When Older Students Can't Read

By: Louisa Moats (2002) Since 1996, state and federal reading initiatives have focused on the ro!le" of reading failure at #indergarten and the ri"ary grades$ %he focus on early intervention is &ell' conceived, given the strong evidence that research'!ased instruction !eginning in #indergarten significantly reduces the nu"!er of children &ho e( erience reading difficulty ()ational *nstitute of +hild ,ealth and ,u"an -evelo "ent, 2000)$ *f children receive instruction in honological and al ha!etic s#ills and learn to a ly that #no&ledge to decoding &ords, they are very li#ely to succeed at reading$ .nce children fall !ehind, they seldo" catch u , a reason that such states as +alifornia, /irginia, and %e(as ro"ote early intervention to revent reading ro!le"s$ 0eading level in 1st grade, "oreover, is an astonishingly good redictor of reading achieve"ent into high school (+atts et al$, 19991 +unningha" and Stanovich, 19921 Shay&it3 et al, 19991 4letcher et al$ 1995)$ 0eading failure !egins early, ta#es root 6uic#ly, and affects students for life$ *" rove"ents in reading education in the lo&er ele"entary grades, ho&ever, are co"ing too slo&ly to affect the huge nu"!ers of students !eyond third grade &ho have !een the victi"s of "isguided reading instruction and scarce resources$ Many eo le #no& that a!out 52 ercent of 5th graders score !elo& !asic in overall reading s#ill on the )ational 7ssess"ent of 8ducational 9rogress ()789)$ *n :ashington, -$+$, &here * a" currently studying reading intervention, the ro ortion of students !eyond ;rd grade &ho cannot read &ell enough to artici ate in grade'level &or# is !et&een 60 and 20 ercent, de ending on the grade and year of assess"ent$ %oo fe& children can co" ete in higher education and a!out half fail to co" lete high school$ *n this co""unity, the rate of adult illiteracy < reading !elo& 5th grade level < is ;2=, the highest in the nation$ )ationally, 2>= of all adults are functionally illiterate$

The older struggling reader

:hat can !e done? 9lenty, if &e are co""itted to a lying !est ractices su orted !y reading research$ +onverging evidence fro" sychological studies of reading e( lains the nuts and !olts of learning to read at any age and in any al ha!etic language ( Lyon, 199@)$ Most reading scientists agree that a core linguistic deficit underlies oor reading at all ages (+atts et al$, 19991 Shay&it3 et al$, 1999)$ 7t any age, oor readers as a grou e(hi!it &ea#nesses in honological rocessing and &ord recognition s eed and accuracy, as do younger oor readers (Stanovich A Siegel, 19951 Shan#&eiler et al$, 199>)$ 7t any age, &hen an individualBs reading co" rehension is "ore i" aired than his or her listening co" rehension, inaccurate and slo& &ord recognition is the "ost li#ely cause (Shan#&eiler et al$, 1999)$ %o co" licate "atters, the older student has not racticed reading and avoids reading !ecause reading is ta(ing, slo&, and frustrating (7c#er"an A -yc#"an, 19961 +unningha" A Stanovich, 1992)$ %herein lies the "ost challenging as ect of teaching older students: they cannot read so they do not li#e to read1 reading is la!ored and unsatisfying so they have little reading e( erience1 and, !ecause they have not read "uch, they are not fa"iliar &ith the

voca!ulary, sentence structure, te(t organi3ation and conce ts of acade"ic C!oo#D language$ .ver ti"e, their co" rehension s#ills decline !ecause they do not read, and they also !eco"e oor s ellers and oor &riters$ :hat usually !egins as a core honological and &ord recognition deficit, often associated &ith other language &ea#nesses, !eco"es a diffuse, de!ilitating ro!le" &ith language < s o#en and &ritten$ Bac# to %o

Effective instruction
Several rinci les drive effective instruction in reading and language$ Such instruction is intensive enough to close the ever'&idening ga !et&een oor readers and their grade'level eers as 6uic#ly as ossi!le$ 0eading intervention grounded in research i" arts to older readers the s#ills they "issed in ri"ary grades and can !ring the" to grade level in one to t&o years (%orgesen, :agner, 0ashotte, 7le(ander A +on&ay, 19921 %orgesen et al$, in ress)$ %he intervention "ust "atch the studentsB level of reading develo "ent, !ecause each stage of gro&th re6uires a s ecial focus (+urtis A Longo, 1999)$ /ery oor readers "ust have their honological s#ills strengthened !ecause the ina!ility to identify s eech sounds erodes s elling, &ord recognition, and voca!ulary develo "ent$ 4or less severely i" aired readers, educators "ust often target te(t reading fluency$ *f students can deci her &ords, educators "ust aggressively address voca!ulary deficiencies &ith direct teaching and incentives to read challenging "aterial in and out of school$ *f students do not #no& the &ords they are reading and cannot derive "eaning fro" conte(t, they "ust e( and their voca!ularies and learn a re ertoire of co" rehension strategies (:illia"s, 199@)$ Students cannot and should not !y ass any critical s#ills necessary for fluent and "eaningful reading Eust !ecause of their chronological age$ 8ffective instruction sti"ulates language a&areness$ Language'deficient children often "iss the su!tle differences in s eech sounds that distinguish &ords fro" one another ( acificFs ecific1 goalFgold1 freshFflesh1 anecdoteFantidote1 cotFcaught)$ -irect &or# on s eech sound identification ays off$ *f students cannot efficiently decode &ords !y using honic relationshi s, sylla!le atterns, and structural analysis ("or he"es), they !enefit fro" learning the organi3ation of 8nglish orthogra hy at various levels$ *f students are unfa"iliar &ith the features of &ritten te(t, such as su!titles, aragra h structures, connecting &ords and hrases, e"!edded clauses, idio"atic usages, and figures of s eech, these can !e taught$ *f studentsB &ritten sentences are short, inco" lete, or stilted, they can learn sentence e( ansion and construction$ 8ach of these challenges, "oreover, can !e "et in age'a ro riate &ays, in inter'&oven curricular strands that rogress along a develo "ental se6uence (Greene 1996)$

Phonological awareness and decoding

0ecognition of rinted &ords de ends on the a!ility to "a s eech sounds to letter sy"!ols < the al ha!etic rinci le < and to recogni3e letter se6uences accurately and 6uic#ly < orthogra hic rocessing$ %he "aEority of oor readers &ho read !elo& the ;0th ercentile in the inter"ediate and u er grades have either ronounced or residual needs for instruction in these !asic s#ills$ %he techni6ues for teaching older students, ho&ever, differ fro" the techni6ues of teaching younger students$

.lder students have e( erienced reading failure fro" an early age so they "ust !e convinced that a rene&ed invest"ent of energy &ill !e &orth&hile$ *n the :ashington Literacy +ouncil rogra", for e(a" le, adult students &ho have recently develo ed the a!ility to "atch s eech sounds to letter sy"!ols s ea# to inco"ing students a!out the hel fulness of the structured language instruction they are a!out to receive$ 9honological a&areness, decoding, s elling, gra""ar and other language s#ills can !e taught as a linguistics course in &hich instructors use adult ter"inology such as C hone"e deletionA15@1 and C"or he"ic structureD$ 9hone"ic drills are short tune'u s that include ga"es such as reverse'a'&ord (Say teach1 then say it &ith the first sound last and the last sound first'cheat$) Students identify s eech sounds !efore they s ell &ords !y using the ta ing techni6ue < touching the thu"! to successive fingers as they seg"ent and ronounce the s eech sounds ( :ilson, 1996)$ %eachers can teach sound'sy"!ol corres ondences in the conte(t of sylla!le ty es$ Short vo&els occur !efore one or "ore consonants in closed sylla!les$ Students read the sylla!les and i""ediately s ell the" in longer, age'a ro riate voca!ulary: for e(a" le, fa!, fa!ulous1 el, co" el1 co", acco" lish$ 7s they "aster si( or seven sylla!le ty es, students learn to visually chun# se6uences of letters and understand s elling atterns$ 4or e(a" le, the &ord rifle has one f and the &ord ruffle has t&o fs !ecause of the sylla!le structure$ 0ifle !egins &ith an o en sylla!le that ends &ith the long vo&el (ri), and ruffle !egins &ith a closed sylla!le (ruf)1 each sylla!le is attached to the final sylla!le unit 'fle$ %o develo an eye for rinted sylla!le units, students can arc under sylla!les &ith a encil !efore reading a &ord$ 7s studentsB sylla!le recognition and s elling rogress, teachers can e" hasi3e "or he"es < refi(es, roots, and suffi(es, "ostly fro" Latin and Gree# (,enry 1992)$ Beginning &ith inflections that "ay change the s elling of a !ase &ord (fine, finest1 !egin, !eginning1 study, studied), students analy3e &ords into units that often lin# "eaning and s elling < designate, signal, and assign"ent, for e(a" le, share a root)$ *nstruction "ust !e cu"ulative, se6uential, and syste"atic, so that students overco"e the !ad ha!it of relying on conte(t and guessing to decode un#no&n &ords$

Reading fluency and word recognition

Sound'sy"!ol associations and &ord recognition are usually fast and auto"atic in good readers ' such readers e" loy little conscious attention &hen they identify &ords$ %hird graders ty ically read at "ore than 100 &ords er "inute1 adults ty ically read at "ore than ;00 &ords er "inute$ 9oor readers are usually too slo&, even after they !eco"e accurate$ Slo&ness generally reflects lac# of ractice &ith reading$ 4or so"e oor readers, slo& &ord retrieval a ears to !e an unyielding, constitutional characteristic$ %hese children do not easily develo &hole &ord recognition, !ut instead decode each &ord as if it &ere seen for the first ti"e$ .lder oor readers can usually increase s eed &ith a great deal of ractice at several levels: sound'sy"!ol association, &ord reading, and te(t reading at an easy level$ Huic# s eed drills, conducted as challenge ga"es to achieve a goal, can !uild auto"atic recognition of sylla!les and "or he"es$ 4or e(a" le, students can gra h their rogress reading several lines of confusa!le sylla!les such as re, ro, er or can, cane, #it, #ite, et, ete$ (4ischer, 1999)$ 7lternate oral reading of assages in s"all grou s, reading &ith a ta e'recording, choral reading of dra"atic "aterial, and rereading fa"iliar te(t can all su ort te(t reading fluency$ 7!ove all, ho&ever, students "ust read as

"uch as ossi!le in te(t that is not too difficult in order to "a#e u the huge ga !et&een the"selves and other students$

Vocabulary and phrase

eanings

)or"ally rogressing students can read "ost of the &ords in their listening voca!ulary !y 5th or >th grade$ 4ro" then on, they learn ne& voca!ulary < ri"arily !y reading< at the rate of several thousand ne& &ords er year$ .lder oor readers are at least artially fa"iliar &ith "ore s o#en &ords than they can read, !ut !ecause they do not read &ell, their e( osure to the &ords in varied conte(ts is li"ited$ Students &ho are oor readers often have Iheard ofI a &ord, !ut lac# de th, !readth, or s ecificity in &ord #no&ledge (Bec# A McJeo&n, 1991)$ 4or e(a" le, one student of ours defined designated as so!er, fro" the association &ith designated driver$ Many oor readers "ust overco"e a huge voca!ulary deficit !efore they &ill !e a!le to read successfully !eyond the >th grade level$ 8ffective voca!ulary study occurs daily and involves "ore than "e"ori3ing definitions$ %eachers deli!erately use ne& &ords as often as ossi!le in classroo" conversation$ %hey re&ard students for using ne& &ords or for noticing use of the &ords outside of the class$ Such strategies as using conte(t to derive "eanings, finding root "or he"es, "a ing &ord derivations, understanding &ord origins, and ara hrasing idio"atic or s ecial uses for &ords are all roductive$ *f ossi!le, &ord study should !e lin#ed to su!Eect "atter content and literature taught in class, even if the literature is !eing read aloud to the students$

Teaching co prehension
*ncreasing e" hasis on "ore advanced reading strategies is a ro riate as students reach the 5th or >th grade level of reading a!ility$ Students &ho have not read a great deal often lag in their #no&ledge of genre, te(t structure, te(t organi3ation, and literary devices$ %hey are unused to reading for infor"ation, or reading to gra le &ith the dee er "eanings of a te(t$ %he internal 6uestioning that occurs in the "ind of a good reader "ust !e e( licated, "odeled, and racticed "any ti"es in grou discussions$ 9ro!ing and using o en'ended 6uestions a!out issues significant to the students are "ost li#ely to sti"ulate language$ Great te(ts such as fa!les, oe"s, oral histories, and ada ted classics ro"ote student engage"ent$ 8ven if students are &or#ing on &ord recognition, they &ill !enefit fro" daily o ortunities to discuss "eaningful "aterial$ %he teacher of co" rehension "ust si"ultaneously teach students a!out sentence structure, te(t cohesion, unctuation, hrasing, and gra""ar !ecause co" rehension can !rea# do&n at the "ost !asic levels of language rocessing$ 4or e(a" le, students &ho are oor readers "ay fail to identify the referent for a ronoun, the figurative use of a &ord, the significance of a logical connective, or the tone of a hrase$

Written response to reading

:ritten res onse to reading can greatly enhance co" rehension, !ut oor readers "ust have their &riting s#ills develo ed se6uentially and cu"ulatively$ :riting i" roves &hen students ractice ans&ering s ecific 6uestion ty es, ela!orating su!Eects and redicates, co"!ining si" le sentences, constructing clauses, and lin#ing sentences into organi3ed aragra hs$ %hese are the !uilding !loc#s of clear e( ository &riting$

8ven as students develo the !uilding !loc#s for &riting, shared and "odeled &riting hel s the" transcend the daunting challenges of generating and organi3ing their thoughts$ 0ather than turning students loose to face a !lan# iece of a er, the instructor "odels and de"ystifies the co" osition rocess$ 4irst, the class generates and sorts ideas$ %hen it decides on an outline and to ic sentence$ )e(t, the teacher tal#s the class through each ste of a shared co" osition, "odeling decisions a!out &hat and ho& to &rite$ 4inally, the teacher "odels the editing rocess, ointing out sentences that need ela!oration, co"!ination, or reordering, and re laces &ords as necessary$ Students are thus re ared to co" ose inde endently$ Bac# to %o

!nstruction that wor"s

.lder oor readers can often learn to read &ith a ro riate instruction$ Kose h %orgesen and his colleagues at 4lorida State Lniversity have !rought very oor readers at grades ; to > u to grade level and docu"ented the "aintenance of those gains over t&o years (%orgesen et al$, in ress)$ Students in %orgesenBs study received instruction for t&o hours each day for a total of @0 hours$ %&o a roaches, varying in a"ount of ti"e s ent on decoding and te(t reading, roved effective$ *n Sacra"ento and 8l# Grove, +alifornia, several schools have achieved significant gains &ith 6th through 10th graders using Kane GreeneBs L7)GL7G8M curriculu" &ith classes of nonreaders and very oor readers$ Mary Beth +urtis and 7nne Marie Longo, at the Boys %o&n 0eading +enter in )e!ras#a, re ort strong efficacy data for their rogra" !ased on stages of reading develo "ent$ 7ll of these a roaches assu"e that older oor readers can learn to read if they are taught the foundation language s#ills they "issed and they have a" le o ortunity to a ly the s#ills in "eaningful te(t reading$ 8ach a roach teaches language structure e( licitly to "atch the develo "ental needs of the students and uses syste"atic, structured, and cu"ulative "ethods a lied to age'a ro riate te(t$ %hese a roaches teach language at all levels: sound, &ord, sentence, and assage$ %hey un ac# the !uilding !loc#s of &ords, ensuring that students rocess the" accurately, !uild fluency through a" le ractice, and teach students to engage actively the "eanings in te(t$ Beyond ;rd grade, oor readers can !e taught if the rogra" has all necessary co" onents, the teacher is &ell re ared and su orted, and the students are given ti"e, sufficiently intensive instruction, and incentives to overco"e their reading and language challenges$ Given the right a roach, students &ill !uy in$ *n fact, theyBll as# &hy they &ere allo&ed to go so far &ithout !eing taught to read$ Bac# to %o

#bout the author

-r$ Moats is roEect director for a four'year longitudinal study of early reading intervention in the :ashington, -$+$, u!lic schools$