Teaching Strategies for Word Reading
What strategies do proficient readers use when an unknown word is encountered? The most effective strategy is to use context and letter patterns to determine the word. This usually takes less than 3 seconds. By listening to a student read aloud from a text where he/she knows 90-99% of the text and analyzing what the reader does to word solve, teachers can quickly assess which strategies are in place and which strategies to teach.
Using a miscue analysis sheet is an easy way to determine a pattern of strengths and errors. Simply record any miscue a student makes during oral reading and analyze the thinking behind the error. A miscue is any deviation from the written text, including self-corrections. Here are some questions to use for analyzing errors:
- Was the error made on a high frequency word? If so, record the word in the student’s personal word wall. Use multisensory strategies for practicing the word such as combining movements (claps and snaps) while saying the names of the letters in the word. High frequency words should be learned by letter name, not be decoding. Use the word in sentences and cut-apart the sentences. Have the student use the words in the sentence to reconstruct the sentence and practice the high frequency words.
- Did the error have a similar beginning pattern as the correct word? If so, the student may need explicit instruction in looking beyond the first sound or sounds and blending or chunking medial and ending patterns.
- Did the error have a similar ending pattern? If so, the student may need to be thinking about a word that makes sense and has this pattern. Many struggling students tend to leave off the ending pattern. In fact, if you listen to their speech, you may hear them leave off spoken ending words. Again, explicit instruction and practice is needed for moving across the word and blending or chunking the letter patterns. Also, ask the student if the word sounds right without the ending.
- Does the error have a similar vowel pattern? By mid-second grade, many of the new words encountered will have a vowel or syllable pattern that can be pronounced multiple ways. The student may need explicit instruction in switching the vowel sound. An example is a word like “mountain.” A reader may say “mountane” and realize that doesn’t make sense in context or sound right. Thinking what word would make sense and sound right will help the reader quickly decode and move on in the text.
Not all errors are considered bad. If the reader is retaining acceptable meaning and grammar, the reader is going beyond word level reading and is reading for meaning.
Many students have a poor fluency rate simply because they reread and self-correct often. Rereading is a good behavior, but can impede comprehension and fluency if this behavior is over-used. In this case, the student may need to become more proficient at using decoding strategies quickly and looking beyond the word in question while decoding. A proficient reader’s eyes are usually a few words ahead of the mouth when reading. By looking ahead, the context will inform the reader as to what the word may be.
In order to move the student to proficient reading, it is important to start by analyzing current strategies that are used by the reader and moving on from that point. By having the student read aloud using an instructional-level fluency probe and then analyzing miscues, instruction can be designed to accelerate the student’s reading proficiency. It is important to share the analysis with the student and set goals for developing word-solving proficiency. Students need a list of their strengths and one or two next steps in order to become strategic readers.
Happy teaching,
Kelly Harmon