Classroom Reading Strategies for Teaching Poor Readers

According to Foorman, Fletcher, and Francis (1997), at least 10 million children in the United States are poor readers. This translates into roughly 17% of school-aged children, with equal prevalence among boys and girls. The authors state that one of the main causes of poor readers is a failure to efficiently decode alphabetical sounds. In other words, these children are not adequately segmenting syllables into phonemes (sound units smaller than a syllable). Children who are poor readers not only have a difficult time decoding alphabetical sounds, they also have difficulty understanding how those sounds look in print. For example, once the child understands the "s" sound, he or she must also learn what "s" looks like in print.

Bender (2004) states that once children learn to decode alphabetical sounds, entire words and phrases may be read as a unit. The end result is a faster, better reader. When students do not have to spend as much time decoding each individual sound in a word, they can put more energy into becoming a fluent reader who is better able to understand the meaning of what is being read.

Bender (2004) offers four different tactics for developing reading fluency in the classroom. The first of these is student-adult reading. In this scenario, a student reads one-on-one with an adult partner. The adult first reads the text, and then the student reads the text. They continue until the student becomes fluent at the passage read.

The second tactic discussed by Bender (2004) is choral reading. This simply incorporates having the group of children read the passage together multiple times until fluency is achieved.

Next, Bender (2004) discusses tape-assisted reading. In this scenario, students read the material along with a taped version of the text. This is continued until fluency is reached.

The fourth tactic discussed by Bender (2004) is partner reading, in which students pair up and take turns reading aloud. Bender suggests that more fluent readers be paired with slower readers so that the students may provide assistance to each other.

Foorman, Fletcher, and Francis (1997) are more specific in their proposed learning strategy for increasing reading fluency. They recommend the use of Direct Instruction in the classroom to build reading skills. According to the authors, "the type of direct instruction alphabetic program is less important than the intensity, duration, and teacher training/monitoring so long as the program is structured and explicit" (page 2). They state that research has proven Direct Instruction to be more effective than other interventions in teaching reading fluency. According to one study cited, comparisons of Direct Instruction strategies, Embedded Phonics strategies, and Context-Emphasis strategies clearly showed Direct Instruction to be the most effective strategy. The first and second grade students studied who utilized Direct Instruction were the only group to achieve average reading levels after one year of intervention.

While this writer has not used Direct Instruction in teaching academic skills, she has used similar techniques for teaching self-help skills, and has found this technique to be very effective. Interestingly, in preparing for a separate assignment this week, the writer came across an example specific to teaching alphabetical decoding using Direct Instruction. Olson and Platt (2004) describe in detail a method for teaching students the "s" sound utilizing Direct Instruction. In their example, they visually cue the students by using a drawing of an arrow. The arrow is facing to the right, to remind students that we read from left to right. The left side of the arrow has a ball on it, as does the middle of the arrow. The teacher touches the ball on the left side of the arrow and verbally instructs the class to listen to a new sound. She then touches the ball in the middle of the arrow while holding the "s" sound. She then has the class repeat this with her multiple times until the sound is mastered. Finally, she tests individual students for mastery, and then gives feedback to the students.

Foorman, Fletcher, and Francis (1997) believe that Direct Instruction should be a standard part of early elementary curriculum for teaching reading fluency. The cite a study in which fifteen minutes of Direct Instruction in the alphabetic code as part of a kindergarten curriculum "led to significant gains in phonological analysis skills relative to children in the same curriculum who did not receive this training" (page 2). The authors state that 74% of students who are poor readers in the third grade will remain poor readers in the ninth grade. Because of this, it is imperative that we explore techniques proven to increase reading fluency in the early years.

Resources
Bender, W. (2004). Learning disabilities: Characteristics, identification, and teaching
strategies (5th edition). Boston: Pearson.
Foorman, B., Fletcher, J., & Francis, D. (1997). A scientific approach to reading instruction.
Retrieved May 20, 2007, from http://www.ldonline.org/article/6251
Olson, J. & Platt, J. (2004). Teaching children and adolescents with special needs (4th edition).
Upper Saddle River, N. J.: Pearson.