All Info About Reading

 No matter how well a student can figure out what words say, the knowledge is useless without understanding the author’s message.  In order to teach reading effectively, you will need to find out how well your student understands what he or she reads.  Even readers who sound fluent and decode words correctly may be working so hard at the mechanics of reading that little mental energy is left to comprehend the text.  Reading proficiency is based on two fundamental groups of skills: word analysis and comprehension.

Comprehension is, of itself, a complex set of skills.  Readers need command of a wide array of words.  They need to put the words together into ideas, remember details and discern themes.  To be an efficient reader, a student must learn to modify the meanings of words with prefixes and suffixes, understand idioms and other expressions not meant to be taken literally, and choose the correct meanings for words with multiple definitions.  Readers must have good command of oral language and must be able to understand things that they hear.  As you can see, there are many, many places for this process to break down.

Language must be meaningful in order for a student to be able to read well.  Start by making sure your student can understand and remember things that he or she hears.  Most of the time, difficulties in this area will be obvious if you’ve spent any time with this person.  An individual with a language-based learning disability may have difficulty following and participating in a conversation.  There may be problems relating events in their proper sequence.  It might be hard for this person to follow oral directions or to remember details of things that were presented orally.  If you notice any of these problems, you should strongly consider a professional evaluation-they could cause inordinate difficulty with the process of learning to read.

Vocabulary is also important in the process of learning to read.  Unfamiliar printed words are much easier to decode if the oral version is well-known.  A wide vocabulary will help your student get more meaning from fewer cues in text, and lead to a greater feeling of success.  Consider what words your student uses in conversation and other speaking situations.  Try using lots of different words in your discussions with him or her and see if the student responds as though the words are known or becomes confused.  Play word games together and try crossword puzzles to get a feel for how many words your student knows. 

Observation is a good tool for determining whether your student understands idioms and words with multiple meanings, as well.  Perhaps you can laugh together about the picture that an expression brings to mind if taken literally.  Some games have players visualizing toilets that flush (as in turn red) and horses that fly (a horse fly).  Simply asking if a passage that contains a word with multiple meanings makes sense (use a word like spring or stream) can tell you a lot about the student’s ability to work with such words.

And finally, the best way to gauge overall comprehension is to have your student try to read text at various levels.  Many newer children’s books have the reading grade level listed on the cover, back or spine.  If your student is not embarrassed, this might be the quickest and best way to find out how well he or she reads.  Gather a selection of books at various levels of difficulty.  Open a book to a page in the middle and have your student read out loud.  If the student makes five or more errors, the book is too difficult to read comfortably.  Another solution is to create short passages of your own.  You can use your word processor’s language check function to get an accurate estimation of the reading level of a selected passage.  Shorter words, shorter sentences, and use of more common words tends to lower the reading level on these measures.  Longer sentences, words with lots of syllables, or unusual words will raise it. 

Checking comprehension is the final step in the process of getting ready to give reading lessons.  Once you have this information, you are equipped to move forward towards your student’s goals and towards literacy.  If you have questions about the process or need further guidance, please don’t hesitate to email me!  I try to save one or two spots in my consultation/tutoring load for volunteer assistance, and also do consulting professionally over the internet.  You can email me any time.

Sorry, but these links are not yet active.  Please visit the site map to access these articles:

Click here for more information about Getting Ready to Help An Adult Student.

Click here for more information about Evaluating Decoding Skills.

Click here for ideas to Evaluate a Reluctant Student.

Return to the Adult Literacy Section

Return to All Info About Reading Home

Contact Me

© 2006 Sandra Fleming