed letters

in different fonts, styles, and sizes as well as in diverse handwriting styles. To do this, the

mind’s eye, so to speak, looks beyond the overall shape of each letter to focus on the line

segments and curves that make up the letter in order to determine the relative alignment,

length, and completeness of these segments. For example, the eye detects the presence or

absence of the short, horizontal line that differentiates the letters C and G, the location of

the curved tip that distinguishes f and t, and the angle of the “legs” of the letters A and H.

Research regarding children’s reversal of letters now leads us to believe that many of these

difficulties can be corrected by focusing their attention on the features that distinguish

similar letters and providing adequate practice in comparing them. In other words, highlighting the physical differences between the letters and giving the child many opportunities

to identify and analyze these differences can resolve many problems with letter reversals

(see example in the textbox below).

The ability to conceive of words

as individually speakable,

printable, and understandable

units is critical not just to

learning spelling-sound correspondences but, even before

that, to gaining any initial insight

into how written language works.

—Marilyn Jager Adams

Preventing Problems in Distinguishing Letter Shapes

Teacher: The teacher writes A and H on the board. Look at these two letters. Can you

tell me their names?

Students: A and H

Teacher: Good. Now let’s look closely at the legs of these two letters. The legs of the letter

A are slanted inward and meet at the top. The teacher points to the peak of the letter A

on the board. The legs of the letter H are straight up and down and there is a gap at the

top, that is, they don’t meet at the top like the legs of the letter A.

The teacher has students trace the shapes of the two letters on their desks. Then she

asks them to copy the two letters exactly as she has written them on the board, again

drawing attention to the key feature that distinguishes the letters—the legs meet in

the letter A and do not meet at the top of the letter H.

Teacher: Now, put your finger on the part of the letter A where the legs meet. The teacher

moves quickly among students to see who has placed their finger correctly. While

doing this, she reinforces the idea that this is the way students can tell the difference

between these two letters.

The teacher concludes this brief lesson by showing students these two letters in

different print styles and how the key feature that distinguishes these two letters

remains the same, even in different types of print.

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If adults are asked to think back to how they learned the letters of the alphabet, most will

respond with a version of the alphabet song. When young children use this rhythmic tune to

memorize the names of the letters and their sequence, they are preparing a place in their longterm memory to connect the shapes of those letters and, later, the phonemes those letters

represent. Learning these elements—especially the names and sounds of letters—at separate

stages may alleviate confusion between the letters’ names and the sounds they represent.

Classroom materials and activities

Marilyn Adams (1990) described five things children learn about print as they develop print

awareness. They are listed below along with examples of activities that can be used to build

understanding for children who have not yet acquired print awareness.

 Print is categorically different from other kinds of visual patterns and forms in

the environment.

 Point to individual words as they are read in big books to help the children to

see that print differs from pictures in form and appearance. The functions of

illustrations and text are similar; that is, messages can be conveyed through

pictures, just as they can through words. It is the visual difference between print

and pictures that should be emphasized.

 Print is print across a variety of physical media.

 Locate examples of the same word in as many different forms and types of media as

possible to develop this insight. Focusing attention on what is the same in these

examples (the letters that make up the word) and what is different (the color, size,

and texture of the letters; the background; and the presence or absence of pictures

or graphic designs) is the key to helping children gain this understanding.

 Print seems to be all over the place.

 Make a collage of pictures that contain text in different settings.

 Have students brainstorm a list of places where they see print.

 Point to print wherever it is seen around the school and ask children to do the same.

 Adults use different kinds of print in different ways.

 Create a poster depicting different uses of print (grocery lists, letters to grandparents, phone messages, magazine articles, song lyrics, forms, ID cards,

newspapers, directions, signs, labels, notes, menus, and books).

 Print can be produced by anyone.

 Ask every adult that the children encounter at school during the day to share a

sample of his or her writing, and turn this collection of print into a poster for the

classroom. Add examples of writing done by students as well.

As children participate in these activities, help them to see clearly that print is used to represent language. This can be done through a variety of language experience activities as well.

Furthermore, make sure they understand that print has a specific function: it allows a writer to

communicate with any number of readers by encoding the message in print. These two basic

concepts may not be fully developed in children who have not had wide exposure to print and

its uses through observing adults who value reading.

An additional element of early print awareness is an understanding of books and how print is

organized on the pages of books. Big books are ideal tools for getting the following facts

about books across:

 A book has a cover, a title, a title page, an author, a binding that holds the

pages together, and pages of text.

 The elements of a book (those listed above) can look different from one book

to another.

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 There are elements—such as pictures, a table of contents, page numbers, an

index, a glossary, and chapters—that appear in some books but not all books.

 Print is read from left to right, beginning at the top and moving down the page.

 The extra spaces between words are “separators” that show the reader where one

word ends and the next word begins.

Word awareness cannot be taken for granted. Although the idea that words are individual

units of speech and print seems simple, experienced primary-grade teachers will tell you

that some children are not sure what a word really is. One way to highlight the fact that

words are individual units and that they are separated in print by extra spaces is to point to

individual words as they are read and emphasize the beginning and ending of each word.

Another useful method of developing word awareness is illustrating the relationship

between the lengths of spoken and printed words. The following activity can be used as

both a diagnostic tool and a practice activity for building this concept.

Show students a pair of words made up of one long word and one short word. Say both

words using the pattern provided in this example:

Hall and Moats (1999) developed three highly effective games for helping young children

learn the names of the letters of the alphabet. These games can be very helpful for

children who come to school with little or no letter knowledge. The first game is a great

way to introduce letters to young children.

Making the Game

 Obtain a set of plastic letters—uppercase letters work best.

 Trace the letters in an arc on an 11x17 piece of construction paper. You should

end up with the traced outline of all 26 letters in a half-circle. (Optional—you may

want to write the child’s name in the center of the arc and then laminate the page

to increase its durability.)

Playing the Game

 Ask the child to count how many letters there are. He may want to touch each

outlined letter as he counts.

Counting, Matching, and Naming Letters

Continued

Print dog and dangerous on the board or a piece of paper. Then say, “One of

these words is dangerous. The other is dog. Which word is dangerous?” Using

these word pairs, repeat this pattern, varying which word is said first and which

word you ask the child to point to.

 dangerous ................... dog

 man .............................. motorcycle

 basketball .................... bag

 cow .............................. caterpillar

 hand ............................. helicopter

 top ................................ thunderstorm

 celebration .................. city

 rain ............................... radiator

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When a child is able to name the letters and place them on the arc in the correct sequence

within the two-minute limit, he or she is ready to play a more difficult game. This game

focuses the child’s attention on the physical characteristics of the letters that distinguish

them from one another.

The second game is more advanced. It involves placing the letters of the alphabet in the

correct sequence.

Counting, Matching, and Naming Letters

 Give the child a letter and tell him the letter’s name. “This is the letter A.” Let

the child handle the letter to become familiar with its shape. Then repeat this

process for the next letter.

 Give the child no more than four letters. When he can differentiate their

shapes and repeat their names, let the child place each letter on its outline

and repeat its name, saying, “Tell me the name of each letter and put it on

your mat on the outline of the letter.”

Most children can learn two to four letters at a time, but they will need frequent

practice. The goal is rapid, accurate letter identification. For some children, this may

take several weeks.

Learning the Sequence of the Alphabet

Making the Game

 Obtain a set of plastic letters—you can use the same ones you used in the

Counting, Matching, and Naming game.

 Print the letters of the alphabet across the top of an 11x17 piece of construction paper (be sure to match the case and style of the plastic letters

you will use).

 Draw an arc on the paper similar to the one you drew for the previous game,

but this time you will trace the outline of only four of the letters on the arc.

 Trace the letter A on the left-hand starting point of the arc and the letter Z

on the right-hand end. At the top of the arc, trace the letters M and N. These

letters give the child an “anchor” for positioning the remaining letters. (Optional—

you may want to write the child’s name in the center of the arc and then laminate

the page to increase its durability.)

Playing the Game

 Have the child place the plastic letters in the center of the paper under the arc.

 Then ask him to find the A and place it on the arc where it belongs. Repeat

this for the letter Z and then for the M and N.

 The child then begins with the B and places the remaining letters on the arc

in the correct sequence.

 The letters across the top can serve as reminders. As the child improves

with practice, you may cover those letters until he has placed all of the

letters on the arc.

 The goal should be for the child to put all of the letters in order within

two minutes.

Several weeks of frequent practice may be necessary, but it is an enjoyable activity

for children.

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Guess the Letter

Making the Game

 The same set of plastic letters can be used in this game, along with either of

the two 11x17 mats used in the two games described previously.

 You’ll also need a paper bag large enough to hold all of the letters.

Playing the Game

 Put all of the letters into the bag and ask the child to reach in and pick up

one of the letters without taking it out of the bag.

 Then, ask the child to feel the shape of the letter and to try to guess its

identity based on its shape.

 When the child has told you what letter he is holding, the child can pull the

letter out of the bag to find out if he is correct. If the letter was identified

correctly, the child can put the letter on the arc in its correct place. If it is

not correctly identified, the letter is put back in the bag.

A Variation

This game can be played with two children, each child having a bag of letters and a mat.

 One child guesses the name of a letter from his bag, and if the guess is

correct, that child continues until a mistake is made. At this point, the other

child begins guessing until he makes an incorrect guess.

 The child who successfully identifies all of the letters and places them

correctly on the arc is the winner.

Additional tips on teaching letters

Teachers should probably introduce children to either uppercase or lowercase letters

but not both at the same time. Because it is easier to distinguish uppercase letters

from one another, Adams (1990) recommends using uppercase letters with preschool

and kindergarten students. She adds, however, that since lowercase letters are more

useful in reading text, it is preferable to use lowercase letters when working with

first-graders, even if they have limited letter knowledge.

Another good idea is to avoid introducing letters that children are likely to confuse if

seen at the same time. For example, make sure that students can recognize and print

the letter b before introducing the letter d. Introducing a few other letters in between

these two will allow adequate time for students to establish the letter b before adding

the letter d to their repertoire.

Phonemic Awareness

Even though the concept it describes is quite simple and straightforward, the term

phonemic awareness is often used in ways that can create confusion. To read a language

that uses an alphabet, a student must understand that spoken language is made up of

segments of sound, the smallest of which is called a phoneme. These small segments of

sound are difficult to hear in spoken language because natural speech blends them

together to form words that sound as if they are whole units. For example, the word cat

is made up of three phonemes /c/, /a/, and /t/. The word though has only two phonemes

/th/ and /o/. These examples highlight the fact that phonemes refer to sounds, not to

letters. In other words, there is not a one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and

letters because some phonemes are represented by a combination or cluster of letters. Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Alphabetic principle

 Onsets

 Phoneme

 Phonemic awareness

 Rimes

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Teachers who help students learn to associate letters with sounds and to blend those sounds

to form words during phonics instruction are providing a form of phonemic awareness

training. Similarly, phonemic awareness is developed when spelling instruction involves

teaching students to break words into their component sounds (phonemes) and match those

sounds to letters. The National Reading Panel stated that although “teaching children to

manipulate sounds in spoken words may be new, phonemic awareness training that

involves segmenting and blending with letters is not. Only the label is new” (p. 34).

While for many years teachers have taught phonemic awareness through phonics and

spelling instruction, it is important that research clarifying the role of phonemic awareness

in learning to read be implemented into classroom instruction. The purpose of this section

is to enrich and clarify the understanding of phonemic awareness and how it impacts

learning to read.

Substantial evidence supports the importance of phonemic awareness in learning to read

languages that are based on an alphabet, such as English, Spanish, and German (Wagner,

Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1994). Phonemic awareness is also known to predict how well

children will learn to read. Researchers were able to identify children who would learn to

read easily and those who would have difficulty learning to read by measuring whether or

not they had developed phonemic awareness (Share, Jorm, Maclean, & Matthews, 1984).

More importantly, a number of studies have shown that teaching phonemic awareness to

children who have not yet developed it significantly increases their later reading achievement (Cunningham, 1989; Lundberg, Frost, & Peterson, 1988). As a significant factor in

learning to read and a strong predictor of reading success, phonemic awareness is a concept

every reading teacher should understand and be able to teach (Adams, Foorman, Lundberg,

& Beeler, 1998).

The following are three important questions about phonemic awareness that teachers need

to be able to answer:

 What are phonemes and what is phonemic awareness?

 How does phonemic awareness help young children learn to read?

 How can teachers help students develop phonemic awareness?

What are phonemes and what is phonemic awareness?

Phonemes are the sounds that make up spoken words. They are the smallest segments of sounds

within spoken language (larger segments of spoken language include syllables, words, and

sentences). For example, the word no is made up of two phonemes /n/ and /o/. We hear them as a

single word because our natural speech blends or fuses the individual phonemes into a unit.

Phonemes are represented in written language by letters or graphemes. Graphemes may be single

letters (b, t, k, e, or n) or clusters of letters that represent single sounds (ch, sh, ee, igh, or ck).

Phonemes are difficult to hear in normal speech because the individual sounds blend into

one another. An adult who tries to distinguish or count the phonemes in a given word will

probably rely on his or her knowledge of how many letters are used to spell the word (Ehri,

1984). This method is not completely reliable, however, because some phonemes are

represented by a combination or cluster of letters. For example, there are three phonemes

in the word boil and five in the word straight. A more reliable way to identify phonemes

within a word is to stretch out the word’s pronunciation and count the number of times the

mouth, tongue, and lips change as they work to make the individual sounds.

Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken words are made up of separate units

of sound that are blended together. It is demonstrated by the ability to “focus on and

manipulate phonemes in spoken words” (National Reading Panel Report, 1998, p. 2-1).

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The following five tasks represent different aspects of phonemic awareness (the tasks are

ordered beginning with the easiest to learn and ending with the most difficult) (Schatschneider,

Francis, Foorman, Fletcher, & Mehta, 1999):

1. Comparing first sounds—ask children to identify the names of pictures beginning

with the same sound.

2. Blending onset-rime units to form real words—say single words with a pause

between the onset and rime (s—and) and ask children to put them together into a

real word (sand).

3. Blending phonemes to form real words—stretch out the pronunciation of a word

and ask students to blend the individual phonemes into a known word. “What

word is made from blending these sounds: /t/ /i/ /g/ /er/?”

4. Deleting a phoneme and saying the word that remains—ask children, “What

word is left when we drop the /s/ from the word spot?”

5. Segmenting words into phonemes—break a word into its individual sounds by

counting the sounds or by moving a marker for each sound. Tell children, “Show

me how many phonemes are in the word bake.”

Students who are able to perform one or more of these tasks with spoken words have

developed a level of phonemic awareness.

How does phonemic awareness help young children learn to read?

Because the English spelling system is based on the representation of phonemes by

graphemes (the letters of written words that represent the sounds of those words when

spoken), students who have developed phonemic awareness have an easier time recognizing

unfamiliar words in print. The following are three examples of how phonemic awareness

plays a key role in several of the processes readers use to recognize unfamiliar words.

When a reader encounters a word in print that is not known by sight, the reader may

apply one of a number of different strategies to guess the word’s pronunciation. Decoding

is one of these strategies. In decoding an unfamiliar word, the reader translates “graphemes into phonemes and then blends the phonemes to form words with recognizable

meanings” (National Reading Panel Report, 1998, p. 2-11). In other words, the reader

matches a sound with each of the letters or letter combinations that make up the word’s

spelling and then blends these sounds (in the correct sequence) into an estimate of the

word’s pronunciation. The reader then uses this pronunciation to locate the word’s

meaning in his oral vocabulary. If the meaning that is associated with the trial pronunciation makes sense in the sentence, the reader moves on to reading the remainder of the

sentence. Without the phonemic awareness skill of blending separate phonemes into a

single word, a reader cannot decode unfamiliar words.

Many readers are able to recognize unfamiliar words by matching part of the word—

typically a rime or spelling pattern—with the same sequence of letters in a known word.

Blending the onset of the unfamiliar word with the known rime creates a trial pronunciation. For instance, a reader who knows the word make may be able to read the unfamiliar

word shake by blending the phoneme that makes up the onset /sh/ with the known rime

ake. This process involves two phonemic awareness skills: segmenting phonemes

(separating the onset and rime in both words) and blending (putting the onset from the

new word together with the rime from the known word).

Words become sight words when the reader has formed a strong connection between the

sequence of letters in the word’s spelling and the word’s pronunciation and meaning as

they are stored in the reader’s oral vocabulary. The ability to “segment pronunciations

into phonemes that link to graphemes” is thought to strengthen these connections

(National Reading Panel Report, 1998).

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How can teachers help students develop phonemic awareness?

Even though it is likely that students will develop some phonemic awareness through

phonics instruction (even if it does not explicitly deal with phonemes), “the extent of

phonemic awareness needed to contribute maximally to children’s reading development

does not arise from incidental learning or instruction that is not focused on this objective”

(National Reading Panel Report, 1998). Therefore, it is important that teachers understand how and how much to teach phonemic awareness. The following points highlight

key ideas for teaching phonemic awareness:

 Teachers should assess the kinds of phonemic awareness tasks students are able

to perform and plan instruction accordingly. Non-readers in kindergarten and

first grade who have developed little or no phonemic awareness will benefit

from explicit instruction that begins with the easier levels of phonemic awareness, such as identifying the initial sounds in spoken words. More mature

readers may need instruction in segmenting, blending, and deleting phonemes.

These more difficult levels of phonemic awareness are useful in a number of

word recognition strategies.

 Phonemic awareness instruction that focuses on one or two skills at a time is

more effective than trying to teach many different phonemic awareness skills at

the same time.

 Teaching young readers to segment phonemes appears to be as effective in helping

them learn to read as instruction in both segmenting and blending (Torgesen et al.,

1992). While blending is an essential skill for use in decoding, Torgesen et al. found

that a good deal of emphasis should be placed on segmenting words into phonemes.

 Using small groups to teach phonemic awareness seems to be more effective than

other grouping patterns. Children may learn from listening to the responses of other

children as well as from their own opportunities to practice phonemic awareness.

 Instruction in letters should accompany phonemic awareness instruction

(Blachman et al., 1994). Teaching students to use letters to manipulate phonemes

increases the application of phonemic awareness to reading and writing.

 By making it clear to students how phonemic awareness is connected to reading

and writing, the teacher increases its impact on reading achievement

(Cunningham, 1990). Isolated phonemic awareness training improves reading

outcomes to a greater extent if its application to reading and writing is stressed.

 Manipulatives can be effective aids in teaching phonemic awareness. Having

students move blank tiles or letters as they pronounced phonemes in given words

was found to be a key activity in a program of phonemic awareness instruction

that produced a significant transfer of learning to reading and spelling

(Blachman et al., 1994).

 Focusing attention on the changes that take place in the mouth as words are

pronounced is an effective way to identify phonemes. By helping students notice

the position and movement of their lips and tongue, teachers can increase students’ ability to identify, count, and segment phonemes. For example, when the

word foot is spoken, the lower lip is held against the teeth as air is forced out to

pronounce the phoneme /f/. Then, the mouth forms a circle as the /o/ is pronounced. Finally, the tongue touches the roof of the mouth to make the /t/

(Lindamood & Lindamood, 1975).

 Working with children to spell words by listening for individual phonemes and

identifying the letters that represent those phonemes helps to teach segmenting

and improves children’s ability to recognize unfamiliar words. It is helpful to

encourage children to think about how their mouths change as they repeat the

word they are trying to spell, because this helps them to segment and identify

individual phonemes.

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Many excellent phonemic-awareness training programs are available. Teachers should be

aware of the key features that make phonemic-awareness training effective so that they

are able to evaluate the different programs and select the one that best suits the needs of

their students. Teachers should then use the materials provided in that program in a

manner that is consistent with the research findings cited above.

A final word on phonemic awareness

Phonemic awareness is a critical component of learning to read, but phonemic awareness

by itself is not a complete program of reading instruction. It is only a means by which

children come to understand how sounds match up with letters in written words. It is

important, therefore, that children learn the letters of the alphabet and the letter-sound

relationships that are taught through phonics instruction. Together, phonemic awareness

and phonics instruction provide a sound foundation for using the alphabetic principle to

learn to read.

Discovering the Alphabetic Principle: Teaching Phonics Effectively

The alphabetic principle provides a somewhat technical explanation for how written

language or print represents spoken language. According to the alphabetic principle, the

sounds of spoken language are represented in print by letters of the alphabet. A single

letter represents most speech sounds; for example, the letter m represents the first sound

in the word money. Some speech sounds, however, require more than one letter; for

example, the letters ch are needed to represent the first sound in the word chalk.

Adult readers use the alphabetic principle to recognize rare or unfamiliar words without

thinking about it. The idea that letters represent the sounds of speech seems so obvious to

them that they do not need to consciously apply it as they read. In fact, many adult

readers probably could not explain the alphabetic principle very clearly, even though they

use it well in their own reading. Teachers, however, need to understand and be able to

explain the alphabetic principle. Young children can learn the alphabetic principle

incidentally through exposure to print over a long period of time, but they can learn it

much faster if their experiences with print are accompanied by clear explanations of how

print represents the sounds of spoken language. The critical role of the teacher is to

provide meaningful experiences with print along with clear explanations of how letters in

written words are used to represent the sounds of spoken words.

Young children learn to speak the language of their family without being taught the

arbitrary rules that govern that language. They learn to use correct grammar and appropriate sentence structure without being taught the technical aspects of subject-verb agreement and other rules. Learning to read that language, however, does require explicit

instruction (Liberman, Shankweiler, & Liberman, 1989), instruction that should include

the alphabetic principle as a tool for unlocking the mystery of print. Readers have

acquired the alphabetic principle when they are able to identify unknown words by using

the knowledge that letters can represent phonemes and that whenever a particular

phoneme occurs in a word, the same letter can represent it.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Alphabetic principle

 Onsets

 Phonemes

 Phonemic awareness

 Phonological awareness

 Rimes

27

Definitions appear in the glossary.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Diagram of the alphabetic principle in action

The process that readers use in applying the alphabetic principle is explained in the

diagram below.

The reader identifies the individual phonemes represented by the letters in the

word—/sh/ /a/ /d/ /o/.

Upon encountering an unknown word, such as shadow (a word for which no

immediate match is made), the reader employs a fallback strategy that involves the

alphabetic principle.

As each word is recognized, a match is made between the sequence of letters and a

pronunciation and the meaning in the reader’s oral vocabulary.

The boy jumped when he saw his shadow.

The alphabetic principle is the first step in creating the estimated pronunciation. What is

necessary, however, to reliably apply the alphabetic principle? The reader who can use the

alphabetic principle must know three things:

1. The letter-sound associations for each letter in the words he will read

(what phoneme is represented by each letter or combination of letters)

2. That the phonemes represented by those letters are separate segments of

those words

3. That the phonemes can and do occur in other words and in other positions

within words

Research examining how young children acquire the alphabetic principle indicates that

learning that phonemes can and do occur in other words and in other positions is more

difficult than learning the other two concepts (Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1989). However,

explicit instruction is needed in all three concepts. The instructional approach that appears to

be the most effective in teaching letter-sound associations is systematic phonics instruction.

The reader uses an assembly routine to blend the phonemes into an estimate of

the pronunciation of the word.

The reader searches his oral vocabulary for a pronunciation that matches

the estimate.

If the meaning associated with that pronunciation makes sense in the sentence,

the reader returns to reading by sight.

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Systematic phonics instruction

The research supporting systematic phonics instruction extends back to the work of

Jeanne Chall (1967). Chall’s extensive review of the theory and practical application of

beginning reading instruction concluded that systematic phonics instruction initiated early

in children’s school experiences seemed to produce stronger reading achievement than

instruction initiated later and in a less systematic manner. Even though “phonics instruction has become entangled with politics and ideology” (National Reading Panel Report,

1998), the evidence to support the use of systematic phonics instruction has continued to

grow (see Adams, 1990, for a review of this research).

Two categories of systematic phonics instruction have been the focus of considerable study:

 Synthetic phonics—students are taught to sound out words by matching

phonemes to graphemes (sounds to letters) and then blending the sounds to

create a trial pronunciation.

 Larger-unit phonics—students are taught to detect and blend word parts (units)

that are larger than phonemes, such as onsets and rimes, phonograms, and

spelling patterns.

Both categories produced results that reflected a moderate but statistically significant

impact on reading achievement (National Reading Panel Report, 1998).

The following findings are included in the National Reading Panel’s Report (1998) on the

efficacy of systematic phonics instruction:

 Systematic phonics instruction was shown to produce improvement in reading

and spelling in kindergarten through sixth grade, even with some children who

were struggling with learning to read. The contribution of systematic phonics

instruction to reading achievement was greater than the contributions of programs that provide unsystematic phonics instruction and programs that include

no phonics instruction.

 Positive results were much larger with younger students (kindergarten students

and first-graders), which indicates that beginning systematic phonics instruction

early is helpful.

 Systematic phonics instruction produced gains when used in one-on-one

tutoring, with small groups, and in whole-class instruction.

 Gains in reading were demonstrated by children from all socioeconomic levels.

 Systematic phonics instruction showed greater impact on word-reading outcomes

than on text-comprehension outcomes.

This last finding serves as a reminder that a strong reading program must include more

than systematic phonics instruction. The National Reading Panel addressed the importance of placing systematic phonics instruction within a “balanced reading program” by

stating the following:

Finally, it is important to emphasize that systematic phonics instruction should

be integrated with other reading instruction to create a balanced reading program.

Phonics instruction is never a total reading program. In first grade, teachers can

provide controlled vocabulary texts that allow students to practice decoding, and they

can also read quality literature to students to build a sense of story and to develop

vocabulary and comprehension. Phonics should not become the dominant component in a reading program, neither in the amount of time devoted to it nor in the

significance attached. It is important to evaluate children’s reading competence in

many ways, not only by their phonics skills but also by their interest in books and

their ability to understand information that is read to them. By emphasizing all of the

processes that contribute to growth in reading, teachers will have the best chance of

making every child a reader. (p. 2-97)

Although differences exist, the

hallmark of systematic phonics

programs is that they delineate

a planned, sequential set of

phonic elements and they

teach these elements explicitly

and systematically.

 —National Reading Panel, 1998

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Whole language and systematic phonics instruction

Whole language teachers provide instruction in letter-sound correspondences within the context

of meaningful reading and writing experiences. They deal with these relationships as the need

arises rather than through a systematic sequence. This approach integrates the phonics instruction they do provide into a range of reading and writing activities. Whole language proponents

believe that as students read and write, they will acquire what they need to know about lettersound correspondences and the alphabetic principle. They see the teacher’s role as responding

with relevant instruction to the immediate needs of students as they read and write.

Elements of systematic phonics instruction that are absent from most forms of whole

language instruction include teaching vowels (Stahl, Duffy-Hester, & Stahl, 1998) and

“teaching children to say the sounds of letters and blend them to decode unfamiliar

words” (National Reading Panel Report, 1998). Systematic phonics programs also

specify the letter-sound relationships to be taught. In contrast, whole language programs

typically allow the selection of letter-sound relationships for instruction to be made as

students demonstrate a need for them as they grow as readers and writers.

Note: For a more expansive discussion of how whole language compares to systematic

phonics instruction, see Hall and Moats (1998). These authors clearly, intelligently, and

succinctly explain the aspects of whole language instruction that can lead to the omission

of key elements of a sound reading program.

Questions and answers in teaching the alphabetic principle

Three questions arise when designing instruction to teach the alphabetic principle, and

they correspond to the three key elements identified previously as necessary to understand and apply the principle.

1. How can letter-sound associations be made clear to students?

Contrary to the practice utilized by popular primary-grade reading materials, letter-sound

correspondence should be taught by moving from sound to letter(s) rather than from

letter(s) to sound (Hall, 1998). Written language was developed to represent an already

established spoken language, so beginning with speech sounds rather than letters corresponds to the natural development of language. Furthermore, when instruction is based on

the letters of the alphabet rather than speech sounds, confusion can arise because there are

many speech sounds that do not have a single corresponding letter.

Hall (1998) shares an example of how beginning with letters can create confusion for

young readers. “Word wall” displays, such as the one below, provide a way for young

readers to recall words they are learning but cannot recognize by sight. While they are

excellent teaching tools that can be used for a number of purposes, care should be used to

avoid giving students misconceptions about the relationships between sounds and letters.

For example, included in this display are six different sounds that can be represented by

the letter o. Looking at this display on a bulletin board might lead students to believe that

there is no systematic correspondence between letters and sounds.

Aa Ee Ii Oo Uu

apple egg it orange under

and eight is of use

away eat in on us

all end I’m out united

are once

open

off

30

A less confusing approach would be to introduce students to a phoneme (a segment of spoken

words) and then illustrate the letter(s) or letter combination(s) that represent that sound. The

following text box provides an example of what this type of instruction might sound like.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Orthographic or spelling conventions are a part of the type of instruction demonstrated above. Although they should be taught as generalizations rather than rules,

they can be very helpful in making English spellings seem less irregular. For example,

when a word ends with the phoneme /j/, it is spelled using ge or dge. Teaching

patterns such as these can provide support for both reading and spelling.

2. How can students learn that the phonemes they hear are separate segments of words?

Students must first understand that spoken and written language can be divided into

increasingly smaller segments. They must know that language consists of sentences

that represent complete thoughts, that sentences are made up of words, that words

have syllables, and that most syllables are made up of onsets and rimes. Once they

know these concepts, they are ready to search for and manipulate phonemes.

Teacher: We’re going to begin working with a new sound today. I’m going to

say five words that have this sound in them, and I want you to guess what

the new sound is. You’ll have to listen well because in these examples this

new sound sometimes comes at the beginning of the word and sometimes it

comes at the end of the word.

cup can lake week kite

What do you think the new sound is?

Students: /k/

Teacher: That’s right! Now, I’m going to say those same five words, and I

want you to listen for where the sound is in the word. If you hear it at the

beginning of the word, put your thumbs up. If you hear it at the end of the

word, put your thumbs down. The teacher repeats the words, watching

students’ responses carefully to see who can differentiate the sound’s

position in the sample words.

That’s really good! Now, I’m going to say a word that has the /k/ at the

beginning and the end.

 kick

Can you tell us a word that has this sound in it?

Students: (students provide additional examples)

Teacher: Before we look at the letters that can stand for this sound, I have a

word that has the sound in the middle. Listen carefully.

 pocket

We know that this sound, the /k/, can be at the beginning, the end, or the

middle of a word, and it sounds the same, no matter where we hear it in the

word. But, there are several letters that can represent this sound. This means

that we don’t always use the same letters to spell this sound in words. Let’s

use the first five examples I gave you and look at how this sound is spelled.

The teacher lists the original words on the board and leads the children

to discover the different letter combinations that can represent this

sound. There are two other letter combinations that represent the

phoneme /k/—ch, as in school or schedule, and que, as in antique or

oblique. These spellings will be introduced later, after students have

established the more common spellings for this phoneme.

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Adams, Foorman, Lundberg, and Beeler’s (1998) research recommends beginning

with initial and final sounds. Help students to hear the first phoneme in a one-syllable

word and to hear how it sounds when it is separated from the rest of the word: “Let’s

say call without the /k/.” Provide practice with words that are still real words when the

initial sound is removed (gate becomes ate, stop becomes top). Then, work with

words that can be turned into new words by adding a new initial sound (and becomes

hand, pot becomes spot).

The level of abstraction of phonemes makes it important to use as many concrete aids

as possible in demonstrating them (see Phonemic Awareness in Young Children,

Adams, Foorman, Lundberg, & Beeler, 1998, for several excellent examples). Also,

have children put their hands over their lips as they say each phoneme so that the

differences become not only what they hear but also what they feel when they create

these sounds.

3. How can we help students understand that phonemes can occur in any part of a word?

Lessons, such as the one that appears in the text box on the previous page, go a long

way toward helping students discover that phonemes can appear in any part of the

word without changing their sound. Providing students with multiple examples of the

same phoneme represented by the same letter but appearing in different parts of

different words is the most effective approach to helping them develop this understanding. Asking students to provide additional examples of their own is also useful.

What else is needed to use the alphabetic principle to decode new or unknown words?

The alphabetic principle is a necessary condition for reading new or unknown words, but

it is not sufficient. The young reader must also be able to

1. Blend the string of phonemes represented by the letters of the new or unknown

words to form a guess at their pronunciation.

2. Match that pronunciation with those that exist in his oral vocabulary (this may

require several attempts as the reader experiments with different pronunciations).

3. Determine if the meaning of the matched pronunciation makes sense in the sentence.

Phases of Learning New Words

A reader’s ability to make a strong mental connection between a word in print and its

pronunciation and meaning(s) develops in phases. Each phase is marked by a different

strategy for making these connections. It is important for teachers to know what these

phases are, how new words are learned by students in each phase, and how to plan

instruction and practice that moves children toward the more advanced phases.

As a way to begin thinking about these phases, read through the following descriptions of

students applying different strategies for learning new words. They are listed here in the

sequence that reflects the normal development of a skilled reader.

 Sharon looks at the sign taped to her teacher’s chair. On the sign, her teacher has

printed the word CHAIR in large block letters. She thinks to herself that the

second letter looks like a chair, so she decides to use that mental picture to

remember that the word is chair.

 Jimmy learned the word March when his teacher introduced it on the chalkboard

at school. He learned to recognize the word by the first letter, an uppercase M.

Unfortunately, it is now the month after April, and Jimmy is staring at the

calendar on the wall. Is it March again so soon, he thinks to himself?

 When Terri learns a new word, she looks carefully at each letter. She has learned

that many words look alike and that this makes it important to pay attention to

all of the letters in a word. She knows that if you just look at some of the letters,

you can make mistakes in recognizing words that share letters (book—boo,

patch—path, sick—sink).

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Blending

 Consolidated-alphabetic

phase

 Decoding

 Decoding sequence

 Full-alphabetic phase

 Onsets

 Oral vocabulary

 Partial-alphabetic phase

 Phoneme

 Phonological awareness

 Pre-alphabetic phase

 Rimes

 Spelling patterns

Definitions appear in the glossary.

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 LaToya is reading in a book she checked out from the Media Center, and she has

encountered an unfamiliar word. It is not totally unfamiliar because one part of

the word has a pattern of letters LaToya has seen in many other words. She

guesses that this part of the word sounds like it does in other words. This gives

her a head start in sounding the word out and in recognizing it faster when she

sees it again.

A reader is said to have “learned” a word when he recognizes it immediately, when he

knows it by sight. What are the types of strategies readers use to learn new words? In

other words, how do they make connections between words in print and the pronunciations and meanings of those words in their oral vocabulary? Looking at these strategies as

ways of making connections means thinking about cognitive processes, not methods of

instruction. Learning new words is a connection-forming process that occurs in the

reader’s mind. Although this process has instructional implications that will be addressed

in this section, our primary focus is on what takes place in a reader’s mind as the initial

connections or “access routes” are established for new words.

As stated earlier, the two goals of instruction regarding word recognition are for the child

to know the greatest number of words by sight and to be able to identify unknown words

as rapidly as possible. How do children learn to recognize words by sight? Ehri (1998)

has refined her earlier description of phases of learning new words to reflect the different

types of connections linking words in print to their pronunciations and meanings in the

reader’s oral vocabulary. When this connection is strong enough that the child recognizes

the word immediately, the child has learned to recognize the word by sight.

The benefit of knowing words by sight is that words are recognized rapidly and automatically so that little working memory is needed for decoding or performing other processes

to read unfamiliar words. As a result, maximum attention can be devoted to comprehending the meaning of the text.

It is the letters in words that are linked or connected with the pronunciations and meanings of those words. Ehri describes the usefulness of this important fact in this way:

Consider the feat that skilled readers perform when they read words by sight. They

are able to recognize in an instant any one of many thousands of words. They

recognize one unique word and bypass many other similarly spelled words. For

example, consider all the words that must be overlooked to read the word stick

accurately: not only stink, slick, and slink, which have similar shapes as well as

letters, but also sting, sling, string, as well as sick, sing, and sink. Moreover, skilled

readers can remember how to read new sight words with very little practice.

Memorizing arbitrary associations between the shapes and meanings of words

cannot explain how skilled readers do what they do. Sight word reading must involve

remembering letters in the words. These are the distinctive cues that make one

word different from all the others (emphasis added).

One way to describe the development of strategies for learning new words is to distinguish the types of connections the reader makes in linking new words to pronunciations

and meanings. The following four phases represent a clear description of how to differentiate these types of connections.

Pre-alphabetic phase

Younger readers make mental connections between strong visual features of words and

their pronunciations and meanings. Examples include “seeing” two round eyes in the

word look and using that mental picture to remember the word each time it is encountered

in print, and remembering the word camel by picturing the letter m as two humps. Lettersound relationships are not used to form connections in this phase, only visually distinctive cues, hence the label pre-alphabetic.

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When a young child sees the logo of his favorite restaurant and calls out the restaurant’s

name but cannot recognize the name when it is printed in a different style on the receipt,

the child is reading in the pre-alphabetic phase. Young readers in this phase at times may

connect visual cues to meaning rather than pronunciations. This explains why prealphabetic readers in one study (Harste, Woodward, & Burke, 1982) responded with

answers that were equivalent in meaning when asked to read environmental print. The

readers replied with “brush teeth” or “toothpaste” when asked to read the word Crest.

Young children use pre-alphabetic strategies, such as associating meaning with strong

visual features or the design of a logo surrounding a word, when they want to read but

have not learned to employ a systematic relationship between letters and sounds. These

visual cues are not reliable, however, because they do not allow readers to distinguish

among visually similar words (i.e., talk and tall). Furthermore, the mental task of

identifying visually distinct features for every word and committing them to memory is

beyond the capacity of child or adult. Finally, pre-alphabetic readers cannot learn new

words by translating the letters into phonemes and sounding the words out.

Hall and Moats (1999) identified the following instructional activities as appropriate for

children who are in the pre-alphabetic phase:

Print awareness activities such as:

 Identifying the names of the letters of the alphabet

 Pointing to words in big books or on the board as they are read

Phonemic awareness activities such as:

 Identifying words that rhyme

 Counting syllables in a spoken word

 Matching initial consonants with spoken words

 Manipulating phonemes (adding, deleting, or substituting phonemes in

various positions within the word)

Partial-alphabetic phase

As readers progress to this phase, they begin making connections between some of the

letters in a word and the sounds of those letters within the word’s pronunciation. The

reader in this phase may use the initial and final consonants to connect a word with its

pronunciation. For example, connecting the initial consonant s and the final consonant l

with the pronunciation of the word school may allow a reader to recognize the word when

he sees it again.

Readers in this phase may lack a working knowledge of vowels and may not be able to

segment pronunciations into phonemes and then match the phonemes with individual

letters. They may also mistake similar appearing words, such as shall or stroll for school,

because the connection they have made involves only the initial and final consonants.

Still, partial-alphabetic phase readers learn new words much faster than pre-alphabetic

readers because the mental connections they form are supported by a systematic set of

letter-sound associations rather than an arbitrary visual cue.

Activities that teach the alphabetic principle are helpful in moving students from

the partial-alphabetic phase to the next two phases (Hall & Moats, 1999). Here

are three examples of such activities:

 Building words from known letters (see example lesson script on page 38)

 Practicing separating words into their individual phonemes (teaching

children to say each sound distinctly, for example saying cat as /c/ /a/ /t/)

 Blending individual phonemes into whole words

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Full-alphabetic phase

As these readers learn new words, they now make connections between the sequences of

letters in a word and the phonemes that make up their pronunciations. They know how

letters or combinations of letters represent phonemes, and they utilize all of the letters in

a word when making a connection or access route to its pronunciation and meaning. This

approach produces far more accurate reading because the reader can now distinguish

among words with similar spellings. Reaching this phase in reading development also has

implications for learning new words as well as for recognizing known words. In a study

by Ehri and Wilce (1987), readers who used full-alphabetic phase strategies were able to

learn a list of similarly spelled words, such as bend and blond, drip and dump, lap and

lamp, in only three trials. Readers who could apply only partial-alphabetic phase strategies could read only six of the fifteen words after seven trials.

Processing all of the letters in a word also enables the reader to generate pronunciations

of entirely new words, something not possible for readers in previous phases. Blending

the individual phonemes into a single unit creates an estimate of the word’s pronunciation

that can be matched against known pronunciations to locate the word’s identity and

meaning in the reader’s oral vocabulary. Once the new word has been practiced frequently enough to establish a strong connection between the sequence of letters and the

pronunciation and meaning, the word becomes part of the reader’s sight vocabulary.

Another advantage readers gain when they move into the full-alphabetic phase is the use

of analogizing to recognize unfamiliar words. One possible explanation for this increased

ability to use known words to identify unknown words is that partial alphabetic readers,

unlike full-alphabetic readers still have incomplete information about the words in their

memory, and this information is not adequate to recognize similarities in spellings (Ehri

& Robbins, 1992).

Activities that focus children’s attention on the sequence of letters in words, such as using

invented spelling, are helpful in developing important skills related to the full-alphabetic

phase. The following are three examples of other activities that also increase these skills:

 Practicing actual decoding of unfamiliar words

 Giving students opportunities to read new words in a meaningful context

 Encouraging children to use new words they are learning in their own writing

Consolidated-alphabetic phase

As the reader’s oral vocabulary grows, more and more spelling patterns are identified and

consolidated. This consolidation occurs when the reader determines that a sequence of

letters is used in many different words to represent the same blend of phonemes. These

multi-letter sequences become unified in the reader’s understanding of the spelling system.

The reader who recognizes that need, weed, speed, and freed all contain the pattern eed is

able to learn new words that contain that pattern, such as deed, indeed, steed, and greed,

much easier and faster. Such consolidated units also allow faster access to pronunciations

and meanings by speeding letter identification (Juel, 1983). The reader can now recognize

the cluster of letters that makes up the spelling pattern as a familiar unit.

Consolidation allows the reader to learn new words through fewer connections. For example,

a consolidated phase reader might be able to learn the word spend by making only two

connections—the two patterns sp and end—rather than five separate letter-sound connections.

By the time students are nearing the end of second grade, their sight vocabulary should be

great enough to allow this consolidation of spelling patterns (Leslie & Thimke, 1986).

Therefore, it is usually at some time after second grade that readers who employ consolidated spelling patterns become faster readers.

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Hall and Moats (1999) suggest the following activities for introducing the concept of

spelling patterns or “word families” and teaching the most common ones.

 Model the use of analogizing to recognize unfamiliar words, and provide

practice for students in using this strategy.

 Involve students in game-like practice activities in which they see who can build

the most words using a single spelling pattern. For instance, ask students: “How

many words can you make using the spelling pattern ake?”

 Introduce the idea of “meaningful word parts” by explaining the following:

 Prefixes and suffixes that are consistent across a wide range of words and

that impact meaning without changing spelling, such as practical and

impractical, believable and unbelievable, or taste and distasteful

 Plural and past tense endings, such as s, es, and ed

 Word parts that retain a consistent spelling even when the pronunciation

changes from one word form to another, such as resign and resignation,

define and definition, heal and health

Instructional implications of the four phases of learning words

Letter knowledge is a key component of moving from pre-alphabetic phase reading to the

more advanced phases. Activities that give younger readers opportunities to learn the

names of the letters of the alphabet and how these letters represent phonemes within

spoken words help students progress beyond the pre-alphabetic phase.

Readers must make the connection between individual letters or combinations of letters

and the phonemes they represent. Children’s spellings of words they have not been taught

can give their teacher insight into how well they have made this connection. Analyzing

students’ writing gives the teacher a way to determine which letter-sound associations

students have learned and which need to be learned. Phonics instruction helps to establish

these letter-sound relationships.

Students who do not possess letter knowledge and phonemic awareness must be provided

with intensive instruction in these concepts. Kindergarten students who may appear nearly

identical in terms of spoken language ability may differ greatly in their knowledge of letters

and their ability to connect letters to speech sounds. The classroom teacher must know

where each child is in the development of these important skills. Phonemic awareness

activities can be done with children individually or in small groups as a way of diagnosing

the level of phonemic awareness of each child.

Beyond kindergarten, developing readers must be able to use letter-sound correspondences (with particular emphasis on vowels). Key subskills include being able to separate

spoken words into their component phonemes (oral word games are a great way to

develop and practice this ability), seeing printed words as a sequence of letters that can be

segmented to represent specific phonemes, and understanding how letters represent

phonemes in a systematic way.

Once children have begun to move into the full-alphabetic phase, direct instruction is

necessary and successful in helping students to learn multiple strategies for recognizing

unfamiliar words.

Strategies for recognizing unfamiliar words

The primary strategies good readers use in the advanced phases of learning new words

are decoding, analogizing, and using spelling patterns. These strategies serve to build the

reader’s sight vocabulary by allowing him to recognize unfamiliar words quickly and to

make strong connections between a word in print and information about that word in his

oral vocabulary. These strong connections enable the reader to recognize the word by

sight when it is encountered again.

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Decoding

What is decoding?

Decoding is what teachers are referring to when they encourage readers to “sound out”

words they do not recognize immediately. When words are printed on a page of a book or

written on the chalkboard or on a piece of paper, the letters represent the sounds that

make up the spoken versions of those words. When a reader spells a word, he encodes its

pronunciation (the sound of the spoken word) into symbols called letters. If words in print

have been encoded, then translating them back into sounds is decoding. Therefore,

decoding is matching up the letters of a word in print with the sounds those letters

represent and blending those sounds together to create the word’s pronunciation. When a

reader tries to recognize an unfamiliar word, it is the product of decoding (the reader’s

estimate of the word’s pronunciation) that is used to search his oral vocabulary for other

information about the word, such as its meaning and typical function in a sentence.

Rapid and accurate decoding is essential to skilled reading. A reader who is not proficient in

decoding will bog down when reading a text in which more than five to ten percent of the

words are unfamiliar. This slowdown affects comprehension, because as more working

memory—the place in the brain where mental tasks are performed—is required for decoding,

less is available for comprehension. When less working memory is available for comprehension, the meanings of words that appeared earlier in the sentence (prior to encountering the

unfamiliar word) can be lost. Without holding all of the meanings of the words of the sentence

in working memory, the reader cannot make sense of the sentence. In other words, comprehension suffers when the reader is so slow at decoding that the meanings of other words in the

sentence disappear before the reader can combine them and analyze their collective meaning

in the sentence. A strong decoder will be able to sound out unfamiliar words quickly and not

have the meanings of other words drop out of working memory.

The foundation needed for developing decoding skill is quite broad. In fact, nearly all of

what has been reviewed up to this point concerning word recognition is part of the foundation for learning to decode unfamiliar words: decoding skill is based on phonemic awareness, application of the alphabetic principle, and knowledge of how words are spelled or the

rules and conventions of the English spelling system. The focus of this section, however, is

the narrower topic of teaching the actual process of decoding. Insights into how to build

decoding skill as readers develop more efficient methods of learning new words are

combined with practical suggestions for teaching the steps of decoding.

Teaching decoding

There are a great many fundamental ideas and skills that children need to learn and master as

they move toward the ability to sound out new words. Matching letters to sounds involves

knowing the more common representations of the phonemes of the English language. With

over 1,100 different ways to spell those 40+ sounds, this is quite a challenging task.

Segmenting and blending phonemes, another important part of decoding, requires explicit

instruction and substantial practice for most young children (oral word games can be used

to make this work fun for children).

The final piece of decoding is matching the trial pronunciation created by blending the

separate phonemes to the pronunciations of known words in the reader’s oral vocabulary.

To accomplish this final piece of decoding, the student needs an ever-growing oral

vocabulary. If no pronunciation and meaning exist in the reader’s oral vocabulary, the

reader will have nothing to match his trial pronunciation against. It would be as if he were

decoding a word from a foreign language.

These foundational ideas and skills—strong phonemic awareness, extensive letter-sound

associations, and a broad oral vocabulary—are necessary for effective decoding. However,

they are not sufficient for most readers to develop and refine their skills in decoding. The

reader must also have a substantial amount of practice and coaching.

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The sample lesson script on page 39 illustrates just one example of how a teacher might

present a lesson on decoding. The teacher is working with words that are not in context;

that is, the words are presented in list form rather than in a sentence or passage of text.

Without a context, the teacher has to focus on matching sounds with individual letters.

Later, when teaching a more comprehensive lesson on the decoding sequence children

should use in recognizing unfamiliar words in meaningful text, the teacher will demonstrate how to use the context to assist the children in this process.

Activities that strengthen students’ phonemic awareness and skill in blending individual

phonemes into whole words are the main strategies teachers use to build skill in decoding. Here are some examples of how teachers provide this type of instruction:

 Phoneme identification instruction in which the teacher isolates a specific phoneme for students and teaches the letter(s) that represent the phoneme. (See the

example of this type of instruction above.)

Sample Lesson Script on Building Words

Teacher: We’re going to practice using our “building block” letters—the

letters we have already learned—to make new words. Get out your “building

block” letters. Watch carefully how I build the first word.

The teacher puts a single card in a pocket on her chart pad. It contains

the letter b

This is the letter b. What is its sound? Steve?

Steve: It says “buh.”

Teacher: That’s right, it says /b/.

The teacher puts a second card in the pocket so that it now holds bi.

What’s the sound? Gerri?

Gerri: /i/

Teacher: Great, you used the short i sound! Let’s blend these two sounds:

The teacher sweeps her hand below the letters from left to right as she

models the blending of these two sounds.

Let’s add another letter.

The teacher adds a card with the letter g

What is this sound—just the sound of this letter? Lynn?

Lynn: /g/

Teacher: Yes, now, let’s blend all three sounds.

The teacher sweeps her hand below the three letters from left to right

as she models the blending of these sounds. Her pronunciation is

exaggerated, but students recognize the word big. The students build

the word big with their letter cubes and practice blending the individual

phonemes into a single word as they place the letters side by side in

the correct sequence. After they have built several new words, the

teacher calls on individual students to use one or more of the words in

a sentence. To conclude the lesson, the students practice writing

simple sentences that include one or more of the words.

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 Oral segmentation tasks, such as

 Saying words by syllables—“Listen to the word paper. Say it syllable by

syllable: pa-per.”

 Dividing syllables into onsets and rimes—“Listen to the word man. Now,

say the first sound and then the rest of the word: /m/...an.”

 Segmenting words phoneme by phoneme—“Listen to the word beach.

Now, say it one sound at a time: /b/ /e/ /ch/.”

 Oral blending tasks that are the reverse of the segmentation tasks, such as

 Going from syllables to a whole word—“Listen to these word parts, ta-ble.

Now, say them as one word: table.”

 Putting onsets and rimes together—“Listen to the parts of this onesyllable word, /m/...an. Now, say them as one word: man.”

 Blending individual phonemes—“Listen to these sounds /b/ /e/ /ch/.

Now, slide them into one another as you blend them into one word: beach.”

Blending individual phonemes into a whole word is a skill that requires modeling and

practice. The use of hand gestures, such as sweeping from left to right as you blend the

individual sounds, can reinforce the idea that readers blend the sounds together from left

to right in the sequence in which the letters appear in the printed word. Some teachers

model blending in three stages: (1) saying the isolated phonemes in the proper sequence,

(2) blending them “halfway” so students can still hear not only the individual sounds but

also how they are becoming more like a whole word, and (3) blending them completely

so that the sounds are pronounced as a seamless unit just as they are in natural speech.

Building a decoding sequence

What does the teacher expect children to do when they are told to “sound the word out”?

A well-thought-out decoding sequence provides children with concrete steps to perform

this task. Elementary teachers from several schools in Orange County, Florida, constructed the following decoding sequence. It represents their collective thinking on what

they want children to do when they encounter an unfamiliar word. Each step of the

process is accompanied by an explanation of the rationale for including that step. Other

groups of teachers might create a different decoding sequence. For example, some

teachers feel that using the context of the sentence or passage should be emphasized.

Others believe that context should be used only when the child has used letter-sound

correspondences to narrow the field of words that might make sense in the sentence.

Strategy or Step

Look at each letter

in the word.

Say the first sound (the

first sound may be made

by one or more letters—b, c,

d, f, g, h or th, sh, ch, etc.).

Words are processed as a sequence of letters.

Focusing students’ attention on the sequence

(the entire sequence) of letters may lead to word

recognition. That is, the correct pronunciation

may “pop out.”

With some readers and some words, identifying

the initial sound may be combined with contextual clues and lead to word recognition. For

example, in the sentence “The sun was shining,”

a reader might recognize the word shining by

thinking, “What word that starts with /sh/ would

make sense in this sentence?”

Rationale (Why do we want readers to do this?)

Continued

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What do we tell children to do when they come to an unfamiliar or unknown word?
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Rime analogies and spelling patterns

What are rime analogies?

Syllables can be thought of as having one or two parts. Every syllable has a rime. The

rime is the vowel or vowel and following consonant(s) within a syllable. When a syllable

has an initial consonant or consonant cluster preceding the rime, this part of the syllable

is called the onset.

A rime analogy occurs when two or more words contain syllables with rimes that share

the same cluster of letters. For example, the words beak, leak, streak, and teak share the

letters eak. Because the rime of each of these one-syllable words contains the same

cluster of letters, these words represent rime analogies. Rime analogies are the foundation

for word families. Word families are groups of words that share common letters in the

rimes of a syllable (usually the final syllable).

As readers become more skilled in decoding, the introduction of rime analogies can have

significant benefits in terms of word recognition and comprehension (White & Cunningham,

1990, as cited in Goswami, 1998). By recognizing the similarity between the rime of a known

word and that of an unfamiliar word, the reader is able to analogize part of the unfamiliar

word’s pronunciation. Analogizing is an efficient way to decode unfamiliar words.

This section explains how the consistency in pronunciation of rimes makes them powerful tools for learning new words. It also shows how this concept can be explained and

modeled for students.

Look for parts of the word

that you recognize. In the

word planet readers might

recognize plan and/or net.

Sound out the other parts

by matching a sound to

each letter or combination

of letters (spelling patterns).

Add what you sounded out

to the parts you know. If you

have enough of the word

figured out, try to pronounce

it by blending the sounds.

If you still do not recognize

the word, say the sound made

by each letter and then blend

them into a single word.

If there is no word that you

know that sounds like your

guess, look at the letters

again and come up with a

different pronunciation.

This strategy becomes more useful as students

consolidate spelling patterns, such as ake, ell,

ook, ace, and eed.

Blending segmented sounds (phonemes) is the

second of the two core elements of decoding. It

must be practiced so that readers learn to make

an estimate of the pronunciation, search their

oral vocabulary for a match, and reformulate the

pronunciation if no match is found.

Because vowels are less predictable in their

pronunciation, it may be helpful to encourage

students to focus on the vowels in reformulating

their original pronunciation.

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Strategy or Step Rationale (Why do we want readers to do this?)

What do we tell children to do when they come to an unfamiliar or unknown word?
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Teaching rime analogies

A reader can apply the alphabetic principle when he understands the idea that spoken language

(sounds) can be represented by written language (letters and words). This makes learning to read a

fairly straightforward matter in languages where there is a high level of consistency in letter-sound

relationships—where each letter represents only one sound and each sound is represented by only

one letter. Part of what makes learning to read in English more difficult than learning to read in

some other languages is that letter-sound relationships in English are not completely consistent.

There are words with similar spellings but different pronunciations, such as heal and health, sign

and signal, as well as different spellings that produce similar pronunciations, such as hear and

here, sail and sale.

Nonetheless, there are consistencies that can be helpful in teaching reading. In a study of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) pattern words and syllables, the initial and final consonants were

found to be predictable in their pronunciation. In other words, when the initial consonant was the

same in two different words or syllables, it was pronounced the same 96% of the time. Final

consonants were pronounced the same in 91% of the comparisons.

Examples

All of these initial consonants are pronounced the same. The letter b represents the same phoneme

/b/ in all of these words and syllables.

bat back buy band basic baseball bottom

The final consonant t also is pronounced the same in all these words and syllables.

pat get cat what water defeat cement

When the vowels were analyzed, however, a large variation was observed. The same vowel was

pronounced the same only 51% of the time.

see set cat cake sit site

Vowels became more predictable when they were paired with the final consonant to form a rime. When

the vowel and final consonant were considered as a unit, they produced the same pronunciation 77% of the

time. This increase in the predictability of vowel pronunciations indicates that pairing vowels and final

consonants and treating them as a unit can be useful in helping readers to recognize unfamiliar words.

Before illustrating how this idea can be used with young readers, it will be helpful to look at how it fits

into the concept of phonological awareness. Phonological awareness was originally thought of in terms

of phonemes, but two other levels of phonological awareness are also important—syllables and onsetrimes. Pre-readers as young as four years old are able to detect syllables and a few are able to understand that syllables can have two parts. The two parts of a syllable are the onset or initial consonant and

the rime or vowel and following consonant. It is the consistency of the letter-sound relationship within

rimes that can be used to help readers identify and learn new words.

Examples

word or syllable onset rime

cat c at

book b ook

rent r ent

trip tr ip

school sch ool

winter w, t in, er

Goswami (1998) identifies three critical tasks for teachers who want to use rime analogies (the

consistency of pronunciation of words and syllables with identical rimes) to increase both decoding

and comprehension.

1. Teach the awareness of rhyming words, and help young readers to identify

rhyming words.

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2. Introduce spelling patterns involving shared rimes through the use of word

families, such as ook found in book, look, cook, took, nook, and shook.

3. Teach students to use rime analogies through modeling. Show them how to use

a “clue word” or known member of a word family to identify an unknown word

in the same family and how to use rime analogies in spelling (see examples below).

If a new word that belongs to a known word family is encountered in a story that the class

or reading group is reading, young readers can be guided in applying what they know

about rime analogies and segmenting and blending phonemes to identify the new word.

Here is an example.

Teacher: Which of our word families does this word (crook) belong to?

Students: The ook family!

Teacher: Which part of the new word do we know how to pronounce because

it belongs to this word family?

Students: The last part.

Teacher: How is that part pronounced?

Students: ook

Teacher: Which part of the new word will we have to sound out?

Students: The first two sounds.

Teacher: How are they pronounced?

Students: /k/.../r/

Teacher: What do the two parts sound like when we blend them?

Students: /k/../r/..ook......crook

The unfamiliar word crook is found in a story being read aloud. The teacher calls the

group’s attention to the new word and leads it through this series of questions:

When students want to use rime analogies to spell unknown words they follow a similar

process. The questions the teacher might use to guide students in using this process are

as follows:

1. Which of our word families does the word I want to spell sound like it belongs to?

2. Which part of the word do I know how to spell because it belongs to this word

family? How is that part spelled?

3. Which part of the word will I have to sound out? How is it pronounced?

4. How many different sounds do I hear? What letter(s) make each sound?

5. When I put the letter(s) I sounded out and the letters from the word family

together, does my guess at the spelling look right?

What is a spelling pattern?

Any “chunk” or sequence of letters that occurs in a large number of words constitutes a

spelling pattern. Spelling patterns include common sequences of letters such as tion, st,

an, and port. Examples of words that include these spelling patterns are listed below.

tion st an port

nation stop tangible report

question first random portable

objectionable pasting advantage transportable

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Rime analogies are a subgroup of spelling patterns that have a specific form. Not all

spelling patterns are rime analogies, but all rime analogies are spelling patterns.

Leslie and Thimke (1986) found that a substantial sight vocabulary is necessary for

readers to begin identifying and using spelling patterns. Many students will have accumulated a sufficient sight-word vocabulary by the end of second grade. There are, however,

several strategies teachers can use to support early use of spelling patterns (Hall & Moats,

1999). These include pointing out spelling patterns in stories and books students are

reading, listing words in “word families” on a Word Wall, modeling the use of spelling

patterns within known words to recognize unfamiliar words that contain the same pattern,

and drawing students’ attention to meaningful word parts. Meaningful word parts include

prefixes, suffixes, and plural and past tense endings.

Instructional strategies for building a larger sight-word vocabulary

What is a sight-word vocabulary?

Sight words are those that are recognized immediately and without conscious effort. That

is, the connection between the sequence of letters that represent the word in print and its

meaning and pronunciation stored in the reader’s oral vocabulary has been strengthened

through repetition until it has become automatic. As a reader’s sight vocabulary grows, he

is able to devote more and more of his working memory to understanding the collective

meaning of the words he is reading.

Building a sight-word vocabulary

One of the important goals of reading instruction is to build an extensive sight-word

vocabulary. Here are several examples of how this can be accomplished.

 Teachers can provide texts that contain the targeted words repeated across sentences, paragraphs, and pages.

 Teachers can focus the readers’ attention on the important information about

these words prior to reading a text that contains the words by calling attention to

their spellings, pronunciations, meanings, and functions within sentences. For

instance, if the teacher wants the word echo to become part of her students’ sight

vocabulary, she might write it on the board and point out each phoneme and the

letters that represent the phoneme (how it sounds and how it is spelled). This is a

good time to have students play with the sound of the word by counting syllables

and saying the word in unison. The teacher might then use it in two or three sentences, illustrate its meaning by demonstrating how an echo sounds, and ask

students to use it in their own sentences.

 Teachers can help students to build their background knowledge about the word

by talking about its definition, looking at examples and non-examples, exploring

its history or origin, and comparing it to other words in the same word family.

 Teachers should also talk with students about how the word is used in the story

or text that they are about to read and conclude by having them look for the word

as they read.

An Overview of Kindergarten Strategies

The primary task of kindergarten teachers is to guide and facilitate the transition from the

home environment to the school environment. The strategies outlined in this section focus

on this concept of transition. They seek to take young children from where they are to where

they need to be in order to be successful in first grade. The kindergarten teacher keeps two

things in mind in planning and delivering instruction: (1) the developmental needs of her

students, and (2) the academic expectations of subsequent teachers who will be working

with these children through the next few years.

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This section concludes with a list of what a kindergarten child might accomplish during

this very important first year in school.

In designing and delivering classroom instruction, kindergarten teachers must balance the

need for developmentally appropriate instruction with the need to prepare their students

for first grade. Being ready for first grade involves the following:

 An understanding of the concepts and uses of print, including the idea that much

of what we learn, we learn from reading

 A familiarity with the format of books—the concepts of title, author, page, etc.

 An understanding of the structural elements of print—understanding what

letters, words, and sentences are

 Basic phonemic awareness—the understanding that spoken words are made up

of segments of sounds

 The ability to identify and write most of the letters of the alphabet

 A positive attitude toward reading and about themselves as emergent readers

Note: A more detailed list of accomplishments that make a student ready for first grade is

included on page 47.

Since a kindergarten classroom serves as a transitional experience that bridges the

distance between the home environment and the school environment, it should reflect this

transition by beginning the year more like home and ending the year more like an

academic first-grade classroom. The first question then becomes, what is the ideal home

environment in terms of building literacy? Understanding what this ideal literacy-rich

home environment looks like is important because it should be the model for the initial

organization of the kindergarten classroom. The key features of a home environment in

which literacy flourishes and techniques for translating them into a kindergarten classroom are explained in the table below.

Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Alphabetic principle

 Big books

 Concepts about print

 Conventional spelling

 Developmentally appropriate

instruction

 Environmental print

 Fingerpoint reading

 Invented spelling

 Language experience

 Phoneme

 Phonemic awareness

 Phonological awareness

 Play-based instruction

 Predictable books

 Rebus books

A lot of books

A quiet place for the child to read

Environmental print: grocery lists,

to do lists, thank you notes, letters,

and directions for assembling or

operating a new toy or tool

Plastic letters for developing

letter awareness

Adult models who read for a

variety of purposes, and adults

who read to the child and

encourage early reading activities

by asking questions and providing

multiple opportunities for the child

to read and write

Classroom libraries that include a permanent

collection as well as books that reflect changing

themes “on-loan” from the school’s media center

Special place(s) within the classroom dedicated to

young readers

Environmental print: day and date on the board,

labeled classroom areas and objects, and

directions for classroom activities and schedules

Plastic letters and a broad range of manipulatives

for developing letter awareness

Adults who read to children and encourage early

reading activities by asking questions and

providing multiple opportunities for children to

read and write

A kindergarten classroom can simulate

this environment by including:

A literacy-rich home

environment includes:

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Classroom materials and activities

Reading aloud to kindergarten children has widespread support in research, and it is

especially important for children who have had little experience with books outside of

school (Purcell-Gates et al., 1995). When adults read aloud to children and show them the

text that is being read, children develop important concepts about print (Snow & Tabors,

1993). Reading aloud to kindergarten children models the connection between the printed

word and spoken language. It also increases children’s motivation to learn to read

themselves, especially when the adult seems to enjoy reading to them.

There are several things kindergarten teachers can do to enhance the effectiveness of

reading aloud to students, such as encouraging students to ask their own questions about

the story, to respond to other children’s questions, and to express their understanding of

the story through drawing, movement, or play.

It is important for kindergarten teachers to include a variety of types of literature when

reading aloud to their students. One reason this variety is important is that young children

need to develop a broad appreciation for what reading is (it is more than storybook

reading) and how readers benefit from reading. Research has shown that teachers

naturally change the type of explanation and discussion they use when reading books on

different subjects. When kindergarten teachers read storybooks aloud they tend to include

discussions about the author, central characters, and vocabulary. They involve students in

making predictions (“What do you think will happen next?”) and explaining events in the

story (“Why do you think he was walking so slowly?”). In contrast, when reading a

science-oriented text, teachers will typically try to relate the text to students’ everyday

lives. They use questions to draw students to predict, to explain, to test cause-effect

relationships, and to distinguish necessary from sufficient conditions: “Plants need

sunlight to live, but they also need water. If we put a plant in the sunshine, but don’t give

it any water, it won’t live very long. Plants need sunshine and water.” Teachers also

handle vocabulary building differently when reading a science text. They use more

elaborate concept development, such as pointing out critical attributes in examples and

non-examples, instead of simply providing definitions (Mason et al., 1989).

When using picture books, the discussion is usually less extensive and focuses on the text

that accompanies the pictures on each page. By emphasizing different aspects of the text

when talking to children about what has been read to them, teachers enhance the

children’s understanding that reading can serve a variety of purposes. Thus, reading aloud

to children from different types of books has benefits that go beyond the information in

the texts themselves. Different types of books are read for different purposes; that is,

stories are read for enjoyment and informational texts to learn new things.

As kindergarten teachers prepare their children to read by themselves, they use a variety of

types of materials. These include big books, predictable books, and rebus books. Big books

allow teachers to engage a group of children or the entire class with print and illustrations in

the same way they would share a conventional book with one child. Many kindergarten

teachers use big books to model fingerpoint reading. Fingerpoint reading—when children

point to the words as the text is recited verbatim from memory—is helpful in developing basic

concepts about print, such as it is read left to right and corresponds to spoken language.

Predictable books are composed of text that is repetitive or predictable. Each successive page

varies only slightly from the text that appears on the previous page. By looking at predictable

books, children learn how to use prediction and picture cues to support their reading of the

text. Rebus books use pictures to represent words that are beyond the reading vocabulary of

young students. Biemiller and Siegel (1997) found that using rebus books could make the

children’s transition into real reading easier. Here is a line from a rebus book:

He saw the and the in the sky.

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Language experience is another effective instructional strategy. The main objective of

language experience is to convey to children the idea that anything that can be said can be

written. The basic strategy of the language experience approach is writing down what children

say and then helping them to understand that what has been written is what they said.

Language experience activities are a great way to show children that individual words are

separated by spaces or that every time a particular word is written, it is made up of the same

ordered set of letters. This idea helps children understand that each letter in a word stands for

one or more of the sounds that make up spoken words.

Play-based instruction is another common kindergarten strategy. The verbal and narrative

skills that are a large part of play-based instruction help students to develop reading

comprehension skills. For example, when young children in a group create and act out a

scene from family life, they gain experience with dialogue, characters, sequencing of

events, and plot—all of which are important elements of many of the stories they will soon

be reading. Kindergarten teachers can enhance the effectiveness of language and literacy

development through play-based instruction if they

 Allow a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes for each play session.

 Provide adequate space for play in the classroom.

 Provide a rich variety of items for children to use to expand and express their

play script.

 Develop children’s background knowledge for the specific play situation.

 Talk with children about their rehearsals of dramatic retelling.

 Become involved in play situations to guide children’s attention and learning

through modeling and interaction.

First attempts at discovering the alphabetic principle

Before kindergarten students are able to use the alphabetic principle to help them learn to

read, they must understand that spoken words are made up of smaller speech sounds

(phonemic awareness), and they must know at least some letters of the alphabet. Teachers

need to understand the foundation of the alphabetic principle to help their students make

use of it. A brief explanation of this principle follows.

English is an alphabetic language. This means that an alphabet—a set of printed symbols

called letters—was created to form the basis of the writing system developed to represent

spoken English. The primary advantage of an alphabetic language is that a large number of

words can be represented by a relatively small number of letters, because individual letters and

combinations of letters can be designated to represent the different sounds of that language.

The letters that make up the spellings of English words systematically, if not consistently,

represent phonemes or speech sounds. For example, the letters c-a-t represent three phonemes

or units of sound. When these three phonemes are blended together, they form the spoken

word cat. The alphabetic principle stating that letters represent segments of the sounds of

spoken words is necessary to learn to read an alphabetic language. Without the alphabetic

principle, each word would have to be memorized and new words could not be sounded out.

Three key ideas related to the alphabetic principle are phonological awareness, phonemic

awareness, and letter-sound association.

 Phonological awareness is the conscious understanding that spoken words are

made up of sequences of sounds.

 Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken words are really clusters

of separate units of sound that have been blended together to form a single word.

 Letter-sound association is connecting a specific sound to a specific letter or letters.

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Providing training in phonological awareness helps young children learn to read more

quickly (Lundberg, Frost, & Peterson, 1988). Many different classroom activities can

help students to develop phonological awareness. Children’s attempts to spell words in

their own writing promote phonological awareness and letter knowledge. As kindergarten

students attempt to figure out how to spell the words they want to write, they are experimenting with applying phonological and phonemic awareness. Although their early

writing may be more like scribbling, by the end of the year, kindergarten children should

be using real, legible letters to write phonetically correct spellings of some words.

Using invented spelling in initial drafts has been proven to help young children improve

phonemic awareness (Adams, Treiman, & Pressely, 1998). Their attempts to spell words

phonetically can provide insight into their level of phonological and phonemic awareness,

thus giving the teacher important clues about how to help each child. However, students

should use correct spelling and punctuation in all final writing products.

Two instructional strategies commonly found in kindergarten classrooms, fingerpoint

reading and labeling environmental print, are rendered significantly less effective if

students do not possess letter knowledge and phonological awareness (Ehri & Chun,

1996; Masonheimer et al., 1984).

Kindergarten accomplishments

The following list is taken from Preventing Reading Difficulty in Young Children, and it

represents a comprehensive, but not exhaustive, list of what the editors (Snow, Burns, &

Griffin) of that book believe a student should have accomplished by the end of kindergarten.

 Knows the parts of a book and their functions.

 Begins to track print when listening to a familiar text being read or when rereading his or her own writing.

 “Reads” familiar text emergently, that is, not necessarily verbatim from the print alone.

 Recognizes and can name all uppercase and lowercase letters.

 Understands that the sequence of letters in a written word represents the

sequence of sounds (phonemes) in a spoken word (alphabetic principle).

 Learns many, though not all, one-to-one letter-sound correspondences.

 Recognizes some words by sight, including a few very common ones such as

the, I, my, you, is, and are.

 Uses new vocabulary and grammatical constructions in his or her own speech.

 Makes appropriate switches from oral to written language styles.

 Notices when simple sentences fail to make sense.

 Connects information and events described in text to life, and connects life

experiences to text.

 Retells, re-enacts, or dramatizes stories or parts of stories.

 Listens attentively to books the teacher reads to the class.

 Can name some book titles and authors.

 Demonstrates familiarity with a number of types or genres of text, such as

storybooks, expository texts, poems, newspapers, and everyday print like signs,

notices, and labels.

 Correctly answers questions about stories read aloud.

 Makes predictions based on illustrations or portions of stories.

 Demonstrates the understanding that spoken words consist of sequences

of phonemes.

 Given spoken sets of words like dan, dan, and den, can identify the first and

second as the same and the third as different.

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Advancing Reading Achievement:

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 Given a spoken set like dak, pat, and zen, can identify the first two as sharing

one sound.

 Given spoken segments or phonemes, can merge them into a meaningful target word.

 Given a spoken word, can produce a word that rhymes with it.

 Independently writes many uppercase and lowercase letters.

 Uses phonemic awareness and letter knowledge to spell independently (invented

or creative spelling).

 Writes unconventionally to express his or her own meaning.

 Builds a repertoire of some conventionally spelled words.

 Shows awareness of distinctions between “kid writing” and conventional

orthography.

 Writes his or her own name (first and last) as well as the first names of some

friends or classmates.

 Can write most letters and some words when they are dictated.

An Overview of Primary-Grade Strategies

In Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (1998), editors Snow, Burns, and

Griffin identify “excellent instruction” as the primary strategy for preventing reading

problems that lead to reading failure. What emerges from the volume of research reviewed in the National Research Council publication is that there is no single approach to

teaching young children to read that will be equally effective with all children. The first

responsibility of the teacher who desires to be effective in teaching all of the children in

her class to read is to develop a wide repertoire of instructional practices that have proven

to help young readers. A second responsibility of the effective reading teacher is to know

which strategy to use with each child and when to use it, and the third responsibility is to

know how to use each strategy with skill. These three responsibilities represent a heavy

load to carry for anyone. Yet, across the nation there are teachers who are successful in

teaching the great majority of their children to read because they have done what was

necessary to develop their own skills, both in breadth and depth. This section reflects

what is known about how these effective reading teachers teach.

Outstanding reading teachers

There is much we can learn from a comprehensive examination of the practices of skilled

reading teachers. The following list is a representative sample of the most common

practices of kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade teachers who Pressley et al.

(1996) identified as effective in teaching their students to be readers and writers.

 Filling classrooms with print

Teachers in this study reported utilizing classroom libraries, chart stories and

poems, word lists, and signs and labels on objects in the classroom (although

signs and labels were not used as often in second-grade classrooms). These

teachers increase children’s contact with print through learning centers that

focus on listening, reading, and writing. They display student work, including students’ writing, throughout their classrooms. Reading to students daily

was another way these effective teachers contributed to a print-rich environment.

 Modeling

These teachers model reading behaviors on a daily basis by demonstrating

what fluent reading sounds like and illustrating the various purposes for

reading. They employ “think aloud” strategies to make the processes they

use as skilled readers, including comprehension strategies, visible to

students. Students get to see and hear a skilled reader’s enjoyment of reading

as well as the proficient use of various strategies for identifying unfamiliar

words and constructing meaning from text.

Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Alphabetic principle

 Decodable text

 Direct code instruction

 Embedded phonics

instruction

 Invented spelling

 Modeling

 Phonemic awareness

 Print-rich environment

 Spelling patterns

 Thinking aloud

 Whole language

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 Grouping

Effective primary-grade teachers use a combination of whole-group, small-group,

and individual instruction with about 50% of the total instructional time being

spent in whole-group instruction. Very few reported a traditional “three-group

approach,” in which students are grouped as high, average, and low readers.

 Targeting student needs

Ninety-six percent of the teachers in this study reported that they allowed

students to move at their own pace. They also spent nearly half of their

instructional time in mini-lessons that focused on things students needed to

know at that moment. Meeting students’ needs can also mean reteaching

skills or concepts that students do not acquire during the initial presentation.

 Integrating reading instruction in content areas and activities

Nearly all of these teachers provide reading instruction as they teach science, social

studies, and math. They use themes originating from these subjects to organize

reading and writing instruction. Art experiences were integrated through illustrating

the stories that students were reading and writing.

 Teaching basic skills

Basic skill instruction occurs in the context of real reading and writing and

through isolated skills instruction. Nearly every teacher described decoding

strategies, such as using context clues and sounding out words, as regular parts

of their reading program. These teachers include the explicit teaching of

phonics within the context of actual reading and when talking about the sounds

of spoken language in using invented spelling in writing.

Most teachers (96%) worked with students to help them learn new vocabulary—

a number of these new words arising from stories read in class or students’ own

writing. The same number of teachers reported that they taught comprehension

strategies, such as identifying themes and main ideas; distinguishing details and

main ideas; and identifying plot, sequence, and cause-effect relationships. Making

predictions was the most commonly reported comprehension strategy, with other

strategies, such as activating prior knowledge, generating questions, and summarizing, becoming more frequent as students move from first to second grade. Teachers

developed students’ background knowledge through pre-reading discussions,

hands-on experiences, or audio-visual materials for more than half of the stories

their classes read.

 Using a variety of reading activities

Teachers in the Pressley study reported using the following activities.

Activities marked with a “+” increased in use as students advanced from

kindergarten through first and second grades; those marked with a “-”

decreased with each subsequent grade level.

choral reading +

reading assigned as homework +

shared reading from big books -

reading aloud to other children, teachers, or adults +

student re-reading of stories and books

silent reading +

book sharing through book reports or other forms of

responding to what has been read

The teachers in this study presented a picture of reading instruction that corresponds well to

the effective practices that researchers, such as Snow, Burns, and Griffin (1998), have

identified. Their classrooms are inviting places in which young readers have multiple daily

opportunities to read and to be read to. Children in these classrooms are exposed to highquality children’s literature. Exposure to this literature produces more motivated readers

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(Morrow, 1990). Morrow (1992) reports in a later study that exposure to good children’s

literature helps young readers gain insight into how stories are organized. This understanding benefits comprehension as the reader uses this knowledge to see relationships

among story elements and to make predictions. It also can improve students’ writing to

the degree that they use the structure of high-quality literature as a model for their own

stories and other forms of writing.

Much of what these teachers do is designed to increase students’ motivation for and

enjoyment of literacy, and they combine this with an important emphasis on the understanding and application of the alphabetic principle in both reading and writing. It is

through this blending of meaningful literacy experiences and explicit skills instruction

that these teachers build a program of balanced reading instruction (Adams, 1990).

Decodable text

Young readers need daily practice in applying their new skills. This practice should

include independent reading in books they find interesting and easy to read. The books

and stories that are most beneficial to readers who are just developing their word identification skills are those that include decodable text (Juel & Roper-Schneider, 1985). When

students use their emerging decoding skills in reading meaningful stories, they learn to

rely on spelling-sound relationships to recognize unfamiliar words rather than less

effective strategies such as looking for unique visual cues.

Decodable text may feature repetition of target words throughout the story or passage.

However, it is more helpful for young readers to encounter the spelling patterns they have

been taught in different words rather than merely repeating the same example throughout

a passage of text.

Reading books and stories at the child’s independent reading level should be combined

with assisted or supported reading (and rereading) of texts that are slightly more challenging. Reading at the independent level provides practice in using new skills and builds a

sense of accomplishment. Text that is at the child’s instructional level will include new

vocabulary and can stimulate the child’s interest in further reading through richer content.

Concepts and other forms of knowledge that are taught in subjects such as science and

social studies can serve as building blocks for the background knowledge so necessary to

becoming a good reader. Teachers should keep this in mind as they present content in these

subjects, so they can help students connect what they are learning to what they encounter in

books and stories. Lessons in other subjects can be rich opportunities to practice summarizing the main idea, predicting what will happen next, making inferences, and self-checking

for understanding. These are critical components of building students’ skill in comprehending what they read and, therefore, should be taught explicitly and practiced frequently.

Explicit or embedded phonics instruction

The approaches to teaching reading commonly used in primary-grade classrooms

represent three levels of explicitness of phonics instruction.

Whole language instruction represents the greatest level of embedment and, therefore, the

lowest level of explicitness. In this approach, the emphasis is on helping children create

meaning—reading and writing are studied and practiced as ways of sharing meaningful

ideas and events. Instruction seeks to draw attention to new skills and knowledge within

the context of what students are interested in reading and writing. The teacher’s role is

one of facilitating the learning that naturally occurs when children are given opportunities

to explore and experiment with reading and writing. According to Hall and Moats (1999),

the major assumptions of this approach are:

 The purpose of reading is to extract meaning from text.

 The skills needed for reading will be acquired from the experience of reading

and need not be taught explicitly.

It is not only the percentage of

decodable words that affects

children’s reading. In addition, it

seems that children learn letter

sequences best if they appear in

many different words, rather than

the repetition of the same word in

a passage. Thus students may learn

to read words with the th pattern

better if their reading contains a

number of words such as this, that,

path, and thank, than through as

many repetitions of the.

—Marilyn Adams, (1990)

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A teacher using a variation of the whole language approach (and there are as many

variations as there are whole language classrooms) might write on a piece of chart paper

a student’s response to the question: “What did your family do over the weekend?” Using

selected words from the child’s response, the teacher would draw students’ attention to

specific letter-sound associations and high-frequency words that might appear in text at

the students’ independent or instructional reading level.

The whole language approach assumes the acquisition and refinement of the alphabetic

principle goes on implicitly as students connect print to their own experiences. Opportunities for instruction in decoding skills arise from what students read, write, or say. Practice

typically includes language experience activities, meaningful writing, and choral reading.

Embedded phonics instruction uses skills and concepts that arise not from students’ own

experiences but from a carefully sequenced list of rhyming word families. Instruction in

decoding skills is presented initially within meaningful text, but the emphasis is on the

spelling patterns, not on the text. For example, a teacher may present a word containing a

spelling pattern from the list while sharing a big book story. In the middle of the story,

the teacher may stop to draw attention to the pattern by substituting several consonants

for the initial consonant to form new words. This teachers approach reflects an emphasis

on phonemic awareness as a key component of learning to read. After specific instruction

in the spelling pattern, the teacher gives the students trade books that contain words

utilizing that spelling pattern. Practice activities also involve meaningful reading and

writing but place more emphasis on direct practice with specific letter-sound associations

and spelling patterns. The primary goal of embedded phonics instruction is to build rapid

word recognition through the use of consistent spelling patterns.

Direct code instruction is built upon phonemic awareness activities, such as those

prescribed by Adams et al. (1998), and phonics instruction that emphasizes the blending

of phonemes and interaction with good-quality literature that contains decodable text.

Students learn letter-sound correspondences and spelling generalizations through explicit

instruction. The focus is on the use of the alphabetic principle in sounding out unfamiliar

words and establishing strong access routes between the sequence of letters that make up

words and their associated pronunciations and meanings. The primary goal of this

approach is to equip young readers with decoding skills that will enable them to recognize unfamiliar words quickly so that greater attention can be placed on comprehension.

In their extensive study of these three approaches, Foorman, Francis, Fletcher, and

Schatschneider (1998) concluded that direct code instruction was superior to the other

two approaches in improving word-reading skill for at-risk students. (This study defined

at-risk students as “economically-disadvantaged children with low achievement” as

determined by participation in the free or reduced price lunch program and a score in the

bottom quartile of the school district’s emergent literacy survey.) Explicit instruction in

phonemic awareness appeared to be a key factor in producing this difference in performance. This conclusion also explains why the performance of similar students who were

taught with the embedded phonics approach, which included systematic instruction in

spelling patterns, reached levels between those of the whole language group and the

direct code group.

A closer look at why the direct code approach was more successful with at-risk students

can serve as a rationale for a flexible, balanced approach to reading instruction. Typically,

at-risk students arrive at school with significantly less exposure to print. There are at least

three likely conditions that contribute to this situation:

 These children have not been read to as much as their more advantaged classmates.

 They are less likely to have seen the adults in their households reading for

varied purposes.

 They have experienced fewer of the kinds of interactions with adults that build

vocabulary and understanding of the functions of print.

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The result of these conditions is that these young children have not figured out the

alphabetic principle by the time they reach school age. They are able to communicate

well through spoken language, but they are unaware that print represents spoken language

or that both spoken language and print can be segmented into smaller units. They do not

possess phonemic awareness. These understandings are critical to learning to read an

alphabetic language. Explicit or direct code instruction addresses these deficits in

understanding directly.

It is the direct nature of this instruction that allows teachers to make up for lost time with

these children. By explaining the connection between spoken language and print directly

and explicitly, teachers enable young children to gain these insights more quickly and to

use them more successfully. But, is direct code instruction just for at-risk students? Is

there a different approach that is more successful with students who come to school

having deduced the alphabetic principle?

Children who have learned through exposure to print that print represents spoken

language can still benefit from direct, explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle,

phonemic awareness, and letter-sound correspondences. Skilled application of the

alphabetic principle enables readers of any age to identify words that are in their speaking

vocabulary easily and rapidly by sounding them out. A desirable level of skill in using the

alphabetic principle can be achieved more efficiently through explicit instruction combined with extensive reading than it can be through extensive reading along.

Applying the alphabetic principle to new words “locks” the sound sequence or pronunciation of the word into the sequence of letters in print (Adams, 1990). The strengthening of

this connection of print to pronunciation is what enables the construction of an evergrowing sight-word vocabulary. Without this process, each new word would have to be

memorized, making the development of an extensive sight-word vocabulary an impossible task. A skilled reader’s use of the alphabetic principle enables rapid recognition of

words that are in the reader’s oral vocabulary but are so rare in print that they appear

unfamiliar at first.

What should be different about reading instruction for at-risk students and those who are

more capable readers is not a matter of content, but rather balance between direct

instruction and practice with meaningful reading and writing experiences. Addressing the

instructional needs of students who come to school ready to learn to read, Adams (1990)

wrote: “systematic phonics instruction is no less important for these children. To be most

productive, it may best be conceived as a support activity, carefully covered but largely

subordinated to the reading and writing of connected text” (p. 118).

This is not to say that those who cannot yet apply the alphabetic principle as reliably as

others should be given fewer opportunities to read. It is a mistake, Adams also points out,

to focus exclusively on direct instruction in decoding skills with low-achieving readers

and fail to give them sufficient opportunities to read meaningful text. The benefits of

extensive reading—greater fluency, larger sight-word vocabulary, and increased background knowledge—should be provided to all students.

How then is an appropriate balance to be maintained for readers of varied skill? Young

readers who lack a strong grasp of the alphabetic principle should be given more in-depth

instruction in phonemic awareness and letter-sound correspondence. Stronger readers will

benefit from the same type of instruction but will need less time to acquire this knowledge. Practice in reading connected, meaningful text should be provided to all readers.

Although slower readers will read fewer stories (and fewer words) than stronger readers

in the same amount of time, it is important that they are given adequate time to practice

their emerging skills and to gain satisfaction from reading at their independent and

instructional levels. If the teacher uses much of the time allocated for reading to correct

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students’ oral reading for accuracy, she can rob these students of opportunities to concentrate on the meaning of the text. This makes the selection of reading material extremely

important, because if too many words within a given text are too difficult for the young

reader to decode, comprehension of the text and progress in learning to read are slowed

significantly (Clay, 1985).

Connecting Reading and Spelling Instruction

In many elementary classrooms, reading instruction and spelling instruction occur during

separate parts of the school day and through disconnected materials and activities. Is this

the best practice? There is an apparent connection between reading and spelling in that

both deal with sequences of letters in words—spelling involves producing the correct

sequence of letters, and reading involves recognizing that sequence of letters in print. But

just how are they connected and what does this connection mean for instruction? As you

prepare to read this section, think over these questions:

 Which is harder for students in my classroom, reading or spelling? How do

I know this?

 Who are the good spellers in my classroom?

 Are they the same students who are the better readers?

 What kinds of errors do my students make in spelling unfamiliar words?

 Do these errors have any connection to errors they make when reading?

 Do I make connections between spelling and reading for my students that help

them spell and/or read better?

The English spelling system

Before answering the above questions, some background information on the English

spelling system is required. Most people believe the English spelling system is quite

irregular, with more exceptions to the rules than can be remembered. However, when

looked at comprehensively, the spelling system has greater regularity than one might think.

This comprehensive view takes into consideration the phonemic structure of English spellings, the morphological or meaning-bearing structure of English words, and the more useful

spelling patterns and generalizations (Treiman, 1998). For example, the phonemic structure of

English allows us to produce recognizable attempts at the spellings of most words. A person

who is familiar with the 45 or so phonemes of English and their more common spellings can

produce phonetically correct spellings that can be recognized by others.

Phonetically correct spellings, however, are not always conventional spellings. To move

closer to conventional spellings, the writer can combine phonemic knowledge with his

knowledge of meanings. For instance, in spelling the word health phonetically, the writer

might produce helth, but knowing that the meaning of health is derived from the word

heal, the writer is more likely to be able to produce the correct spelling. Other aspects of

morphology, such as using ed to represent past tense, can help writers to spell words like

passed and burned correctly, even though the final phonemes differ.

Spelling generalizations like the following can also be helpful: Every English word that

ends with the phoneme /v/ ends with a silent e. Still, there are words that defy the application of any of these structures and patterns. Words like sword and plaid contain letters for

which there is no apparent justification. The w in sword and the i in plaid are not heard and

cannot be connected to a root word.

Instructional implications of the connection between spelling and reading:

Can children learn to spell by reading?

Logic and research argue against the idea that all we have to do to help children become good

spellers is to expose them to large amounts of good literature. If this were true, mature adult

readers would not have difficulty spelling any word they had read repeatedly. Yet, many of us

have a word or several words for which the correct spelling eludes us even though we have

Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Conventional spellings

 Generalizations

 Invented spellings

 Morphological

 Spelling patterns

 Whole language

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read it many, many times (my own chronically misspelled word is opportunity). Two studies

with first-graders (Ehri & Roberts, 1979; Ehri & Wilce, 1980) found that reading target words

in connected, meaningful text was less effective in producing the correct spelling than

studying the words in isolation, on a list.

While reading by itself is a less effective (and less systematic) way to learn to spell, some

conventional spellings and spelling patterns can be learned incidentally through reading.

For example, Treiman (1993) found that children in first grade were able to pick up the

generalization that ck is used to spell the phoneme /k/ in the middle and at the end of

words but not at the beginning, even though they had never been taught this pattern. She

concluded that the students had learned this pattern through reading. While it is encouraging that students are able to acquire some spelling patterns through extensive reading, this

approach requires more time and does little to help students identify those patterns that

occur less frequently in the texts they read.

If children are to become mature spellers who know and use conventional spelling, they

need direct instruction in these three areas:

 Application of phonemic knowledge, including the use of spelling patterns

 Knowledge of the meaning-bearing form of words

 Practice with a set of useful spelling generalizations

Applying phonemic knowledge involves learning to use what students know about segmenting words into individual speech sounds and matching those sounds to the letter(s) that

represent them. As students become more advanced, they learn to utilize spelling patterns

(tion, ack, eed) in addition to one-to-one sound-spelling correspondences (Marsh, Friedman, Welch, & Desberg, 1980). Familiarity with spelling patterns helps students to check

their spellings as well as generate them. Research has shown that more able spellers use

their knowledge of the consistency with which certain letters appear together (i.e., the letter

d is followed by the letter r 40 times more often than it is followed by the letter n) to

determine if their attempt to spell a word looks right (Sloboda, 1980).

To help students use the meaning-bearing form of words, teachers should provide

instruction in endings, such as ing, ed, and es, as well as in how to use root words as clues

to conventional spellings. Useful spelling generalizations have been identified and should

be incorporated in regular spelling instruction (Pressley, 1995). Although this instruction

can come in many forms, it should always draw students’ attention to the correct spelling

and to how these three structures contribute to producing the correct spelling.

Can learning to spell make a difference in how well students read?

As children spell words in their own writing, they become aware that the letters need to

be in the correct sequence because they are intended to match the sequence of sounds in

the spoken word. Using an approach to spelling that is based on the alphabetic principle

aids children in applying this principle to reading. Treiman (1998) writes that spelling

“encourages students to analyze words into smaller units of sound and to link these sounds

to letters”. Young writers learn that spellings are “maps” of the speech sounds that make up

the spoken word, not just arbitrary sequences of letters that have to be memorized.

A study in which kindergarten children were given training in breaking spoken words and

syllables into phonemes and matching those phonemes with letters (making it a spelling

task) revealed that this activity was superior to matching letters to isolated sounds (not

within words) in improving performance in adding new words to their sight vocabulary

(Ehri & Wilce, 1987). Treiman sums up these and other findings this way: “Learning to

spell words benefits children’s reading down the line by giving them practice in segmenting spoken words into phonemes and in relating phonemes to graphemes (letters).”

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Is it helpful or harmful to encourage students to use invented spelling in their own writing?

In his study that looked at first-graders who were encouraged to use invented spellings

and others who were expected to use conventional spellings, Clarke (1988) reports

several important findings:

 Students in the classes that used invented spelling spent more time actually

engaged in writing than those in the classes that used conventional spelling. The

conventional spellers spent less time writing and more time asking others how to

spell specific words or looking up words in the dictionary or on wall charts.

 The invented spelling approach served well the students who came to school

with lower alphabet knowledge. They performed significantly better on standardized tests of spelling than similar students in the conventional spelling

classes. Differences with students who already grasped the alphabetic principle

were not significant.

 Students who were encouraged to use invented spelling did not learn incorrect

spellings of words; in fact, they performed better on the standardized spelling

test at the end of the study.

Ehri, Gibbs, and Underwood (1988) confirmed this last finding in a study that showed that

second- and third-graders who used invented spellings learned the correct spellings of

words about the same as students who did not use invented spellings for those same words.

These findings suggest that encouraging young spellers to use invented spellings will

enable them to spend more time actually writing and less time waiting for help, and that

the use of invented spellings does not cause children to learn incorrect spellings. However, as children grow older, they should be encouraged to use conventional spellings

because the benefits of invented spelling seem to be less for older students.

Instructional strategies

The correct spelling of a word is learned much more quickly and retained for a longer

period of time when it is presented in print rather than orally (Henderson & Chard, 1980).

Based on this finding, teachers should present new spelling words in writing and focus

students’ attention on the written sequence of letters. Research strongly supports the

traditional strategy of having students copy their new spelling words from the board or a

spelling book (Whittlesea, 1987). Writing the words aids students in remembering the

correct spellings of the words. It is likely that the attention given to the sequence of letters

as students copy the word strengthens their memory for the word’s spelling (Adams, 1990).

Guided invented spelling is a promising strategy for spelling instruction (Treiman, 1998).

This strategy involves providing spelling instruction to individual children through

classroom activities that require them to write. The teacher is available during writing

activities to respond to students’ attempts at spelling unfamiliar words and to offer

insights and corrections that help students improve their spelling. Reviewing students’

writing and selecting words that reflect common errors or misunderstandings can create

whole-class or small-group “spelling lists.” The key to this type of spelling instruction is to

encourage enthusiastic engagement with writing and to coach students in the use of

phonemic knowledge (what they know about the sounds of words they are trying to spell),

the meanings of words (their roots and inflections), and useful spelling generalizations.

Primary teachers using this approach have found the “Ear Spelling” Draft Spelling Sheet to

be an effective tool. The teacher gives the students this sheet as they begin a writing

assignment. When they want to use a word they are not sure how to spell, they are encouraged to use the first column to spell the word by listing the letters that correspond to the

phonemes in the word, that is, to spell it the way it sounds. Students who are able should

apply what they know about meaning and spelling patterns to make their first attempt as

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accurate as possible. After the first attempt, they can look for the word in a dictionary or

word bank to confirm or revise their initial spelling. Students may ask their teacher for help

at this point as well, giving the teacher an opportunity to reinforce correct spellings or

diagnose the source of errors. Following the teacher’s input, the student makes a second

attempt at the correct spelling—“How does it sound to my ear now?”—and writes it in the

middle column. If the spelling is correct, the student copies it again in the third column to

reinforce the correct sequence of letters in his memory. If it still is not correct, the teacher

prints the correct spelling in the third column or dictates the correct spelling to the student,

and then the student is ready to use the correct spelling in his writing.

Erasing words over and over again as they attempt to write the correct spelling is discouraging to many young writers, and this tool gives them several places to write the word

without having to erase mistakes. More importantly, it gives the child’s teacher a window

through which to view the child’s spelling errors and can immediately create a teachable

moment. Here is a sample of how the “Ear Spelling” sheet can be used.

The student’s attempt to spell bread on his own revealed to the teacher that he was not

hearing the two separate phonemes within the /br/ cluster. Helping the student hear these

phonemes clearly allowed him to produce a closer approximation. The teacher then

dictated the correct spelling. After his first attempt to spell plate, the student was able to

locate the word in the dictionary because his original spelling was very close to the

correct spelling. He wrote the correct spelling twice: in the “Ear Spelling 2” column with

an asterisk to indicate that he had looked it up in the dictionary, and in the “Book Spelling” column as extra practice so that he would know the correct spelling the next time he

wanted to use the word. The student wrote the word store correctly, and the teacher

confirmed that it was correct. The student then copied it in the “Book Spelling” column.

Another practical idea for connecting spelling and reading instruction comes from Diane

Goodson, a teacher at Eccleston Elementary in Orange County Public Schools. She

dictates selected words from a passage in a book or story that the class is reading and

asks students to spell them phonemically on a small, white board or piece of paper.

Students then either confirm or revise their spellings by locating the word in the text as

they read. Ms. Goodson uses this activity to help students focus on the sounds they hear

in spoken words and the letter sequences that make up the correct spelling.

“Making Words”: An effective approach to connecting spelling and reading instruction

“Making Words” (Cunningham & Cunningham, 1992) is a widely used activity that is

engaging and effective in helping young readers enhance their knowledge of letter-sound

associations and enrich their understanding of how this knowledge can be used to decode

and spell words. In this activity, students use selected letters to “build” words. The

teacher may pronounce the words or provide meaning-based and/or phonological clues.

For example, the teacher may say, “The next word I want you to build is something you

give and receive at Christmas and it rhymes with lift.”

In the original “Making Words” game, students used letters printed on cards or tiles.

Timothy Rasinski, however, has adapted the activity so that students write the words as

they build them on a specially designed form—he calls his adaptation “Making and

Writing Words” (Rasinski, 1999). In either format, the game is a fun way to help students

learn new words, practice important components of decoding, and gain skill in spelling.

Ear Spelling 1

bed

Ear Spelling 2 Book Spelling

bred bread

plat plate* plate

store store

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Rasinski (1999) has further modified the activity to include the use of clusters of letters

(letter patterns). He suggests that teachers include the following six steps when planning

a “Making Words” lesson utilizing letter patterns:

1. Select a multi-syllable foundation word and identify its letter patterns (i.e.,

rimes, prefixes, and suffixes) and the individual letters that are not part of

letter patterns.

2. Add a few other letters and letter patterns that will allow additional words

to be built.

3. Plan a series of words that can be built using the letters and letter patterns

you have selected.

4. Devise clues based on the meaning, structure, or identity of the words.

5. Identify a set of “transfer words” that students could be expected to spell and

decode using their knowledge of letter patterns beyond those you have selected

for this lesson.

6. Plan extension activities, like word sorts and flash card games, that students can

play using the letters, patterns, and words from this lesson.

Rasinski has included a number of downloadable tips, examples, and sample forms

at www.readingonline.org

Using Systematic Observation

The systematic observation of children’s performance on tasks that are authentic (tasks

that involve actual reading of connected text) or tasks that are closely related to reading

can reveal important information about children’s skills and points of confusion, the

strategies they use to solve problems they encounter while reading, and what they are

ready to learn next. Systematic observation has two components:

1. Direct observation of children performing tasks that are authentic reading tasks

or closely related to authentic reading tasks

2. Systematic recording of objective observations of the child’s performance

(recording observations in such a way that allows for reliable, valid

comparisons over time)

Systematic observation supplements standardized testing by filling important gaps in the

information that standardized tests provide and by allowing the collection and analysis of

data on a child’s reading progress at multiple points of time during the school year. By

evaluating a child’s reading progress several times during the year, the teacher is better

able to identify what each child is ready to learn throughout the year and how instruction

and practice affect the child’s skill or understanding.

Systematic observation differs from standardized testing in the same way that watching a

football game at the stadium differs from reading the final score in the next day’s

newspaper. By watching the game as it is played, you can identify where problems are

occurring and where things are working well. Reading the score in the paper just tells

you the outcome of all of the things that went well and all of the things that did not. Now,

imagine that you are the football coach, a role that is very much like that of a classroom

teacher. You might be interested in reading about the game in the paper, but you would be

much more interested in observing what is going on during the game so that you could

make changes in strategy and give instructions that would influence the outcome. You

would want to study what your players are doing before and during the game so that you

could “coach them up” to their full potential. Systematic observation allows the teacher

to collect and analyze the kinds of information needed to help children reach their full

potential as readers.

Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Concepts about print

 Print awareness

 Running records

 Systematic observation

 Word recognition

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The careful, direct observation of children reading can reveal how they manage the

complex set of tasks that are required to read meaningful, connected text. It can also give

insights into what tasks or types of text create problems in word recognition or comprehension. This kind of observation can show the teacher how readers try to solve these

problems and whether they are even aware that problems are occurring.

Systematic observation involves the direct observation and recording of students’ behaviors (those things the reader actually does) while reading or performing a reading-related

task. The teacher prescribes a specific task that is designed to require certain behaviors

and remains close at hand as the reader actually performs the task so that she can record

as much information as possible about what the reader does.

Systematic observation is a time-consuming activity, but it produces significant benefits, such as

 Providing relevant information in time to make informed instructional decisions

and helping the teacher know how to address specific needs.

 Enabling the teacher to assess the impact of instructional decisions and helping

her determine if what was done was effective.

 Charting growth or progress over time by measuring growth at intervals determined by the teacher rather than the state or district testing schedule.

 Providing deeper insights into the child’s reading strategies and approaches

to solving problems in word recognition and comprehension.

 Revealing areas of strength as well as points of weakness so that the teacher can

build on the child’s strengths.

 Providing a way to assess the reading performance of children who are too

young for standardized testing to be appropriate and facilitating the early

identification of reading problems.

All tasks that are prescribed for systematic observation should be as authentic as possible.

That is, they should involve reading meaningful, connected text or a subtask that is directly

related to reading. In using systematic observation, teachers should include diverse measures of reading performance rather than rely on one or two types of tasks, especially when

important decisions are being considered. Diverse measures reduce the likelihood that a

mistake will be made. Marie Clay (1993) speaks to the need for using different measures in

the following way:

The Concepts About Print test should not be used in isolation because it assesses

only one aspect of early reading behaviors. In research studies it is an excellent

predictor of subsequent reading progress, but it tells the teacher nothing about

the child’s knowledge of letters, or of words, or of writing, or of letter-sound

relationships. In a profile of scores, a child may score high on concepts about

print and low on letters and word knowledge, or vice versa. In the early stages of

literacy learning, no single measure is going to inform the teacher. The child’s

learning is progressing on several fronts at the same time, and the teacher must

know about the spurts and lags in different knowledge areas in order to make the

most of her teaching interactions with a particular child.

Systematic observation that is intended to document progress or growth should utilize a

standardized task that produces reliable results. A task that a child can do well on one day

and struggle with the next day may not be a reliable measure of what the child knows and

can do. Tasks that are used to show progress should also be administered in the same way

and under the same conditions each time. This consistency produces more reliable results.

Because the teacher can perform repeated systematic observations spontaneously and at

any time throughout the year, she can better respond to the information she discovers

about the students’ progress and growth than with standardized testing. The teacher can

make adjustments in instruction throughout the year instead of waiting on data available

through standardized tests that may only measure progress at one or two points during the

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year. Repeated systematic observations also allow the teacher to experiment with

different approaches to solving specific problems and then gauge the impact of each

approach after the child has had time to benefit from it.

A popular example of systematic observation is called running records. To record

observations in this format, the teacher asks the child to read orally a sample of 100 to

200 words from a text. As the child reads, the teacher makes a systematic recording of the

child’s reading performance. Because the conventions of scoring are simple and logical, a

teacher can learn the conventions of scoring running records after only a few attempts

(Clay, 1993). The teacher records the following types of information:

 Words read correctly—teacher notes with a check mark.

 Errors in word recognition—teacher writes down the wrong response with the

correct word written under it.

 Self-corrections and repetitions—teacher notes instances in which the child

rereads one or more words in a line of text.

 Overlong pauses in reading—teacher notes points where the reader hesitates or

stops reading.

 Directionality—teacher notes whether or not the child reads from left to right

and from the top to the bottom of the page.

Records of these types of behaviors can be analyzed to reveal aspects of the child’s

reading skill and understanding, such as what clues does the child use to recognize

unfamiliar words, what types of comprehension monitoring strategies does the child use,

and what kinds of errors are self-corrected. Using samples of text appropriate to the

child’s levels of independence, instruction, and frustration can also add considerable

information about the child’s reading strategies. Observations of the child reading at the

independent level will show how the child manages effective reading, and using text at

the instructional level will reveal the child’s strategies for dealing with problems as they

arise. Teachers can determine how the child handles the failure or breakdown of reading

by recording the child’s reactions when reading more difficult material.

In addition to running records of a student’s actual reading performance, there are a

number of reading-related tasks that can be used to obtain helpful information about the

strengths and needs of young readers. Examples of these tasks and how they can be

measured are listed below.

Letter knowledge/letter identification

Ask the child to tell you the names or sounds of selected letters. Be sure to include

uppercase and lowercase letters. Using printed letters that are in typeface is also recommended. Letters that appear different in type, such as a and g, should be included among

the letters used to collect information on letter knowledge. This exercise will provide

information about the child’s readiness to read print in books.

Word recognition

Use a list of high frequency words to collect data on the child’s sight-word vocabulary

(the Ohio Word Test is a good tool for this purpose). Strategies for building a strong sightword vocabulary are discussed on page 36.

Print awareness/concepts about print

Marie Clay (1993) has developed an excellent tool for collecting information on the

literacy knowledge of young readers that includes standardized instructions for administration (an important element of systematic observation) and scoring. The test collects

data on the child’s knowledge about books, understanding that print rather than pictures

carries the message, directionality, and numerous other aspects of print awareness.

Systematic observation is a worthwhile tool for discovering and analyzing what children

know and can do as they read. It takes time but yields extremely useful information.

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Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Comprehension

 Decoding

 Fluency

 Print-rich environment

 Word recognition

60

Here is a quick checklist to determine if your students are motivated readers:

Descriptors of Motivated Readers

Motivating Young Readers

Motivating young readers is more than just something the teacher does to improve

reading achievement. By helping children to see the purposes and benefits of reading, to

experience a desire to read widely, and to develop a positive image of themselves as

readers, teachers are turning students into lifelong learners. Higher reading scores are an

indication that what teachers are doing to motivate children to read is succeeding, but the

primary reason for generating enthusiasm for reading is not higher scores. The primary

goal is to produce young people who love to learn and who recognize that reading is a

wonderful way to learn about their world and themselves.

This section will answer four questions dealing with motivating young readers.

 How do motivated readers behave?

 What are some of the results of motivating young readers?

 Why are some children not motivated readers?

 What can be done to motivate young readers?

How do motivated readers behave?

Students who are motivated readers read. They read more than their less motivated peers,

and they read more widely. They also participate actively in discussions with their

teachers and their friends about books and other materials they have read. Motivated

readers persist when they run into difficulty reading. They look for ways to solve the

problem rather than giving up and going on to another activity, and they try to solve the

problem on their own before seeking help.

Motivated readers invest time in reading and in learning to read well. They develop their

reading skills and apply them purposefully. They enjoy reading, often choosing it as a

free-time activity. They demonstrate enthusiasm about reading and what they have read.

Motivated readers will talk about characters and events in the stories they have read, tell

their friends about books or stories they feel they would enjoy, and want to know what

others have read and can recommend.

Choose to read during free-time

Select books to read and look for opportunities to read them during the day

Begin another book shortly after completing one

Persist in trying to solve a problem of word recognition or comprehension

Seek help after trying to solve the problem on their own

Read for a variety of purposes

Read a variety of genres

Demonstrate enthusiasm for reading by talking with others about books

Recommend books to others

Ask others for recommendations of good books


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61

What are some of the results of motivating young readers?

Motivating young readers produces a desire to read more. Students who read more

become more fluent readers, increase their sight-word vocabulary, and gain greater

background knowledge, which is an important element of improved comprehension

(Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998). More fluent readers enjoy reading more and see

themselves as “good readers.” This positive self-image translates into greater motivation

to read and more actual reading.

Why are some children not motivated readers?

Most teachers believe that motivation drives a positive cycle of improvement in reading.

Likewise, lower motivation to read produces a cycle of diminished improvement in which

students read less and, therefore, develop reading skills more slowly than their more motivated

peers. Their lack of skills makes reading a negative experience and reinforces their lack of

enthusiasm for reading. Readers who are not excited about reading read less. They find

reading to be a struggle, and they are less likely to choose it as a free-time activity. They see

themselves as poor readers, and this further reduces their motivation to read.

Poor readers may want to learn to read, but over time they may lose some or all of this

desire if they feel reading will continue to be a struggle with little payoff for their efforts.

It is important to build success for these young students so that the cycle of motivation

and performance can be an upward spiral.

Children who do not have strong positive models of adult readers often find reading less

interesting. If reading is not important to the significant people in their lives, then it is not

important to them. These children may not be fully aware of the different purposes of reading.

If they view it as an academic exercise, with little or no connection to something they find

meaningful, then they are less likely to want to read beyond what they are required to read.

What can be done to motivate young readers?

It is vitally important that teachers read to their children each day. It is through this kind of

exposure to print that children see reading as an enjoyable experience. They hear the flow of a

fluent reader and increase their appreciation for different types of literature. The teacher

should also do as much as possible to create a print-rich environment. To establish such an

environment, teachers need to make high-quality books and other reading materials available

to children and provide time for them to read those materials. Materials should include a wide

range of topics and levels of difficulty. Although children should be given freedom to choose

what they will read, the effective teacher will challenge students to read increasingly more

difficult texts because successfully completing a challenging task is highly motivating.

The teacher should also highlight the various purposes of reading and stress those

purposes in her interactions with students. Children should also be given multiple

opportunities to respond to what they are reading and to hear others do the same. Reading

should occur in an environment of support that includes praise for effort and feedback

that improves performance.

A final note

Through their ten-year longitudinal study, Cunningham and Stanovich (1997) found that

measures of decoding, word recognition, and comprehension skills, taken when students

were in the first grade, were strong predictors of the volume of reading these students

would accumulate by the time they reached the eleventh grade. Cunningham and Stanovich

were able to determine that early acquisition of skill in decoding, word recognition, and

comprehension made significant differences in how much students read both in school and

out of school. Taken in combination with Hayes and Ahrens’s (1988) findings that students

who read more acquire a larger vocabulary and greater general knowledge, this finding

highlights the importance of ensuring that all children develop strong decoding, word

recognition, and comprehension skills and that this kind of strong start will produce

dividends throughout the individual’s life.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Building Comprehension Skills

Comprehension

Part of the problem students have with comprehension may be the result of poorly written

text. All of us have read directions that no one could follow or an informational text that

left us more confused than we were before we read it. Apart from the poor quality of a

text, a major reason for the difficulty young readers have comprehending what they read

is that they have not been given much instruction in getting meaning from print.

Comprehension is a different type of task than decoding. It is not as sequential. The steps

of the process, if it can be said that there are steps, are not easily specified. We know that

as words are recognized in print, information about those words is brought to the reader’s

working memory—the place where mental tasks such as comprehension take place. As

the information about the words that are being read accumulates in working memory, the

reader organizes the words’ meanings and attempts to integrate them with his background

knowledge of the topic(s) addressed in the text. This integration of literal meaning and

background information drives two functions: comprehension or the construction of

meaning and comprehension monitoring, which is a self-checking of understanding by

examining both internal and external consistencies. (Text that is internally consistent does

not contain contradictory information. External consistency means the information in the

text does not contradict what is known from other sources.) As you might expect, these

tasks require considerable amounts of working memory. When problems arise and word

recognition or comprehension slows down, the reader’s working memory can be taxed to

the point that comprehension suffers (sources of comprehension difficulty are treated in

detail in a subsequent section).This section examines how readers construct meaning from

print and how teachers can strengthen students’ ability to understand and to think critically

about what they are reading.

Although many teachers will tell you that comprehension is the ultimate purpose of

reading, observation of common classroom practices indicates that comprehension is

given little emphasis in many classrooms. In a study that recorded how a sample of

fourth-grade teachers taught reading, Durkin (1979) classified only 20 minutes of the

4,469 minutes of reading instruction she observed as instruction directed at teaching

comprehension. She concluded that considerable time was spent asking questions, but

negligible time was devoted to teaching strategies for answering questions. Someone

observing such a class might mistakenly believe that comprehension is something

students acquire through independent practice and that practice is rarely preceded by

instruction in how to draw meaning from the assigned text.

The observer in an upper elementary-grade classroom might see the teacher ask students

to read a section of a textbook and to answer three to five questions about the content of

that section. Typically, the questions would include a factual, detail-oriented question that

requires students to match the “important” word(s) in the question with those same words

in the passage. A “main idea” question is also likely to be asked, and some students in

this classroom may have discovered that this question can frequently be answered by

expanding on the heading that appears at the beginning of the passage. “Inference”

questions are less common. These ask the reader to identify what was implied rather than

stated explicitly, to draw a conclusion from the information presented, or to infer the

motive or rationale for some event or action portrayed in the text.

Other observations of classroom practice reveal that weaker readers receive less exposure

to activities that foster comprehension than more skilled readers. Stronger readers are

more frequently asked about their understanding of what they have read whereas instruction in the less-skilled reading groups tends to focus on decoding and word recognition

strategies (Collins, 1980).

Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Comprehension

 Comprehension monitoring

 Decoding

 Inference

 Mental representations

 Metacognition

 Modeling

 Oral vocabulary

 Prior knowledge

 Word recognition

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These practices raise several questions about teaching comprehension: Can comprehension be

taught? If so, what instructional strategies are most effective? Can all students benefit from

instruction in comprehension? If they can, are the same strategies effective for good and poor

readers? Research on reading and cognitive strategies provides answers to these questions.

Comprehension: What is it and how do we get there?

Gough, Hoover, and Peterson (1996) divide reading into two components: word recognition and comprehension. The processes and methods of word recognition were described

in earlier sections. Comprehending text, the part of reading that is much the same as

understanding spoken language, is the focus here. (See the text box for how listening

comprehension and reading comprehension compare.)

Comprehension is a complex process that involves constructing reasonable and accurate

meaning by thoughtfully considering the information or message of the text and connecting it to prior experience and knowledge. Such thoughtful consideration must go beyond

recalling information. When a reader recalls specific facts or ideas from a text in basically the same form in which they occurred in the text, he may not have comprehended

that information. If the recall of information does not involve any connection of that

information to prior knowledge, any translation into a different form (including the

reader’s own words), or any use of the information other than to answer a recall question,

then we cannot say for certain that comprehension has occurred.

As readers move through a passage or text, they create mental representations of what

they are reading. These mental models or maps reflect an active construction of meaning

on the part of the reader. They represent attempts to organize information from the text in

a meaningful way so that it is easier to understand and remember. By talking with

students about what the creation of these mental representations might look like (using a

story map or other strategy), teachers can make students more aware of this sometimes

unconscious behavior and make it more likely that students will actually construct

thoughtful mental models of what they are reading.

Comprehension can involve multiple pathways for constructing meaning. There are at

least eight different cognitive paths that lead to deeper comprehension.

1. Connecting the text to prior knowledge

Comprehension involves connecting the ideas and information, both literal and

inferred, in the text with prior knowledge and experience. Keene and

Zimmerman (1997) identify three forms of connections: text-to-self, text-to-text,

and text-to-world.

 Text-to-self connections enhance the reader’s understanding of a text or

passage by comparing ideas, events, characters, or other features of the text

to his own personal experiences. When a young reader uses what he knows

about taking care of his dog to connect with an account of a farmer caring

for the animals on a farm, he is making a text-to-self connection. Thinking

of ways in which a character in a story is like or different from someone we

know is another example of a text-to-self connection.

 Text-to-text connections involve comparing information in a text or the

style or structure of the text to what is found in another text. Thinking of

a book or poem that you have read and using it to better understand or

interpret something in the text you are reading is making a text-to-text

connection.

 Text-to-world connections involve understanding or interpreting what is

being read in terms of what is known about the world. This can include

detecting external inconsistencies—when something in the text does not

agree with what you know is true—as well as factual connectionsthat

verify or expand information in the text.

Comprehending Speech

and Text

Reading can be considered to

have two primary components,

word recognition and text

comprehension. Readers employ

numerous strategies for word

recognition, but the outcome of

each of these strategies is the

matching of a sequence of letters

(a printed word) with a meaning

and other identifying information

stored in the reader’s oral

vocabulary. Once this match has

been made for the words within a

sentence (or a clause or phrase if

the sentence is particularly

complex), the reader must

analyze the relationships among

the words. The reader determines

which noun is modified by each

adjective, which noun is the

subject of each verb, and so

forth. These relationships, along

with the meanings of individual

words, provide the literal

meaning of the sentence. Using

prior knowledge and analytical

processes, the reader fills in the

blanks by drawing conclusions,

identifying implied ideas or

conditions, or interpreting

motives or intentions of the writer

or characters.

The actions that take place after

word recognition is completed

make up text comprehension.

While these actions are essentially the same for comprehending spoken language, there are a

few differences. Spoken language

uses inflection and intonation to

communicate syntax while text

uses punctuation. Print can be

reread as many times as is

needed to clarify its meaning, but

spoken language passes quickly.

Continued

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Because many of the connections readers make involve comparing or contrasting

what is described in the text, lessons that help readers learn to compare and

contrast aspects of what they have read can be very useful. These lessons might

include some of the following:

 Pointing out that comparisons and contrasts usually involve two or more

people, places, emotions, things, actions, or events and how they are

similar and/or different

“The characters in this story are like the characters in last week’s story in

some important ways. First, they are alike in that they are young people

who are faced with a problem. But, they are different in that they don’t

seem frightened by the problem they are facing.”

“This passage describes three different types of bridges that we might

see if we visited the Northeastern states. Who can tell us how the designs

are different and what they have in common?”

 Clarifying that things being compared or contrasted may have some

aspects that are similar and some that differ

“When you compare the methods of transportation used by Americans in

the 1800s with what we use today, be sure to look for similarities as well

as differences. Looking for how things are alike as well as how they

are different can give you a deeper understanding of them.”

2. Determining importance

Part of comprehension is judging the importance and relative importance of

different aspects of a text, for example finding the main idea. Readers may look

for what is important in a text by identifying key words and sentences or

paragraphs or by assessing ideas or themes that are woven throughout the entire

text. The reader gives more important elements of a text more thought because

these elements are critical to understanding the overall meaning of the text.

Several factors determine the aspects of a text or passage that are relatively more

important (Keene & Zimmerman, 1997). The reader’s purpose can influence

what is important. For instance, a reader who is looking for specific information

in a text will place importance on different aspects of a text than a reader who is

comparing the writer’s views on a complex issue to his own perspective. A

reader may judge information, ideas, and themes that are aligned more closely

with his prior knowledge to be more important. Text format—what stands out

visually, such as bold or italicized print or bulleted points—can influence the

reader’s assessment of what is important and what is not in a text. Relevant ideas

discussed with others prior to reading a passage can also cause a reader to identify

items in the text that agree with or contradict those ideas as more important.

Lessons that focus on helping students learn to determine the main idea might

include the following features:

 Defining the main idea in terms students can readily understand

“The main idea of a paragraph summarizes or condenses the important

facts and details into one sentence.”

“The main idea is like a conclusion drawn from the supporting details.”

“The main idea answers the question, ‘What is the writer trying to tell us?’”

 Explaining how to locate or identify the main idea

“Many times, the main idea is stated in the first or last sentence of a

paragraph, so looking at these sentences may help you find the main idea.”

Even asking a speaker to repeat

something does not always give

one a chance to hear the same

thing twice.

Despite these differences, the

major aspects of processing print

and spoken language are the

same. The same vocabulary is

used in text and speech, words

are used in a specified sequence

that influences their meaning and

that sequence carries the same

meaning in spoken and printed

language, the same grammatical

rules apply to text and speech,

and the same base of prior

knowledge is used to interpret

what is read and what is heard.

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“The main idea is broader than an individual fact or supporting detail; it

is like a heading or title in that it tells us what the whole paragraph or

passage is about.”

 Providing students with a way to test their identification of the main idea

“When you think you’ve found the main idea, you can test your answer

by asking if individual details in the paragraph support that idea or are

they written about a different idea.”

 Modeling how to locate, identify, and test the main idea

The teacher prints a paragraph on chart paper so that it is large enough for

the whole group to read it. She then thinks aloud as she works through the

steps of reading the paragraph: looking at the first and last sentences for

possible main idea sentences, identifying the main idea as a summarizing

statement, and testing the idea she selected as the main idea by checking

several individual details to determine if they support that idea or if they

address another idea. If too many of the individual details are written

about a different idea, then the teacher shows students how she would

rethink her selection of the main idea.

3. Generating questions

Creating questions before, during, and after reading a text or passage to enhance

comprehension is a strategy used by many skilled readers. As such, it represents

another path to a deeper level of comprehension. Questions that relate to the reader’s

purpose direct attention toward the elements of the text that are most important for

achieving that purpose. Skilled readers use questions to clarify meaning by focusing

their attention as they read or to connect what is in the text with their prior knowledge. Other types of questions lead the reader to predict what might be found in text

still to be read or to identify aspects of the writer’s style or perspective.

Proficient readers know when a question they have generated can be answered

directly from the text and when they must connect to prior knowledge or acquire

new knowledge from other sources to answer the question. They also realize that

hearing and thinking about questions that others have generated can stir up new

questions. Above all, they understand that creating, pondering, and answering

questions about what they have read enhances their understanding and, in many

cases, their enjoyment of the text.

Lessons designed to help students learn to generate questions may begin with easier

questions that identify supporting details or recall the sequence of events. Students

can also learn to create questions that deal with cause and effect relationships.

Teachers might include the following strategies in helping students learn to generate

specific types of questions:

 Defining supporting details in terms students can readily understand and

explaining how to structure questions that focus on supporting details

“Supporting details are the facts stated in the text that clarify or explain the

main idea.”

“The supporting details give us specific information about the topic.”

“Supporting details frequently provide answers to questions that begin

with what, why, where, when, who, or how.”

 Providing practice in creating questions about the order of events

described in the passage and explaining the use of “key sequence words”

“The boy in this story went to several places after it started to rain.

Come up with a question that asks about the places he went and the

order in which he went to those places.”

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“Key sequence words, words that give us clues as to the sequence of

events in a story or passage, include words like first, next, last, finally,

before, and after.”

 Giving an explicit explanation of the cause and effect relationship and

how to word questions that focus on this relationship

“The writer tells us that the bad weather made the airplane late in taking

off. The cause was the bad weather; the effect was that the plane took off

later than scheduled. We might come up with a question about this cause

and effect relationship that sounds like this—‘What caused the plane to

take off late?’ Or, ‘What was the effect of the bad weather?’”

“Key words for identifying cause and effect relationships include

because, so or so that, and since.”

 Using a scaffolding strategy, such as reciprocal teaching, to ease

students into generating their own questions (see an example of this

instructional practice on page 78.

4. Making inferences

Making an inference can mean drawing a conclusion, predicting what will

happen next, detecting implied statements or ideas, or extending the reader’s

thinking from stated facts or ideas to possible explanations of events or actions.

Inferring is the process of using what is read along with relevant parts of the

reader’s prior knowledge to construct or extend the meaning of a text beyond

what is explicitly stated.

Different types of writing require or allow different levels of inferential thinking

on the part of the reader. For example, directions for completing a task (if they

are written well) require fewer and less complex inferences than a piece of

fiction. Readers who are strong comprehenders are able to correctly assess the

level of inference required by the text and their purposes for reading.

Teaching students to make inferences frequently involves modeling or “think aloud”

strategies in which the teacher demonstrates the thought processes behind drawing

conclusions or inferences. The teacher puts her thoughts into words in a step-by-step

explanation of how prior knowledge and details from the passage can be combined to

create meaning that extends beyond what was explicitly stated in the text. Thinking

aloud about making inferences might include statements such as these:

“If I combine what I know about life on a farm with what the writer

described the little girl doing in the kitchen, I can guess that she was

churning butter.”

“The writer doesn’t say it directly, but I think the two men were pretty

hungry by now. I started to think they might be hungry when the writer

described how they looked in at the people eating in the restaurant.”

5. Synthesizing to form new ideas

Synthesizing involves integrating ideas from the text with relevant ideas from prior

knowledge to create a new idea that may reflect aspects of what was in the text and

what was drawn from prior knowledge. In certain situations, this synthesis may

involve combining ideas from the text in a way that is different from what is found

in the text. The critical attribute of this type of comprehension is the assembling of

existing ideas, from the text and/or prior knowledge, to form a new or different idea.

Lessons that ask students to synthesize information from the text with other

information to form new ideas are ideal opportunities to involve students in

using writing to respond to what they have read. These lessons may include

statements such as these:

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“I want you to use what you learned about gravity and weightlessness in

this section to write how you would cope with a long space flight. Be

creative in how you come up with ideas for dealing with weightlessness

and the problems it can cause.”

“Several of you said that you were left kind of down in the dumps by the

way the story ended. Why don’t you use part of your seatwork time to

write a different ending. You can make it more upbeat or change it in any

way that you’d like—just be sure you find some way to resolve the main

character’s dilemma.”

6. Applying ideas

Applying ideas from the text (or those synthesized from the text and prior knowledge) to a specific task or situation is another extension of comprehension. While a

certain amount of synthesis and application may occur while reading, much of this

activity takes place after a text or passage has been read and the reader is reflecting

upon the important ideas, themes, or perspectives found in the text.

When teachers ask students to apply ideas or information from the text to specific

situations or problems, they give students an opportunity to enhance their understanding of what they have read. The following statements represent assignments

that require students to use what they have read to solve specific problems:

“I want you to use what you read about the culture of the earliest

American settlers to plan what you would need if you were stranded on

a deserted island.”

“When we read the section of our science book that explained photosynthesis, we talked about several suggestions for experiments to illustrate

how important light is to plants. With the others in your science study

team, I want you to design an experiment based on what you learned. In

your explanation, include a prediction of what you think will be the

results of your experiment.”

7. Evaluating text

When readers collect evidence from a text and apply specific criteria to make a

judgment about that evidence, they are operating at a level of comprehension that

can be labeled as evaluation. When a reader states approval for a book or writer—“I

really liked The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!”—he indicates evaluation only if

he identified criteria for liking a book and judged the book by those criteria.

Group discussions can be used to develop criteria for evaluating what has been

read. The following is an example of criteria developed by a group of fourthgraders to help them assess the books they were reading:

 A good book should grab your attention or interest in the first few paragraphs.

 A good book should include some surprises.

 A good book should make you want to keep on reading and not put it down.

 A good book should teach you new words and/or new ideas.

 A good book should make you want to read it again or recommend it to

a friend.

8. Monitoring comprehension while reading

Skilled comprehenders check or monitor their comprehension as they read. They

know when their level of understanding of what they are reading falls off or erodes.

Proficient readers have strategies for solving comprehension problems as they arise.

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They know when to go back and reread an important section to more fully understand it, and they know when they can keep going and repair their comprehension

by reading further. These self-monitoring behaviors are part of a deeper aspect of

comprehension called metacognition or “thinking about your own thinking.”

Being aware of the purpose for reading a specific passage or text

and checking comprehension while reading to make sure the level of comprehension is adequate for that purpose is also part of metacognition. This awareness is what allows a strong reader to adjust reading speed and the use of

comprehension strategies when reading a magazine article for amusement,

reading the directions for assembling a complex piece of machinery, or studying

a chapter in a chemistry text prior to the final exam.

Fluency—Where Word Recognition and Comprehension Meet

Fluency is the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and expression. Fluent reading allows

more of the reader’s working memory to be devoted to comprehension. For some time,

most reading experts believed that a reader developed fluency as his word recognition skills

improved. Conventional wisdom assumed that fluency was the end product of rapid word

recognition. Because of this belief, instruction that was intended to increase fluency focused

on developing students’ word recognition speed. It is now apparent, however, that there is

more to fluency than speedy word recognition. Fluency also involves the use of punctuation

and the grouping of words into meaningful clusters to enhance comprehension. These

cognitive behaviors take place without conscious effort in the mind of the fluent reader so

more of the reader’s working memory can be devoted to deeper levels of comprehension.

What is fluency?

A fluent reader is able to recognize the words in a text rapidly and accurately without

conscious effort and to use phrasing and emphasis in a way that makes what is read sound

like natural speech. Initially, fluency was understood to mean rapid word recognition that

frees up space in the reader’s working memory for use in comprehending the message of

the text. Later researchers (Schreiber, 1987) expanded this understanding of fluency by

discovering that it also involves grouping words within a sentence into phrases that aid

interpretation. By adding appropriate pauses and intonations, the reader converts the text

into a more readily understandable form. This grouping of words helps the reader understand the text by making what is being read resemble natural speech in terms of expression.

Accurate, automatic word recognition

Accurate, automatic word recognition contributes to stronger comprehension by reducing

the load on working memory and allowing more of the space in the reader’s working

memory to be allocated to constructing meaning. Accuracy in word recognition is the

ability to correctly identify words on the first attempt. When a word is identified correctly, the meaning that is retrieved from the reader’s oral vocabulary makes sense in

relation to the other words in the sentence. Misidentifying a word in print affects comprehension by accessing a meaning that might not make sense in terms of the collective

meaning of the words in the sentence. The results of errors in accuracy can be illustrated

by thinking of how a cake might taste if the baker misidentified the word sugar as the

word salt. Just as someone who tastes the cake would know right away that something

had gone wrong, a reader who misidentifies a word might sense that a mistake had been

made with one of the “ingredients” and reread the sentence to locate the error.

Primary-grade teachers focus attention on accuracy as they provide reading instruction.

As students progress through elementary school, however, more and more of the emphasis of word recognition instruction turns to making word recognition automatic. The

following are characteristics of automatic word recognition:

Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Automatic word recognition

 Comprehension

 Fluency

 Guided repeated oral reading

 Oral vocabulary

 Prior knowledge

 Repeated reading

 Word recognition

 Working memory

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 It occurs without conscious awareness or intention.

 It does not interfere with comprehension, even though they occur simultaneously.

 It is built gradually over time through extensive practice reading.

By definition, automatic behavior of any type occurs without conscious thought directing

it. The kind of automatic behavior that is part of fluent reading is no exception. The

processing of words in print, the accessing of the correct meanings and pronunciations

from the reader’s oral vocabulary, and the transfer of that information to working

memory all take place without the conscious direction of the reader.

The National Reading Panel (1998) states that “the fluent reader has learned how to

recognize the printed words with ease and speed, and few cognitive resources are

consumed in the process” (p. 3-8). It further describes the fluent reader as “one who can

perform multiple tasks—such as word recognition and comprehension—at the same

time.” Because word recognition has become automatic for the fluent reader, he is able

to process the collective meaning of the words in the text and integrate this collective

meaning with his own background knowledge as the words are being read. The reader

who has not gained such fluency may be restricted to performing one of these tasks at a

time. That is to say, so much working memory is devoted to decoding the words in print

that too little is left over to process their collective meaning.

Logan (1997) reports that automatic word recognition exists as a continuum that begins

with the slow, struggling word recognition of a beginning reader and extends to the rapid,

effortless word recognition of the skilled reader. Readers progress gradually along this

continuum. As readers develop stronger access routes to more words and begin to use

consolidated spelling patterns to recognize familiar chunks of letters, their sight vocabulary

grows larger. This gradual build-up of proficiency requires instruction and practice. The

next section examines different approaches to providing instruction that increases fluency.

Developing fluency through repeated reading and guided repeated oral reading

Because of the identified benefits of fluent reading, it is important to look carefully at

how fluency is developed. Although practice is a key component of acquiring any type of

automatic behavior, the question of what types of practice are most effective in developing reading fluency has a somewhat surprising answer.

Encouraging students to read more has been a widely accepted method of building fluency.

However, the research support for this practice proves only a connection between extensive

reading and reading achievement. It does not indicate what the cause and effect relationship

is between the two factors. The question of whether a great deal of reading causes the

student to become a good reader or is the result of being a good reader has not been

answered yet (National Reading Panel Report, 1998). This fact does not diminish the

strength of the connection; however, it does suggest that teachers attempting to develop

fluency in their students should not rely solely on encouraging them to read more.

Despite the lack of empirical evidence that extensive reading directly improves reading

achievement, it is still a good idea to encourage and support students to read on their own.

Extensive reading has been associated with improved vocabulary, greater general knowledge, and increased reading skill. Nevertheless, to ensure that students continue to develop

fluency, other forms of practice should be included. Two forms of practice that have shown

evidence of improving fluency are repeated reading and guided repeated oral reading.

Repeated reading, as an instructional approach, involves asking students to read and

reread a passage or story. In studies of the effects of repeated reading, students were

required to reread a story a specified number of times or until a specified level of fluency

was reached. In a classroom setting, students might intersperse their repeated readings of

a story with related activities that give them an opportunity to respond to what they have

read. Many teachers incorporate forms of shared reading, such as reading aloud to a

classmate or adult, once the child has reached a level of fluency with the story or passage.

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At least part of the improvement in fluency produced by repeated reading may be derived

from a shift in the reader’s emphasis from word recognition to comprehension as he

rereads the story or passage. During initial readings, the reader may be required to devote

more working memory to the task of recognizing unfamiliar words. These efforts at word

recognition build connections that enable the reader to recognize those words more

rapidly during subsequent readings, thus allowing more working memory to be used for

comprehension, making inferences, and connecting the text to prior knowledge.

Guided repeated oral reading adds a dimension of support to the practice of repeated

reading. This support may come in the form of direct assistance or reading along with a

tape recording of the passage or story. Direct support or guidance may come from peers,

parents, or the classroom teacher. Comparisons among different methods of providing

guidance during repeated oral reading indicate that all of the methods were successful in

producing improvement in fluency. However, research findings do not support “round

robin” reading as an effective form of guided reading (Stallings, 1980). Students may

experience this practice as boring and, for some, anxiety producing, but the primary flaw

in this method is most likely that it does not give students a chance to reread any portion

of the story or passage and thereby improve their fluency.

The most typical structure for guided repeated oral reading activities begins with some form

of introductory explanation of the story or passage to connect it to the readers’ background

knowledge and to highlight important vocabulary words. The teacher may also use this initial

phase to explain the objective(s) for this session, such as indicating a particular strategy as the

focus of the session. The teacher may then read the story or passage aloud (students may

follow along in their own books or listen without reading along). At this point, readers may be

allowed to read the text aloud to themselves or to one another (this segment of the lesson may

involve repeated readings). The teacher uses this time to listen to individual students read

sections of the assigned text and to provide support through one or more of the practices listed

below. The final phase of the lesson includes discussion of the story to enhance comprehension. Further independent repeated reading of the story or passage is used to increase fluency.

The following forms of guidance were among those that produced improved fluency. To

date, there is no research evidence indicating that one of these practices is more effective

than the others. Therefore, it would be prudent to experiment with all these practices to

determine which ones work best for specific groups of readers.

 Helping readers apply strategies, such as predicting, summarizing, and using

context clues, to learn the meanings of new words and to draw conclusions or

inferences (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998).

 Telling students unfamiliar words as they encounter them so that they can focus

on constructing meaning and reading with fluency (Shany & Biemiller, 1995).

 Helping students to group words in a sentence into meaningful phrases (Taylor,

Wade, & Yekovich, 1985).

 Having students read orally along with the teacher as he or she reads the story

aloud (Rasinki, 1990).

 Having students read along with a tape-recorded reading of the story or passage

(Blum et al., 1995).

The research findings for both repeated reading and guided repeated oral reading support their

use to improve word recognition and fluency, although the impact of these practices on

comprehension may be somewhat less than on word recognition and fluency (National

Reading Panel, 1998). They are not, however, sufficient to serve as the primary instructional

strategy. They should be used as a component of a comprehensive, balanced reading program.

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Cognitive Strategies

Cognitive strategies are tasks or activities that produce a desired outcome indirectly, as a byproduct. For example, generating questions about a text—one of the more common cognitive

strategies for improving comprehension—has as its direct outcome, a set of questions. The

reader actually generates a set of questions about the text, and the thinking that is involved in

creating a set of meaningful questions also produces greater comprehension. Thinking of

questions that are relevant to the text requires the reader to analyze, synthesize, integrate, and

evaluate the content of the text. It is the thinking required in producing the questions that

actually increases the reader’s understanding of what he has read.

Cognitive strategies are said to support or facilitate learners as they perform the higher-level

thinking that is required by less-structured tasks like comprehension. This section focuses

on four effective cognitive strategies and how they can be used with young readers.

The National Reading Panel Report (1998) states the following in introducing the idea of

teaching specific strategies for improving comprehension:

Readers normally acquire strategies for active comprehension informally. Comprehension strategies are specific procedures that guide students to become

aware of how well they are comprehending as they attempt to read and write.

Explicit or formal instruction on these strategies is carried out by the classroom

teacher who demonstrates, models, or guides the reader on their acquisition and use.

When these procedures have been acquired, the reader becomes independent of

the teacher. Using them, the reader can effectively interact with the text without

assistance. Readers who are not explicitly taught these procedures are unlikely

to learn, develop, or use them spontaneously. (p. 4-5, emphasis added)

In the previous section dealing with comprehension, research findings were cited that

indicated relatively little instructional time is devoted to teaching comprehension. Part of

the reason for this may be that comprehension is considered a less-structured task

(Rosenshine, 1997). These tasks cannot be described by a fixed sequence of steps. In

contrast, well-structured tasks can be broken down into steps that, if followed faithfully,

will consistently produce the desired outcome. The steps of a well-structured task are

concrete and can be made visible to learners by listing or demonstrating them. This makes

them easier to teach (see the textbox for the strategies that appear most effective for

teaching well-structured tasks).

In an attempt to identify instructional strategies that might help students learn how to

perform less-structured tasks, researchers began developing what have come to be known as

cognitive strategies. These strategies are not step-by-step procedures. They are guides or

supporting structures that make it easier for the learner to develop internal procedures for

performing the task. Teaching readers to generate questions about what they have read or to

summarize the content of the text are examples of cognitive strategies used to improve

comprehension. Just as comprehension is a less-structured task and therefore cannot be

broken down into concrete steps, cognitive strategies do not follow a step-by-step procedure. For example, as readers review the text and sort through the ideas they want to use as

the basis for the questions they are generating, they increase their comprehension of what

they have read.

The following sections provide brief explanations of cognitive strategies that have proven

effective in increasing comprehension.

Activating prior knowledge

Bringing prior knowledge to the surface before beginning to read improves comprehension and recall of information in the text (Wilson & Anderson, 1986). This cognitive

strategy may be even more important for poor readers who “may not spontaneously relate

their previous experience or knowledge to reading passages” (Pressley, 1995). Group

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Cognitive strategies

 Comprehension

 Less-structured and

well-structured tasks

 Prior knowledge

Definitions appear in the glossary.

71

Teaching Well-Structured Tasks

 Begin the lesson with a short

review of previous learning

as it relates to the current

lesson topic.

 Include a brief statement of

the objective(s).

 Present new material in small

steps, providing for guided

practice after each step.

 Give clear and detailed

instructions and explanations of each step and model

each step as it is explained.

 Provide a high level of active

practice for students by

asking frequent questions

that check for understanding.

 Provide students with

prompt support during initial

guided practice.

 Use corrective feedback

that draws attention back

to earlier explanations

and demonstrations.

 Conclude with an

ending review.

 Provide explicit instruction

and practice for seatwork

exercises and monitor

students during seatwork.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

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discussions held prior to reading are a good way to activate prior knowledge. Asking

questions, such as, “What would you expect to read about in a passage or story about

__________?” can benefit students who have significant prior knowledge by bringing their

relevant knowledge to the surface. Students who lack knowledge on the topic at hand benefit

from being exposed to the background knowledge of other students.

Carr and Ogle (1987) created a format for activating prior knowledge that has proven

popular with many students and teachers. It is known as K-W-L. This acronym stands for

“what we Know about this topic, what we Want to find out, and what we have Learned

through our study of this topic.” Here is an example of a K-W-L chart that might be used by

a science teacher to activate prior knowledge about the rainfall cycle.

Columns one and two are generated through class discussion prior to reading the relevant

sections of the science textbook. Column three is completed after students have read the

relevant text (and other sources, if necessary) and have discovered the answers to the

questions they listed in column two.

Making predictions based on story titles, chapter and section headings, and illustrations is

another additional way of activating prior knowledge. Predicting what might be discussed or

what might happen next in a story produces better comprehension when used in conjunction

with other cognitive strategies.

Summarization

When students are involved in creating their own summaries of a text they have read, their

recall of information in the text improves (Armbruster, Anderson, & Ostertag, 1987). Four

basic rules for summarizing can be drawn from the research on this cognitive strategy.

1. Identify the most important information—“Have I listed the critical events,

actions, or terms that focus on the main idea of the paragraph or passage?”

2. Identify supporting information—“Have I included the information necessary to

define or explain the main idea?”

3. Delete the less important information—“Have I included any information that is

not needed to define or explain the main idea?”

4. Delete redundant information—“Have I used any information more than once?”

Learning to summarize well takes time and practice (Pressley, 1995). If students are not

given adequate practice to attain a fair degree of skill in summarizing, it is not likely to

produce improved comprehension. Furthermore, the research studies to date have involved

children at least ten-years-old (Rosenshine, 1997), so it is not yet known if asking younger

children to develop skill in summarizing is a worthwhile activity.

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What we Know

Rainfall Cycle

What we Want to find out What we have Learned

 Rain comes from clouds.

 Rain water is not salty.

 Some drops are bigger

than others.

 When a cloud is really

dark, it holds more rain.

 What gets clouds started?

 Why do some clouds get

dark but don’t rain?

 Why does it rain more

some times of the year?

 What makes hail?

 Does wind have anything

to do with rain?

 Clouds form when

water evaporates and

rises into the sky.

 Rain drops fall when

they get heavy.

 Sometimes the clouds

are dark, but the drops

are not heavy enough

to fall.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

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Generating questions

If students are taught how to generate questions as they read, reading comprehension can be

improved (Davey & McBride, 1986; King, 1994). However, cursory instruction on question

generation appears to produce little benefit. It is only with extensive instruction and practice

(the Davey & McBride study provided five, 40-minute sessions) that students realize

improvements in comprehension. The following points were drawn from these two studies

to illustrate how this type of cognitive strategy can be taught successfully.

 Begin by explaining that learning to generate questions as a text is being read

will help students to improve comprehension and recall. Students need to see the

value in what they are about to learn.

 Explain the basics of question generation in an overview format. Emphasize the

two basic types of questions: “think-type” or inferential questions that require

students to integrate information from the text and/or prior knowledge of the

topic, and “locate” or literal questions that require students to find the answer

located in the text.

 Provide students with examples, non-examples, and plenty of practice with

feedback on the questions that they generate. Modeling or use of think-aloud

scaffolding is helpful in this stage of the teaching process.

 Use “Question frames,” such as those shown in the textbox, as question starters.

 Teach students how to identify relatively important information within a given

text and have them focus their question generation on this information.

Provide self-monitoring questions, such as

 How well did I identify the most important information?

 How well did I connect information to generate “bigger” questions?

 How well was I able to answer my own questions?

 Did I put the questions in my own words rather than pull words directly

from the text?

 How well did I use the question frames?

Story mapping

Stories, whether in a basal reader or quality children’s literature, have several basic elements. These can include setting, characters, events, reactions of the characters to events,

actions of the characters, and outcomes. Creating a story map that illustrates these elements

and their relationships to one another or providing a set of questions (see textbox) that pull

together these elements has been proven effective in improving the ability of poor readers to

recall information from text (Short & Ryan, 1984; Idol & Croll, 1987). Training in this

cognitive strategy did not produce improvement in recall for better readers, however. More

skilled readers may have learned to produce a story map or similar structuring of the

elements of a story as a way of enhancing their understanding of what they have read and,

therefore, would not benefit from additional training in a skill they already possess. One

study reported that encouraging better readers to ask themselves questions about the setting,

characters, and other story elements, rather than providing a set of questions, improved

recall for these students (Nolte & Singer, 1985). This approach represents a combination of

two cognitive strategies, story mapping and question generating.

Mapping story elements through these diagrams and/or providing a set of questions that

students can ask themselves as they read could improve comprehension for many

children who do not have an intuitive way of organizing story elements. This cognitive

strategy is easy to teach through modeling and can be learned within a few lessons.

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Question Frames (adapted

from King, 1994)

 How are ___ and ___ alike?

 What is the main idea of ___?

 What do you think would

happen if ___?

 What are the strengths and

weaknesses of ___?

 In what ways is ___ related

to ___?

 How does ___ affect ___?

 What do you think could

cause ___?

 How does ___ connect to what

you have learned before?

 Which is the best ___ and why?

 What do you still not understand about ___?

 How does___ work?

 Why was ___ successful?

 How could ___ be used to ___?

Identifying the Main Idea

 This passage tells us that ___

Story Mapping Questions

 Who is/are the

main character(s)?

 Where and when did the

story take place?

 What did the main

character(s) do?

 What made the main

character(s) do these things?

 How did the story end?

 How did the main

character(s) feel?
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Teaching cognitive strategies

Cognitive strategies can improve comprehension, but readers must use them effectively.

Sustained, focused instruction that includes clear, direct explanations; modeling and/or

“think aloud” demonstrations; and practice with feedback is required to bring students to a

level of proficiency where they will see the desired benefits. The following section describes an approach that is successful in developing this level of competence in students.

Teaching Cognitive Strategies through Scaffolding

Scaffolds are temporary support structures that teachers use to aid students in learning

new content. They are temporary in that they provide support during the early stages of

learning a new strategy or technique, but they can be withdrawn or modified gradually as

learners become more proficient in their use of the new skill.

Teachers who teach cognitive strategies successfully employ a number of instructional

practices that appear to make it easier for students to acquire and use these strategies.

This section introduces the idea of scaffolding as a way to conceptualize a set of instructional techniques that teachers can use to teach cognitive strategies. It continues with a

list of these techniques or tools and a brief description of how each might be used.

Scaffolding

A number of the techniques that teachers use to aid students in using cognitive strategies can

be described as scaffolds or temporary support structures. They are temporary in that they

provide support during the early stages of acquiring a new cognitive strategy but can be

withdrawn or modified gradually as learners gain competence. Here are several examples:

 Introducing content in small, manageable chunks

 Beginning with simplified problems or regulating the difficulty of the content

 Providing models of appropriate or high-quality responses

 Thinking aloud while performing the task

 Providing prompts while students perform the task

 Anticipating potential difficulties and talking about them in advance

 Using cue cards or checklists

Introducing content in small, manageable chunks

Studies of strategies that distinguish effective teachers from less effective teachers have

pointed out that less effective teachers present larger segments of content (an entire

lesson, for example) before allowing students to practice what is being taught. Presenting

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Cognitive strategies

 Less-structured and

well-structured tasks

 Modeling

 Procedural prompts

 Scaffolding

 Thinking aloud

Definitions appear in the glossary.

74

Main character









Setting

 Where:

 When:

Important event



Cause



Action



Outcome



Goal



Problem



Action



Outcome

Theme 
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new content in small steps followed immediately with guided practice was proven more

effective (Rosenshine & Stevens, 1986). Part of the rationale for presenting new material

in smaller pieces is derived from research in cognitive psychology that describes working

memory as limited in capacity. Filling a student’s working memory with more information than it can hold before allowing him to process it can hinder learning.

Beginning with simplified problems or regulating the difficulty of the content

This idea is similar to introducing content in small steps. It allows students to process a

reasonable amount of content and experience success before moving on to more challenging material. When teaching the cognitive strategy of generating questions, for

example, the teacher might begin by showing students how to create a question based on

a single sentence. After guided practice with this small piece of content, the teacher

would expand the task to include generating questions about a simple paragraph, then a

more complex one, and finally an entire passage.

Providing models of appropriate or high-quality responses

Modeling cognitive strategies for students is critical because the strategies do not prescribe

specific steps. To model the strategy of predicting what might appear in the next passage of a

text, the teacher would make a prediction and explain how she arrived at that prediction and

describe the cues from the text that led to the prediction. In this situation, students see a highquality performance—the teacher’s prediction—and the aspects of the text and prior knowledge that were used to create it. This type of modeling provides a structure against which they

are able to compare their own attempts to predict the content of passages in their own reading.

Thinking aloud while performing the task

Thinking aloud reveals the internal cognitive processes that an individual goes through in

using a cognitive strategy. The use of this technique is closely related to modeling, and

the rationale for using it is also similar. Students who hear the thought processes behind

the teacher’s use of a particular cognitive strategy have a high-quality model they can use

to rehearse the strategy or to assess their own attempts to use the strategy. Making “expert

thinking” visible to students by using this technique is a type of scaffolding that can be

applied to any number of less-structured tasks.

Using a think-aloud demonstration is not as easy as it might appear, especially if the teacher

is trying to reveal a cognitive strategy that has become second nature or automatic. The

teacher might not be as aware of all the sub-processes that are operating behind her

thoughts. Teachers should practice “thinking aloud” on several examples prior to using this

technique with students.

Providing prompts while students perform the task

Prompts, often referred to as “procedural prompts,” give learners a concrete starting point

or guide for completing a specific task related to a cognitive strategy. They are considered

scaffolds because the learner will eventually develop an internalized structure for

performing the task and will no longer need to refer to the prompt to complete the task

(Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1985). Prompts can be as simple as providing learners with a

list of “question words,” such as who, what, why, where, when, and how. Learners use

these words to build questions relating to the content of what they have read.

Anticipating potential difficulties and talking about them in advance

With experience (and experience with a specific group of learners), teachers almost

intuitively know what aspects of a passage might pose difficulties for readers. A scaffolding technique that can be effective in these situations is talking with learners about those

points in advance. Teachers can provide examples of common errors that can be anticipated and train students to identify and avoid them. Palincsar (1987) used this technique

in his research on generating questions. Learners were asked to assess a set of questions

related to a passage they had just read. They were asked to determine if the questions

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related to the most important information in the text. Some of the questions were appropriate, but others reflected common errors that learners make in generating questions,

such as writing questions that are (a) too narrowly focused, (b) too broad and general, and

(c) not answerable from the information in the text. Learners identified the less effective

questions and talked about why they were less effective. This exercise helped the learners

to generate more appropriate questions related to subsequent passages.

Using cue cards, checklists, or rubrics

Cue cards that include procedural prompts reduce the burden placed on a learner’s

working memory by eliminating the need to store the prompts for recall. This can be

important in the initial stages when the working memory may be taxed by the attempt to

use the new strategy. Once learners have developed an internal structure for using the

prompts, the cue cards will no longer be needed.

Checklists or rubrics can provide learners with two benefits. They can serve as sophisticated prompts when given prior to the learner’s application of the cognitive strategy, and

they can enable the learner to provide his or her own corrective feedback when used to

self-check completed work. Davey and McBride (1986) used the following checklist to

assist students in completing a self-evaluation of a number of cognitive strategies used to

improve comprehension:

 How well did I identify important information?

 How well did I link information together?

 How well could I answer my own questions?

 Did my “think questions” use different language from the text?

 Did I use good signal words?

Teaching Comprehension through Reciprocal Teaching

Reciprocal teaching is a powerful technique for teaching comprehension. A central

concept in reciprocal teaching is the gradual release of responsibility. Using this approach, the teacher provides strong support in the early stages, when students are practicing new learning, and gradually diminishes that support as students gain competence. The

chief form of reciprocal teaching is dialogue with students that includes modeling, first

by the teacher and then by the students themselves.

Reciprocal teaching is a systematic approach to the teaching of comprehension that

involves teachers and students engaging in dialogue that supports the students’ efforts to

construct meaning. It provides strong support early in the learning process with the

teacher gradually turning responsibility over to the students. This gradual shift in responsibility enables students to experience strategies for comprehending text as they are

performed by an expert (the teacher) and then to grow into more independent use of the

strategies as they become more skilled.

There are three theoretical assumptions about learning that both support and explain reciprocal

teaching. The first assumption contends that tasks that are too difficult for the learner to

perform independently may be within his grasp if someone more skilled provides assistance.

The second assumption contends that learning is enhanced by a gradual transition of

responsibility from the expert to the novice. This assumption is applied in apprenticeship

learning situations in which the expert performs the task while the learner observes, and

then the learner begins to actively participate in the task while the expert still performs all

but the simplest aspects. Over time, as the novice has seen the expert model the task

repeatedly, he is given more and more complex sub-tasks until he reaches a level of

proficiency that allows him to work independently. Brown and Palincsar (1989) describe

this transition as follows:

76

Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Cognitive strategies

 Gradual release

of responsibility

 Modeling

 Procedural prompts

 Scaffolding
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Within these systems of tutelage, novices learn about the task at their own rate,

in the presence of experts, participating only at a level they are capable of

fulfilling at any point in time.

The third theoretical assumption underlying reciprocal teaching is expert scaffolding.

Although closely related to the concept of gradual transition of responsibility, under this

assumption the expert more actively guides the learner during the transition of responsibility. A teacher using expert scaffolding keeps the complexity of the task manageable for

the learner, provides corrective feedback during guided practice, and refers students back

to demonstrations and explanations when she observes students having difficulty with

specific aspects of the task.

Based on a study by Palincsar and Brown (1984), Rosenshine and Meister (1994)

developed the following checklist for assessing the quality of reciprocal teaching. This

checklist can be used to guide teachers in planning lessons using reciprocal teaching.

1. The teacher instructs the students in a repertoire of strategies (two or more) that

they can use to help them better understand what they read.

2. The teacher models each of the strategies.

3. The teacher invites students to make comments regarding the modeling and the

passage (i.e., the teacher may ask questions such as “Was there more important

information?” or “Does anyone have anything more to add to my prediction?”).

4. The teacher provides guided assistance as students apply the strategies at

whatever skill level they have attained.

5. The teacher supports each child’s participation in the dialogue through specific

feedback, praise, prompting, additional modeling, paraphrasing, coaching, hints,

and explanation.

6. The teacher invites students to initiate discussion and to react to other students’

statements. Such participation can include (a) suggesting other questions, (b)

elaborating upon a summary, (c) commenting on another’s prediction, (d)

requesting clarification of material they did not understand, (e) offering additional comments on the content, and (f) helping to resolve misunderstandings.

7. During the reciprocal teaching procedures, there is a gradual shift from the

teacher doing most of the work to the child taking over the major thinking role.

The teacher gradually transfers control of the dialogues to the students and

becomes a supportive observer.

8. During the dialogues, instruction is provided on why, where, and when these

strategies might be applied.

Perhaps the best way to understand specific elements of reciprocal teaching is to examine

examples of teachers using the approach. The following vignette is part of a reciprocal

teaching lesson on how waves are generated. It concisely illustrates the following aspects

of reciprocal teaching:

 Modeling of comprehension-fostering strategies by the teacher

 Explanations and directions for comprehension-fostering activities

(cognitive strategies such as question generating, predicting, clarifying

words and ideas, and summarizing)

 Support for students through feedback, coaching, hints, or explanation

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78

Vignette

An Example of the Use of Reciprocal Teaching

Teacher: Let’s get out our science books and pick up where we left off yesterday in looking at

the chapter on oceans. We’re starting on page 72 at about the middle of the page. What is the

heading of that section?...Jeremy?

Jeremy: Making Waves

Teacher: Right. Now, when I see that heading, I get an idea of what this section will be about.

Since I know I’m reading an informational book, not a fiction book, I think I’m going to learn

about how waves are made. Okay. Read that first paragraph to yourself and then I’m going to

start us off with some questions.

students read paragraph silently

Teacher: To help me understand what I’ve read, I’m going to come up with a couple of

questions. Thinking up questions, both before and after I’ve read something, is a way to make

me think more deeply about what I’m reading. I’ll start off and then I’ll ask you if you thought of

any questions from this paragraph. Since the whole paragraph was about how waves get

started, one question might be, “How do waves get started?”...Sheila?

Sheila: Waves get started by wind blowing on the surface of the water.

Teacher: That’s right, Sheila. The wind transfers some of its energy to the water as it blows

across the surface of the water. This kind of question is sometimes called a locate question

because the answer can be “located” directly in the text. Another locate question I came up with

is, “What shape does this energy have as it moves through the water?”...Darryl?

Darryl: It’s shaped like a circle.

Teacher: Yes, it’s circular. As the energy moves through the water, it rolls along like a wheel. My

last question is a think question. Remember, think questions are those for which you can’t locate

the answer directly in what you’ve read. You need to add some of what you already know to get

the complete answer. So, my last question is, “How is the creation of a wave similar to what we

learned about last week when we studied how light from the sun heats up the earth?”...Billie?

Billie: We learned that the energy in the light gets transferred to the earth and this transfer of

energy creates heat. The wind has energy, and it is the transfer of this energy to the water that

makes the waves.

Teacher: Great answer, Billie. You looked at the two actions and identified how they were alike.

Questions like this one that require you to use prior knowledge are harder to create, but they are

very helpful in developing a deeper understanding of what you’re reading because they deal

with bigger ideas. Okay, before we read the next paragraph, who came up with a question?

Mike: I did.

Teacher: Okay, Mike. What is your question?

Mike: How much wind does it take to make a wave?

Teacher: Good question. That’s a factual question that can help you remember key details.

Who would you like to call on?

Mike: Tisha.

Tisha: It said it doesn’t take much wind to make a small wave, but that it takes a lot of wind that

blows in one direction to make a really big wave.

Teacher: Mike, did that answer your question?

Continued
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Vignette

Mike: Yeah. She’s right.

Teacher: Now, we’re ready to read the next paragraph. I’m going to look for words that I might

want to clarify as I read. Clarifying important words helps me make sure I’ve gotten the full and

correct meaning from what I’ve read. I can look the word up in a dictionary or glossary, ask

someone for help, or look for clues in the other sentences and paragraphs that are next to the

word I want to know more about. I’d like you to look for any that you’re not sure of as well.

students read paragraph silently

Teacher: I came across the word velocity. I want to be sure I know what this word means. So, I

can look for clues in the surrounding sentences, or I can look it up in the glossary. Let’s have

everyone on this side of the room look for clues and everyone on this side find it in the glossary.

pause

Teacher: Okay. Who found a clue to the meaning of velocity?...Benita?

Benita: In the sentence right after the one that has velocity in it, it talks about how stronger

winds make bigger waves, so I think velocity has to do with how strong the winds are.

Teacher: Good detective work, Benita. What did it say in the glossary?...Hannah Marie?

Hannah Marie: It said “speed of motion.”

Teacher: So, we can say that the velocity of the wind is the speed of the wind’s motion. Good

work. Before I ask you if you found words you wanted to clarify, can you tell me why you think I

chose the word velocity as one I wanted to clarify?...Kyle?

Kyle: I think you chose it because it was a more important word. I know it’s more important

because they put it in bold letters in the paragraph.

Teacher: Great thinking, Kyle. Kyle used what he knows about textbooks to figure out that

velocity is an important word in understanding how waves are made. Did anyone else have a

word they wanted to clarify?...Kristie?

Kristie: Diameter. I get that confused with the other words that have to do with circles. I can’t

remember if it is all the way across or just half way

Teacher: Kendra, can you help her?

Kendra: I had to look it up because I get it confused with radius. The diameter is the distance

all the way across, from one edge to the other and passing through the center point. The radius

is the distance from the center of the circle to the edge.

Jeremy: It said if the diameter of the circle made by the wind is bigger than the depth of the

water, then the wave starts to rise up like it’s going to break. I don’t know how that works.

Teacher: Who can help?...Joel?

Joel: The diagram on the next page helped me understand it. It shows how as the water gets

shallower, the wave has nowhere to go but up.

Teacher: Hannah Marie, did you have a question?

Hannah Marie: Yes, Ms. Jester, I came up with a think question. What would happen if a big

wave, say about 20 feet in diameter, suddenly went from water that was 100 feet deep to water

that was only 15 feet deep?

Kendra: I know—it would rise up like the waves at the beach and break with a crash!

An analysis of this transcript appears in the appendix.

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Elements of the gradual release of responsibility can be seen in this lesson script, but the

gradual nature of this shift of responsibility can be observed more clearly by examining

excerpts from several reciprocal teaching lessons. The second set of vignettes shows how

the teacher transfers responsibility for the dialogue to students over time.

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Examples of the Gradual Release of Responsibility

Week 1

Teacher: There is a lot of information we’re expected to learn from what we read. We need to

develop strategies for understanding the more important things and remembering them well. One

of these strategies is called summarizing. When we summarize something that we’ve read, we

pick out the most important information and the supporting details, and we focus on remembering just these more important aspects.

There are four basic rules for summarizing information that we read. I’ve listed them on this

poster so that you can refer to them as we start using this strategy for improving our understanding of what we’re reading.

1. Identify the most important information (Have I listed the critical events, actions, or

terms that focus on the main idea of the paragraph or passage?)

2. Identify supporting information (Have I included information necessary to define or

explain the main idea?)

3. Delete the less important information (Have I included any information that is not

needed to define or explain the main idea?)

4. Delete redundant information (Have I used any information more than once?)

I summarized the section of your social studies book that I assigned for you to read last night. Here’s

my summary. The teacher puts a handwritten outline on the overhead projector. Here’s how I

identified the more important parts of this section. I used the headings that were printed in boldface

type as my headings. Then, I read the paragraphs carefully and identified the main idea for each one.

These main ideas became my first level items under each heading.

Then, I went back and found the details that supported each main idea. I didn’t list everything;

that is, I didn’t recopy the whole section. I just wrote down what were the more significant details

that were related to each main idea.

Now, let’s look at the next section, and I’ll coach you through using these four rules to summarize

the information in that section.

At this point in time, the teacher includes an explanation of the strategy and models it for

students. She provides strong support during practice so that they can begin to get the

feel of using this strategy.

Week 2

Teacher: I want to review the four basic rules of summarizing with you before we practice using

them to summarize the next section in our science book.

Teacher uses the poster to review the four rules.

I’ve started my summary by creating the major headings. And, you can see how I used the main

idea of each paragraph as the next level of the summary. I followed these with the more

important supporting details.

Continued
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Examples of the Gradual Release of Responsibility

Remember, I make a summary when I want to strengthen my understanding of something that

I’m reading and to help me remember what I’ve read. Like before a test!

Let’s see what you come up with in summarizing the next chapter. I’ll record what you identify as

the main ideas and supporting details on the overhead as you read through the chapter.

What will we use as a heading?...Tim?

Tim: Each section has a subtitle that might work. We just have to look for the darker print.

Teacher: Okay, so what’s the first one?... Amy?

Amy: It says, “Plants Need Sunlight.”

Teacher: Good. So, I write “plants need sunlight” as my first heading. Now, I want to keep my

summary focused just on the more important ideas, so what do I do next?... Hannah Marie?

Hannah Marie: You read through the paragraph and figure out the main idea.

The teacher begins by reviewing the steps of the strategy. As the lesson progresses she

continues to provide support for structuring the summary by leading students through

the application of the four rules, but more importantly she lets the students do more of

the work of filling in the information that will make up the summary.

Week 3

Teacher: You’ve gotten better at summarizing the key parts of what you’re reading. Who can tell

us the steps you use to create an effective summary?... Kyle?

Kyle: You start out by using the headings printed in the book, if there are any. If what you are

reading doesn’t provide headings, then you have to identify the “big ideas” for yourself.

Teacher: Good, Kyle. What then?

Kyle: You identify the main idea of each paragraph and list the supporting details for each main idea.

Teacher: Isn’t that just copying from the book?

Kyle: No, you don’t write down everything, just the more important things. That’s why you summarize

something, so you can trim it down to just the most critical things to understand and remember.

Teacher: That’s right. Now, what I want you to do is to get with your partner and summarize this

article. I copied it out of a science magazine because it deals so well with our current topic. I’ll

circulate among you while you’re working to answer any questions or to help you if you get

stuck. I want you to put your summaries on the blank transparencies so you can share them

with the class. I’ll want you to help each other by commenting on each other’s summaries.

By week 3 the teacher requires students to help with the beginning review, and they assume

near total responsibility for their work during practice. The dialogue that follows their work in

pairs gives students a chance to learn from each other and to gain a deeper understanding of

this strategy by analyzing the work of other pairs of students. The teacher’s support is nearly

completely withdrawn as the students begin to support each other.

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Vocabulary Development

Vocabulary development impacts both word recognition and comprehension. It impacts

word recognition by providing the contents of the reader’s oral vocabulary. When a reader

encounters an unfamiliar word, there are several processes the reader can choose from to

generate an estimate of the word’s pronunciation. This trial pronunciation is then used to

search the reader’s storehouse of words (his oral vocabulary) for a match. If a word is not

in the reader’s oral vocabulary—that is, if no pronunciation or meaning is stored in the

reader’s brain—there can be no match and, therefore, no word recognition can occur.

Comprehension depends on both word recognition and background knowledge. If the

reader recognizes the words of a text and their meanings are brought into the reader’s

working memory, then literal comprehension is possible. However, the reader must

combine background knowledge to infer anything that is beyond the explicitly stated

message of the text. A strong oral vocabulary (word knowledge) and background knowledge (domain knowledge) are the key components needed to interpret most texts. Helping

children build a wide oral vocabulary is one of the most important forms of assistance

teachers can provide to young readers.

An earlier section cited research by Durkin (1979) in which the focus of reading instruction

was measured on a minute-by-minute basis in a number of fourth-grade classrooms. This

study found that of the 4,469 minutes of instruction that were observed, only 19 minutes

involved vocabulary instruction and another 4 minutes were spent reviewing previously

taught vocabulary words. Moreover, most of the vocabulary instruction observed in a study

by Shake, Allington, Gaskins, and Marr (1987) focused on providing definitions but did not

give students adequate opportunities to use new words. It appears that in many classrooms

quality instruction in vocabulary building is quite limited. However, there are several, easily

implemented strategies that contribute to vocabulary growth.

Rewriting definitions

We know that students can learn the meanings of new words from definitions. We also

know that examples and non-examples that highlight critical attributes are valuable in

teaching new concepts (Klausmeier, 1976). Students learn most, however, when these

elements are used in combination. A well-written definition combined with two to three

examples and non-examples is an effective way to introduce most new vocabulary words

(Klausmeier & Feldman, 1975).

What makes a “well-written definition”? McKeown (1993) found that dictionary definitions were less effective than rewritten definitions that highlighted differences between

the new word and related words. Rewritten definitions are more detailed and rely less on

synonyms. Here are two examples:

Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Comprehension

 Internal clues

 Oral vocabulary

 Rewritten definitions

 Word knowledge

 Word recognition

Term

Extemporaneous Describing something (usually

a speech or spoken remarks)

that is made without planning

or preparation

Dictionary Definition

Made, done, or spoken

without any preparation

Rewritten definition

Raiment Clothing; wearing

apparel, attire

An unusual way to refer to

clothing, one that considers all

of the clothing rather than

individual pieces

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Not every term or new vocabulary word will require a rewritten definition in order for

students to understand its meaning. Rewritten definitions can be developed for critical

terms from the texts or stories that students are reading. Terms that may be outside of the

readers’ background knowledge are also candidates for rewritten definitions. Also, when

a text contains a large number of new terms, presenting rewritten definitions to students

before they read the text can help them avoid becoming bogged down as they read.

Learning words from context

A great deal of research indicates that many of the new words we learn are acquired

from reading. This type of vocabulary growth is easier when information in the text that

reveals the meaning of the unfamiliar word is in the same sentence or paragraph. The

farther away the clues are from the new word, the less likely students are to learn what

the new word means. Furthermore, when the text provides synonyms for unfamiliar

words, students are better able to understand those words (Carnine, Kameenui, & Coyle,

1984). One strategy that may provide a way for students to test their understanding of

new words is to suggest that they identify a synonym based on the clues in the text and

replace the unfamiliar word with the synonym. If the synonym makes sense with the rest

of the text, the student is probably correct in his understanding of the new word.

Using internal clues

New or unfamiliar words may contain clues to their meanings that students can be taught to

discover and use. Prefixes and suffixes are used to modify words, and knowing the impact

of a prefix or suffix can pry open the door to the meaning of an unknown word (Nicol,

Graves, & Slater, 1984, as cited in Pressley, 1998). For example, the word precaution

includes the prefix pre, which means before. Students who know the use of this prefix

might be able to come up with an approximate definition by combining before with

careful, a synonym for caution, to produce “being careful before something happens.”

Studying root words is a fun and useful activity for older children and can be as sophisticated as looking for Greek derivations (chrom = color; monochrome = a single color) or

as simple as understanding that health is related to the word heal.

Processing new words in multiple ways

Providing multiple ways for students to work with new words enhances their understanding of those words (McKeown, Beck, Omanson, & Pople, 1985). Below are several

examples that are easy to use:

 Associating new words with known words

 Students can be given “clue words” that connect with new vocabulary

words and be asked to identify how these words are related. (How is crook

related to accomplice? Why do these two words belong together?)

 Using new words in a sentence

 Matching definitions to new words

 Students can compete against one another to see who can match the words

to their definitions faster.

 Student-written definitions can be used to provide variety.

 Using new words outside of class

 Students who use words in ways that indicate they understand the meaning

can be recognized and/or allowed to share those uses in class.

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Additional research findings on teaching vocabulary and its effect on comprehension

include the following:

 Teaching key vocabulary words had a strong positive effect on how well fifthgrade students remembered the content of passages they read in a social studies

text (Carney, Anderson, Blackburn, & Blessings, 1984).

 Sixth-graders were able to learn a large number of vocabulary words from

listening to passages read aloud (Stahl, Richek, & Vandevier, 1991).

 Active engagement was highlighted as an important factor in helping students

learn vocabulary words in a number of studies, including a study with prekindergarten children who learned more when they answered questions about the

story while it was being read than when the story was read straight through

without questions (Senechal, 1997).

 Teaching vocabulary directly from text prior to asking students to read those

passages helped eighth-graders identify cause-effect relationships (Medo &

Ryder, 1993).

Where does vocabulary growth come from?

There are two factors that contribute to vocabulary growth outside of formal instruction: the

source of new words and the volume of words read. In order for a student’s vocabulary to

grow, he must come in contact with words that are outside of his current vocabulary. Far

more rare words occur in print than in speech or on television. Hayes and Ahrens (1988)

conducted a detailed study of the number of rare words per 1,000 words spoken or read.

The results may surprise you.

These findings emphasize the importance of reading as a source of vocabulary growth.

The other factor, volume of words read, also reveals some surprising numbers:

Students who read just under five minutes per week outside of school (approximately

20 percent of the students in the study read 5 minutes or less per week) will read only

21,000 words in a year. Those who read nearly 10 minutes per day will read 622,000

words in a year, and at 15 minutes per day, the total jumps to over 1,146,000 words per

year. The two percent who read over an hour a day will read 4,358,000 words each year.

Source Rare Words per

1,000 Words

Abstracts of scientific articles

Newspapers

Popular magazines

Comic books

Adult books

Children’s books

Cartoon shows

Courtroom expert witness testimony

Prime-time adult TV shows

Prime-time children’s TV shows

Conversations of college graduates with friends or spouses

Preschool books

128

68.3

65.7

53.5

52.7

30.9

30.8

28.4

22.7

20.2

17.3

16.3

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Sources of Comprehension Difficulty

What can explain the difficulties individual readers have in understanding what they

have read? Because comprehension is such a complex process, there are many sources of

problems for readers who are still developing their comprehension skills. There are many

places in which the process of comprehension may break down. Understanding how

these weaknesses in the process cause comprehension problems can help you determine

the most appropriate support for students experiencing comprehension difficulties. The

research findings section that follows divides these sources of comprehension difficulty

into two types: those that involve the component parts of comprehension (process

factors) and those that involve background knowledge (knowledge factors).

The term process factors is used to describe aspects of the active construction of meaning. These factors represent the things readers do when trying to construct or understand

the meaning of connected text. Knowledge factors are more accurately described as what

readers use to build meaning—they represent the building blocks of comprehension.

Problems in comprehension arise when one or more of the process factors requires too

much of the reader’s working memory and/or when there is a gap between what the

reader knows (the two knowledge factors) and the level of knowledge needed to understand the text. Six of these factors are discussed below.

Process factors:

Working memory

Working memory is the place in the reader’s brain where cognitive processes like

comprehension and word recognition occur. It is the capacity to hold ideas or thoughts

until they can be assembled and/or compared with other ideas or thoughts in order to

establish, clarify, and validate their meaning. At a basic level, working memory enables a

reader to hold word meanings long enough to assemble the meanings of all the words of

a sentence and to construct the meaning of the sentence as a whole. At a more advanced

level, it enables a reader to hold sentences until the meaning of a paragraph is constructed and that meaning is compared with the meanings of previous paragraphs as the

reader builds and connects ideas.

Working memory is a source of comprehension failure when the reader is not able to

hold the meanings of words, sentences, or paragraphs long enough to make sense of

them or to identify themes or inconsistencies (Perfetti, Marron, & Foltz, 1996). This

problem is made worse when slow, laborious word recognition puts an increased burden

on working memory.

Word recognition

Problems with word recognition contribute to comprehension failure by slowing the

reader’s speed and using large portions of working memory. For example, when too

many of the words in a text are not known by sight and the reader must allocate more

space in working memory to decoding those words, there is less space available for

constructing meaning. This problem can be recognized in students who take so long to

identify individual words within a sentence that by the time they reach the end, they have

forgotten what they read at the beginning of the sentence.

Making inferences

The term inference is used to describe several comprehension processes, such as drawing

conclusions, making predictions, detecting implied statements or ideas, and extrapolating from stated facts or ideas to possible explanations for events or actions. The common

aspect in all of these processes is the use of prior knowledge to fill in the blanks or go

beyond what is printed in the text.

Definitions appear in the glossary.

Terms and concepts

in this section:

 Comprehension

 Comprehension monitoring

 Inference

 Word knowledge

 Word recognition

 Working memory

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Because many texts are not completely explicit, readers are called upon to add their prior

knowledge to what is printed. Readers with poor comprehension skills may fail to make

inferences in such cases because they “may have difficulty accessing relevant knowledge

and integrating it with what is in the text because of processing limitations” (Oakhill &

Yuill, 1996). An additional source of failure in making legitimate inferences is the

reader’s emphasis on identifying the literal meaning of a text to the exclusion of making

inferences, as if adding to the literal message of the text was not necessary.

Comprehension monitoring

Comprehension monitoring is the ability to be aware of instances when comprehension

begins to fall off or some part of the text presents a challenge to comprehension. It is the

“ability to recognize mistakes and inconsistencies in texts and to understand that they

impair a reader’s comprehension” (Ruffman, 1996). This monitoring is what tells a reader

“I need to go back and reread this sentence because it doesn’t make sense.” Readers who

monitor comprehension think about why they are reading and if they are being successful

in terms of that purpose (Am I getting what I need out of this material?).

Comprehension monitoring also takes place when a reader thinks about whether or not a text

makes sense. Readers who monitor their comprehension judge internal consistencies (Does

this agree with what the writer said earlier?) and external consistencies (Does this agree with

what I already know about this topic?). This kind of monitoring may occur as the text is read

or after it has been read. It may trigger a number of “comprehension repair” strategies, such as

rereading, or it may pass by as a general uneasiness about the text and its meaning.

Numerous possible explanations have been offered for why readers with weak comprehension monitoring ability poorly perform this important skill. The first is based on the

assumption that reading is merely recognizing words and that constructing meaning by

combining the literal meaning of the text with relevant background knowledge is beyond

the scope of reading. This misconception is typical of very young readers (Myers & Paris,

1978). A second explanation is that some readers may be deficient in their ability to

create a mental representation of the text. In other words, they may not comprehend much

of what they read because they are not able to create an integrated picture using the

information from the text. Therefore, because their comprehension is so low, these

readers do not monitor or detect changes in their level of comprehension.

Knowledge factors:

Word knowledge

Word knowledge is defined as understanding the meanings of words, and it involves

concept development. That is, a reader who understands a concept well will be able to use

the definition to distinguish between examples and non-examples and be able to highlight

the critical attributes that make something belong to that concept. Word knowledge also

includes the ability to recognize shades of meaning and subtle differences in word

meanings. For example, word knowledge is what enables a reader to differentiate

between a sad event and a tragic event.

The reader with weak word knowledge will be at a disadvantage when his understanding

of a text depends on a clear and in-depth understanding of a concept or of the fine

distinction among shades of meaning. The alarming implication of this fact is that a

reader who does not possess strong word knowledge is less able to learn from what is

read. Therefore, this reader will not grow in word knowledge (and domain knowledge) as

fast as the reader who already possesses the depth of understanding needed to fully

comprehend the text.

Domain knowledge

Domain knowledge refers to the reader’s understanding of the concepts and principles

that form a specific area of knowledge or field of discipline. Domain knowledge includes

the different pieces of information and the relationships among them that enable the

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reader to interpret what is written about a specific subject. For example, having an in-depth

knowledge of American history can help a reader interpret a wide range of writings on

American politics, economics, geography, and societal trends and events. Domain knowledge is a type of background knowledge that strongly influences comprehension.

As with word knowledge, those readers who have developed wide domain knowledge

have an advantage because they are able to adequately comprehend a wider range of

writings. This wider reading produces greater domain knowledge and the benefit to the

reader continues to increase. Unfortunately, the converse is also true. Stanovich (1986)

wrote that children who are less able readers (those who are weak in word recognition,

comprehension, and the processes that support these elements of reading) will read less

and learn less, thereby falling further and further behind their more able classmates.

Using an understanding of the sources of comprehension difficulty to inform instruction

When the teacher notices that an individual student is having problems with comprehension, she needs to be able to pinpoint the source of that difficulty so that instruction can

be provided that is targeted to the student’s specific need. By analyzing the student’s oral

reading and/or his understanding of selected texts, the teacher better identifies the source

of the comprehension failure. The following table provides suggestions for how teachers

can use the observation of specific reading problems to identify possible sources of

comprehension difficulty.

Observed Problem Source of Difficulty Helpful Strategies

Slow, effortful

reading that involves

frequent decoding of

unfamiliar words

Overburdened

working memory

Switch reader to text with more

appropriate vocabulary or level

of difficulty

Talk through how the reader

uses decoding and provide tips

for faster decoding (see the

sections on teaching decoding

and rime analogies)

Allow for repeated reading

to build fluency

Inability to draw

inferences or extend

understanding beyond

the literal meaning of

the text

Inadequate word

knowledge and/or

background knowledge

Use of rewritten definitions

for key terms

Pre-reading activities that build

and/or activate prior knowledge

Ineffective strategies for

making inferences

Model how to integrate background knowledge with literal

meaning of text to formulate

inferences

Failure to notice when

comprehension

difficulties arise

Teach reader to generate

questions to check his own

understanding (see section on

procedural prompts as possible

scaffolding for this strategy)

Supply reader with “fix-up”

strategies, such as rereading and

use of key terms and phrases, to

repair comprehension

Inadequate comprehension

monitoring

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Text as a source of comprehension difficulty

In addition to the six sources of comprehension difficulty addressed above, certain

characteristics of the text that is being read can create comprehension problems. The

following are examples of difficult texts and how the characteristics of each type of text

impact comprehension.

Text as a Source of Comprehension Difficulty

One way to begin to understand what goes on in the mind of a skilled reader in terms of

comprehension is to think about why different types of text present unique problems for

comprehension. Think about the challenges you would face in trying to understand the

message or ideas presented in each of the following types of text.

 A technical article on a topic in nuclear physics

 A poorly written first draft of an editorial in which key ideas are omitted and others are

not well-organized

 Any text that you are trying to read when there is a great deal of distracting activities

going on around you

 A sequel to a book you have not read and know nothing about

 A poem that is nearly all symbolism

Before reading further, ask yourself, “What makes trying to understand these types of

text difficult?”

Each type of text presents unique challenges to comprehension.

 Technical writing can include terms and concepts that may be beyond the reader’s

background knowledge. For example, a scientific article may include specific terms (i.e.,

sub-atomic particles) and broad concepts (i.e., nuclear fusion) that the reader does not

understand. If this is so, comprehension is difficult and may be impossible.

 Poorly written text can also impact comprehension by using up greater amounts of the

reader’s working memory to piece together or organize the writer’s ideas.

 Reading while a lot of distractions go on around you can be very frustrating.

Comprehension is reduced by distractions because they interrupt the thought

processes involved in assembling the meanings of words in the reader’s

working memory.

 Trying to read a sequel without having any knowledge of the first book ensures

that the reader will encounter situations in which important background knowledge

is missing.

 Finally, a poem the uses symbolism may be more difficult than other types of poetry

because much more of its meaning is hidden below the literal meaning of the text.

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Learning From, With,

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and For Each Other

Building a Professional Learning Community .............................90

Understanding Professional Learning Communities ......................... 90

Analyzing Your Current (and Your Ideal) Professional Culture ........ 97

Getting Things Organized ..................................................................... 99

Managing Change: Striking a Balance Among Conflicting Advice ..... 102

Turning Your Vision into Practice ................................................106

Creating a Vision for Your Reading Program ................................... 106

Developing a Set of Guiding Principles ............................................ 107

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Building a Professional Learning Community

Purpose and Structure:

The final sections of this book provide critical insights and helpful activities for creating a

professional culture that supports continuous learning and collective action. The activities

are intended to help groups of teachers expand the collaboration they established through

their collective study of reading. As in the sections of the book devoted to research on

reading instruction, each of the following sections provides background reading that sets

the stage for open discussion among team and faculty members. The activities provide a

structure for that discussion, a way to move from the research to action.

Understanding Professional Learning Communities

What is a professional learning community?

A professional learning community exists when people form a group and commit

themselves to continuous learning and to supporting each other in continuous learning. In

a professional learning community, professional development is intertwined with the dayto-day work of teachers and ceases to exist as a separate, additional activity that occurs

only on designated days of the year. Instead, professional development becomes an

integrated function of being a member of a professional learning community. Each of the

examples printed below reveals that learning is a joint activity—one that is shared by all.

 Teachers who are seeking to improve classroom practices may engage in action

research as a professional learning community activity. In doing action research,

teachers (a) identify a problem or need; (b) measure important aspects of the

problem and/or collect data that will help them gain insight into how it might be

addressed, such as reviewing research findings (like those included in this book)

or collecting firsthand data on student learning; (c) analyze the information they

collected and develop and implement a plan for changing their instructional

practices; and (d) evaluate the results of their action plan so that new strategies

can be developed—or old strategies revised—and recommended to other

teachers. The key characteristic of action research is the use of a structured

inquiry method to find the answer to this question: What would be the results

if we did it this way?

 One of the most common forms of learning within a professional learning

community is the implementation of new instructional strategies. Implementing

new strategies involves taking what is learned through training or some other

form of professional development and actually putting it into use in the classroom. For successful teacher learning and implementation to occur, teachers

must receive continuous assistance and support after they learn about the initial

strategy. Teachers who are part of a professional learning community may form

peer-coaching study teams to provide each other with the necessary support and

assistance to actually begin using a new instructional strategy. This level of

support helps teachers persevere through the initial stages of trying something

new, when their performance may be awkward or not up to their usual standards.

Key characteristics of continuous assistance are support, clarification of new

strategies through observing demonstrations of effective use, collaboration,

sharing of ideas, and encouragement.

 Any group of teachers will possess a number of diverse skills and gifts. When

teachers open up their instructional practices to the eyes of their colleagues, they

share those skills and gifts in a powerful way. Welcoming (not just allowing)

others to watch you teach, collectively analyzing your students’ work to identify

strengths and weaknesses, and sharing the responsibility for student learning

dramatically increase teacher learning. Teachers who share what they know and

what they do, support one another in learning more effective ways of teaching,

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and assume joint responsibility for student learning are demonstrating one of the

essential characteristics of professional learning community members: they are

learning from each other, with each other, and for each other.

 Throughout the process of becoming a professional learning community, groups of

teachers gather to talk about what is important to them about teaching and learning

and what they believe about schooling in general. These gatherings—whether you

call their product a vision, a mission statement, or a set of tenets or beliefs—are

opportunities for teacher learning and professional development. By identifying and

coming to consensus on values and beliefs, teachers accomplish another important

characteristic of learning within a professional learning community—open dialogue

on important issues and concerns.

Dufour and Eaker (1998) list six characteristics of professional learning communities.

These characteristics indicate what actions are necessary to build and sustain this kind of

professional culture.

1. Shared mission, vision, and values: A true learning community is identified by a

collective commitment to principles and beliefs that guide the long-range plans

and day-to-day learning experiences of all its members.

2. Collective inquiry: Members of a professional learning community see the collective

pursuit of answers to questions arising from teaching and learning as a way of life.

3. Collaborative teams: A professional learning community is made up of smaller

teams that are actively engaged in professional development that addresses

problems drawn directly from teaching and learning. They focus on increasing the

school’s capacity to learn and to act collectively on what is learned.

4. Action orientation and experimentation: Members of professional learning

communities move from ideas and questions to problem solving and implementation. They reflect on what they have learned and on their performance but always

in the context of guiding future action. Experimenting with new ways of doing

things does not always produce improvements, and a professional learning

community recognizes this as a natural event and is not discouraged.

5. Continuous improvement: Trying new strategies or practices, evaluating the results,

and making further refinements are seen as normal operating procedures, not as onetime events. Dufour and Eaker describe these activities as deriving from a “persistent

discomfort with the status quo and a constant search for a better way” (p. 28).

6. Results orientation: Improvement efforts are measured in terms of results.

Intended results are stated up front and measured so that growth or the lack of it

can be clearly determined.

Other benefits of building a professional learning community

In schools where teachers work as a professional learning community, students have before

them a consistent model of lifelong learning. They see significant adults seek out learning

opportunities and put substantial effort into those experiences. They see their teachers

enjoy the satisfaction of acquiring useful, new knowledge. The kind of thoughtful inquiry

that is at the heart of a professional learning community provides a good example of a

rational, data-driven, collaborative approach to solving problems.

Teaching in today’s schools brings extraordinary challenges. In the face of these challenges, a professional learning community can provide moral support and tangible assistance. Milbrey McLaughlin (1994) describes this aspect of the benefits of membership in a

professional learning community as follows:

As we looked across our sites at teachers who report a high sense of efficacy, who

feel successful with today’s students, we noticed that while these teachers differ

along a number of dimensions—age and experience, subject area, track assignment, and even conceptions of pedagogy—all shared this one characteristic:

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membership in some kind of a strong professional community. Further, almost

without exception, these teachers singled out their professional discourse community

as the reason that they have been successful in adapting to today’s students, the

source of their professional motivation and support, and the reason that they did not

burn out in the face of some exceedingly demanding teaching situations.

The impact of a professional learning community on new instructional practices

Working in a professional learning community involves teachers interacting with one another

or with other resource persons. Such interaction provides teachers with the following:

 Clarification or additional information about aspects of new skills or knowledge

 Readily available demonstrations of new skills or knowledge

 Collection and analysis of information on how students are responding to new

materials or instructional practices

 Collaborative planning and sharing of materials

 Ideas for applying new skills or knowledge in new ways and new situations

 Ideas for materials and how to use them effectively

 Encouragement, support, and (to some extent) pressure

There are several important reasons for building a professional learning community to

support the implementation of new reading practices. Research and practice have proven

that “practitioners often need more than one year to grow comfortable with any change.

For the majority of teachers, the first year is a time of trial and experimentation” (Guskey,

1990). According to Tom Guskey (1986), without adequate support, many teachers will

not be able to see how a new strategy or program might benefit students and are less

likely to practice the new strategy long enough to gain confidence in their use of it. They

“will abandon their efforts and return to the old familiar strategies they have used in the

past.” Joyce and Showers (1988) reported that developing sufficient skill in using a new

strategy “will require 20 or 25 trials and the assistance of someone who can help us

analyze the students’ responses and enable us to stick with the process until we have

executive control over our new skill.” Without support, teachers have difficulty overcoming the anxiety they experience when attempting new ways of teaching, and they may not

even begin to put those new ideas into practice (Joyce & Showers, 1995).

Support for teachers trying new practices frequently takes the form of coaching, which is

a fundamental and valuable feature of a professional learning community. The table

below provides data from Joyce and Showers (1988) on the impact of this type of support

as a component of the training model.

Impact of Training Components on Teacher Learning and Use

Training Components Concept Understanding Application

(executive use)

Presentation of Theory

Skill Attainment

(mechanical use)

Modeling by Trainer(s)

Practice and Low-risk

Feedback (in the

training setting)

85% 15% 5–10%

85% 18% 5–10%

Coaching

85% 80% 10–15%

90% 90% 80–90%

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Coaching

Joyce and Showers (1988) claim, “The actual organization of peer coaching is relatively

simple—peer coaches need time to watch each other work and time to talk.” In this brief

statement, Joyce and Showers reveal key principles of peer coaching. First, teachers learn

by watching each other teach. As a teacher watches a colleague’s teaching performance,

she mentally rehearses the model as it was presented during training and compares it to

her colleague’s teaching demonstration. She also compares the colleague’s teaching to

her own use of the strategy or technique. The mental act of observing and analysis

increases the understanding of the practices being demonstrated. When a teacher observes a colleague teaching, she is learning from the teaching performance of her

partner—she is the one being coached.

The concept of coaching drawn from athletic coaching is not the pattern for peer coaching. In

athletic coaching, an older, more experienced person instructs and critiques the performance

of a younger athlete while not actually performing himself or herself. In their coaching model,

Joyce and Showers (1995) recommend omitting critiques and feedback following observations of teaching. Providing technical feedback requires training that is beyond what could be

reasonably expected of teachers who are attempting to learn to use the same practices they are

observing others use. Furthermore, eliminating feedback in coaching “has not depressed

implementation or student growth” (Joyce et al., 1989).

Other key principles of coaching are the need for a common understanding of the theory

and concepts that make up the teaching practices being studied and a common language

so that professional discussions are more productive. These principles can be achieved

through shared training experiences or through group study of a book such as this one.

What are the direct benefits to teachers of participating in peer coaching?

 Teachers who participate in peer coaching practice new skills more frequently and

persist in using them through the difficult early stages of implementation. Teachers

who are not involved in peer coaching may say that they intend to use what they

learned during training, but there is little evidence that they actually follow

through and make the new strategy a part of their repertoire (Showers, 1982).

 Peer coaches are able to apply new strategies to content and situations that differ

from those they observed during training. Teachers who are not peer coaches are less

able to transfer what they learned to new and different situations (Showers, 1984).

 Peer coaches retain skills and knowledge longer than teachers who are not peer

coaches. This trend is probably related to the “uncoached” teachers’ lack of

continual use of the skills and knowledge (Baker & Showers, 1984). Without the

support of a peer coach, teachers frequently return to strategies with which they

are more familiar.

 Coaching facilitates the development of professional and collegial relationships

based on shared language and a school culture that promotes continuous improvement.

It reduces isolation and encourages teachers to explore important issues together in an

atmosphere of openness (Little, 1982; Garmston, 1987; Ponticell, 1995).

 Peer coaching provides teachers with a clearer picture of their own teaching

performance and where it could be improved (Ponticell, 1995).

 Teachers scored significantly higher on variables associated with self-assessment,

planning, and instruction as a result of participating in peer coaching (Phelps, 1986).

Collaboration and collegiality

Working in a study-team structure builds collegial relationships and norms of shared

responsibility for teacher and student learning. Study-team functioning is enhanced by new

and different strategies for professional development. Hargreaves (1995) writes that one of

the most promising of “these emergent strategies of teacher development is the principle of

collaboration and collegiality.”

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What is the principle of collaboration and collegiality? According to Little, this principle

“goes well beyond a loosely constructed sense of ‘getting along’ and ‘working well

together’” (Little, 1990). Collaboration and collegiality describe interactions among

teachers that have the following three characteristics:

 They involve a sharing of the responsibilities for tasks related to teaching and/or

the improvement of teaching.

 They demonstrate a willingness to expose one’s teaching performance as well as

one’s beliefs about teaching and learning to the scrutiny of others.

 They produce collective action.

Study-team members collaborate when they work together to develop a unit of instruction—

assigning tasks to different individuals so that the final product is constructed of the work of

many, and no one person is responsible for all of the pieces. They share the responsibility for

creating the unit. Teachers also are collaborating when they share the responsibility for

certain outcomes despite the fact that individuals or sub-groups contribute differently to the

effort. For example, when a group of intermediate-grade teachers agree to work toward

improving students’ ability to learn through reading in the content areas (the sciences and

social studies), they will not all take the same actions in supporting that goal, but because

they share the responsibility for achieving it, they are collaborating.

As teachers enter into an open exchange of ideas for improving students’ ability to comprehend more difficult texts, they are opening themselves and their practices up to examination

by their peers. This is another form of collaboration and collegiality. Finally, when teachers

at an elementary school agree to begin each day by reading aloud to students to enrich their

exposure to children’s literature, they are collaborating by acting collectively.

How does collaboration benefit teachers and their students? Advocates of collaboration

and collegiality describe many worthwhile benefits from engaging in activities like those

described above. Some of the benefits that pertain to improving the effectiveness of

professional development activities are as follows:

 Collaboration and collegiality provide moral support for teachers as they experiment with new strategies. While moral support is described as a “weaker” form of

collaboration, it can be significant when you feel you are moving in uncharted waters.

 Collaboration can impact student achievement by improving teaching practices.

This improved effectiveness can result from being willing to take risks and

try new strategies or from having access to a greater variety of strategies and

approaches through collaboration with your peers. Collaboration may even

improve a teacher’s sense of efficacy (Ashton & Webb, 1986).

 Teachers are more likely to reflect upon their own practices if they are

involved in a collaborative dialogue about teaching. If the collaboration includes

observing a fellow teacher’s instructional practices, then a teacher will be able to

consider her own teaching in the light of what she saw in her colleague’s

classroom. The observation of another teacher’s instructional practices makes

reflection on one’s own teaching more useful because it provides a concrete

model for comparison (Joyce & Showers, 1988).

 Collaboration promotes a norm of continuous improvement. By reflecting on

current practice and seeking ways to do things better, teachers create a culture

that sees planned change as an expectation of the professional staff. Therefore,

change is viewed as a never-ending process, and improvement is viewed as a

journey, not a destination.

Using collaboration as a way to enhance teacher learning is not without potential problems.

Be aware of the following situations, and use care to avoid them:

 Engaging in collaborative activities because it sounds progressive but having no

clear or direct link to professional development and the improvement of teaching

and learning.

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 Confining collaboration to providing moral support and the exchange of materials

without interaction about their use. These are safe and comfortable areas that allow

teachers to collaborate without addressing classroom practices or topics that might

bring confrontation among peers (Little, 1990).

 Using collaboration to produce conformity rather than unity.

 Forcing collaboration as an administrative requirement. Mandating that teachers

collaborate during their planning periods is a sure way to make teachers lose interest

in the shared work of teaching. Requiring the use of collaboration to aid the implementation of mandated programs is also a form of forced collaboration.

Suggestions for moving from research to action

Consider these steps in translating the idea of a professional learning community from

research-based theory into action:

 Identify the kinds of professional learning community activities your group would

like to emphasize as you begin the collective study of reading and effective

instructional practices.

 Select one or more of the activities you want to emphasize and build time for those

activities into your next study-team session.

 Assign the “action responsibility” for leading or guiding each activity to one or

more of your team members to ensure that the necessary tasks are completed. (See

a suggested format for action responsibilities in the appendix.)

 As your study team becomes comfortable with those activities, add in new

activities from your list to continue to build a professional learning community.

One way to begin to reach consensus on the type of professional learning community most

suitable for your group or faculty is to list activities that seem to fit your needs. The table

below lists activities that represent the day-to-day relationships of teachers in a professional

learning community. It also identifies the benefits teachers derive from participating in these

kinds of activities. As you read through the list, think about which benefits would be helpful

to you and your colleagues.

Collaborative activities like those described in the table do not just happen. They must be planned

and those plans must be executed. A good way to ensure that plans are made and completed is to

assign the “action responsibility” to one or more of your team members. Action responsibilities

Professional Learning Community Activities

Direct Benefits

1. Using shared planning to develop

units, lessons, and activities

2. Learning from one another by

watching each other teach

Divides the labor, saves time because no

one has to do it all, and increases quantity

and quality of ideas

Provides concrete examples of effective

practices, expands the observer’s repertoire

of skills, and stimulates analytical thinking

about teaching

3. Collectively studying student work to

identify weaknesses and plan new

ways to teach to those weaknesses

Increases quantity and quality of insights

into student performance, focuses efforts on

“the bottom line”—student learning, and

increases professionalism and self-esteem

of learning community members

4. Sharing articles and other professional

resources for ideas and insights;

conducting studies of books on

teaching and learning

Expands pool of ideas and resources

available to members of the professional

learning community

Continued

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Professional Learning Community Activities
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spell out what is to be done and when the tasks are to be completed. This list of tasks can be

developed collectively or by the person to whom the action responsibility is assigned. Without

clear action responsibilities, even the most effective plans can fail. Another way to organize

collaborative activities is to rank them by level of emphasis.

Some activities among those rated as deserving high levels of emphasis may be easier to put

into action than others, so it may be wise to select one or two of those as your starting point.

As you add to your list of professional learning community activities, remember that some

of these activities will be closely related to things you have been doing and, therefore, will

operate smoothly from the outset. Others, however, may require some experimentation and

adjustment to make them fit your study team’s schedule and work style.

Direct Benefits

5. Talking with one another about what and

how you teach and the results your

teaching produces

Decreases feelings of isolation; increases

experimentation and analysis of teaching

practices; increases confidence of teachers; and provides teachers with greater

access to a range of teaching styles,

models, and philosophies

6. Providing moral support, comradeship,

and encouragement

Enables teachers to stick with new practices through the rough early stages of

learning to use new skills, decreases

burnout and stress, and increases team

members’ willingness to try new methods

and to share ideas and concerns with other

members of the professional learning

community

Professional Learning Community Activities

7. Jointly exploring a problem, including

data collection and analysis, and

conducting action research

Improves quality of insights and solutions

and increases professionalism

8. Attending training together and helping

each other implement the content of

the training

Helps professional learning community

members get more out of training and

enables them to go to one another with

questions or to get clarification about

what was presented during training

9. Sharing the responsibility for making

and/or collecting materials

Allows for more efficient use of time

and takes advantage of particular talents

or interests of professional learning

community members

10. Participating in continuous quality

improvement activities

Improves quality of instruction, student

performance, and school operations

11. Using collective decision making to reach

decisions that produce collective action

Makes a strong statement of shared

responsibility and commitment to one

another’s learning

12. Providing support for “help-seeking” as

well as “help-giving”

Helps professional learning community

members feel secure in asking for help and

advice and enables professionals to give

assistance and advice without establishing

one-up/one-down relationships

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Professional Learning Community Activities

Using shared planning to develop units, lessons, and activities

Level of Emphasis

High

Providing moral support, comradeship, and encouragement High

Collectively studying student work to identify weaknesses and

plan new ways to teach to those weaknesses

High

Sharing the responsibility for making and/or Moderate

collecting materials

Learning from one another by watching each other teach

Using collective decision making to reach decisions that

produce collective action

High

Moderate

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Analyzing Your Current (and Your Ideal) Professional Culture

People who are becoming a professional learning community or who have been functioning as such a community for some time will express their own definition of “community”

in terms of several dimensions. These dimensions also represent ways of describing

communities of teachers. It can be valuable to think critically about important elements of

a professional culture. The insights gained by talking through these ideas with others can

help to clarify the type of professional culture the group wants and the direction the group

needs to take to get there.

An activity is included here to guide you in creating a picture of your current professional

culture and the group’s ideal professional culture. As you work through the activity, it is

important to remember that the dimensions are merely descriptive. They are evaluative

only to the degree that an individual brings his or her values to them. For example, one

person may believe that emphasizing collective or shared responsibilities is more highly

valued than limiting professional relationships to peer support. But that is only his or her

value position, and another person’s position may be different but equally as valid.

The idea of dimensions of community and the activity on the following page were

adapted from an insightful book by Joel Westheimer (1998) entitled Among Schoolteachers: Community, Autonomy, and Ideology in Teachers’ Work. Westheimer’s book takes a

fascinating look at two diverse professional learning communities and how they function.

It is an excellent resource and provides more extensive background on this topic.

Suggestions for moving from research to action

 Read through the Dimensions of Professional Learning Communities on the

following page.

 Place an X along each dimension to describe your school’s or team’s current

professional culture. For example, if you feel that teachers at your school or on your

team are described accurately by the statement in the center column, you would

place an X under the middle of that statement. If you feel that your school or team

has some elements of the description in the center column and some aspects of the

description in the left column, you would place an X between the two descriptors.

 When you have “located” your school or team on each dimension, work with

one other person at your table to describe an ideal professional culture using

those same dimensions. Use circles or check marks to indicate how you would

place your ideal school or team on each dimension.

 To process this activity, a facilitator will use a transparency of the Dimensions of

Professional Learning Communities to create a consensus picture of your current

professional culture and your desired professional culture.
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98

Joint work is defined by

shared responsibilities—“it’s

our problem”—and is seen as

having value in and of itself

because it generates participation, interaction, and interdependence.

Discussions frequently deal

with purposes (why are we

doing this—what is our larger

purpose for this project?),

beliefs (what do we believe

about teaching and learning?),

and principles (what is the

right thing to do?).

Classroom problems are

public in that what impacts

one impacts all—a group

owns the problem (a gradelevel team, department, or

entire faculty) even when it

may be occurring in only one

classroom. Solutions are

developed collectively.

Dissent is open and public, and

it is drawn out if not offered

freely. Dissenting opinions are

either incorporated into the

decision, changed to align with

the group’s decision, or

tolerated. If none of the above

is possible, the dissenter may

choose to leave the community.

Limited to certain

individuals, more like

friendships than professional

relationships. Level of support

offered through these

relationships varies.

Committed to supporting one

another, but emphasizing the

individual’s rights to

autonomy as well as professional responsibilities to one

another.

Using Joint Work

Joint work is limited to largescale projects or events, most

of which are not related to

instruction (fund-raising or

student activities such as the

prom or student government).

Joint work is oriented toward

helping others with a project or

problem, but ownership of the

project or problem remains with

the individual. Joint work is a

good way to get things done.

Talking about Teaching

Discussions focus on

incidents or policies

that are not related to

instruction. Students are

discussed primarily in

terms of their behavior or

attitude, not in terms of

learning or achievement.

Discussions focus on teaching

practices, sharing ideas, and

students. It is problemoriented and includes helpseeking and advice-giving.

Seeing Problems as

Public or Private

Classroom problems are

ignored by colleagues or

viewed as a sign of weakness.

Seeking help or advice is very

limited, and places the one

requesting help in a decidedly

subordinate position. No

solutions are offered, it is “sink

or swim” on your own.

Classroom problems are

viewed as private, but helpseeking and advice-giving are

encouraged—the individual

owns the problem, but

colleagues have a responsibility to offer help and support.

Solutions are offered.

Speaking Up

Decisions are made by

a select few with little

discussion, and dissent

is voiced outside of

public forums such as faculty

meetings. Dissenting opinions

do not impact decisions.

Dissent is registered in private

to those who will make the

decision. No open opposition

is shared, but the decision

makers are willing to hear

minority views. An appearance of unity and consensus

is maintained, even though

follow-through on decisions

may be uneven.

Community is valued because

it is an effective way to do

things— we get more done

and do it better if we are

working together.

Valuing the Community

Privacy and individualism are

valued more than community.

We are self-reliant and feel

that others should be too.

Community is valued for its

own sake—we prefer to do

things together. Working as a

collective is the right way to

do things.

Committed to ideals of

participation and community,

emphasizing collective or shared

professional responsibilities.

Dimensions of Professional Learning Communities

Defining Professional Relationships
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Facilitator’s Notes

1. Make a handout of the page that contains the Dimensions of Professional

Learning Communities.

2. Make a transparency of that same page.

3. Give each member of the group a copy of the handout and explain the directions

for marking what they think describes the school’s professional culture as it is

and then as they would like it to be.

4. When the group members have marked both their view of the current professional

culture and their ideal professional culture, ask them to watch as you move your

transparency marker from left to right across each dimension. Ask them to raise

their hand when your marker is on the point along each dimension that matches where

they put their mark.

5. Put a mark on the transparency to reflect the majority’s response. Proceed to the

next dimension until you have marked the current professional culture as

perceived by the group.

6. Then, repeat steps 3 and 4 for the ideal professional culture.

7. Use the discussion questions on the preceding page to summarize and clarify the

group’s responses and to develop action responsibilities where appropriate.

Getting Things Organized

Forming teams and establishing ground rules

A professional learning community can be a single team or an entire faculty comprised

of smaller teams. When a schoolwide professional learning community is being created,

a clearly defined process for getting faculty members into teams is helpful. This section

provides a method for reviewing several approaches to forming new teams and encourages analysis of these approaches that can lead to recommendations for how to form

study teams at your school. Once teams have been formed, they should formalize how

they will work together by establishing “ground rules” or norms for the team.

Suggestions for moving from research to action

Forming teams can be a sensitive task. It is important to allow faculty to chose teams and

teammates, but it is equally important that everyone be invited to join a team. Therefore,

defining a process for forming teams is a useful idea. A list of possible methods for

selecting study team members is presented below. Review the list of approaches to

forming teams and identify the advantages and potential disadvantages of each of the

approaches. Then select the approach that best suits your situation.

Methods of Study Team Selection

Composition

Teachers who work with the

same students

Description/Examples

More typically found at middle and high schools, these

teams cross over subject area lines to bring together

teachers who share the same students.

Teachers who teach the

same content

Can be found at all levels—grade level teams at the

elementary level, and department teams at the

secondary level.

Continued
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100

Ground rules, like manners, are intended to make things work more smoothly. They

define how people will relate to one another as they work together. They spell out the

group members’ expectations for themselves and each other. Adherence to ground rules

shows respect for fellow team members and enables the group to focus on what needs to

be done without spending an undue amount of time on how things should be done.

The following ground rules are suggested as a model for study teams to utilize in developing their own norms:

 Attend all meetings—if someone can’t attend, determine if the meeting can

be rescheduled.

 Participate actively in discussions and complete all assignments on time.

 Listen to understand, not to debate or refute.

 Let others know before you get overwhelmed and are not able to complete

your tasks.

 Keep it between team members—no critical comments about teammates to others.

Review these ground rules and revise them as necessary to reflect the expectations of the

professional learning community as a whole. Individual study teams can further revise

these ground rules in order to tailor them to their own situation. Having the study teams

begin with a set of ground rules that reflects the consensus of the faculty will make

collaboration among study teams easier and more effective. The following are some

suggestions for establishing your own set of ground rules:

 Print the examples of ground rules on a handout or poster, and share them with

the faculty or study team.

 Using the examples as a starting point, revise, add to, or delete the statements

until the list reflects the faculty’s or the study team’s consensus as to how it

would like to operate in the collective study of reading.

 Post the final wording of the ground rules, and make sure that each individual

has a personal copy.

 Periodically conduct a check to ensure that the ground rules are serving their

purpose. You may find that as your collegiality grows, some of the ground rules

could be revised to reflect more effective or preferred ways of working together.

Methods of Study Team Selection

Composition Description/Examples

Teachers who are interested

in a particular topic

This arrangement works well when groups are ad hoc

and change during the course of a single school year.

Teachers at varied stages of

their professional careers

A team may include two veteran teachers and two less

experienced teachers or one first year teacher, or two

teachers with 5 to 10 years of experience and one

teacher with 10+ years of teaching experience.

Currently existing

group structures

Most schools already have some form of grouping of

teachers (grade-level teams or departments), and those

groupings may be retained.

“Three teachers and

an administrator”

This structure enables teachers to see administrators

who are committed to continuous learning for themselves as well as for others.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Preparing for new roles

A change in school culture that truly enhances teacher learning will provide opportunities for

teachers to be involved in leadership activities that focus on direct interaction with their fellow

teachers, peer-coaching study teams, and action research. These roles expand teachers’

responsibility for their own learning and the sharing of responsibility for student learning.

They contribute to the construction of a professional learning community where all teachers

model the types of learning in which they want students to engage. Performing well in these

roles enables teachers to make significant contributions to school improvement. Lieberman

(1995) identifies three examples of new roles for teachers in professional development:

teacher leader, peer coach, and teacher researcher.

Teacher leaders

Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991) identify teacher leaders as “those interested in playing a

larger leadership role” in efforts to produce change. Teacher leaders or study-group

leaders should consider the following tasks as they apply to professional development:

 Helping others look critically at proposed study-group activities to determine if

the content addresses a priority need and if it has proven effective in similar settings

 Helping the group stay focused on a limited number of change initiatives or

projects. If everything is attempted, nothing will succeed

 Interacting with the administration to determine and/or influence the level of

support for the project

 Assessing faculty interest in the project

 Involving faculty members in collaborative exchange and experimentation that

builds a collaborative culture

Peer coach

A second role that is a critical part of life within a professional learning community is the

peer coach. The purpose of peer coaching, as mentioned earlier, has traditionally focused

on supporting the implementation of new practices to the extent that their impact on

student achievement can be assessed. However, Joyce and Showers (1995) have refined

the roles and purposes of peer coaching to include “building permanent structures for

collegial relationships.” Peer coaching involves

 Sustained use of the new practices being implemented as a part of the study

team’s activities.

 Help and support of fellow study-team members through shared planning,

setting objectives, and developing materials and lesson plans.

 Collection of data on the implementation of new practices and the effects on

student learning.

Shared planning, cited by Joyce and Showers as a primary activity of peer coaching,

requires time for teachers to talk about objectives and the types of lessons, activities, and

materials needed to reach those objectives. During planning meetings, teachers reflect on

what they want students to learn and identify ways to divide up the labor involved in

creating lesson plans and materials. Shared planning is a primary activity of study teams.

Teacher researcher

The role of teacher researcher is based on the following assumptions

(Loucks-Horsley et al., 1987):

 Teachers are inclined to search for data to answer questions that have direct

application to a pressing problem in their classrooms and to reflect on the data to

formulate solutions.

 By contributing to or formulating their own questions and by collecting their

own data to answer them, teachers will develop new understandings that will

contribute to their professional growth.

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Suggestions for moving from research to action

After reading through the background material, join with others in discussing the new

roles for teachers that emerge as the faculty becomes a professional learning community.

For each new role, generate a list of things that can be done for and by teachers to prepare

them to assume these new roles, and add a second list of ways to provide ongoing support

for teachers after they have begun experimenting with these new roles.

Managing Change: Striking a Balance Among Conflicting Advice

Studying reading instruction and revising instructional practices to align them with what

is known about teaching reading may represent significant change for many teachers.

Learning how to learn from each other, with each other, and for each other as a professional learning community may also mean real change. Managing these kinds of changes

so that the results are productive (and less stressful) requires planning and action. The two

parts of this section provide insights and tools for managing change at the schoolwide

level and supporting individuals on a personal level as they deal with the concerns that

change produces.

Dufour and Eaker (1998) include in their excellent book, Professional Learning Communities at Work, a list of explanations for why various efforts to change school cultures

have failed. This list makes it clear that a good deal of conflicting advice exists about how

to make change successful.

The key to navigating the best course between these two sets of opposing ideas is to

remember that each of these insights is valid. Change can be made too rapidly, and it can

move too slowly. Those who lead their organizations to successful change make an

informed judgment on each of these factors, and they monitor the results of their decisions so that adjustments can be made. No one guesses right all the time. Be prepared to

revise your course of action if things are not going the way you intend them to go.

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The change moved too fast, and people

were overwhelmed.

The change moved too slowly, and people

lost their enthusiasm.

Conflicting Advice on Successful Change

The change lacked strong leadership from

the principal.

The change relied too heavily on the

leadership of a strong principal.

The change was too big and attacked too

much at once; people change incrementally, not holistically.

The change was too small; organizations

need a more aggressive, comprehensive

shake-up.

The change was top-down without buy-in

from the faculty.

The change was bottom-up without the

support of the central office or administration.

Gains were celebrated too soon, and the

sense of urgency was lost.

Gains were not recognized and celebrated,

and the initiative lost momentum.

Schools were unwilling to change; they were

steadfastly committed to the status quo.

Schools embraced every change that came

along and careened from fad to fad.

Leaders failed to develop a critical level of

support before initiating change.

Leaders mistakenly insisted on overwhelming support as a prerequisite for initiating

change; this stipulation ensured implementation would never occur.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Change is difficult

Change is hard for at least four very good reasons. First, people do not like to try new

practices when there is a chance (in many cases, a strong chance) that they will be less

skilled with the new practices than they are with those currently in use. Even when the

new practice offers the potential for greater effectiveness, we resist doing things in a way

other than what we already know because we feel we will not be as good at the new way.

Second, we do not want to leave what we know and are comfortable with for something

unknown and unfamiliar. There is a sense of loss in trading in our “tried and true”

practices for something different. Many change efforts do not prepare people for what is

essentially a grieving process, and they do not provide the kind of support we know

people need when they are grieving a loss.

The third reason people resist change is the emotional concerns that everyone feels as he or

she engages in change (see following section for a more detailed discussion of these concerns). Although knowing these concerns are normal makes them easier to deal with, it does

not make them go away completely. Finally, we resist change because it takes time, a lot of

time. No one, especially those who work at a school, has much free time in his or her schedule. The added time needed to bring about change makes many people feel overwhelmed.

Change of a significant nature is always difficult and almost always more difficult than is

imagined when the change is initiated. Steering a course toward successful change

involves applying what is known about change and regularly evaluating our efforts to

make sure that we are not veering too far off in one direction or another.

Suggestions for moving from research to action

After reading through the background information, ask yourselves the following series of

questions concerning common obstacles to change and develop an action plan for making

a “mid-course correction” if one is needed. These questions, adapted from the work of

John Kotter (1996), can help avoid the most common obstacles to change.

 Have we created an adequate sense of urgency? Complacency can stall just about

any change effort. Everyone involved must feel a sense of urgency and believe that

changing the professional culture is not just something being done to please a few

people who are dissatisfied with existing professional development opportunities.

Faculty need to feel that becoming a professional learning community is a critical

part of reaching their goals for their students and for themselves.

 Do we have a “guiding coalition” who understands the change well and is

deeply committed to bringing it about? No one person will know all the answers

or be able to provide all of the leadership and support that is needed to help the

faculty become a professional learning community. A group must be willing and

empowered to lead the change. The group’s goal should be to develop a “critical

mass” of support for the change and to nurture and guide the effort through the

difficult early stages.

 Is our vision clear and does everyone understand it enough to use it to guide his

or her decisions and actions? A shared vision pulls everyone in the same

direction and toward the same goal. It inspires and compels people to action. As

such, it must be powerful, clear, and communicated to everyone. Faculty must

ask: “Is this decision or action consistent with our vision?”

 Is our vision communicated in what we say and what we do and is our leadership solidly behind it? There is more to communicating the vision than printing

it on t-shirts or the school’s marquee. It must guide decision making, especially

regarding decisions that involve tough choices. Faculty must demonstrate their

vision and their commitment to that vision by what they value and emphasize.

Finally, the vision must have the support of all of the school’s leaders. With

these three things in place, a vision can be a powerful tool for change.

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Caution: Prior to answering these

questions, it is important that

everyone who is participating in

the activity has a clear understanding of what change is being

discussed. For example, if your

school is working to build a

professional culture that resembles

a professional learning community

and to improve the effectiveness of

the reading program, then two

major change initiatives are going

on at the same time. The group

needs to be clear which of the two

changes is being addressed as

they respond to these questions.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

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 Are we letting structural obstacles block the change process? You need to be

flexible and responsive and make it easy for people to act consistent with the

vision of the new professional culture. The school’s schedule and other structural

elements may need to be changed to allow more time for joint work.

 Have we set some short-term goals so that we will have something to celebrate?

A sense of urgency will fade if there is no evidence that progress is being made.

Build into your goals some short-term changes that can be completed in a

reasonable period of time, and provide appropriate recognition for those successes.

 Are we declaring victory too soon? Kotter makes a distinction between celebrating a win and declaring victory. Celebrations need to fuel the desire for further

progress, not make people feel that they have crossed the finish line and no

longer need to continue to learn and change.

 Is this change becoming a part of our professional culture? Changes in how the

faculty operate should be noticeable and should become standard, expected

procedure. Until the commitment to joint work and to other forms of community

becomes a natural part of how you operate, there is a danger that the vision for a

professional learning community might fade.

If when answering one or more of these questions you identify a need for corrective

action, then a straightforward action plan is appropriate. Use the format for “action

responsibilities” found in the appendix to create an action plan for resolving any issues.

Supporting people as a way of supporting change

When people engage in change they will experience specific concerns (i.e., thoughts,

feelings, and reactions) as they try to put new practices into use. These concerns have a

significant impact on their use of the new practices and can provide guidance in determining the best way to assist and support these individuals as they work with the new

strategies or practices. Hall (1979) identified seven stages of concern through which

individuals progress in a predictable sequence. Teachers may feel concerns from more

than one stage at any time during the change process. The most intense concerns they are

experiencing at the time will indicate what type of assistance would be most appropriate.

The table on page 105 names each stage, provides an example of the concerns felt at that

stage, and describes one form of appropriate assistance.

Suggestions for moving from research to action

As the members of your study team experiment with new instructional strategies and/or

new ways of learning about reading, they will most likely experience the different stages

of concern described here. The information in the table that follows may be used to

determine what types of assistance to offer others, or it can be used by an individual to

assess how he or she is reacting to change. Understanding that these concerns are normal

(and unavoidable) may help move the focus from the concerns that study-team members

feel to how they can seek out the most helpful types of assistance.

 Begin by reading through the two columns on the left that include the names of

each stage and examples of statements made by teachers experiencing the

concerns felt during each stage.

 Faculty may experience feelings of concern from more than one stage, but it is

most likely that concerns from one stage will be predominant. When faculty

members have identified the stage that most accurately reflects the concerns

they are feeling, they should read the suggestions for appropriate forms of

assistance and determine if those suggestions would be helpful. If one of the

suggestions would be helpful, then they should look for opportunities to obtain

that form of help (be sure to let others know what you are looking for because

they are probably feeling some of the same concerns and may want to join you).

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Stage of Concern

0—Awareness

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Stages of Concern and Appropriate Assistance

I am not concerned with this

change. I have a lot of other things

to do before I start thinking about

it. Are we really going to do this?

Involve this person in discussions

about the change; share enough

information to arouse interest but

don’t overwhelm. Let everyone

know that a lack of awareness is

expected and that no question is

a “dumb question.”

Appropriate Assistance

1—Informational I would like to know more about

this change. How will it be different

from what we are doing now?

Use a variety of ways to share

information; help this person see

how the change relates to current

practices. Share your enthusiasm

for the project and encourage the

enthusiasm of others.

2—Personal How will this change affect me? I

worry that I will be the only teacher

who doesn’t get the hang of it.

Let the person know everyone feels

these kinds of concerns; connect

him or her with those whose

personal concerns have diminished. Use personal notes and dayto-day conversations to provide

encouragement. Keep expectations

attainable by showing how the

innovation can be implemented in

stages rather than all at once.

Example Statements

3—Management I am spending all my time getting

ready for the next lesson. I feel

hurried to get through each

lesson because I don’t feel like I

should leave anything out.

Provide answers that address

specific “how to” issues; demonstrate exact and practical solutions. Attend to the immediate

needs of the individual, not to

what they will need to know how

to do “down the road.”

4—Consequence How is my use of these new

practices affecting my students?

Provide opportunities for the

teacher to visit other settings

where the practices are in use;

encourage a study team to look at

the effectiveness of the practices.

5—Collaboration I am concerned about connecting

what I am doing with what other

teachers are doing. I’d like to see

how they are using this strategy.

Bring together others who are

interested in collaboration; use this

person to provide technical assistance to someone who needs help.

6—Refocusing I have an idea that might work

even better. I think I can integrate

this strategy with what I’ve learned

about learning styles to make it

more effective with all

my students.

Encourage this person to

experiment with his or her ideas.

Help measure the results of the

experiments. Help find the

resources he or she needs to put

the ideas into practice.
Advancing Reading Achievement:

Becoming Effective Teachers of Reading through Collective Study

Turning Your Vision into Practice

Creating a Vision for Your Reading Program

A vision has been defined as a “compelling picture of the future that will inspire commitment and action” on the part of each member of your faculty and staff (Mendez-Morse,

1993). A vision for your reading program provides a clear statement of what you believe is

important about reading instruction and what you want your reading program to become. It

serves as a guide for assessing current practice and determining where resources and

professional development should be focused. For new teachers joining your faculty, a clear

vision statement will help them understand the expectations and values of their new school.

Suggestions for moving from research to action

To begin creating the vision for your reading program, list the outcomes you want your

program to achieve and describe the structure and practices necessary to achieve those

outcomes. Read each item on the list and draft several short phrases that capture the ideas you

feel are most important. These phrases may be woven into a single paragraph that describes

your vision for your reading program or you may keep them in list form. By completing the

following “starter” statements, you can begin defining your program’s vision:

1. Our reading program provides. . .

2. Our commitment to building strong, enthusiastic readers is reflected in. . .

3. Our students will gain when our reading program. . .

4. Improved student learning is the focus and essence of a reading program that. . .

5. . . .is the essence of our reading program.

6. As members of a professional learning community, we will. . .

The following is a sample vision statement for an elementary reading program that you

may use as a guide to creating your own:

An effective elementary reading program will develop the following five aspects

of each learner’s capacity as a reader:

 Accurate, rapid, and effortless word recognition through a comprehensive set of

strategies for recognition, confirmation, and self-monitoring for accuracy

 Strong, purposeful comprehension through practical strategies for constructing,

analyzing, and monitoring meaning

 An ever-broadening, ever-deepening oral vocabulary through an enthusiasm for

learning new words in meaningful contexts

 The application of the skills, knowledge, and processes of reading to spelling

and writing

 An enduring love of reading and an appreciation for its varied functions and purposes

Once a vision is established, goals to achieve that vision must be defined. The following

are sample goals for the above elementary reading program:

 Developing accurate, rapid, and effortless word recognition

 Strengthening comprehension through useful strategies for constructing,

analyzing, and monitoring meaning

 Building an oral vocabulary that is continuously growing deeper and richer

 Connecting reading and the skills and processes of reading to spelling and writing

 Nurturing a love of reading and an appreciation for its varied functions and purposes

The first three goals focus on enabling the reader to gain access to the information and

ideas recorded in print. The fourth goal addresses the need for integrating these three

aspects of literacy. The fifth goal points to an enthusiasm for reading that leads to more

(and more proficient) use of the skills readers need to reach the first three goals.

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Developing a Set of Guiding Principles

Once you have developed a strong statement of your vision and goals for your reading

program, you will want to create a set of guiding principles that can translate your vision

into action. These guiding principles are really a set of behavioral statements that guide

faculty decisions and actions so that your day-to-day work is consistent with and moves

you closer to the ideal stated in your vision. These principles should articulate how you

will work and relate to one another in order to make your shared vision a reality.

Suggestions for moving from research to action

The following is a sample of guiding principles for a reading program:

 Provide positive examples of the qualities and characteristics we want students

to develop as readers.

 Demonstrate a commitment to continuous learning about reading for students,

colleagues, and ourselves as individuals.

 Use appropriate assessment tools and strategies to monitor student achievement in reading, to inform instruction, and to communicate progress to students

and parents.

 Create a challenging classroom atmosphere that includes clearly stated

expectations, consistently enforced standards of conduct and effort, and

measurable goals.

 Share responsibility for determining students’ learning needs and work together to

meet them.

Reread the sample vision statement on the previous page and analyze how well this list of

suggested guiding principles reflects the values and beliefs that are represented in that

statement. Use your own vision statement to create a list of guiding principles that

adequately express how you will work and relate to one another in developing the type of

reading program described in your vision statement, and reach consensus among the

faculty on the wording and meaning of each statement. Once the guiding principles have

been established, provide each teacher with a list of them and encourage him or her to

post them in the classrooms and work areas. To encourage teachers to follow these

principles, find ways to reinforce behaviors that are consistent with your guiding principles, including public recognition and private encouragement for those who exemplify

the use of the principles in day-to-day interaction and work.

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Glossary

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alphabetic principle—the understanding that written words represent spoken words and

that the sounds of spoken language are represented in print by letters. This principle is

essential to learning to read an alphabetic language such as English.

analogizing—a “bridge” or way to recognize unfamiliar words. The reader recognizes a

similarity in a sequence of letters within the unfamiliar word and a sequence of letters in a

known word. This information is used to produce a pronunciation for the unfamiliar word

that reflects that similarity. For example, if a reader encounters the unfamiliar word socket,

he may recognize that a big chunk of the word is the same as the word rocket, a word he

knows. With this insight, he is able to substitute the phoneme /s/ for the phoneme /r/ in

rocket and come up with a pronunciation he is able to recognize as the word socket, a word

already in his oral vocabulary but without a strong connection to the word in print.

automatic word recognition—the ability to recognize words in print without conscious

awareness or intention through a process that does not interfere with comprehension, even

though the two processes occur simultaneously.

big books—greatly enlarged versions of children’s books that allow whole class activities in

which the teacher can direct children’s attention to elements of the illustrations and text with

the same ease as an adult could point them out to a single child using a conventional book.

blending—saying the individual phonemes as a unified word; combining the individual

sounds represented by the letters of a word into a trial pronunciation.

cognitive strategies—guides or supporting structures that make it easier for the learner to

perform a less-structured task. These activities are not a sequence of steps for directly

performing the task; instead, they provide something more concrete for the student to do

that accomplishes the less-structured task as a by-product.

comprehension—constructing meaning by integrating information from the text with

prior knowledge; understanding the literal and hidden meanings and messages of the text;

seeing and making connections between the text and the reader’s experiences, what has

been read in other texts, and what is known about the world; seeing and understanding

how the text is consistent or inconsistent within itself.

comprehension monitoring—the ability to be aware of instances when comprehension

begins to fall off or some part of the text presents a challenge to comprehension; this is

what tells a reader “I need to go back and reread this sentence because it doesn’t make

sense.” Readers who monitor comprehension think about why they are reading, and if

they are being successful in terms of that purpose, they judge internal consistencies (Does

this agree with what the writer said earlier?) and external consistencies (Does this agree

with what I already know about this topic?). It can also serve as a way to identify the

source of the drop-off in comprehension (i.e., Is there an external or internal inconsistency? Is the content too taxing on my working memory?).

concepts about print—the key ideas that help young readers understand how print is

organized (the fact that it is read from left to right and from top to bottom) and the function

of print (to convey meaning). It also includes the recognition that printed words are made up

of letters and that it is the words (not the pictures) in a book or in the environment that are

read. Awareness of print (its forms and functions) provides a strong motivation to learn to

read and a framework within which learning to read and write takes place.

consolidated-alphabetic phase—larger “chunks” of letters have become consolidated into

spelling patterns that are used to learn new words by identifying their similarity to known

words or word families.

contextual guessing—using what has been read up to the point of encountering an

unfamiliar word to narrow the field of possible pronunciations. It is looking for a word that

makes sense in the sentence. Contextual guessing can be used in combination with one of

the other bridges as a way to confirm word recognition.

conventional spellings—correct spellings; dictionary spellings.

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decodable text—print that features spelling patterns and letter-sound relationships that students

have been taught and are able to recognize. It provides young readers with opportunities to be

successful in applying what they have learned about decoding and the alphabetic principle.

decoding—one of the four “bridges” used to recognize unfamiliar words. Decoding

requires the reader to (a) identify the phonemes represented by the letters in a given word,

(b) blend those phonemes into an “estimate” of the word’s pronunciation, and (c) use that

pronunciation to search his oral vocabulary for a word that is similar in how it sounds and

has a meaning that fits the context.

decoding sequence—the steps readers follow in “sounding out” unfamiliar words.

developmentally appropriate instruction—instruction and practice activities designed

with the cognitive and psycho-motor developmental needs of young children in mind

(play-based instruction is an example).

direct code instruction— instruction built upon phonemic awareness activities; phonics

instruction that emphasizes blending of phonemes and interaction with good quality

literature that contains decodable text. Students learn letter-sound correspondences and

spelling generalizations through explicit instruction. The focus is on the use of the

alphabetic principle in sounding out unfamiliar words and establishing strong access

routes between the sequence of letters that make up words and their associated pronunciations and meanings. The primary goal of this approach is to equip young readers with

decoding skills that will enable them to recognize unfamiliar words quickly so that greater

attention can be put toward comprehension.

embedded phonics instruction—instruction in decoding skills is presented initially within

meaningful text, but the emphasis is on the spelling pattern, not on the text. After specific

instruction in the spelling pattern, students are given trade books that contain words

utilizing the spelling pattern. Practice activities also involve meaningful reading and

writing but place more emphasis on direct practice with specific letter-sound associations

and spelling patterns. The primary goal of embedded phonics instruction is to build rapid

word recognition through the use of consistent spelling patterns.

environmental print—print that appears in signs, labels, and logos that uses children’s

knowledge of things in their environment to draw attention to the printed word(s) that

name those things (labeling things in the classroom such as chairs, tables, the clock, and

the television is one example).

fingerpoint reading—when children follow along with their finger, word by word, as they

recite a passage of memorized text.

fluency—the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and expression.

full-alphabetic phase—all of the letters of the word are used to make the necessary

connection between the word in print and information about the word stored in the

reader’s oral vocabulary.

generalizations—rules or conventions of spelling that are useful in increasing the likelihood of

producing the correct spelling. Some generalizations are more useful than others (i.e., whenever an English word ends with the phoneme /v/ the word is spelled with ve on the end, and

whenever a word ends with the phoneme /j/ the word is spelled with ge or dge on the end).

gradual release of responsibility—refers to an incremental transition of responsibility for

a specific task. The teacher begins by demonstrating a task or process and then relinquishes the responsibility for performance of the task or process to students over time as

they gain competence.

guided repeated oral reading—an instructional practice that involves providing feedback

to students as they reread a passage until it can be read with fluency.

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inference—a term used to describe several comprehension processes, such as drawing

conclusions, making predictions, detecting implied statements or ideas, and extrapolating

from stated facts or ideas to possible explanations for events or actions. These inferences

“fill in the blanks” to supply meaning that is not explicitly stated.

internal clues—information found within the text itself that can be used by the reader to

determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.

invented spellings—attempts to spell words phonetically without regard to the conventions

of spelling; spellings generated by students based on what they know about letter-sound

relationships and spelling patterns. Invented spellings allow students to put down their best

estimate of how an unfamiliar word is spelled so that the creative process of writing is not

slowed down by having to find the correct spelling in a dictionary (often a difficult task when

you do not know how to spell the word) or having to ask the teacher for help.

language experience—an approach to language learning in which students’ oral compositions are transcribed and used as instructional materials for reading, writing, speaking, and

listening; for example, recording verbatim the spoken words of students as they recount

real experiences or other forms of language so that they can practice reading meaningful

text and can see that print represent spoken language.

less-structured and well-structured tasks—a well-structured task is one that has concrete

steps that can be demonstrated and that, if followed, will consistently produce the desired

results; a less-structured task is one that lacks concrete steps and is more nebulous in terms

of how it actually is performed.

mental representations—readers build mental models or maps as they read as a way of

understanding and remembering what they have read. These mental representations may

include remembering a sequence of events from the story, the relationships among

characters, and themes that appear throughout a passage or text.

metacognition—sometimes used as a synonym for comprehension monitoring, it involves

an awareness of both purpose and performance; that is, the reader thinks about why he is

reading and how well he is making sense of what is being read.

modeling—using demonstrations that include verbal explanations of each aspect of performing

a specific task; demonstrating what fluent reading sounds like and illustrating the various

purposes for reading; employing “think aloud” strategies to make the processes the teacher

uses as a skilled reader, including comprehension strategies, visible to students. Students get to

see and hear a skilled reader’s enjoyment of reading as well as the proficient use of various

strategies for identifying unfamiliar words and constructing meaning from text.

morphological—having to do with the meaning of a word. This concept includes the idea

of using root words that are familiar to assist in spelling an unfamiliar word (i.e., using the

root word heal to get the correct spelling of health).

onsets—the initial consonant (including blends and clusters) of a syllable; in the word top

the onset is the letter t, in the word trip, the onset includes the letters tr.

oral vocabulary—the stored collection of pronunciations and meanings of words the

individual recognizes and understands when he hears them used in spoken language.

over-learned connections—connections between the sequence of letters in print that make

up a word (its spelling) and its pronunciation and meaning in the reader’s oral vocabulary

are said to be “over learned” when practice in reading the word has made the accessing of

that word automatic and instantaneous. Reading words by sight is possible when overlearned connections have been made.

partial-alphabetic phase—in this phase, a reader uses some, but not all, of the letters in a

word to make a connection between the word in print or in the environment and its

meaning and pronunciation stored in his brain.

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phonemes—phonemes are the smallest units of sound with words. They are represented by

letters; although usually represented by one letter, some phonemes are signified by two or

more letters. When teachers talk about “letter-sound” relationships, they are referring to the

matching of graphemes (letters) to phonemes (sounds). Frequently, phonemes are difficult to

hear in spoken words because they flow almost seamlessly in speech.

phonemic awareness—the understanding that spoken words are made up of small, separate

sounds (called phonemes). This understanding is demonstrated by the ability to manipulate

phonemes in spoken language; phonemes are the smallest units of sound within words.

phonological awareness—the conscious understanding that spoken language is made up

of sequences of sounds; words (with the exception of words like a and I) are not made up

of single sounds, but a string of sounds blended together. These strings of sounds can be

divided into smaller and smaller units. The whole string is called a word. The next division

or smaller unit is called the syllable. There are many one-syllable words, in which case the

word level and syllable level are the same. Syllables that have an initial consonant and a

following vowel or vowel-consonant can be divided into onsets and rimes. Finally, the

smallest unit of sound is the phoneme. Phonemes correspond roughly to single letters,

although there are a number of phonemes that are represented by more than one letter

(examples include /ch/, /sh/ and /aw/).

play-based instruction—opportunities for young children to explore uses of language in

role-playing sessions.

pre-alphabetic phase—readers who learn new words during this phase of development

make connections based on the more obvious visual features of the word; this can even

include imaginary clues for remembering words (e.g., the child uses the shape of the letter

h to remind herself that the word she is learning is chair).

predictable books—books that use repetition of patterns of words to help children learn to

anticipate or predict upcoming words based on these patterns.

print awareness—a learner’s growing recognition of conventions and characteristics of

written language; the understanding of the structure of print (how it is organized) and the

function of print (to convey meaning); the understanding that printed words are made up

of letters and that it is the words (not the pictures) in a book or in the environment that are

read; the ability to identify and distinguish the printed forms of individual letters.

print-rich environment—a classroom in which students have ready access to a variety of

print formats such as books, magazines, newspapers, student-authored writings, labels,

printed directions, etc. It also includes activities that engage students with a wide range of

print for an equally wide range of purposes.

prior knowledge—relevant information already known by the reader concerning the

content of a text that is used (along with information directly from the text) to construct

meaning and make inferences.

procedural prompts—cues or guides that students can follow as they perform a task.

These prompts allow students to devote a greater proportion of working memory to

actually performing the task.

processing spelling patterns—similar to analogizing, processing spelling patterns involves

using sequences of letters that have become consolidated or “fused together” in the

reader’s mind to recognize unfamiliar words. In processing a spelling pattern, the reader

realizes he knows a “family” of words that include the same “chunk” of letters that is

contained in the unfamiliar word he is trying to recognize. For example, a young reader

who knows several words in the eed family, such as need, seed, and weed, can use the eed

spelling pattern to recognize words like greed, steed, or succeed. Using spelling patterns

to recognize longer unfamiliar words reduces the number of letters or syllables in an

unfamiliar word that must be “sounded out.”

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rebus books—books that insert small pictures or drawings in sentences to represent words

that are beyond the reading level of the reader.

repeated reading—an instructional practice that involves rereading a passage until it can

be read with fluency.

rewritten definitions—definitions that have been revised to include greater detail, such as

information about how the word is used, and to promote less reliance upon synonyms.

rimes—the vowel(s) and following consonants that make up the final part of a syllable; in

the word top the rime is made up of the letters op.

running records—a procedure for recording reading behavior during actual reading of

connected text.

scaffolding—an instructional practice in which support for the student is more complete

during the initial stages of learning the task but is decreased as the student has less need

for guidance in performing the task.

sight—the fastest and most efficient type of connection between words in print and their

pronunciations, meanings, and functions in sentences in the reader’s oral vocabulary.

Reading words “by sight” means the connection between the word in print and information

about the word in the reader’s brain is made instantaneously and with little conscious effort.

spelling patterns—“chunks” or clusters of letters that appear in a number of words. The

use of spelling patterns helps students spell unknown words that have the same sound

within a syllable as a known word (i.e., using tion from the known word action to spell

question or relationship). When a pair or larger group of letters has become consolidated

in the reader’s mind as a spelling pattern, this consolidation or “chunking” provides for

faster word recognition and faster learning of new words.

systematic observation—direct observation and recording of actual performance on an

authentic reading task or a task that is closely related to reading so that insights can be

gained into how readers approach reading, select and apply strategies to solve reading

problems, and deal with failure in reading.

thinking aloud—talking through the demonstration of a specific task and revealing to

students the thought processes, decisions, and rationale involved in each aspect of the task.

whole language—an approach to reading instruction in which the emphasis is on helping

the child create meaning—reading and writing are studied and practiced as ways of

sharing meaningful ideas and events. Instruction seeks to draw attention to new skills and

knowledge within the context of what students are interested in reading and writing. The

teacher’s role is one of facilitating the learning that naturally occurs when children are

given opportunities to explore and experiment with reading and writing.

word awareness—the understanding that a word in print is a sequence of letters that

represents a single spoken word and that words are separated by white spaces in print.

word knowledge—the depth and breadth of a reader’s oral vocabulary.

word recognition—the process by which the reader matchs words in print with their

meanings and pronunciations stored in the reader’s brain. After accessing this information

about words in a text, the reader brings this information to the part of the brain where

comprehension occurs.

working memory—the amount of cognitive or mental resources a reader can apply to the

various tasks involved in the process of reading (i.e., word recognition, comprehension,

drawing inferences, monitoring comprehension); the place in the brain where mental tasks

such as word recognition and comprehension occur. Also the capacity to hold ideas or

thoughts until they can be assembled and/or compared with other ideas or thoughts so

their meaning is established, clarified, and validated.

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Appendix

115

Recommended Study-Team Session Structure .........................116

Discussion Questions ..................................................................118

Follow-Up and Collective Action Activities.................................119

Designing Action Research Projects ..........................................119

Refining Lessons through Reteaching:

The Plan-Teach-Revise Reteach Cycle........................................121

Analysis of Reciprocal Teaching Script ......................................121

Assigning Action Responsibilities ..............................................122
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This appendix is designed to structure the activities of a study group. The first section

describes possible approaches to structuring study sessions and provides examples as

well. The Discussion Questions can be used as they are or adapted to fit the group’s

interests. They are written generically so that they can be used with any of the content

sections. The Follow-Up and Collective Action Activities provide choices for experimenting with what has been studied so that understanding is enhanced and students benefit

from the thoughtful application of new ideas and strategies.

The next section provides a brief explanation of how to design and conduct an action

research project. An example of such a project is included. Finally, a description is

provided of an approach to experimenting with new practices called Refining Lessons

through Reteaching: The Plan-Teach-Revise-Reteach Cycle. This description explains

how to use collaborative planning and the analysis of actual teaching to develop stronger

models of reading lessons.

Recommended Study-Team Session Structure

One forty-five to sixty-minute session per week seems to work well for most study teams.

One way these sessions might be organized is to divide the time into three 15 to 20

minute segments. The focus of these segments should include discussion of results,

learning new content and planning a course of action. These segments can be remembered by their initials, RCA.

Results: 15 to 20 minutes

Study-team members review the results of completed or current action research projects,

informal experimentation, and attempts to use new practices or strategies.

Example

Teacher 1: I’m trying to give students practice decoding the new vocabulary

words in science and social studies. And, I brought some of my guided reading

notes to show you how things have been going.

Teacher 2: How are you working decoding into content area vocabulary?

Teacher 1: I worked out a sequence.

 First, I talk with them about the pronunciation and definition of each

new term or concept. I’m trying to build information about the word so

that when we look at its spelling they already have a meaning and pronunciation in their oral vocabulary.

 Next, I write a sentence on the board that includes one of the new words,

but I leave a blank where the new word goes. I let them read the sentence

up to the point where the blank is.

 Then I write the letter or letters that represent the first phoneme. I

ask them to say the sound the letter or letters usually represent. Next, I

write the letter or letters for the next phoneme. Then, I get them to blend

the two sounds.

 Usually someone will “discover” the word and call it out, but sometimes

they have to use most, if not all, of the phonemes and blend them all

together before they match the pronunciation to one of the words we

talked about.

Teacher 3: What if they use the context of the sentence to guess the word before

you put even the first phoneme on the board?

Teacher 1: That does happen, and I tell them that we need to confirm our guess

by using our decoding skills. I’ve even tried to substitute a word with similar

meaning, but they always say, “Hey, that can’t be one of our words!”

Teacher 2: Have you seen any difference?

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Teacher 1: Definitely! They always had a hard time applying decoding strategies in their content area reading; most of them just assumed that decoding was

something you did only in reading the basal. But, now they see it as a tool for

recognizing unfamiliar words and they have improved their decoding skills

because they are getting so much more practice.

In the “Results” section, teachers take turns sharing the results of what they have done to

apply ideas and strategies the team has studied. Many times, the results of joint projects are

shared. Study-team members who are putting the same new practice or strategy in place in

their classrooms will find it very helpful to compare how things are working, the specific

things they have done, and how they solved unforeseen problems.

Content: 15 to 20 minutes

The second part of the study-team session should focus on the content of Advancing Reading

Achievement. Whether the team uses the “group discussion” or “group teach” format, a key

aspect of making this part of the study-team session work well is selecting the right amount of

content. It should be enough to let the study-team members feel they are making progress, but

not so much that it is impossible to cover the content in the allocated time.

Example:

Teacher 1: Our assignment was to read the section that described the four phases

of learning new words. Since it was my turn to lead the discussion, I sent you

some questions ahead of time. Let’s start with the first one—“Which new ideas

did you find in this section?”

Teacher 2: I have had students who used visual clues to remember new words

and others who used just some of the letters, but I didn’t view them as developing

their understanding. I just thought of these kids as using a wrong strategy.

Teacher 1: So how will you use this idea?

Teacher 2: My first step will be to get more in tune with the phase each child is

in—listening for how they make those connections between the word in print and

its pronunciation and meaning. Then, I’ll try to focus my explanation during

guided reading on how to get to the next phase.

Teacher 3: Some children are not benefiting as much from our practice in segmenting and blending. I think these are the kids that are still in the partial-alphabetic phase.

Teacher 1: What have you used to help them?

Teacher 3: I’ve given these students more time at the “Making Words” center,

and I give them more coaching when we’re doing “Making Words” as a class.

I’m hoping this extended experience will help them focus on all of the letters as

they learn new words.

Teacher 1: Are you working with moving students to the consolidatedalphabetic phase?

Teacher 3: Right after lunch we see who can write the most words using one of

our spelling patterns. They know there will be a spelling pattern on the board

behind the screen. When they are all in their seats and ready to go, I pull up the

screen and they launch into it.

Teacher 2: How does that help them use spelling patterns in decoding

unfamiliar words?

Teacher 3: When we review their lists at the end of our contest, I try to focus their

attention on how the cluster of letters in the spelling pattern appears in lots of words

and, therefore, can save them a lot of time in learning new words. Sometimes an

example really helps. If there is a word in that word family they have not included in

their lists, I introduce it and show them how to use the spelling pattern to sound it out.

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Action: 15 to 20 minutes

The final segment should focus on planning out the actions study-team members will take

to apply the new content they worked through in the “Content” segment. Plans can be as

informal as looking for ways to try out a new strategy to as structured as an action

research project. No matter how the action is organized, the group should talk through

what they will do, how the results will be recorded and shared at a subsequent session,

and when the planned actions should be completed.

Example:

Teacher 1: I really like the idea of using question frames as prompts to help

students come up with better questions. I’d like to try that out with my kids.

Teacher 2: Me, too. But remember that one of the research findings we read

indicated that students needed “extensive instruction and practice” on generating

questions in order to see improvements in comprehension.

Teacher 3: Okay, so we need to spend some time on it. But, how are we going

to know it made a difference?

Teacher 1: We’re hoping it will improve comprehension, so let’s use it with our

social studies reading assignments and keep track of any changes in their ability

toanswer the comprehension questions from the text.

Teacher 3: Yeah. We’ve got enough scores recorded now to use as a baseline.

Let’s practice using the question frames to help them write questions about what

they’ve read and see if the grades go up.

Teacher 2: How should we set up our instruction so our kids get the same

amount of explanation and practice?

Teacher 1: I don’t know that we have to give them all the same, but it would

probably be a good idea to keep track of how much time we do spend on

explaining and practicing with the question frames. That way if we did spend

differing amounts, we might find out what would be the optimum amount of

time to learn how to use the frames.

Teacher 2: Great idea! I was thinking about five half-hour lessons and introducing

three or four frames per lesson. That way they could build up to using all of them.

Teacher 1: I’ve got a 40-minute slot for social studies; I think I’ll incorporate

using question frames into that time period.

Teacher 3: That sounds good to me also. When do we want to have our results

ready to share?

Teacher 1: It should take us several weeks to get them up to speed and then get

some grades in the grade book. How about five weeks from now?

Teacher 2: That’s fine. We can talk about how it is going during the “results”

time of our study session.

Discussion Questions

Review this list of questions and select those that seem the most appropriate to structure

your group’s discussion of the ideas in any section of Advancing Reading Achievement.

 Which of these ideas were you already using in your classroom?

 What new ideas did you find in this section?

 Which new ideas would you like to try out in your classroom? What made

these ideas of interest to you?

 How did the ideas in this section clarify your thinking about reading and/or

reading instruction?

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 How do these ideas connect with other ideas you have read in this book?

 Are these ideas supported in the instructional materials you are using? If so, can

you share an example?

 Did you think of individual students while reading this section? If so, what made

you think of them?

 Is there something you read that you would like to hear others speak to? If so,

what is it?

 What did you question in what you read?

 What else have you read on this topic? What ideas can you share with the group

from your other reading?

Follow-Up and Collective Action Activities

Read through this list of activities and select those that fit the needs and interests of your

study-team’s members.

 Schedule a time to observe someone in your group teaching one or more of the

ideas addressed in this section.

 Use shared planning to develop a lesson or activity based on one or more of the

ideas addressed in this section. Teach the lesson and schedule a time to talk with

the group about how it went and the impact it had on your students’ reading skills.

 Identify a student who is having difficulty in reading, describe the difficulty the

student is having, and determine if any of the ideas from this section could be

useful in working with this student. If so, work together to develop a lesson or

activity for this student. Schedule a time to talk through how the lesson went and

the impact it had on the student’s reading skills.

 Identify a new strategy or activity based on the ideas in this section, and conduct

an action research experiment with that strategy or activity. (See the section on

designing action research projects to help you put this together.)

 Share articles or other reading on these ideas with your group members.

 Identify the materials you have in your classroom for teaching these ideas and

show those materials to others in your group.

 Are there materials that can be shared or duplicated for use by others?

 Is there a way to improve these materials?

 Are other types of materials needed?

 Locate and attend (as a group) a training session on these topics. Prepare a list of

questions and submit them to the trainer prior to the session, and make sure the

questions are addressed. Get together after the training and compare notes.

 What made sense?

 What needs clarification?

 What can be added to our classroom practice?

Designing Action Research Projects

Action research projects can be organized into five steps. They begin with the identification

of a need or problem. In the second step, teachers measure important aspects of the need or

problem and/or collect data that will help them gain insight into how it might be addressed.

This step might include reviewing research findings or actually collecting data on what is

happening in their own classrooms. In the third step, teachers analyze the information they

have collected and develop an action plan for changing instructional practices or some other

aspect(s) contributing to the problem. Implementing the action plan and collecting data on

the results make up the fourth step. Finally, the results of the action plan are evaluated so

that the new strategies can be revised and/or shared with other teachers.

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Inquiry and action research can be diverse, ranging from a school faculty working with a

university-based researcher to study cooperative learning to an individual teacher

experimenting with a new idea for teaching students to identify the main idea. The key

characteristic of such research is that the participants use a structured, scientific method

to answer the question: “What would happen if we did it this way?”

Participating in action research projects produces several benefits for teachers in addition

to improving the practices being studied. These include feeling more comfortable

experimenting with research-based practices, seeing their own teaching more clearly and

objectively, and developing stronger professional relationships with fellow teachers who

are also involved in the inquiry.

The basic elements of action research are as follows:

1. The identification of a problem or need

2. An in-depth study of the problem or need that may include measurement

or other forms of data collection to gain insight into how the problem might

be addressed

3. Analysis of the information collected and development of an action plan

4. The implementation of that plan and collection of data on its impact on

student learning

5. An evaluation of the completed action plan’s results

An Example of an Action Research Project

Pre-reading Activities Project:

A group of teachers at Peachtree Elementary School became concerned that their students

were not reacting positively to the newly adopted basal reader. To investigate this

problem, they agreed to begin to categorize the errors their students made in reading

aloud. The data they collected led them to focus on the influence of background knowledge on reading success.

One of the teachers asked, “Would our students be more successful if we spent more time

on pre-reading activities that laid a foundation for understanding the story they were

about to read?” Opinions varied widely among the teachers in the group, so they decided

to conduct an informal experiment. Teachers at three grade levels would participate in the

experiment. They divided themselves evenly into two groups at each grade level. One

group would begin to spend an extra six to eight minutes on pre-reading activities while

the other group would move directly to the reading assignment. Both groups would use

the same stories and the same practice activities. The experiment would last six weeks

and include stories from the basal reader. They would compare the results using students’

grades on the practice activities.

At the end of the sixth week, the teachers in the group who had spent more time on prereading activities felt confident their students were more successful than they had been

previously. A comparison of students’ scores on the practice activities confirmed their

prediction. The pre-reading activities had contributed to a significant improvement in

student performance.

The success of their experiment created a greater interest in research related to the use of

pre-reading activities. Several members of the original group of teachers began searching

for research studies to expand their understanding of how to use this strategy more effectively. They shared the findings they read with their fellow teachers and continued with

informal discussions on using this strategy to improve student performance in reading.

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Refining Lessons through Reteaching:

The Plan-Teach-Revise-Reteach Cycle

A promising strategy for improving instruction and building collaborative study teams is

the practice of refining lessons through reteaching. In this strategy, study team or gradelevel team members plan a lesson collaboratively. They agree upon an area of weakness

in their students’ reading achievement and focus their efforts on developing an effective

lesson that addresses this weakness. Once the lesson has been planned, one of the team

members teaches the lesson to her students. Other members of the team may observe the

lesson directly, or it can be videotaped. The team members review their observations and/

or the taped lesson itself to identify how the lesson might be improved. They focus on

how students responded to specific aspects of the lesson and suggest modifications based

on those observations and insights.

At this point, a refined version of the lesson is planned (once again using the input of all

of the team members), and a second member of the team teaches the lesson to her

students. Again, the lesson is observed directly by other team members or is videotaped.

After the lesson, the team studies the impact of the “refined” lesson and identifies

additional modifications.

The cycle of collaborative planning, observing instruction, and refining the lesson based

on an analysis of students’ responses continues until the group feels that the lesson has

been developed to an appropriate level. The group then selects another skill or concept

and the process begins again.

The benefits of this strategy are numerous:

 Teachers learn from the exchange of ideas and the creativity that occurs during

joint planning of instruction.

 Students benefit from high-quality lessons that pinpoint areas of weakness or need.

 Teachers gain deeper insight into instruction through the analysis of student

responses to the lesson.

 If the lessons are videotaped, placing the tape of the final version of each lesson

in the school’s professional library creates a collection of very high-quality

lessons. This can be extremely helpful to new teachers or those who are new to

a particular grade level because it gives them access to exemplary models of

lessons dealing with relevant skills and knowledge.

This strategy is not without challenges, however. Teachers who have operated with norms

of privacy and/or autonomy may find it disconcerting to open up their teaching to the

scrutiny of their colleagues. By talking about how the analysis of the lesson will be

conducted so that the emphasis will be on constructive suggestions rather than pointing

out weaknesses, the group can reduce teachers’ apprehensions.

There are technological challenges to videotaping in typical classrooms. The emphasis

should be on obtaining an acceptable quality videotape so that the focus is on the

teaching and learning that is recorded rather than the quality of sound or picture. Getting

assistance from someone who is experienced with classroom videotaping would be well

worth the effort.

Analysis of Reciprocal Teaching Script

The transcript of reciprocal teaching that appears on pages 78–79 is an example of how

this strategy can be applied to help students enhance their comprehension of a specific

text and learn to apply the same comprehension-fostering strategies in their independent

reading. The analysis below identifies the specific element of reciprocal teaching that is

being demonstrated in each line or set of consecutive lines.

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10–14

Elements of Reciprocal Teaching

 modeling of comprehension-fostering activities by the teacher

Lines

5–7

 modeling of comprehension-fostering activities by the teacher

 explaining and providing directions for comprehensionfostering activities (question generating, predicting, clarifying

words and ideas, and summarizing)

16–19  modeling of comprehension-fostering activities by the teacher

 explaining and providing directions for comprehensionfostering activities (question generating, predicting, clarifying

words and ideas, and summarizing)

21–26  modeling of comprehension-fostering activities by the teacher

 explaining and providing directions for comprehensionfostering activities (question generating, predicting, clarifying

words and ideas, and summarizing)

31–33  explaining and providing directions for comprehensionfostering activities (question generating, predicting, clarifying

words and ideas, and summarizing)

34  gradually releasing responsibility for the dialogue to students

38  supporting students through feedback, coaching, hints,

or explanation

45–50  explaining and providing directions for comprehensionfostering activities (question generating, predicting, clarifying

words and ideas, and summarizing)

52–84  gradually releasing responsibility for the dialogue to students

66–67  supporting students through feedback, coaching, hints,

or explanation

Assigning Action Responsibilities

One of the best ways to ensure that important tasks or actions are completed is to assign the

responsibility for completing the task to an individual or group and to establish clear

expectations for what is to be done, who is to do it, and when it is to be completed. Some

groups find it helpful to specify the person or group to whom completion will be reported.

Here is a simple format and an example that can be used to assign action responsibility.

What:

Who:

When:

Completion reported to:

What: Locate articles on using reciprocal teaching and make copies for each study-team member

Who: Susan and Ruth

When: November 10

Completion reported to: Roy (study-team leader)

Example:

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Bibliography

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Joyce, B., & Showers, B. (1988). Student achievement through staff development.

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Snow, C., Burns, M., & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young

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Establishing a Common Frame of Reference

What is reading?

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The Process of Reading: Word Recognition

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132
David and Ann Collins have collaborated on a number of publications

including the National Staff Development Council’s 1998 Book of the Year,

Achieving Your Vision of Professional Development. Their partnership

blends diverse talents to translate educational research into language that is

readily understood. In addition, David and Ann have a unique ability to

develop effective, practical tools that enable educators to apply research

findings to improve teaching and learning.

They live in Orlando, Florida where David works for Orange County

Public Schools as Senior Director of Analytical Process Services

(a department that creates solutions to complex, districtwide problems).

David has over 25 years of experience as a teacher, principal, and district

administrator. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in

1984. This broad background allows him to understand all aspects of

public education. Ann is a full-time researcher, providing research and

analysis to authors and organizations on a diverse range of topics. They

may be contacted through e-mail at collind@ocps.k12.fl.us.