All Info About Reading

 We’ve all seen them: young children and emergent readers wandering around the library or bookstore searching for something they can read successfully. Perhaps they open a few books, then put them down right away when they hit a tough word. Maybe they try to judge the book’s difficulty by its cover or gauge it by the number and size of the pictures. Some look at print size or the number of words on a page and pronounce the book “too hard.” They quickly find that none of these methods are reliable. It’s very difficult for a young or struggling reader to find appropriate reading material without a more reliable system.

Teachers know that reading difficulty can be measured by several methods. These involve graphs, syllable and word counts, and even a few mathematical equations. After tinkering with a short passage or two, most teachers can judge the difficulty of a book fairly accurately. However, many parents and nearly all students don’t have the information or the inclination to work so hard to find the proper level of books. It’s easier just to shrug shoulders and say “Oh well!”

Parents have learned a slightly easier way to judge reading levels. Many word processing programs now offer utilities that will assess the difficulty of the text. Some have resorted to typing in several hundred word passages and accessing this utility. The machine spits out a reading score and they can use that to judge the difficulty level. The method is somewhat time consuming, but it does work. One great disadvantage, however, is that the readability formula most commonly used by the word processors (the Fry score) is not very sensitive to the lower levels of readability. It’s difficult to use this method to gauge the reading level of lower-difficulty books. And if the parent doesn’t know what reading level the student is currently at, the method loses a lot of meaning anyway.

There’s a better way to help your student choose books that can be read independently. No matter what age or stage of reading your child may be at, the Five-Finger Method works like a charm. It’s easy enough that very young children or students with limited ability can learn to use it. Simply open the book to a page in the middle with lots of print on it. Have the child read out loud and put a finger down on the table each time he or she comes to a an unknown word. If five fingers are on the table before the reader reaches the end of the page, the book is too difficult for independent reading. That certainly doesn’t mean that the student has to steer clear of the book! It simply means that a more able reader should be around to help when the going gets rough or that the book should be shared orally.

The Five-Finger Method is based on the idea that fluent, independent reading can only happen when at least 97% of the words are familiar or easily decoded. If more than three percent of the words are difficult for the reader, comprehension begins to break down and it’s difficult to get meaning from the text without help. The reading will not seem pleasant and fun, but rather will seem difficult and a lot like work.

Teach your less-experienced reader to evaluate books using the Five-Finger Method. It can be used nearly anywhere and any time to choose a book that is at the student’s independent reading level. Older students can even find nearly invisible ways to keep count, so that their reading level is not readily apparent to onlookers. This can save them embarrassment from having to ask for assistance that seems inappropriate for their age. This quick and easy method can help readers of all ages make appropriate book choices independently.

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