Topic 7 Enrichment and Remedial Reading Activities

Synopsis

This topic looks at the activities at the two extreme ends of a reading
continuumremedial and enrichment. The differences between these two
stages of reading development will be discussed. They will be followed by
some techniques or strategies that can be used to address these two areas.
Sample activities for remedial and enrichment are provided.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this unit, you will be able to

1. make a distinction between enrichment and remedial reading

2. design activities suitable for enrichment and remedial reading.

Framework of module

Reading development continuum

Remedial readers Able readers

Remedial Reading Intervention

Reading difficulties are common in our schools. This problem is not only confined to
rural schools but is visibly present among schools in the urban areas. There are
instances where more than half of the pupils in these schools cannot read and
understand grade-level text at the basic level. What is the cause for the low literacy
level and how can it be addressed?

Among the possible reasons for children not being able to read at their level are the
class ratio, too many children in the class which affects the personal attention the

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teacher can provide, and the pace of the instruction which is too rapid for children to
achieve mastery of skills presented. These two problems intertwine and inevitably
affect the childrens performance in reading. There is also the possibility of the child
being dyslexic. Reading difficulties should be addressed as soon as a teacher
recognises that a child is lagging behind others in his reading development. Unless
these children receive high-quality instruction and intervention, early reading
problems often develop into serious reading difficulties later on (Stanovich, 1986).
Even with dyslexic children, with specialized help, they can lead to marked
improvement in reading and understanding.

How do we identify remedial readers?

Remedial readers typically read at levels below their peers. They have a limited
vocabulary and few internalized strategic reading skills.

Run an informal reading assessment yourself to pick out pupils with reading
difficulties. You may begin with asking the pupil to read aloud the text as you note
such things as the pupil's application of decoding skills, fluency, and reading rate.
Ask a few carefully chosen recall and inference questions to assess comprehension.
Using the information gathered can assist you in determining the needs of the reader
and planning the strategies you can use to help them.

How do we help these children then?

Using a quality classroom reading instruction with certain research-validated

characteristics can make a big difference for struggling readers. These instructions
should encompassed some, if not all of the following criteria suggested by Denton,
2007 .

teach essential skills and strategies

provide differentiated instruction based on assessment results and adapt
instruction to meet pupils' needs
provide explicit and systematic instruction with lots of practicewith and
without teacher support and feedback, and including cumulative practice over
time.
provide opportunities to apply skills and strategies in reading and writing
meaningful text with teacher support.
don't just "cover" critical content; be sure pupils learn itmonitor pupil
progress regularly and reteach as necessary.

The above recommendations should be heeded for the success of any remedial
programme. However, one very essential element that should not be overlooked is

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time. Sufficient time needs to be allotted for remedial reading intervention. A
minimum of 60 minutes per day, throughout the school year are necessary for most
remedial pupils to make significant progress (Pennington, 2009).

Putting theory into practice: techniques for helping remedial readers

The following pointers are key notes taken from Gagen (2007). For a more detail and
comprehensive version, kindly refer to the link provided in the reference.

1. Teach All Skills Directly

Always explicitly teach the pupil exactly what they need to know. Direct instruction
helps ensure the pupil learns all necessary skills. There is no point in carrying out
indirect, analytical or incidental approaches because they have failed the first time
around. Teaching directly maximises effectiveness and efficiency of all reading skills.
Never leave it to chance for a pupil to discover essential elements on his own. They
cant!

2. Teach In a Systematic Manner

Present information in a deliberate, pre-planned carefully controlled manner. This

step-by-step instruction allows the pupil time to practice and master individual skills
before additional information and complexities are taught. Start simple. Introduce new
skills and knowledge a bit at a time, adding complexity as the pupil learns.

Systematic presentation helps pupils manage and master the complexities of the
English language. A carefully designed program that directly teaches the complete
code and progressively builds skills and knowledge in a direct systematic manner
prevents chaos and confusion. Also, systematic presentation helps the pupil make
sense of our complex written language.

3. Always Provide Immediate Correction

Do not allow the pupil to learn or practice skills incorrectly. Immediate correction is
especially critical in remediation. Correction is necessary to help the pupil extinguish
incorrect approaches and develop necessary skills. It is always easier to learn the
correct way than to try and unlearn incorrect habits. If the pupil can not correct
himself, or does not understand then you need to teach them the skill they are
lacking. As the teacher, it is your job to ensure the pupil is learning correctly.
Correction is NOT a negative action but rather a positive opportunity to help the pupil
learn correctly.

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4. Develop Phonemic Awareness

Directly develop phonemic awareness skills. Although some children and adults have
a definite natural phonological weakness, phonemic awareness (PA) can be taught
and learned. The scientific evidence proves that PA instruction has a significant
positive effect on both reading and spelling. Directly teach pupils how to hear,
recognize and manipulate sounds within words. To maximize effectiveness the
program needs to directly link the phonemic awareness skills to print. When
remediating older pupils it is particularly important not only to develop PA but to link
these oral PA skills directly to the printed phonemic code.

5. Develop and Engrain Proper Tracking

It is essential the pupil develops and engrains proper directional tracking where they
process letters in order from left to right. It is especially important to directly teach
and emphasize proper directional tracking to remedial readers. Many struggling
readers make frequent tracking errors. They try to look at all the letters at once or
hop around searching for words or portions of words they recognize. Overcoming
these incorrect strategies requires direct work on proper tracking skills. Physical
pointing, with either the finger or other pointer, is a highly effective way to directly
teach this critical skill. The multisensory benefits of having the pupil physically move
their finger or pointer (kinetic motion) develops and engrains this essential subskill.
Especially in remediation, you need to ensure the pupil processes all the letters in a
word in order from left to right. Teach this essential skill until proper tracking is
automatic.

6. Teach Smooth Blending

The skill of smoothly blending individual sounds together into words is critical. The
pupil needs to learn how to say the sounds smoothly without pausing between the
sounds. The instructor needs to always demonstrate the correct blending technique
of not pausing between the sounds. Choppy/segmented sounding out makes it very
difficult for some pupils to push the sounds back together into a word. They might
know all the individual sounds but by the time they get to the end of the word with
separated choppy sounding out, they forget what sounds they just said or add in
extra sounds when they try to put them all together. If the pupil keeps the sounds
smoothly hooked together, the word doesnt fall apart. If the pupil has any difficulty
with this essential skill, it is important to directly teach smooth blending.

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7. Teach the Complete Phonetic Code

Teach the complete phonetic code. It is essential to teach the complete code
necessary to master our phonemic based written English language. This includes
teaching: the sounds written with more than one letter (/th/ /sh/ /ch/ /oy/..); the
multiple sounds for the vowels (o=/o/, /oa/ and /u/); the numerous vowel-
combinations (ee, ea, oa, oi, ai, ou); the multiple sounds for certain
letters/combinations of letters ( s = /s/ in sit & /z/ in has); the r-controlled vowel
combinations (ar, or, ir, ur, air, earetc) and other complexities (ph=/f/).
The pupil must have knowledge of the direct print to sound relationship. The pupil
needs to look at the black printed letter(s) and immediately and directly know and
process the correct sound. Teaching activities should establish this direct accurate
print = correct sound efficient processing. The sound knowledge needs to be direct,
automatic, and phonetically correct print to sound.

8. Use Targeted Multisensory Processes

Multisensory processes refer to utilizing the different senses to aid learning. The
general concept is we learn and remember more when we involve multiple senses
including visual processes (pictures, seeing images), auditory/oral processes
(listening and talking), and physical/kinetic processes (motion, hands on, doing).

Effective multisensory activities directly teach correct directional tracking, develop

phonemic awareness, create a direct and automatic link between print and sound,
teach smooth blending, and establish correct proficient phonologic processing. It is
not the multisensory process itself but the application of these multi-sensory
processes to the development of specific skills that is key to enhanced learning.

For instance, an effective multisensory instructional activity is having the pupil write
the printed letter while saying the sound. This simple action directly links the motion
of forming the printed letter (kinetic), image of the completed letter (visual) to saying
and hearing the correct sound (auditory). This targeted application and integration of
the multisensory processes is highly effective in helping the pupil learn the necessary
skill.

Multi-sensory activities are effective tools in helping pupils learn to read. However,
these activities must be carefully designed and targeted to directly teach and
reinforce the skill/knowledge necessary for proficient reading. While pupils may
naturally have specific learning strengths and weaknesses, proficient reading
requires the development of phonologic processing pathways. Effective reading
programs use a variety of carefully designed and targeted multi-sensory activities to
directly teach and develop the skills necessary for proficient reading.

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9. Emphasize Attention to Detail

To read proficiently, the pupil needs to learn to pay attention to detail. Teach the pupil
to carefully look at all the sounds within a word and stop him immediately if he skips
details. This emphasis on attention to detail is especially important with reading
remediation as you need to extinguish the old habit of not looking at all the details
and replace it with the careful attention to detail. Proper tracking is also intertwined
into the attention to detail skill. An effective remediation program should be designed
to directly teach, develop and reinforce this critical skill that is essential for skilled
reading.

10. Develop Phonologic Processing (Use a Direct Systematic Phonics

Approach)

The pupil needs to learn to read by using phonologic processing. The most effective
way to ensure pupils convert print to sound and develop the phonologic processing
necessary for proficient reading is to teach them with a strong phonics.
Directly teach pupils to convert letters into sounds and blend these sounds into
words.

Remediation is not only teaching the correct skills but also helping the pupil
overcome old incorrect habits. By design, remediation programs need to ensure the
pupil develops and uses correct techniques. Teaching strategies must also prevent
the use of incorrect strategies. Remember phonologic processing is more than
knowing the sounds. Efficient phonologic processing requires integration of direct
knowledge of the complete phonemic code, proper directional tracking, smooth
blending, and attention to detail.

11. Ensure Phonologic Processing - Avoid Sight/Whole Word Reading

It is important to avoid teaching a sight word approach where the pupil learns to
read by trying to recognize what whole words look like. Many pupils who struggle
with reading have adopted this incorrect whole word visual word recognition
strategy. Remediation must focus on eliminating this detrimental habit of trying to
visually recognize the entire word.

A whole word approach to reading fails because there are too many words and
words are too similar to learn by overall visual appearance. Initially, a simple short
list can be successfully read by whole word strategies and guessing. However, as
vocabulary expands visually similar words are encountered. The pupil who has
adopted a whole word reading strategy is certain to fail. Not only are there absolutely
too many words but words are too visually similar. A child starts school with
something like a 24,000 word speaking and listening vocabulary. His vocabulary is up
above 40,000 by 3rd grade. It is impossible to learn such an extensive vocabulary
visually as whole words. Remember, only 26 letters make up all those words. To read

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proficiently, the pupil must look at each and every letter in order and process it
phonologically.

12. Teach Phonetically Accurate Representations of Print - Avoid teaching

word families as unique units

Use phonetically accurate representations of print. Avoid teaching with inaccurate

representations of print such as word families (at, ig, it, am & the hundreds of other
possibilities) and as unique letter/sound units. There is no need to do this. All it does
is add hundreds of additional combinations for the pupil to learn. Teach the
necessary single sounds and blending skills and the pupil can then read all possible
combinations.

It is simpler, more effective and prevents potential reading problems to teach pupils
the necessary sounds and develop phonemic awareness and blending skills so they
are able to combine any letters. Pupils often do need direct practice the blended
consonants sounds as individual sounds within these consonant clusters are more
difficult to distinguish. For example, many children hear the first sound of grip as /gr/
instead of /g/. These pupils need to develop phonemic awareness to distinguish the
separate sounds. Always teach the blended consonants as processing and blending
of the individual sounds NOT by learning cluster units. For example, teach flap as
blending /f/ /l/ /a/ /p/ NOT /fl/ /a/ /p/. Same with the common word families; teach the
blending of sounds /s/ /a/ /t/ NOT /s/ /at/.

Word families and blended consonant clusters are an inaccurate representation of

our language. From the very beginning, we need to teach pupils to carefully process
at all the letters in order by sound.

13. Guided Oral Reading is Essential

Guided reading is reading aloud to an adult, or other proficient reader, with feedback.
This is NOT independent silent reading. The key part is guided. Correction and
instruction helps the pupil learn and improve skills. The validated research shows
guided reading aloud has significant beneficial impact on word recognition, fluency
and comprehension across a range of grade levels. Guided reading benefits both
good and struggling readers.

Guided reading has a significant beneficial impact on developing reading skills and
should be a part of reading instructional programs. Guided reading is particularly
important tool in remediating struggling readers. Guided reading also is the ideal time
to help pupils develop higher level skills in comprehension.

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14. Develop Fluency

Fluency is the fast or automatic reading where words appear to be almost instantly
recognized. Fluent readers read quickly and accurately without effort. Fluency is the
objective for phonologic decoding. The critical information to keep in mind for
effective reading instruction is that fluency or fast reading is developed word by word
based on repeated accurate phonologic processing of specific words. To build
fluency, we first have to be sure the pupil is reading by correct, accurate phonologic
processing (sounding out the word correctly). This foundation of correct phonologic
processing is mandatory in order for the pupil to develop fluency. Pupils do not
become fluent readers overnight but rather build fluency word-by-word over time.
With repeated practice correctly reading individual words, the pupil adds to their
storehouse of fast/fluent words. Effective tools to directly build fluency include
guided oral reading and a program of spelling/writing words by sound.

15. Teach Strategies for Handling Multisyllable Words

The majority of English words are multisyllable so it is critical to read them effectively.
It is more difficult to process multisyllable words. It requires more advanced
strategies and techniques than decoding simple one and two syllable words. Many
struggling readers have difficulty with multisyllable words. A remediation program
should include both direct instruction and guided practice in handling multisyllable
words. Direct practice with common affixes is also effective in helping pupils learn
how to handle multisyllable words. If conducted correctly, spelling can be used as an
effective tool for learning how to process these longer words.

16. Expand Vocabulary Knowledge

Expanding a pupils vocabulary knowledge is important to reading development.

Vocabulary instruction leads to gains in comprehension. A comprehensive reading
program needs to include vocabulary development. The pupil can acquire vocabulary
both incidentally through exposure and through direct vocabulary instruction.

17. Directly Develop Reading Comprehension Skills

Comprehension is deriving meaning from text. Comprehension is a complex higher

level skill. You can take direct actions to help pupils develop specific comprehension
skills and strategies. While readers acquire some comprehension strategies
informally, explicit or formal instruction in the application of comprehension
strategies has been shown to be highly effective in enhancing understanding
These strategies help pupils think about, remember and understand what they are

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reading. Remember, if the pupil has decoding difficulties you need to first establish
the necessary fundamental decoding skills of proficient phonologic processing.
Otherwise, the difficulty decoding will likely inhibit the development of the more
advanced comprehension. Some pupils have no difficulty decoding but struggle with
comprehension. These pupils need direct instruction in developing comprehension
skills. Remediation programs should include direct instruction in developing
comprehension skills. The majority of comprehension development can be
accomplished as a part of guided reading.

18. Practice reading: Read! Read! Read!

Daily reading is critical. Pupils should read a minimum of 20-30 minutes every day.
Of course, the more reading is better! In learning and remediation stages the
majority of this reading time should be guided reading (reading aloud with feedback).
As the pupils skills develop, their reading will shift primarily to independent silent
reading. Practicing correct reading skills is essential to proficiency.

The following simple rule of thumb can be used to help you determine if a book is the
appropriate reading level for a particular pupil at a certain time and situation:

Independent level: This is material the pupil can read with few errors. If the
pupil is making only a few errors on a page the material is at the independent
level. This easy or independent level is ideal for silent reading.

Instructional level: The learning level material is where the pupil reads with
some errors and skill building. If the pupil is making 4 or more errors per page
the material is considered instructional level and should be read to an adult as
guided reading material. This instructional or learning level is ideal for guided
reading so you can help the pupil develop skills.

Frustration level: This is where the material is too hard. The pupil makes
frequent errors in every paragraph. The reading level is really too advanced for
the pupil. It is best to avoid frustration level material by finding another book. If
frustration level material must be read, it is should be read as guided reading
with assistance.

When a pupil learns to read proficiently, they should be able to read all grade level
material. If grade level material is consistently not appropriate for your pupil,
chances are they are lacking necessary decoding skills and need direct instruction in
developing the necessary phonologic processing skills.

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19. Share the joy of reading

And as always, share the joy of reading. Reading is wonderful. Pupils have a natural
excitement about reading that can be tapped into. Teaching pupils to read using a
direct systematic phonics program does not preclude enjoyment and excitement with
reading. In fact, it is the ability to read well that removes roadblocks and provides the
route to reading enjoyment. The often quoted observation good readers like to read
and poor readers do not enjoy reading is absolutely true. However, this is a
correlational, not a cause and effect, relationship. This tendency to spend time and
enjoy what we are good at is simply human nature. When pupils learn how to read
they are able to become engaged and excited about reading. This is particularly
evident in pupils who have struggled with reading. Once these pupils learn how to
read there is often a complete 180 change in their attitude toward reading.

Remedial reading activities

Activities for remedial reading are varied depending on the needs of the readers and
their level of proficiency. Activities meant for emergent readers in Year 1 may just as
well be suitable for an emergent reader in a higher year class.

For this reason teachers have to carry out a needs analysis to determine what the
pupil needs and tailor activities to meet that problem. Intervention should not be
delayed because the sooner help is given, the earlier the child will develop the
required skills to read.

The following are some activities that can be carried out to address some of the
reading problems.

a) To develop phonemic awareness

i) Tapping syllables

Using different items such as hand clappers, drums, or tennis rackets

you can have children determine the number of syllables in a given
word. For example, you would tap a drum two times for the word
"sister" because it has two syllables. For increased difficulty, tap the
drum (any number of times) and have your child think of a word that
contains that same number of syllables.

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 ii) Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes

Give pupils a word with 1-4 phonemes (sounds). Have them stand up and
touch their head, shoulders, knees, and toes as they are saying the sounds in
words. For example, the word "cat" would be /c/ (head), /a/ (shoulders), and /t/
(knees). A great active, phonemic awareness activity for helping pupils with
segmenting!

iii) Phoneme Jumping

Place a green, yellow, and red mat on the floor (in that order). Begin by giving
your child a word with 1-3 sounds. Have your child say the sounds they hear
as they jump from mat to mat. For increased difficulty, move the mats so they
are further apart.

b) To develop fluency

i) Words per minute partner read

Select two pupils to work together taking turns as the reader and the
listener. Prepare a set of word cards that you have introduced and two labels,
words I can read and words I need practice. Have the pupils place all the
cards they are able to read on the words I can read label and those that they
have trouble reading on the words I need practice label. The listener is
responsible for timing and helping the reader. After one minute, count the
cards and take down the number. Do this 2-4 times. Then change roles.

ii) Buddy reading

In pairs, pupils read to each other. They receive feedback and guidance
reading appropriate text from their peers. One pupil plays the "reader" and the
other is the "listener". The teacher sets a timer for a desired amount of time
and after the first trial, the listener provides feedback to the reader. After the
second and third trials, the listener is responsible for checking off the reading
behaviours that the reader demonstrated. NOTE: This reading fluency activity
must be explicitly modelled by the teacher before pupils can do this
independently.

iii) Prefix and suffix

Help children understand and recognize common prefixes and suffixes

by preparing some prefix and suffix cards. Provide children with
opportunities to locate these in words in texts. Reading fluency activities
that explicitly teach prefixes and suffixes are important for increasing
reading fluency.

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 Time to put theory into practice

Task 1

Think of the pupils in your class who need remedial intervention. Which of the above
techniques can you use with them? Give your rationale for the choice.

Slow learners who are unable to read fluently or accurately and pupils with low
English proficiency level will need remedial intervention. I would choose tapping
syllables and phonemes jumping techniques. The rationale for using tapping
syllables is to make pupils clear on how to identify syllable of a word. The number
of taps will determine the number of a syllable in a word. Next , the phoneme
jumping technique. This technique allows pupils to move around which makes the
learning fun and interesting. Pupils mistake can be corrected immediately as
teachers are able to identify the mistake made by the pupil while jumping on the
wrong coloured mat.

Task 2

Design two activities using any of the techniques above.

a. Tapping syllables

I would bring in drums, hand clappers and cymbals in my class, First, I will demonstrate how this
activity works. For a two syllable of a word, I would tap te drum twice. After that, I will pair up
pupils and ask them to work on this activity in pairs. One of the pair will tap the instrument
according to the syllable of a word given and the other pupil will have to think of another word
that contains the same number of syllable.

b. Phonemes jumping

I will divide pupils into smaller groups and distribute word cards to the group members. One pupil
from each group will read up the word while the another pair jumps from one mat to another mat
by listening to their peers. All the group members take turn and play this game.

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Reading for Enrichment

One of the goals of all English language teachers is to develop the reading skill
among those under their charge. Teachers want to develop in the pupils their ability
to understand and make use of what they read and who are motivated to read widely.

What makes good readers different from poor readers?

According to Davis (2007) good readers are metacognitively active when they read.
As they are engaged with the text, they employ various strategies so that they are
aware of what they are doing as they read as well as being in control of their reading
behaviour to overcome problems.

Good readers draw on their rich background of experiences and knowledge built over
all the years to help them process new information when they are engaged with a
text. These include everything they have done, felt, heard, seen and read throughout
their lives as well as knowledge about how written language works.

Also, good readers are constantly active as they read. They draw on their knowledge
of letter-sound relationships to decode words and develop word-recognition skills.
They develop and enrich their vocabulary repertoire as well as use and continue to
learn new reading comprehension strategies. They develop patterned knowledge,
that is, different genres exhibit different patterns of writing. They learn spelling rules
and patterns. They learn sentence forms and how meanings are derived by way of
how words are arranged. Being constantly and actively engaged with the text good
readers learn to monitor and adjust their use of reading strategies to assist them to
decode meaning from the text. They shift gears when they detect changes and
confront with challenges.

Good readers can recognise many words on sight, but they also work out how to
read new words they have never met before. This is because they are able to make
associations between letters and sounds and blend the sounds to pronounce a word.
So, comprehension requires more than accurate decoding, it also requires word-
recognition fluency.

There is also a clear association between readers core vocabulary knowledge and
their comprehension skills. Learners build a wide vocabulary through repeated
exposure and through instructions that develop their strategies to work out meanings
of words, i.e. by using contextual clues, using meanings of root words, using prefixes
and suffixes, considering synonyms and antonyms, and looking for definitions in
texts.

In short, good readers are good comprehenders who can read fluently. They are able
to process text efficiently and with comprehension. They are able to take control of
and monitor their reading by pacing and adjusting them when met with difficulties or
challenges. They are able to draw accurate and automatic word-recognition skills.
They make use of key strategies to comprehend a text. These key strategies include

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making connections with prior knowledge, prediction, visualising, inferencing, self-
questioning, seeking clarifications, summarising, finding the main ideas, analysing,
synthesising, and evaluating.

Good readers draw on these strategies before, during and after reading. These
strategies are often consciously used while they are reading but there are times when
they are used without the readers conscious attention. Good readers self-monitor
when they face difficulty comprehending a text. This means they will use one or more
strategies in rapid succession to overcome the difficulty. In other words, good readers
take appropriate steps to fix comprehension difficulties when they occur.

Now that we know what good readers do when they interact with a text, lets move on
to how to develop their reading further.

Developing metacognition comprehension strategies

As discussed earlier, good readers use a number of well-developed metacognition

strategies when they read. For this reason these strategies should be further
enhanced through systematic instructions and activities.

Teaching key strategies for word recognition

Word recognition is a critical component in learning to read and text

comprehension. As such, this important skill needs to be taught, enhanced or
further developed among good readers so that they are able to develop their
repertoire of strategies and an awareness of how to use them when they are
faced with new and challenging words when they read.

Davis (2007) suggested the following key strategies to help the able readers
with word recognition skill.

Look at the sounds and letters at the beginning of the word

Look at the sounds and letters in the middle of the word
Break the word into syllables and sound out each syllable
Look for common letter combinations within the word
Look for word family in the word, then check to see if you know a word
that rhymes and that would make sense
Look for a word family in the word, then think of a word you know with
similar spelling pattern

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 Look at the structure of the word. Do you see a root or base word? A
prefix? A suffix? An ending?
Break the word into syllables. Sound out each syllable and blend the
syllable parts to work out the word.

As these readers draw on these word-recognition strategies, they will need many
opportunities to practise individual strategies. However, a word of caution, teachers
need to be reminded that these strategies are rarely used alone. More often than not,
several strategies are used at one time.

Also, teachers must also take note that too much instruction focusing on word
components may detract from the focus on deriving meaning. So, measure out your
doses of instructions carefullytoo much may not be the best.

For more able readers, the focus of attention will be to foster a lively interest in and
curiosity about words: where they come from, how they can be build up from parts,
how they sound when spoken aloud, how they look, and how writers can play with
their structure to create humour.

The following activities can be used to develop word recognition skills.

Encourage the readers to keep a record of words they find challenging:

interesting, difficult, or unusual spelling strategies, combinations of letters, or
multiple meanings. They share these with others in the class highlighting the
parts they find interesting and challenging.

Such discussions will lead to increased awareness of words and how words
work and will heighten their understanding of strategies and approaches that
assist word recognition.

We have looked at how to help the learners develop their word recognition skill. Lets
now move on to how to enrich their vocabulary.

Vocabulary building

Increasing the amount of reading that learners do will inevitably increase their
range of vocabulary. Remember, vocabulary needs to be introduced in context
so what is a better way to introduce them if not through reading. Of course,
that is done through pre-reading and sometimes integrated in the reading
comprehension lesson.

Just like developing word recognition skill, many opportunities should be

provided for the learners to use words they have learnt. This will exposed
them to multiple meanings of a word in different contexts.

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So, what activities can we design to enhance vocabulary learning among the able
readers? Lets take a look at the activities below.

Predicting vocabulary

- Link the topic of the text to the learners prior knowledge to help them
predict the likely vocabulary they will find in the text. This is definitely
carried prior to reading the text.

Using contextual clues

- Teach the learners to use context clues to guess the meaning of unfamiliar
words

Developing an understanding of prefixes and suffixes

- Carry out various activities to help them recognise common prefixes and
suffixes
- Use their knowledge of prefixes and suffixes to work out the meanings of
words

Sometimes deliberate teaching of prefixes and suffixes is necessary to

explain their use and how adding them to a word changes the meaning of
the root word and in some cases the word class.

Understanding the new word through role play

- Role play a conversation using the word

- Role play an event where the word is used

For this activities, display a list of words that have been learnt recently. Get
learners to role play the word and other learners to guess the word from
the list.

Investigating vocabulary

- Provide synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms of words

- Provide vocabulary associated with a certain event or sports, for example,
swimming will include swimsuit, swimming trunk, goggles, flippers,
swimmers, bath towel, etc.

Collocation or words that go together

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 Many English words occur naturally or have common associations, for
example, salt and pepper, fork and spoon, hot and cold, red hot, make an
appointment, make a vow, etc.

Get learners to identify these word associations in the text read.

We have looked at two metacognition skills: word recognition and vocabulary

building. Now, its time for the last of the metacognition skills for reading instruction
comprehension.

Enhancing and developing comprehension

Good readers use ten key comprehension strategies to derive meaning from
text. The following strategies are not used alone. They all have their own
learning goals.

Making connections to prior knowledge

Readers draw on their schema to help them make sense of new information
before, during and after reading. By relating to prior knowledge, readers use
and adapt the schema to make connections to the text they are reading. This
include their previous experiences with the topic, the text structure, the cultural
knowledge, background and beliefs, their world experiences and as well as
their emotional experiences.

Making predictions

Good readers use prediction to make educated guesses about what will
happen next in the text. They draw upon their prior knowledge, making and
confirming predictions as they make connections between the schema of the
content (knowledge of the topic, text structure, cultural experiences, etc.) with
new information.

As readers move through the text, they test their predictions and monitor their
progress through self questioning and probably revise their predictions as
more information is revealed.

Visualising

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 As readers read they form visual images of what they have read. Visualising
helps the readers to relate to the characters. They use their five senses to do
that, so they imagine how they look, behave, feel, etc. Visualising helps the
reader make the text come alive. Visualising will help the readers to
understand and remember the text better.

Inferring

Through inferring good readers make a considered guess about the authors
intention. Similar to prediction, the reader draws upon prior knowledge and
contextual clues to gain deeper meaning of the text. This reading between the
lines strategy helps readers to understand that meaning is not always
explicitly mentioned but can be derived through clues provided by the author.

Self questioning

Readers very often ask questions in their heads as they go through the text to
check their understanding of what they have read. This purposeful questioning
happens before, during and after they read to help them monitor their reading
and check on their understanding.

Seeking clarification

When in doubt, good readers seek assistance. By doing so, they clear
unclogged confusion or matters which they are not sure of. They could also
revisit the section that is confusing, linking what they have read with their prior
knowledge and asking questions to clear their mind. They may also seek out
their friends assistance, consult a secondary source of information (e.g.
dictionary, thesaurus, etc.)

Summarising

This skill allows readers to give a retell of the text picking out the important
information and combining key points into succinct statements. They learn to
differentiate between important information and supporting details. They also
learn to put this essential information in their own words in a language that is
precise and clear.

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 Identifying main idea

Identifying the main idea of the text can be anything from determining the key
idea, the theme, or the authors message. The main idea may be presented
explicitly and reinforced in various ways. However, it can also be introduced
implicitly which means the reader has to infer, analyse, synthesis or even
evaluate before being able to pick out the main message. Very often the main
idea is closely related to the authors purpose.

Analysing and synthesising

These two metacognitive skills often work simulanteously as the reading

process progresses. Analysing involves the readers examining, questioning
and probing ideas from their point of view while synthesising is about
combining new ideas with existing information to form conclusions about the
meaning of the text. These two skills work in tandem as readers stop and think
about their reading and as they add new information to existing ones. As they
do so they may make changes that will affect their understanding and form
new conclusions.

Evaluation

Readers make judgements based on their understanding of the text and

knowledge and values. They make judgement of the authors attitude, purpose
and position of the issue brought forth in the text.

Knowing all these metacognition skills will help teachers design suitable reading
activities to further develop and enhance the reading skills among the better readers
in the class.

Below are some examples of activities that teachers can design for able readers to
extend their already well-developed reading skills.

1. Connecting to prior knowledge

a. spider web

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 Before the pupils read a passage, ask them to complete a chart about a main
character or main idea in the passage. Then after reading the passage add new
knowledge to the chart with a coloured pen.

e.g.
endangered
dangerous
fierce
attack people

have sharp tigers live in the

teeth
s jungle

yellow with
black stripes

perform in
mammal
circus

b. In this K-W-L chart, pupils complete the K column before they read, the W
column while reading and the L column after reading.

TIGERS
K W L
What I already know What I want to find out What I have learnt

2. Visualising

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 After reading the text, the reader transfers information on to a graphic
organiser such as a flow chart, timeline and mind map

Timeline most useful for a narrative or time-ordered passage. Here, the

reader charts the events that takes place in the text on to the timeline. Each
event is written at each mark on the timeline.

One day John woke He missed his bus. He forgot to bring He was punished by He was scolded by He was very upset.
up late. his homework. his teacher. his mother. He went to bed
without dinner.

3. Inferring

Using think-aloud approach to teach the readers how to draw inferences from
the text.

For example:

Write on the board the sentence where inference can be made. After reading
the sentence aloud, discuss the information the author gives indirectly by
looking for clues in the sentence and using prior knowledge. Use different
colour pens to highlight the authors clues. Demonstrate how the author
conveyed the information and how you know this.

Water dripped off the leaves and landed as puddles on the already
sodden ground ...

I can infer that it is raining, using clues and other strategies:

clues from the text: water, dripped, puddles, sodden ground

prior knowledge: rain forms puddles
visualisation: I can see rain hitting the leaves, bouncing off and
splashing on the ground there must be a heavy rain to make
a lot of puddles!

4. Self-questioning

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 Teach the learners to ask specific questions for different purposes. For
example, begin with the 5W 1H questions. Then ask literal questions
questions to help them to recall facts directly from the text. Teach them to also
ask inferential questionsquestions that require them to think from given
clues. Questions of this sort introduce the learners to other ways of thinking
about the text. Other questions to teach include investigative question making
the learners draw conclusions from given clues. When they answer these
questions they are applying information to make generalisations, to making
hypothesis and to discuss different points of view. Finally, teach them to ask
evaluative questions, whereby learners are required to make judgments based
on the text content, the authors style and purpose or attitude.

5. Summarising

Begin with asking the learners to read a section of the text. On the second
reading, ask them to use a highlighter pen to locate what they think are the
most important ideas. Then discuss, justify their decisions. Return to the text
to record key words that relate to the parts that they have highlighted. Once
again, share their ideas and give reasons for the words they have selected.
When the section is completed, use the key words to make statements that
summarises the text.

6. Identifying main ideas

When reading a narrative text, ask learners to list the main ideas. Then ask
them to identify the theme. As they move through the text, work with them to
integrate their themes and to determine the overall idea.

Also ask them to justify the evidence and how they work out their decision
giving reasons.

7. Analysing and synthesising

(i) identifying cause-and-effect relationships

This can be used with fiction and non-fiction texts. Show how this can be done
using a graphic organiser. Using the fish bone is an effective way to teach
learners illustrate cause-and-effect relationship.

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 (ii) comparison

Use a Venn diagram for this purpose.

8. Evaluating

After reading a text, one of the following activities can be carried out:

Expressing their opinion. ( I think that ...)

Asking an evaluative question. (Why do you think that ...?)
Challenging the author (I dont believe ... is right. In my opinion, ...)

Putting theory into practice

Task:

Think of the pupils in your class who are good readers. Choose a book they have
read. Then

a) design an activity for vocabulary building and give your rationale for your
choice.

b) pick three metacognitive strategies you want to develop. Design an activity for
each of the metacognitive strategies.

Thats the end of this topic. Take a break before moving on to the
next topic.

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References

Children's Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston

Davis, A. 2007. Teaching reading comprehension. Wellington: Learning Media

Limited

Denton, C. A. High-quality classroom instruction: Classroom reading instruction that

supports struggling readers
http://www.rtinetwork.org/essential/tieredinstruction/tier1/highquality
retrieved: 17 July 2012

Gagen, M. (2007) Elements of an effective reading remediation program to

improve reading skills in struggling readers
http://www.righttrackreading.com/elementsremed.html retrieved 22 July 2012.

Pennington. M. 2009. Four critical components to successful reading intervention _

Pennington Publishing Blog.htm

Stanovich, K. E. (1986). Effects in reading: Some consequences of individual

differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 21,
360407.

West-Christy, J. 2007. Helping remedial and reluctant readers

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/29
retrieved 22 July 2012

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