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Fi e l d n o t e s
1fall 2000
S k il le d Re a d i n g : To p -D o w n , c o v e rB o t t o m - U pP a u l A b r a h a m
Le a r n i n g t o Re a d , Re a d i n g t o Le a r n 3
Je s s i c a S p o h n
Re c o n s i d e r i n g Le a r n i n g D i s a b i l it ie s 5Ra c h e l M a r ti n
O h , E rn e s to , I H a v e S o m e t h i n gW o n d e r f u l t o Te l l Yo u Ja n e t F is c h e r a n d R ic h a r d G o l d b e r g 9
A Re a d e r Te a c h e s Re a d i n g 1 2T in a To r a n
To o l s f o r t h e C l a s sr o o m :A F ir st Re a d i n g Le s so n 1 4
M a r c ia C h a ffe e
Fro m Ta l k to P r i n t : P re p a r i n g S tu d e n tsto Re a d w i th E a s eS a lly G a b b
G e tti n g S t ro n g w i th t h e Fo r ta l ce te 1 9C u r ri c u l u mM a r ia E .G o n z l ez
M o d e l in g C l a ss A c ti v iti e s f o r Lo w 2 1L e ve l L i te ra cy L e a rn e rsLe e H a l l e r
F lu e n c y F ir st : D e v e l o p i n g 2 5I n d e p e n d e n t R e a d i n gA n i t a F e l d
Earlier this year , the readin g world bid goodbye to on e of i ts
stalwarts, Jeanne S. Chall , Professor Emerita of Reading from the
Harvard Graduate School of Education. Professor Chall had been
active in readin g education for alm ost 50 years.While Challs contr i-
butions to reading theory and practice were many, from readabili ty
to stage theor y, she was most of ten iden tif ied with the readin g wars,
the batt le fought between th ose advocating phonics instr uction and
those advocating whole language, which relies in part on instr uction
using sight words.
Challs belief that decodin g skil ls played a key role in th e r ead-
ing p rocess fo rced her in to a posi t ion o f represen t ing phon ics . Herview of readin g theory, however, always in cluded r ich language inp ut
along with skil ls in phonics. The reading f ield seemed to push her
into the r ole advocating phonics and lost sight of her str ong beliefs
about the importance of world knowledge, well-writ ten l i terature,
and developm enta l s tages .
R e ad i n g T h e o r i e sR e ad i n g T h e o r i e sR e ad i n g T h e o r i e sR e ad i n g T h e o r i e sR e a d i n g T h e o r i e sAs guardian of phon ics,Professor Chall was often viewed as a
bo t tom- up theor is t , tha t i s , one who em phasized the ab i li ty to de-
code o r pu t in to sound what is seen in a text . Other bo t tom- up theo-
r ists in cluded Gough (1972), LaBerge an d Samue ls (1974). The bot-tom- up m odel was f i rmly in p lace when I learn ed to read . Teachers
emp hasized decoding sk i ll s and spen t a lm ost no t ime h e lp ing
emerging readers recognize what they, as readers, brought to the
in format ion on the page .
The top-down model of reading does just that , focusing on
what the readers bring to the process (Goodman, 1967; Smith,
1971,1982). The readers sample the text for information and con-
Cont in ued on page 6
Skilled Read in g: Top-Down ,
Bottom-Up
by Paul Abr ah am
TA B LE O F C O N TEN TS
ReadingReadingReadingReadingReading
formerly Bright Ideas
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Fi e l d n o t e s
2 field notes
Fi e ld N o t e s i s a q u a r te r l y n e w s -l e tte r th a t p r o v i d e s a p l a c e to s h a r ei n n o v a ti v e p r a c t i c e s , n e w r e s o u r c e s ,a n d i n fo r m a ti o n w i th i n th e f i e ld o fa d u l t b a s ic e d u c a ti o n . I t i s p u b l is h e db y S A B E S , th e S y s te m f o r A d u l t B a -
si c Ed u c a ti o n S u p p o r t, a n d f un d e db y A d u lt a n d C o m m u n i ty Le a rn i n gS e r v i c e s ( A C LS ), M a ss a c h u s e tts
D e p a r tm e n t o f Ed u c a ti o n .
T h e C e n t ra l Re s o u r c e C e n t e r o fS A B E S i s l o c a t e d a t W o r ld E d u c a -ti o n , 4 4 Fa r n sw o r t h S tr e e t , B o s to n ,M A 0 2 2 1 0 .
O p i n i o n s e xp r e sse d i n Fi e ld N o t e s a r e t h o se o f th e a u th o r s a n d n o t
n e c e ss a r i ly th e o p i n i o n s o f S A B E S o ri t s fund ers .
Pe r m i s si o n i s g r a n t e d t o r e p r o d u c ep o r ti o n s o f th i s n e w s le t te r ; h o w e v e r,w e r e q u e st a p p r o p r i a t e c r e d i t to t h ea u t h o r a n d Fi e ld N o t e s.
S u b s c r i p t io n s a r e fr e e to M a ss a c h u -s e tts A B E p rac ti ti o ne rs . A l l o t he rsm a y su b s c ri b e f o r a n a n n u a l fe e o f$ 8 . 0 0 . To s u b s c r ib e , c o n ta c t Ju sti n eS a d o f f, W o r ld Ed u c a ti o n , 4 4
F a r n sw o r th S tr e e t , B o s to n , M A0 2 2 1 0 . M a k e ch e cks p a y a b le toW o r ld Ed u c a ti o n .
S u b m i s si o n s a r e w e l c o m e . If y o uh a v e a n i d e a f o r a n a r ti c le o r w i sh tosubmi t a le t ter to the ed i tor , ca l lLe n o re B a l li ro a t (6 1 7 ) 4 8 2 -9 4 8 5 .
W e d o r e s e r ve th e r ig h t to d e c l in ep u b l i c a t i o n .
E d i t o r : Len o re B a l li r o Lay ou t : Leno re B a l li r o S ubs c r i p t i ons : Jus tine Sa d o f f
A d v iso r y B o a rd fo r 2 0 0 0 / 2 0 0 1 :B r u c e D a h l q u i s t, Le e H a l le r, M a r i ly nM o n te iro , B o n n ie b e l le O N e a l ,S u sa n P e l ti e r, N a n c y Ta r i o t
F o r e w o r d
any of us in adult basic education have found ourway past the useless dichotom y between
ph on ic s an d wh ole lan gu age ep it om ized b y th e r ead in g war s waged
over th e last decade. We have come to accept a m ore b alanced ap-
p r oac h to teac h in g r ead in g em b r ac in g wh ole la n gu age p r in ci p le s
using l ite ra ture- r ich conten t whi le incorpora t ing decoding and o ther
reading subskills into the instructional practice.
The more we unders tand about the read ing process by examin-
ing how theory and research applies to our practice, the better read-
ing teachers we wi l l become. Unders tan ding how readers m ake
meanin g from the pr in ted page can ground us in our da i ly teach ing
and inform the choices we make in the classroom. We need to clarify
what we believe about language an d l i teracy acquisit ion so th e choices
we make about reading assignments and activit ies are purposeful.
This issue of Field Notes offers ar t icles by practi t ioner s whose
students range from the newly l i terate to the college bound. Some
wr i te rs , l ike Lee Hal ler and Marc ia Chafee , o f fer s tep - by-s tep lesson
p la n s fo r teac h in g bas ic r ead in g, wh il e ot h er s, li ke Pau l Ab r ah am an d
Jessica Spohn , o f fer th eore t ical f rameworks for under s tanding the
readin g process. Janet Fischer and Richard Goldber g do a str ikin g
jo b of il lu s tr at in g h ow th ey a p ply r ead in g th eor y p r in ci p le s to th e ir
c lassroom.
I have also selected Web sites and resour ce l ist ings with an eye
toward balancing theor y and pr actice. As always, read ers of Field
Notes are welcome to express the i r r eac tions in subsequent i ssues of
the n ewsletter by sendin g a letter to the editor or con tr ibutin g an
article.
Though articles on reading assessment are conspicuously ab-
sen t , the for thcom ing issue of Field Notes will focus entirely on as-
sessmen t , inc lud ing the assessmen t o f read ing ab i li t ies .
M
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Fi e l d n o t e s
3fall 2000
s s tuden ts comple te the ar -duous task of passing the
GED or completing an alter-
native high school diploma, they
have acquired a wide range of read-
ing comp rehen sion sk i l ls and they
have ach ieved an impor tan t m i le-
stone. Som e studen ts will want to
con t inue in postsecondary educa-
tion. But of ten, teachers have not
in t roduced the read ing sk i ll s and
strategies these students will needto succeed in a college sett in g. Col-
lege students h ave to cope with a
large amount of read ing, with
lengthy texts in scientif ic, historical ,
and technical areas.
In this ar t icle, I will discuss
strategies and skil ls in read ing in-
struction for students moving from
a small and often sup portive adult
basic education classroom into a
large and often impersonal college
sett ing.
Ho w Do You Fe e l a t t h eHo w Do You Fe e l a t t h eHo w Do You Fe e l a t t h eHo w Do You Fe e l a t t h eHo w Do You Fe e l a t t h e
E n d o f Th i s P a r a g r a p h ?E n d o f Th i s P a r a g r a p h ?E n d o f Th i s P a r a g r a p h ?E n d o f Th i s P a r a g r a p h ?E n d o f Th i s P a r a g r a p h ?Read the italicized text below
from a computer manual :
The Prin t dialog box is where
you al so set th e s ize at tr ib ute r at io s .
These se t t ings are percen tage mul-
t ipliers used to scale the current
font when ever relative size at tr ib-
utes are applied. For examp le, if the cur ren t font h as a size of 10
p oin ts , an d th e Lar ge s ize at tr ib utes
ra t io in the Pr in t Preferences d ia-
logue box is set to 120% , then any
where the Large attr ibute is applied
in th e documen t , the charac ter s ize
changes to 12 poin ts, which is 120%
of 10 poin ts (10 * 120% = 12).
Ready to read on with con fi-d en ce an d co m p r eh en s io n o r a r e
you r eady to cry, give up or ask
some one for help? Is this how your
s tuden t fee ls when an ins t r uc tor
assigns a readin g from a college
text? Using m y comp uter , I checked
the r eadabili ty score of this d ocu-
m ent. I t has about an 11th grade
level equivalency, suggesting that
most 11th graders could read and
und erstan d the passage. So with amasters degree in educat ion , I
shou ld be ab le to read and compre-
hend this passage with ease.
But I cant . I cant read and
understand this passage without
access ing an ar ray o f comp rehen -
sion skil ls and str ategies that I don t
use every day. I have to be an active
and str ategic reader . I h ave to ask
and answer cer ta in quest ions and
draw on certain r eading skil ls that
wi l l he lp me read independent ly .Below is a l ist of these strategies an d
skills, drawn from Blooms Tax-
onomy, tha t I must use to under -
s tand the paragraph . The same
skills can b e taught to studen ts as
they encounter unfamiliar , chal-
lenging texts.
1 . W h y A m I R e a d i n g1 . W h y A m I R e a d i n g1 . W h y A m I R e a d i n g1 . W h y A m I R e a d i n g1 . W h y A m I R e a d i n g
T h i s ?T h i s ?T h i s ?T h i s ?T h i s ?
Why do I ne ed or want to readthis text: whats in i t for m e both as
an im media te goal and as a par t o f
who I am an d what I want? Answer-
ing this question creates a context
for becomin g an active reader . I t
se ts a purpose fo r read ing and es-
tablishes motivation. I t moves me
away from passively accepting the
text , which l imi ts compr ehen sion .I am m aking the cho ice to read ,
co m p r eh en d , an d u se th e in f or m a-
tion I learn from the text. Answer-
ing thewh y helps me, and any
reader , accep t the d iscomfor t tha t
comes f rom no t im m edia te ly know-
ing how to approach the text.
Why should I read the com-
puter paragraph? As an im med ia te
goal, I need to kn ow how to use m y
compu ter an d I cant always r ely on
o ther peop le to he lp me t roub le-
shoot . In the longer te rm, us ing the
compu ter is part of m y job, and I
want a sense o f indepen dence and
accom plishm ent. So I will end ure
the d iscomfort I will exper ience in
the pr ocess of find ing the skil ls to
help me unders tand th is passage .
Helping students to establish a
reason for enduring diff icult texts,
even when the immediate goal isnt
readily apparen t, is a good f irst steptoward developing active re ading
skills.
2 . W h a t T2 . Wh a t T2 . W h a t T2 . Wh a t T2 . Wh a t Ty p e oy p e oy p e oy p e oy p e o f Tf Tf Tf Tf Te x t Am Ie x t Am Ie x t Am Ie x t Am Ie x t Am I
R e a d i n g ?R e a d i n g ?R e a d i n g ?R e a d i n g ?R e a d i n g ?To h e lp m e co m p r eh en d th e
computer paragraph , I must iden t i fy
the type of text so I can use appro-
priate readin g strategies. I know that
I am r eading a technical passage that
involves m ath, so I will read m e-thodically to get specif ic inform a-
tion and an alyze inform ation from
tab les , fo rm ulas , equat ions , und er -
stand specialized vocabulary.
Studen ts , too , must iden t i fy
the type of text they are readin g so
Learn in g to Read , Readin g to Learnby Jessica Spoh n
Cont in ued on pa ge 4
A
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Fi e l d n o t e s
4 field notes
they can select different skil ls nec-
essary fo r read in g in d i f feren tgenres. Reading a novel is different
f rom r ead ing a techn ical man ual,
and teachers need to teach these
differen ces explicit ly. In m y case,
iden tifying m y paragraph as an e x-
cerp t f rom a d readed bu t necessary
manual- l ike book , Using Word Per-
fect, sets m e up for doing a certain
k ind o f read ing
3 . W h a t D o I A lr e a d y3 . W h a t D o I A lr e a d y3 . W h a t D o I A lr e a d y3 . W h a t D o I A lr e a d y3 . W h a t D o I A lr e a d y
Kn o w Ab o u t T h i s ?Kn o w Ab o u t T h i s ?Kn o w Ab o u t T h i s ?Kn o w Ab o u t T h i s ?Kn o w Ab o u t T h i s ?I draw upon m y prior kn owl-
edge o f computers an d m y person al
exper iences with comp uters to he lp
me unders tand the paragraph . Th is
ref lection, along with m y knowledge
of the type of te xtthe dre aded
techn ical man ual allows me to un -
ders tand th e vocabulary in con text.
The words dialog, attr ib ute, an d
character have m any meanings , bu t
I under s tand tha t th is i s a man ual oncomputers , n o t a poem by Shakes-
peare, so I read accordingly.
Students, too, m ust access
their p r ior kn owledge of a topic and
of the type 0f text they are r eading.
They can ask: What d o I already
know about this subject? When h ave
I read a s imi lar k ind o f book , and
how did I d o i t? Teachers can assist
studen ts in activating their pr ior
knowledge th rough p reread in g ac-
tivit ies. They can also help in creasea students knowledge of a difficult
subject by readin g lower- level ma-
ter ials to build that m issing knowl-
edge base. Students can learn to do
this themselves by seeking out ma-
ter ials on a similar subject writ ten at
a lower level in orde r to b uild back-
ground knowledge .
4 . H o w C a n I G e t t h e B i g4 . H o w C a n I G e t t h e B i g4 . H o w C a n I G e t t h e B i g4 . H o w C a n I G e t t h e B i g4 . H o w Ca n I G e t t h e B i g
P i c t u r e o f W h a t I l l BeP i c t u r e o f W h a t I l l BeP i c t u r e o f W h a t I l l BeP i c t u r e o f W h a t I l l BeP i c t u r e o f W h a t I l l BeR e a d i n g ?R e a d i n g ?R e a d i n g ?R e a d i n g ?R e a d i n g ?In m y case, I m trying to un-
ders tand a shor t excerp t from a
longer m anual. Sti ll , i t helps me to
sk im the m anual so I know how tha t
paragraph f i ts into th e longer text.
Then I can loca te more in format ion
if I need to .
If students can establish a big
picture for what they are reading,
they can increase the i r comprehen-
sion of , say, a chapte r of a te xt. Theycan skim the chapter for basic ideas,
scan for specif ic information, use
ti t les and headlines to predict what
they will be reading about. By estab-
lishing a kind of scaffold before
read ing , the i r chances o f und er -
s tand ing tha t chap ter a re m uch be t -
ter than if they open to page one
and s ta r t r ead ing .
5 . H o w W5 . H o w W5 . H o w W5 . H o w W5 . H o w Wi l l I E va l u a t e t h ei l l I E va l u a t e t h ei l l I E va l u a t e t h ei l l I E va l u a t e t h ei l l I E va l u a t e t h e
M a t e r i a l I a m R e a d i n g ?M a t e r i a l I a m R e a d i n g ?M a t e r i a l I a m R e a d i n g ?M a t e r i a l I a m R e a d i n g ?M a t e r i a l I am R e a d i n g ?In the case of the computer
paragraph, m y abili ty to evaluate the
cause-ef fect re la t ionsh ip and to
verify the value of evidence in this
pass age will allow m e to app ly it to a
concre te s i tuat ion when I need to . I f
I have read the paragraph correctly ,
I should b e able to set the six at-
tr ibute ratios for m y fonts. I f I can t
do i t , I h ave to read i t over again.
When s tuden ts read longerand m ore com plex m aterialssocial
sc iences , h is to ry , app l ied sc iences ,
for example, they will have to use a
variety of re adin g skills: they will
have to evaluate fact vs. opin ion and
assess the value of theories. They
will have to compare and discr imi-
na te be tween ideas and theor ies
based on following and evaluating
reasoned arguments . Al l o f these
skil ls need modeling and explicit
teaching in the GED or ASE class-room because they do not come as
naturally as, say, reading a story or
nar ra t ive .
To read my computer para-
graph su ccessfully, I h ad to d raw on
skills I don t use r egularly. As an
advanced reader , I access those
skil ls uncons ciously. But our stu -
den ts m ust learn these sk i l ls
through explicit exposure and prac-
tice, if they are to succeed in college
level reading.
Jessica Spohn has worked in education
for 15 years. She currently coordinatesth e ABE- to- Col l ege Transit i on Projectat the NELRC/World Education andcan be reached at (617) 482-9485
or .
L e a r n i n g t o R e a d . . .L e a r n i n g t o R e a d . . .L e a r n i n g t o R e a d . . .L e a r n i n g t o R e a d . . .L e a r n i n g t o R e a d . . .cont in ued from page 3
B l o o m B l o o m B l o o m B l o o m B l o o m s Ts Ts Ts Ts Ta x o n o m ya x o n o m ya x o n o m ya x o n o m ya x o n o m y
B l o o m s Ta x o n o m y i s a u s e f u l r u b r i c f o r te a c h i n g r e a d i n g t o s tu d e n t s w h op l a n t o g o o n t o p o st se c o n d a r y e d u c a ti o n . Fo r a c l e a r a n d u se f u l c h a r ti ll u str a t in g B l o o m s ta x o n o m y w i th i m p l ic a ti o n s fo r te a c h i n g r e a d i n g , g o t oth e f o ll o w i n g W e b s i te s :
< w w w< w w w< w w w< w w w< w w w . c o u n . u v i c . c a / l e a r. c o u n . u v i c . c a / l e a r. c o u n . u v i c . c a / l e a r. c o u n . u v i c . c a / l e a r. c o u n . u v i c . c a / l e a r n / p r o g r a m / h n d o u ts / b l o o m . h tm l >n / p r o g r a m / h n d o u ts / b l o o m . h tm l >n / p r o g r a m / h n d o u ts / b l o o m . h tm l >n / p r o g r a m / h n d o u ts / b l o o m . h tm l >n / p r o g r a m / h n d o u ts / b l o o m . h tm l >
< w w w< w w w< w w w< w w w< w w w . o p s . o r g / r e a d i n g / b l o o m s _ ta x o n o m y. o p s . o rg / r e a d i n g / b l o o m s _ ta x o n o m y. o p s . o r g / r e a d i n g / b l o o m s _ ta x o n o m y. o p s . o rg / r e a d i n g / b l o o m s _ ta x o n o m y. o p s . o r g / r e a d i n g / b l o o m s _ ta x o n o m y. h t m l >. h t m l >. h t m l >. h t m l >. h t m l >
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Fi e l d n o t e s
5fall 2000
urin g a worksh op at anadul t l i te racy p rogram
located within a two- year
co llege , each teacher p resen t
vo iced the assum pt ion tha t the m a-
jo r it y of h er s tud en ts we r e le ar n in g
disabled. This conclusion was
based on such evidence as the fact
tha t a s tuden t h ad been in th e p ro-
gram a lon g t ime with l i t t le
progress , was unab le to remember
what shes learned in an earlierclass, or had a case histor y of
mental i l lness or participation in
special education classes. Once the
pre l imin ary d iagnosis was m ade,
the studen t was sent to the special
Needs Center at the local collegefor a battery of exams includin g
the IQ test .
Inc luded among o ther c r i te r ia
commonly used to identify learning
d isab led s tuden ts a re : loose thought
pat te rns; d isor ien ted in t ime; o f tenlate; cannot retain new information
Recon sider in g Learn in g Disabil i ties
without excessive rehearsal andprac t ice ; seems res t less , sh i f t s po-
sit ion often during reading tasks;
halt ing and jerky reading style.
My own r eading of the d is-
course of learnin g disabil it ies
owes much to the works of Peter
Johnston (1985) and Gerald Coles
(1987). It was Johnstons Un d er -
stand ing Reading Disability that
f irst al lowed me to consid er th at
readin g abil i ty m ight have m ore todo with factors such as att i tude, m o-
tivation, strategies, and situations
than neu rological dysfunction . And I
have seen teachers in p rograms in
which I have worked ap ply the ter m
learning disabled to nearly every
studen t they teach , wi th no more
ra t ionale than tha t used by the p ro-
gram men t ioned a t the beginn ing of
this section. That m ay be because
this is easier than seeing our own
st ra tegies and c lassroom st ruc tu resas in effective. I believe th is si tua-
tion r esults from a l i teracy f ield thatassumes anyone who can read and
cares can teach re ading, and i t
p l ace s u n d e r p r ep a r ed tu to r s an d
teachers in un tenab le c ircum-
stances, where learning disabil i ty
seem s the on ly explanation for fail-
u re to p r ogress .
by Rachel Mar t in
Classroom Tip: Resp on din g to Readin g
After l i teral comprehension questions, then what? The following suggestions can help st imulate com-
plex discussions of texts, particular ly f iction. Some of these questions can help students present an opinion
and su pport i t with reason ing, a skill that can be extended to n onfiction readin g as well . These q uestions
were adap ted f rom the Web s i te
This excerpt is from Rachel Martins
fo r thcoming book: Listen ing Up:
Reinventing Ourselves as Teachers
and Studen ts , Heinemann, January ,
200 1. Rachel Martin teaches writ ing
to adults and facilitates staff devel-
opment in radical pedagogy and cur-
r icu lum design .
DNotes :
Coles, G. (1987). The learning mystique:
A critical look at learn ing disab ilities. Ne w
York: Pan theon Books.
Johnston, P (1985). Under standin g read-
ing disab ility: A case study appr oach.
Har vard Ed Review. 55 (2) (pp .153- 177).
As a prer eading activity, have students read th e t i t le of a story only and create the ir own storiesf rom i t . Compare them to the o r ig ina l . Ask studen ts: Decide which character in the stor y would l ike to spen d a day with an d why.
Ask studen ts to decide if the story really could have happen ed an d why.
Ask studen ts to explain why a character in a story acted as he or she did .
Ask s tuden ts to compare the s to ry wi th ano ther one the s tuden t has r ead .
Ask studen ts to wrtie a letter to one of the characters in the stor y offer in g adviceor in format ion .
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Fi e l d n o t e s
6 field notes
trast i t with their world knowledge,
helpin g to make sens e of what is
written. The focus here is on thereaders as they interact with th e text.
For those read in g theor is ts who
recognized the im por tance o f bo th
the text and the r eader in the read-
ing process, an amalgamation of the
two emer gedthe in teractive ap-
proach. The interactive
m odel (Rum elhar t , 1977;
Stanovich, 1980) stressed
both what is on the writ ten
page and what a readerbrin gs to i t using both top-
down and bo t tom- up sk i ll s .
Chall, who actually took
a mor e inter active stance in
the great debate, served on a
b lue r ibbon panel tha t
he lped crea te Becom ing a Nation of
Readers in 1985 . These read in g
theor is ts and prac t i t ioners de-
scr ibed sk i l led r ead ing as const ruc-
tivethat is, th e read er con structs
m ean in g f r om an d m ak es sen se o f the p r in ted page . The p anel a lso
descr ibed sk i l led readers as f luen t ,
strategic, and motivated. Moreover ,
they suggested that skil led readers
prac t ice , develop , and r ef ine the i r
read ing over the i r l i fe t ime.
More than a decade and a ha l f
later , these descriptors st i l l i l lus-
trate the reading process for skil led
reade rs. I d l ike to apply these te-
nets to a readin g lesson , and I haved ivided the lesson in to before , dur -
ing, and af ter reading.
B e f o r e R e a d i n gB e f o r e R e a d i n gB e f o r e R e a d i n gB e f o r e R e a d i n gB e f o r e R e a d i n gS k i l l e d r e a d i n g i s c o n s t r u c - S k i l l e d r e a d i n g i s c o n s t r u c - S k i l l e d r e a d i n g i s c o n s t r u c - S k i l l e d r e a d i n g i s c o n s t r u c - S k i l l e d r e a d i n g i s c o n s t r u c -
t i v e t i v e t i v e t i v e t i v e
The no t ion o f const ruc t ing
knowledge refocuses the locus of
con tro l in the read ing p rocess on
the reader . I t i s no t enough fo r
readers to decode the in format ion
f rom the tex t , bu t ra ther they must
br ing to min d the i r own wor ld
knowledge and worldview. I t de-mands that the teachers activate
their studen ts schem a that is,
help students recognize the knowl-
edge that th ey already have about
the topic of a text. This would be
akin to the b uilding of a foundation
in the process of construction.
Activating kn owledge about a
topic is particular ly im portan t for
second language reader s whose
world knowledge often far exceeds
their l inguistic skills. Teachers nee d
to provide opportunities for all
readers to think, write, or discuss
what they know about the topic of
the read ing. In add i t ion , teachers
need to focus the studen ts attention
on features of the text that can aid in
build ing a scaffold for what th ey will
read: t i t les, photographs or i l lus-
t ra t ions , an d i f appropr ia te , the
actual structure of the text. (Forexample , a n ewspaper i s s t ruc tu red
a certain way that facili tates skim -
ming, scanning, and locating spe-
cific inform ation; a textbook uses
chapter t i t les and subheads to orga-
nize topics and con cepts.)
S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e s t r a t e g i c S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e s t r a t e g i c S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e s t r a t e g i c S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e s t r a t e g i c S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e s t r a t e g i c Teachers can h e lp s tuden ts
recognize the great variation in her -
en t in th e read ing p rocess and to
unders tand tha t we do n o t read each
piece of writ in g in the sam e
way. For examp le, quite different
skil ls are needed to locate and readthe l ist of show tim es for a n ew film
in the n ewspaper than to read a
jo ur n al ar t ic le on ce ll p r op er tie s.
Teachers can serve as guides to the
variety of skills and p rocesses us ed
in reading. They can pose question s
to he lp s tuden ts re f lect
on the i r read ing
pr ocesses: Why are
we reading this par-
t icular text? What
in format ion do weneed to glean from
it? How closely do
we need to read? I t
i s impor tan t to he lp
ESOL readers , who
m ay not have even
basic l i teracy in their f irst language,
to unders tand d i f ferences among
texts and to vary the readin g skil ls
they use.
S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e m o t i v a t e d S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e m o t i v a t e d S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e m o t i v a t e d S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e m o t i v a t e d S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e m o t i v a t e d This descr ip to r focuses the
teacher of reading on the selection
of m aterial . Obviously, selecting
relevant and interesting material for
readers i s key to the i r engagemen t
in th e process. But teachers can
improve student motivation by cre-
ating classroom opportunities for
sustained silent reading (SSR).
In- class SSR, widely used in public
schools, can also be part of an adult
readin g program . This type of
read ing had been shown to be ef -
fective for ESOL readers (Pingreen
& Krashen, 1993; Mason &
Krashen , 199 7) .
Class t im e durin g which stu-
dents are allowed to choose their
own read ing mater ia l shou ld be
S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .Cont in ued from page 1
Conti nu ed on page 7
...skilled readers practice,develop, and refine their readingover their lifetime.
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Fi e l d n o t e s
7fall 2000
consis ten t ly scheduled . Over t ime,
teachers can create a class l ibrary
with popular material . Double cop-
ies would be helpful so that students
with similar interests can discuss
the same book or ar t icle. The class
library can be f i l led with newspa-
pers and m agazines as well as novels
and adult l i terature.
D u r i n g R e a d i n gD u r i n g R e a d i n gD u r i n g R e a d i n gD u r i n g R e a d i n gD u r i n g R e a d i n gS k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e f l u e n t S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e f l u e n t S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e f l u e n t S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e f l u e n t S k i l l e d r e a d e r s a r e f l u e n t
Fluency in r eading is a balance
between the skil lful decoding andongoing compr ehen sion . Th is f lu-
ency assumes that the decoding of
m o s t wo r d s th e r ead e r en co un te r s
is automatic. Readers have only a
limited am ount of cognitive energy
to use dur ing the p rocess . I f they
spend m ost o f the i r t ime on decod-
ing, then they have no e ner gy lef t
for conn ecting the ideas of the text
to make meaning . Therefore , be ing
f luen t demands tha t readers haveinternalized decoding and can
and shape . I th en exp lained tha t
these headings could serve as a
guide for his notetaking. He looked
at me in amazemen t and sa id , What
a good idea!This type of direct explanation
of what you, yourself, do as a pro fi-
cient reader is of ten very helpful
for your stude nts: usin g graph ic
cues , no te- tak ing , re read ing , and
summ ar izing paragraphs o r sec-
t ions . Having s tuden ts read the
sum m ary at the en d of a textbook
chap ter f i r s t , fo r example , p rov ides
a good overview. It can help create a
schema for s tuden ts as they ap-
proach the beg inn in g of the chap-t e r .
T h i n k Al o u d P r o t o c o lT h i n k Al o u d P r o t o c olT h i n k Al o u d P r o t o c o lT h i n k Al o u d P r o t o c olT h i n k Al o u d P r o t o co lModeling your own reading
process m ight also serve your stu-
den ts. You could choose a text that
the whole class might be reading
and go th rough a pub l ic th ink- a loud .
In o ther words , te l l the s tuden ts
what you are th inkin g as you read a
text for the f irst t ime. I would sug-gest that you practice on a text to
prep are yourself . However, as you
share your own process with the
students, you should use an unfa-
mil ia r text to m ake the task more
authentic.
A f t e r R e a d i n gA f t e r R e a d i n gA f t e r R e a d i n gA f t e r R e a d i n gA f t e r R e a d i n gThe typical postreading exer-
c ise tends to focus on compr ehen -
sion exercises. I would suggest that
ra ther than sh or t answer o r m ul-
t ip le cho ice exerc ises , reader s
m ight be asked to think about a vi-
sual represen tation of the text: a
fo lded paper with p r os and cons; a
Venn diagram with traits and sim i-
lar i t ies; a web m ap with several dif-
fe ren t ideas conn ected by ar rows.
S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .Cont in ued from pa ge 6
Cont in ued on page 8
focus conscious energy on compre-
hension . Decoding can be par t icu-
lar ly problematic for second lan-
guage learn ers b ecause they often
have a very limited oral based lexi-
con .
A number of exercises can
help readers improve the i r au to -
matic processing skil ls. These
include identif ication exercises,
m atching words, ide ntifying parts of
words, and f lash cards for sight
words. (Editors note: See Lee
Haller s art icle on page 21 for ex-
amples o f r ead ing exerc ises .)
M a k i n g I t C o n c r e t e :M a k i n g I t C o n c r e t e :M a k i n g I t C o n c r e t e :M a k i n g I t C o n c r e t e :M a k i n g I t C o n c r e t e :U s i n g P o s t - i t sU s i n g P o s t - i t sU s i n g P o s t - i t sU s i n g P o s t - i t sU s i n g P o s t - i t s
To improve top-down skil ls,
ESOL teacher Judy Powers has h er
s tuden ts use post - i t no tes to mark a
text as they are readin g. The n ota-
t ions on the post - i t s inc lude: asking
a question, answering a question,
crea t ing a m enta l p ic tu re , express-
ing opinion , connectin g to l ife, and
connect ions to read in g . These
notes could include key informa-tion, a new vocabulary i tem, inter -
ers t ing descr ip t ions , o r whatever
focus seem s appr opr ia te . Although
studen ts read on th e i r own, they
rev iew the i r read in g p rocess by
using post- i ts, also making their
reading a more active process.
I r em em b er o n ce h e lp in g a
studen t who was studying a chapter
in an intr oductory text for a college
course . I asked h im how he learnedthe mater ia ls . He responded tha t he
read the chap ter th rough . I asked
what he d id n ext , and he re-
sponded tha t he read the chap ter a
second t ime. I then asked i f he
took no tes and he sa id no . I sug-
gested tha t he examine the h ead-
ings th roughout the chap ter and
notice the differences in font size
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Fi e l d n o t e s
8 field notes
B l o o m s TB l o o m s TB l o o m s TB l o o m s TB l o o m s Ta x o n o m ya x o n o m ya x o n o m ya x o n o m ya x o n o m y
Post readin g activit ies andquestion s should also take into ac-
count the six-level hierarchy of
skil ls that Bloom suggests in his tax-
onom y. The f irst level is knowl-
edge, which includes recall or rec-
ognition of inform ation. The next
level , comm only used in post - read-
ing tasks , i s compreh ension , where
the reader migh t exp lain , descr ibe ,
or reph rase a text. The next four
levels focus on the following:
ap p l i ca t io n ap p l i ca t io n ap p l i ca t io n ap p l i ca t io n ap p l i ca t io n , wh e r e t h e r e a d e r
app l ies the in format ion learned in
the text;
analysis analysis analysis analysis analysis ,,,,, w h e r e t h e r e a d e r
would m ake in ferences o r d er ive
generalizations;
s y n t h e s i s s y n t h e s i s s y n t h e s i s s y n t h e s i s s y n t h e s i s , wh e r e t h e r e a d e r
combin es severa l ideas; and
N o t e sN o t e sN o t e sN o t e sN o t e s
Anderson, R.C., Hiebert , E., Scott ,
J., & Wilkinson, I. (1985). Becoming
a nation of readers. Washington,DC: National In sti tute of Education.
Goodman , K.S. (1967). Reading: A
psycholinguistic guessing gam e.
Journal of th e Reading Specialist , 6 ,
126- 135.
Gough, P.B. (1972) . One second of
reading. In J.F. Kavanagh &
I.G.Mattingly (eds.) ,Language by ear
and by the eye (p p.331358). Cam -
bridge, MA: MIT Press.
LaBer ge, D. & Samu els, S.J. (1974) .
Toward a theory of automatic infor-
mat ion p rocess ing in read ing . Cog-
nitive Psychology, 6, 293323.
Mason, B. & Krashen, S. (199 7).
Extensive readin g in English as a
foreign language . System, 25,
91102.
Pingreen , J. & Krashen, S. (1993)
Sustained silent reading. School
Library Media Quarterly, 22, 2123.
Rumelhart, D.E. (1977). Toward an
inter active m odel of readin g. In S.
Dorn ic (ed . ) , Atten t ion and per for -
mance VI (pp .57360 3). Hillsd ale,
NJ: Lawrence Erlaum.
Smith F, (1971).Un d er s t an d in g
reading. New York; H olt , Rineh art &
Winston .Stanovich, K.E. (198 0 ). Toward an
in terac t ive-compensatory model o f
ind iv idual d i fferences in the devel-
opmen t o f read in g f luency. Reading
Research Quar ter ly , 16, 32- 71.
evalua t ion evalua t ion evalua t ion evalua t ion evalua t ion , w h e r e t h e r e a d e r
ju d ges th e valu e or im p or tan ce of a
text.
These leve ls p r ovide a s im ple
yet h elpful guide to the types of question s that you might ask af ter
read ing .
C o n c l u s i o nC o n c l u s i o nC o n c l u s i o nC o n c l u s i o nC o n c l u s i o nSki lled reader s p r ac t ice , de-
ve lop , and ref ine the i r read ing over
the i r l i fe t ime. Th is summ at ive de-
scr ip to r ind ica tes the impor tance o f
practice to develop expertise in
readin g. With suppor t , practice and
insp i ra t ions , a l l r eaders can im -
p r o v e .
Paul Abraham is the Director of the
M aster of Arts in Teachin g ESL an d t heChai r o f the Educat ion an d Hu ma nServices Department at Simmons
College. He can be reached at
S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .S k i l l e d R e a d i n g . . .Cont in ued from pa ge 7
W h a t i s S u sta i n e d S i le n t Re a d i n g ?W h a t i s S u sta i n e d S i le n t Re a d i n g ?W h a t i s S u sta i n e d S i le n t Re a d i n g ?W h a t i s S u sta i n e d S i le n t Re a d i n g ?W h a t i s S u sta i n e d S i le n t Re a d i n g ?
Sustained silent r eading (SSR) is a t ime set aside in the class-
room for studen ts to read on the ir own. Even 15 m inutes of SSR
is worthwhile.
Students select something suitable and interesting to
read ,p r eferab ly a whole book .
Teachers m ay or m ay not have students keep dialogue journals
on what they read. Teachers responses to the journals affordindividual attention.
Research has su ggested th at SSR is valuable in helpin g students
progress in read ing and in h e lp ing second language s tuden ts
acquire language p roficiency.
Having students read on their own allows brief periods for
teachers to work on por tfolio assessme nts or to have ind ividual
conferences wi th s tuden ts .
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Fi e l d n o t e s
9fall 2000
Oh, Ern esto, I Have Som eth in g Won der ful to
Tell You:Makin g H igh er Level Read er s Out of
Lower Level Lear n er sby Janet Fischer and Rich ar d Gol dber g
Con ti nu ed on page 10
s teachers in Bostons
Asian Am erican Civic Asso-
ciation, we work with im -
migran t adu l t learners a t a read ing
level of 34, th e grade level
equivalents used by the Massachu-
se t t s Depar tmen t o f Educat ion .
Richard s level I class is slightly
lower than Janets level II class. In
this ar t icle, we will provide som e
prac t ical , c lassroom- based ideas
for teach ing h igher -order read ing
skills to lower level reader s who are
nonnative speakers of English.
Richard sh ows how to get stu-
den ts to read and respond to a
whole book on work and family is-sues. Janet sh ows how to take a
s tuden t-genera ted tex t and prov ide
readin g and writ ing activit ies to
build background knowledge in or-
d e r t o i n c r ea se com p r eh en s io n .
Jo i n i n g t h e L it e r a c y Cl u bJ o i n i n g t h e L it e r a c y Cl u bJo i n i n g t h e L it e r a c y Cl u bJ o i n i n g t h e L it e r a c y Cl u bJ o i n i n g t h e Li t e r a c y Cl u bOur comm on goals a re to h e lp
lower- level learner s , in Fran k
Smiths words, to join the l i teracy
club, that is, to make reading more
en joyable, to en gage with texts, to go
beyond the wall of pr int barr ier of
too man y new words, and to ac-
quire the kinds of reading strategies
necess ary for success at h igher lev-
e ls o f educat ion and em ploym ent .
We don t see th ese goals as mu tually
exclusive, and we believe teacher s
shouldn t focus on one at th e ex-
pense o f the o ther .
L i n k i n g T h e o r y t oL i n k i n g T h e o r y t oL i n k i n g T h e o r y t oL i n k i n g T h e o r y t oLi n k i n g Th e o r y t o
P r a c t i c e : R i c h a r dP r a c t i c e : R i c h a r dP r a c t i c e : R i c h a r dP r a c t i c e : R i c h a r dP r a c t i c e : R i c h a r dIn m y level I ABE class, stu-
d en t s r ead Womans Work, Mans
Work by Roseanne Keller (NewReaders Press) , a sm al l chap ter
book focusing on the diff icult ies
faced by an im m igrant family. The
husband, laid off and unable to f ind
work, is forced to stay home an d
take care of the couples thr ee chil-
dren, while his wife works full- t ime
to suppor t the family.
F i r s t St e p s : Co n t e n t a n dF i r s t St e p s : Co n t e n t a n dF i r s t St e p s : Co n t e n t a n dF i r s t St e p s : Co n t e n t a n dF i r s t St e p s : Co n t e n t a n d
F o r m a l S c h e m a t aF o r m a l S c h e m a t aF o r m a l S c h e m a t aF o r m a l S c h e m a t aF o r m a l S c h e m a t aSince non e o f the s tuden ts had
ever read an en t i re book in English ,
we thought i t useful to bring som e
reading theory into the classroom to
suppor t our view that me anin g is not
found in individual words or texts
but as part of an in teractive process
between a re ader s background
knowledge and the text (Carrel &
Eisterhold, 1983). First we exam-
ined con ten t schemata (what
readers already know about the
subject theyre reading) . Students
easily wrote examples of wom ans
work and m ans work, both in
the i r na t ive countr ies and in the
United States, and they were asked
if they ever knew of a wom an who
did m ans work or a man who did
wom ans work. We also d iscussed
how differen t societies would view
men and women in these s i tua t ions .
These activit ies provided much use-
ful inform ation for a future lesson
on chan ging gender ro les .
Next, we used formal sche-
m ata (knowledge of the organiza-
tional structures of different kinds
of textsfor exam ple, h ow a book is
d i ff e r en t f r o m a p o em ) .
Students were asked to skim
the en tire book by looking at the
front cover (a picture of an exasper-
a ted house husban d) , tab le o f con-
ten ts , nam es o f chap ters , p ic tu res ,
and reading small sections, such as
any chapters first an d last para-
graphs. Each s tuden t then sharedher/his f indings with the class. Fi-
nally, we tr ied to predict the con tent
of each of the seven chapters by
wr i t ing one sen tence summar ies
based on the t i t les (The Broken
Dream, Anger, Change of
Hear t ,e tc . ) and to p red ic t the end -
ing from the last l ine of the book,
Oh, Ernesto , I have someth in g
wonderful to tell you.
Studen ts r ead the book in d i f -
ferent ways: through sustained si-lent re ading in class, by reading a
few paragraphs a loud round - rob in
style, by l istenin g to the teacher
read aloud, and by reading assigned
chap ters a t hom e. Al l in - c lass read-
ing followed a str ict no dictionar-
ies policy. I f students encountered
diff icult new words or idioms, they
A
Note: Because this article was written by two teachers, we have indicated author ship of each section in the sub headin gs.
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Fi e l d n o t e s
10 field notes
O h E r n e s t o . . .O h E r n e s t o . . .O h E r n e s t o . . .O h E r n e s t o . . .O h E r n e s t o . . .Cont in ued from pa ge 9
Con ti nu ed on page 11
The challenge is to find themesthat all students can relate to.
would under l ine them and t ry to
guess mean ings from con text with
the r est of the class, or th ey would
try a list i t and skip i t approach of
wr i ting the word in th e i r read ing
jo ur n al an d lo ok in g u p th e m ean in g
later . (For an excellent l ist of strate-
gies that can be used before, during,
and af te r read in g , see
Auerbach and Paxton
(1997).
R e a d i n g a n dR e a d i n g a n dR e a d i n g a n dR e a d i n g a n dR e a d i n g a n dWWWWWr i t i n g a sr i t i n g a sr i t i n g a sr i t i n g a sr i t i n g a s
I n t e r a c t i v e S k i l l sI n t e r a c t i v e S k i l l sI n t e r a c t i v e S k i l l sI n t e r a c t i v e S k i l l sI n t e r a c t i v e S k i l l sIn all our classroom
work, we use readin g and writ ing
together , not as discrete skil ls.
Among the writ ing assignm ents was
a le t te r to e i ther Carmen or
Ernesto, the two main characters, in
which studen ts would give their re-
actions to th e hu sband s or wifes
plight and offer suggestions to im -prove their respective si tuations.
Af ter read ing the book , s tuden ts
were asked to wr i te the i r own end-
ing to the story and pre dict what
migh t happen to Carmen , Ernesto
and the i r ch i ld ren in the nex t few
years. Finally, they did a longer
piece of writ ing to explain how they
would deal with the p roblem of job
loss and shif t ing child care ob liga-
tions if those si tuations sur faced in
the i r own famil ies .
N a r r o w R e a d i n gN a r r o w R e a d i n gN a r r o w R e a d i n gN a r r o w R e a d i n gN a r r o w R e a d i n gThese activit ies were not d one
in a vacuum bu t were part of longer
un its on the chan ging family and
working in the United States.
Through this kind of narrow read-
ing, investigating a topic in d epth
by reading m ultiple genresa short
book , a newspaper a r t ic le , a poem
studen ts a re ab le to increase the i r
background knowledge and t ransfer
bo th con ten t and fo rmal schematato m ore challenging readings. Al-
though we do only one ch apter of
the b ook in class every day, each
time we read th is book I have always
not iced tha t many s tuden ts a re
readin g it at a faster pace on th eir
own, p roving that if the m aterial
conn ects with their reali t ies, stu-
d en t s o ft en d o m o r e in d ep en d en t
read ing .
U s i n g S t u d e n t - G e n e r a t e dU s i n g S t u d e n t - G e n e r a t e dU s i n g S t u d e n t - G e n e r a t e dU s i n g S t u d e n t - G e n e r a t e dU s i n g S t u d e n t - G e n e r a t e d
WWWWWr i t i n g a s Cl a s s Tr i t i n g a s Cl a s s Tr i t i n g a s Cl a s s Tr i t i n g a s Cl a s s Tr i t i n g a s Cl a s s Te x t s :e x t s :e x t s :e x t s :e x t s :J a n e tJ a n e tJ a n e tJ a n e tJ a n e t
At the beginn ing of each n ew
class cycle, I try to establish a stron g
foundation for reading. For ex-
amp le, we begin th e f irst class day
with a read ing ass ignm ent in te-
grated with a writ ing assignm ent.
Although most students are Chi-
nese , we often h ave non - Asian s tu -
dents in our classes. The challenge
is to f ind them es tha t a l l s tuden tscan re la te to . For m y s tuden ts , im -
m igrating to the United States is a
un iversa l exper ien ce; therefore , I
choose readings related to this
them e. What follows ref lects a com-
bina t ion o f in - c lass and a t - hom e
readin g activit ies.
Students begin b y writ ing
about the thoughts th ey had about
the Uni ted Sta tes before they imm i-
grated her e. We next l ist all of the
studen ts responses on the board .
The following class, studen ts are
given a photocopy of the l ist theygenera ted f rom the p r evious c lass .
This l ist enables students to read
the i r c lassmates responses and
validate their own ideas in prin t . We
then d iscuss s imi lar i t ies and d i f fer -
ences amon g the g roup . Studen ts
respond very posit ively
to this activity because
they rece ive immedi-
a te feedback f rom
thei r peers . I t a lso
encourages them tore la te the i r exper i -
ences to the i r peers
an d p r ep a r e s t h em to
r e sp o n d to su b se -
quent class readings at more chal-
lenging levels.
We con t inue the theme with a
publ ished read ing ass ignmen t us ing
two excerpts from I Was Dreaming
to Come to Amer ica : Memor ies
from the Ellis Island OralHistory
Project.New York : Puffin Books ,
199 5. Students read about the ex-
pectations and thoughts of two im-
m igrants who arr ived at Ell is Island
in 1920. They also read a shor t bi-
ography of each of the im m igrants.
Af ter re fer r in g to the i r ear l ie r re -
spon ses in th e open ing activity, they
write a short let ter to one of these
imm igran ts . In the i r le t te r , they
explain how they can identify with
the wr i te r s fee l ings o r exper ien cesand how they themselves reac ted in
their own situations. Usin g letter
writ ing provides stud ents with a
clear audience for their writ ing,
making i t eas ier to de term ine tone ,
level of formality, and other choices
any writer h as to make.
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Fi e l d n o t e s
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O h , E r n e s t o . . .O h , E r n e s t o . . .O h , E r n e s t o . . .O h , E r n e s t o . . .O h , E r n e s t o . . .Cont in ued from page 10
N o t e sN o t e sN o t e sN o t e sN o t e s
Auerbach, E. & Paxton,D.(1997) I ts
not th e English thing: Bringing
reading research into the ESL class-
r o o m . TESOL Quarter ly, 31( 2), 7
237261.
Carrell , P. & Eisterh old, J.(1983)
Schema theory and ESL reading
pedagogy.TESOL Quarterly, 17 (4) ,553573 .
Jan et Fi scher is an ABE teacher an dRichard Goldberg is ABE ProgramCoordin ator an d teacher at t he Asia n
Am erican Civic Associa t i on in Boston.They can be reached by email at an d
The follow- up re ading is a
longer s tuden t- genera ted text f rom
a former ABE studen t. We discuss
students reactions to this students
experiences, again drawing com-
parison s and contr asts. As a finalactivity, we create a chart com-
paring the three writers to the class
m emb ers , examin ing country ; age
when im migra ted ; thoughts before
comin g to the U.S.; hopes for th e
future; and advice/su ggestions for
each person . Through the use o f
this graphic, we look for common-
ali t ies. The us e of a chart also pro-
vides students with a different
readin g skil l: locating inform ationfrom a graphic, which is organized
differently from a narrative.
Recyc l ing VRecyc l ing VRecyc l ing VRecyc l ing VRecyc l ing Vo c a b u l a r yo c a b u l a r yo c a b u l a r yo c a b u l a r yo c a b u l a r yBy followin g one r elevant
them e for a per iod o f t ime, we cre-
ated a context that helped students
in c r ea se th e ir co m p r eh en s io n o f
the readin g matter . Vocabulary is
P r e - R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sP r e - R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sP r e - R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sP r e - R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sP r e - R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e s
Accessing prior knowledge Writin g your way in to read in g (Writin g about your
experiences r elated to the topic)
Asking questions b ased on th e t i t le
Making predictions based on previewing
Iden tifying text structure
Skimm ing fo r the genera l idea
Reading the introduction and conclusion f irst
D u r i n g R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sD u r i n g R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sD u r i n g R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sD u r i n g R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sD u r i n g R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e s Skipping unkn own words; guessing from context
Predicting the main idea of each paragraph
Drawing pictures to show what you see in your
minds eye
A f t e r R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sA f t e r R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sA f t e r R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sA f t e r R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sA f t e r R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e s Revising prer eading expectations
Making an outlin e, chart , m ap, or diagram of the organizationof the te xt
Retelling what you thin k the author is saying
Relating the text to your own experience
S a m p l e R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sS a m p l e R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sS a m p l e R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sS a m p l e R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e sS a m p l e R e a d i n g S t r a t e g i e s
The following day, studen ts do
a variation on a role- play using writ-
ing instead of talking. Each studen t
exchanges her letter with a partner
and takes on the ro le o f the imm i-
gran t her p ar tner wro te to . Studen ts
wr i te responses to the i r par tn er s
le t te r addr ess ing spec i f ic i ssues ,
concerns , o r cha llenges the i r par t -
ner s have faced . These s tuden t-
generated texts give studen ts op-
por tun i t ies to read more au then t ic
texts with a controlled level of dic-
t ion. Depending on the class, wewill do u p to two letter exchanges
to re in force the i r r ead ing and wr i t -
ing sk i l ls f rom mul t ip le perspec-
tives.
naturally recycled when you use a
them e, so s tuden ts have the
chance to see n ew words re-
pea ted in d i f feren t read ings .
Using s tuden t- genera ted texts is
a natural way to keep the level of
diction low enough for studen ts
to read with ease. By intr oducing
publ ished mater ia l on the same
them e, they have the oppor tun i ty
for exposure to language som e-what beyond their reach. By
combining reading and writ ing as
inter active activit ies, studen ts see
the conn ect ion b e tween the two .
All of these strategies with low-
level studen ts help set th e stage
for h igher o rder read ing sk i l ls .
(b a s e d o n A u e rb a c h a n d P a xto n , 1 9 9 7 )
U s i n g C h a r t sU s i n g C h a r t sU s i n g C h a r t sU s i n g C h a r t sU s i n g C h a r t s
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Fi e l d n o t e s
12 field notes
ne of my fi r s t mem or ies
is si t t ing in my moth ers
lap while she read to m e.
This one-on-one connect ion cou ld
not h ave lasted for long, because I
have f ive younger sister s, bu t a
seed o f joy, con ten tm ent , an d
wonder was p lan ted th en , and I
have been a reader ever s ince .
F r o m c h i l dh o o d I r e m e m b e r
The Five Little
Peppers , Li t t le Wom en, Litt le
Men( I loved
Litt le Men ,
probab ly be-
cause there were
so m any fem ales
in our house) ,
an d The Bobbsey
Twins. When I
was old enough
to baby-sit I was addicted to Nan cy
Drew books. I made $.75 an hour,
so I would si t and count on the
hour (75, 1.50, 2 .25, 3 .00.. .) to
calculate how much m oney I was
m aking so I could f igure out how
many new Nancy Drew myster ies I
could buy. I HATED finish ing one
without a pr oper b ackup. As an
adult , I st i l l read just about an y-
th ing I can get m y hands on , bu t I
can always count on Pat Conroy,
Ann e Lamot t , Tom Robbins , and Ican re ad J.D. Salinger over an d
over .
R e a d i n g i n P r e - G E DR e a d i n g i n P r e - G E DR e a d i n g i n P r e - G E DR e a d i n g i n P r e - G E DR e a d i n g i n P r e - G E DOne of the r easons I love
teaching a pre- GED class is that I
can in corporate m y love of l i tera-
ture in to my teachin g. I teach pre-
GED at the Adult Collaborative of
Cape Cod for Educational Suppor t
Services (ACCCESS) pr ogram . Pr e-
GED covers th e same basic material
that the GED program covers , but
we move at a s lower and m ore thor -
ough pace. Each s tuden t has a dif-
ferent educational background, has
dif feren t s t ren gths an d chal lenges ,
and learns at a different rate. While
the core lesson of the d ay is the
same for all , the s tuden ts work withthe m aterial at a level that th ey are
able to h andle. We also have tutors
in th e classroom to assis t with this
type of divergen ce.
My tim e with s tuden ts in class
is l imited to two times per week,
three hours per sess ion , and mos t
of my students h ave so man y family
and work obligations that I cann ot
assign an y substantial hom ework.
Therefore, I have a very small win-dow of opportun ity to share m y pas-
s ion, expose m y class to differen t
forms of l i te ra ture , and prepare for
the GED examin at ion . Fur ther ,
some s tuden ts f ind the Li tera ture
and Arts section very difficult. Re-
cently, though, I h ave found som e
inter esting ways to br ing m y own
reading in to m y pre- GED class and
sti l l m ake i t mean ingful for m y stu-
d e n t s .
G r a m m a r a n d L i t e r a t u r eG r a m m a r a n d L i t e r a t u r eG r a m m a r a n d L i t e r a t u r eG r a m m a r a n d L i t e r a t u r eG r a m m a r a n d L i t e r a t u r eAs I was readin g Beach M usic
by Pat Conroy, I noticed th at I was
laughin g at the d ialogue. In class, we
had just covered th e use of the
comma to separate dialogue from
the tag l ine, and using the d ialogue
in th is book
seem ed to b e awonderful way to
illustrate what we
had just studied. I
a lso hoped , o f
course, that exam-
inin g the dialogue
would spark the i r
curiosity about th e
rest of the book.
I copied a
particular ly funn y section of dia-
logue to i l lustrate the gramm ar
rule, and brought at least two copies
of the book in case any of the stu-
dents wanted to borrow it . They
enjoyed the p assage (a dialogue be-
tween a fa ther and h is th ree d augh-
ters) , the g ramm ar m ade a l it t le
m o r e sen se , an d m o r e im p o r t an t ,
two of the s tuden ts lef t with a copy
of the book.
The next comma rule we stud-
ied was the in ter rup ter an d theappositive. I wasnt sure how I was
going to il lustrate this poin t
until I read A Heartbre aking Work
of Staggering Geniusby Dave
Eggers. I t is almost imp ossible for
Dave Eggers to write a sen tence
without an interrupter , which i l lus-
A Read er Teache s Readin g
When I was old enough to baby-sitI was addicted to Nancy Drew
books...
Con ti nu ed on page 13
Oby Tina t or an
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Fi e l d n o t e s
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trates th e poin t beautifully. I began
readin g with an eye for content th at
coincided with what we were study-
ing in class.
R e a d i n g B e t w e e n t h eR e a d i n g B e t w e e n t h eR e a d i n g B e t w e e n t h eR e a d i n g B e t w e e n t h eR e a d i n g B e t w e e n t h e
L i n e sL i n e sL i n e sL i n e sL i n e sThe f irst page of Cold Moun-
tain by Charles Frazier f i t beauti-
fully into our class for r eading com-
preh ension . Af ter read in g the f i r s t
page , I asked the s tuden ts quest ions
like When did th e story take
p lace? Did the m an in the hosp i ta l
grow up in the coun try or the city?
The students were a bit skep-
tical about f indin g all this inform a-
tion from just one page of the novel,
but then they really got into r eading
between th e l ines. I told the class
that we can tell a lot about a n ovel by
ju st r ead in g th e fi r s t p age, so we
tr ied to extract as much information
as we could.
When we examin e the f i r s t
page of a novel, we look for tone,
t ime, word cho ice , and fo reshadow-
ing techn iques .
In a s im i lar ve in , I used thefirst couple of pages from Where the
Hear t I s by Billie Letts. This n ovel of
a young, pregnan t woman who has no
m oney, no fam ily, and no way to take
care o f herse l f , r e f lects them es o f
comm uni ty , fr iend sh ip , family, and
pers onal growth. Lettss n ovel
worked well to teach foresh adowing
tech n iq u es .
After reading a description of
Novalee Nation and Willy Jack
Pickens, characters from the novel, Iasked th e class to pr edict what would
happen to the charac ters . Studen ts
also had to support their ideas with
exam ples from the text. To m y de-
light, th e class elected to r ead this
book together , an d all of them loved
it . They were exceptionally prou d
when th ey saw the m ovie that was
made f rom th is book and were ab le
to conduct a discussion of the merits
Carey Reid (SABES Staff
Developmen t Specia l is t ) and
Mar y Jayn e Fay (ABE Certifica-
tion Specialist) are st i l l collectingcomm ents on the d raf t ABE
Teachers Certif ication process
as descr ibed in the Second
In ter im Repor t to the Commis-
s io n e r /DOE .
T h ese co m m en t s a r e
brought to th e statewide Certif i-
cation Advisory Committee
Still Tim e to Give Feed b ack on ABE Teach er
Certificationm eet ings where th ey d i rec t ly bear
on d iscussion .
Do you support the Teachers
Competency Lis t in i t s p r esen tfo rm? Do you th ink the s t ream-
l in ing op t ions fo r exper ienced
teach e r s m ak e sen se?
If you have not provided your
comm ents ye t , p lease do take the
t ime to do so .
The repor t m inus a t tach-
m ents is n ot very long, and for
those of you especially pressed
for t im e, ther es an executive
summ ary. These are posted on
both the DOE and SABES Websi tes :
and . Please
emai l your comm ents to
as soon
as you can, or m ail them to:
Mary Jayne Fay, ACLS, 350 Main
Street , Malden, MA 02148-
5023 .
P i e c e s o f Li t e r a t u r eP i e c e s o f Li t e r a t u r eP i e c e s o f Li t e r a t u r eP i e c e s o f Li t e r a t u r eP i e c e s o f Li t e r a t u r econti nu ed from page 12
Whenever I br ing a piece of
l i terature, I also bring the book or
text that i t cam e from. The studen tskn ow that I always carr y books to
d iscuss and share , and as a resu l t ,
we have star ted a book exchange in
the classroom . I collect books at
yard sales for that purpose, but
adult basic education programs
might ben ef it f rom add ing book
acquisit ions to their bud get for this
p u r p o s e .
Tina Toran has worked on shr i mp
boats in Key West, supply boats inLouisian a, an d boat del iveries to the
Caribbean . She is worki ng on h ermasters degree in l i terature andwriting as she teaches pre-GED.She can be reached a t t toran @cs.com.
of reading or see ing a work
of l i terature.
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Fi e l d n o t e s
14 field notes
O b j e c t i v eO b j e c t i v eO b j e c t i v eO b j e c t i v eO b j e c t i v eAfter this lesson, students should be able to recognize their own name in print and
be able to read the sen ten ce: My nam e is _______.
R e a d i n g S k i l ls C o v e r e dR e a d i n g S k i l l s C o v e r e dR e a d i n g S k i l ls C o v e r e dR e a d i n g S k i l l s C o v e r e dR e a d i n g S k i l l s C o v e r e dLetter recognition, word recognition, sentence recognition, visual discr imination,
in t roduct ion o f conson an t sounds, read ing f rom lef t to r igh t
S t u d e n t sS t u d e n t sS t u d e n t sS t u d e n t sS t u d e n t sBeginn er level (SPL 0- 1) ESOL students at the b asic l i teracy level. There should b ea m aximu m of eight studen ts in the class.
L e n g t hL e n g t hL e n g t hL e n g t hL e n g t hThe whole lesson takes about one and a h a lf hours . There i s no n eed to rush th is
lesson because so m any li te racy sk i l ls a re em bedded here .
B a c k g r o u n dB a c k g r o u n dB a c k g r o u n dB a c k g r o u n dB a c k g r o u n dThis lesson works well af ter studen ts have been in class a few days. Before star t in g
this lesson, students should already be able to:
Answer the questions: What is your name? and Where are you from?
Identify the sound made by the f irst let ter of each name of students inthe class.
S t e p b y S t e pS t e p b y S t e pS t e p b y S t e pS t e p b y S t e pS t e p b y S t e p
1.1.1.1.1. Oral pract ice:Oral pract ice:Oral pract ice:Oral pract ice:Oral pract ice: Studen ts ask each o ther What i s your name?
2.Name recogni t ion2.Name recogni t ion2.Name recogni t ion2.Name recogni t ion2.Name recogni t ion : Teacher sca t te r s index cards wi th the names o f a l l the
studen ts in the class on a table. Names sh ould be writ ten e ntir ely in upp ercase.Each s tuden t se lects h is o r her own nam e f rom the cards on the tab le .
Tools for th e Classr oom : A Fir st Readin g Lessonby Marci a Ch aff ee
TTTTTe a c h a b le M o m e n ts:e a c h a b le M o m e n ts:e a c h a b le M o m e n ts:e a c h a b le M o m e n ts:e a c h a b le M o m e n ts: So m e ti m e s tw o s tu d e n ts w i l l h a v e n a m e s th a t s ta r t w i th th e s a m e l e tte r,li ke M o h a m m e d a n d M o u la . S tu d e n ts m a y d i sc o v e r th e i r o w n n a m e o r m a y n e e d th e h e lp o ft h e t e a c h e r t o e x a m i n e t h e v i s u a l c o n f i g u r a t i o n o f t h e n a m e ( l e n g t h a n d s h a p e ) , s o u n d s , a n da n y f e a t u r e s t h a t d i s t i n g u i s h o n e n a m e f r o m a n o t h e r .
Author s n ote: I have used th is lesson successfully with my studen ts at the In tern ational Insti tute of Boston; somes tudents a re n onl i te rate and some are semil i te ra te in a non - Rom an a lphabet . Al l have had zero to th r ee years o f
fo rmal educat ion .
Teachers can b egin to teach letters of the alphabet in con text by using the f irst let ters of studen ts nam es in th e
class. Teaching letter r ecognition and sound /symb ol correspon den ce can be facili tated by using an ESOL lexicon.
(IIB has created i ts own.)
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Fi e l d n o t e s
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3 .3 .3 .3 .3 . S p e l l i n g a l o u dS p e l l i n g a l o u dS p e l l i n g a l o u dS p e l l i n g a l o u dS p e l l in g a l o u dStuden ts p rac t ice spe l ling the i r own nam es a loud . I f one s tuden t cannot spe l l her n ame, the
teacher can ask a more advanced student:Can you spell Mohammeds name? This allows for
multilevel flexibility.
4 . W4 . W4 . W4 . W4 . Wo r d r e c o gn i t i o n / s e n t e n c e i n t r o d u c ti o no r d r e c o gn i t i o n / s e n t e n c e i n t r o d u c ti o no r d r e c o gn i t i o n / s e n t e n c e i n t r o d u c ti o no r d r e c o gn i t i o n / s e n t e n c e i n t r o d u c ti o no r d r e c ogn i t i o n / s e n t e n c e i n t r o d u c ti o nThe teacher writes on board My name is Ahmed. and prompts students to guess what i t says
by asking Ahmed, What is your name? The teacher asks other students and guides them to read
the sen tence by repeating My nam e is as she poin ts to each word, the n sub sti tutes each
studen t s name.
5 .5 .5 .5 .5 . R e a d i n g f o r m e a n i n gR e a d i n g f o r m e a n i n gR e a d i n g f o r m e a n i n gR e a d i n g f o r m e a n i n gR e a d i n g f o r m e a n i n gThe teacher gives each studen t a str ip that says My nam e is and anoth er str ip th at has a
classmates nam e. This is a deliberate tr ick to get studen ts to read carefully. Students th en d is-
cover th at they have som eone elses nam e. This usually elicits laughter and m akes the p rocess fun.
6 . D i s c o v e r y a n d c o r r e c t i o n / r e a d i n g f o r m e a n i n g6 . D i s c o v e r y a n d c o r r e c t i o n / r e a d i n g f o r m e a n i n g6 . D i s c o v e r y a n d c o r r e c t i o n / r e a d i n g f o r m e a n i n g6 . D i s c o v e r y a n d c o r r e c t i o n / r e a d i n g f o r m e a n i n g6 . D i s c o v e r y a n d c o r r e c t i o n / r e a d i n g f o r m e a n i n gEach s tuden t d iscovers tha t she has a n ame th a t i s no t her own and exchanges nam e s t r ips wi th th eappropr ia te s tuden t to m ake cor rec t ions .Each s tuden t comple tes h is /her sen ten ce wi th her own
nam e. Studen ts then r ead the i r sen tence to the others .
77777..... S i gh t w o r d sS i gh t wo r d sS i gh t w o r d sS i gh t wo r d sS i gh t wo r d sThe teacher rein forces each word by holding up single word cards for My, nam e, is and th e
whole group identif ies the words.
88888 ..... S i g h t w o r d s / s e n t e n c e s t r u c t u r eS i g h t w o r d s / s e n t e n c e s t r u c t u r eS i g h t w o r d s / s e n t e n c e s t r u c t u r eS i g h t w o r d s / s e n t e n c e s t r u c t u r eS i g h t w o r d s / s e n t e n c e s t r u c t u r eThe teacher ass ists each s tuden t in cu t t ing up h er own sen tence in to s ing le words and scrambl ing
the words . Studen ts r ear range the words back in to the sen tence . (My name is Ahmed.)
99999 ..... S ig h t wo r d r e i n f o r c e m e n tS ig h t wo r d r e i n f o r c e m e n tS ig h t wo r d r e i n f o r c e m e n tS ig h t wo r d r e i n f o r c e m e n tS ig h t wo r d r e i n f o r c e m e n tThe teacher calls out in dividual words (Pick up m y; Pick up nam e; Pick up is.and studen ts
p ick up the cor responding word cards f rom the i r reassembled cu t - up sen tence . Studen ts con-
t inue th is in pa i r s .
1010101010 ..... Sentence wri t ingSentence wri t ingSentence wri t ingSentence wri t ingSentence wri t ingEach s tuden t cop ies her own sen tence .
1111111111..... F o l l o w - u pF o l l o w - u pF o l l o w - u pF o l l o w - u pF o l l o w - u pFor th e n ext class, the steps ab ove are repeated in a sim ilar m ann er for I am from ______.
M arcia Chaffee is the Coordi na tor of Adult Education at th e In terna tion al In st i tut e of Boston a nd has 21 years of experi-ence teachi ng and supervisin g teachers in ESOL and basic lit eracy for ad ul t refugees an d im m igran ts. She can be reachedat (617)69 5-9 990,ext.152, or by e- m ai l at < m [email protected]>.
.
A d a p t a t i o n f o r s t a fA d a p t a t i o n f o r s t a fA d a p t a t i o n f o r s t a fA d a p t a t i o n f o r s t a fA d a p t a t i o n f o r s t a f f d e v e l o p m e n tf d e v e l o p m e n tf d e v e l o p m e n tf d e v e l o p m e n tf d e v e l o p m e n t : T e a c h e r s m i g h t e n j o y g o i n g t h r o u g h t h i s p r o c e s sth e m s e lv e s w i th th e h e l p o f a fa c i li ta to r w h o c a n d i re c t th e m w i th a la n g u a g e t h a t use sa n o n - r o m a n a l p h a b e t l i k e A r a b i c o r K h m e r . T h i s a c t i v i t y c a n e a s i l y b e d o n e d u r i n g ap r o g r a m m e e ti ng .
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16 field notes
ou can do it!! You can talk
and l isten! Reading is just
talking writ ten down!
In 30 years of working with
adu l t learner s , I h ave o f ten h eard
teachers state this m yth as gospel
with good inten tions. The inten t is
usually to encourage the learn er by
suggesting that read ing isnt some-
thing foreign, but an-o th e r f or m o f som e th in g
he or she can do already.
But writ ten language is
m u ch m o r e th an sp eech
written down, unless i t
is the exact record ing of
a speech or conversa t ion .
And even th en , i t i s con-
fine d by its limitsno
sound , n o gestu re , no in ter rup t ions .
For adults whose language ism o r e o r a l - b a sed th an t ext - b a sed ,
becoming an easy reader can be
an arduous task . Fir s t , learners
m ust realize that writ ten language is
not just speech writ ten down;
written language is a spe cial way of
using language.When n ew and inex-
per ienced readers rea l ize th is , and
when th ey are given a r oad map of
strategies to help them clar ify the
expecta t ions f rom d i f feren t k in ds
of print , they can star t the journeytoward becom ing f luen t r eaders .
E xa m i n i n g O r a l a n dE xa m i n i n g O r a l a n dE xa m i n i n g O r a l a n dE xa m i n i n g O r a l a n dE xa m i n i n g O r a l a n d
WWWWWr i tr i tr i tr i tr i t t e n L a n g u a g et e n L a n g u a g et e n L a n g u a g et e n L a n g u a g et e n L a n g u a g eI have found that developing
readers , those who can decode , bu t
have never become good readers ,
can gain some f luency in readin g by
lookin g at th e ways written language
is d i f feren t f rom sp eech , by be ing
p r ep a r ed f o r t h o se d i f fe r en ces , an d
b y lea r n in g so m e co m p r eh en s io n
skills that help the reader negotiate
the d i f ference be tween s to ry and
expository text.
A develop ing reader to ld m e,
When I watch TV or a m ovie, I can
get a feeling for whats h appen ing, I
can get the whole picture. With abook, i ts too m any words, too m uch
work . I have heard th is sen t im ent
often in m y years of teaching adult
reading and GED preparation. But
mil l ions o f hum an be in gs read wi th
ease. Why is i t so diff icult for som e
adults to achieve comfort with prin t
in sp ite of having gained basic de-
coding skills early in life?
I have found th at the following
bar r ie r s have p reven ted develop ing
readers f rom moving in to f luencyand h igher leve l comprehension .
These bar r ie r s a re o f ten a resu l t o f
s tuden ts h aving more exper ience
with or al language than pr int . The
bar r ie r s a lso re la te to th e develop-
ing readers lack of understanding
about how the p r in ted word m akes
var ious k inds o f demands on a
readerdem ands tha t a re very d i f -
f e r en t f r o m th o se r eq u i r ed in
speaking and l istening.
1)1)1)1)1) VVVVVo c a b u l a r y : o c a b u l a r y : o c a b u l a r y : o c a b u l a r y : o c a b u l a r y : When a person doesn t read a
great deal, his or h er vocabulary
tends to b e l imi ted to funct ional
te rms and spec i fic a reas tha t re la te
to the p ersons cu ltu re , hom e l i fe ,
religion, and occupa-
tion. Expand ed vo-
cabulary is a key as-
pect of readin g flu-
ency .
Shir ley Brice
Heath , esp ecially in
Ways with Words
notes tha t in the
so- ca lled o ra l com-
munities, especially those in which
people se ldom t ravel ou ts ide asm all social circle, people h ave
man y mor e non verbal than verba l
or text - based commun icat ion
f o r m s .
Fur ther , s tuden ts who are s t i l l
developing proficiency in the En-
glish language can ben efit f rom ex-
plicit vocabulary developm en t; this
migh t he lp ease the p ressure to use
read ing m ain ly as a way to collect
new words .
My lea r n e r s h ave r e sp o n d edwell to building vocabulary through
word play, role playing, round -
robin writ ing, and Jeopardy type
word games. These games are espe -
cially effective when linked to
readin g that is part of a thematic
unit of vital inter est to the studen ts.
From Talk to Pr in t : Prepar in g Studen ts to Read
With Easeby Sal l y Gabb
For new readers, all writtenlanguage is called story.
Cont in ued on page 17
Y
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17fall 2000
2 )2 )2 )2 )2 ) L a c k o f u n d e r s t a n d i n g b e - L a c k o f u n d e r s t a n d i n g b e - L a c k o f u n d e r s t a n d i n g b e - L a c k o f u n d e r s t a n d i n g b e - L a c k o f u n d e r s t a n d i n g b e -
t w e e n n a r r a t i v e a n d e x p o s i - t w e e n n a r r a t i v e a n d e x p o s i - t w e e n n a r r a t i v e a n d e x p o s i - t w e e n n a r r a t i v e a n d e x p o s i - t w e e n n a r r a t i v e a n d e x p o s i - t o r y t e x t a n d b e t w e e n f i c t i o n t o r y t e x t a n d b e t w e e n f i c t i o n t o r y t e x t a n d b e t w e e n f i c t i o n t o r y t e x t a n d b e t w e e n f i c t i o n t o r y t e x t a n d b e t w e e n f i c t i o n
a n d n o n - f i c t i o n : a n d n o n - f i c t i o n : a n d n o n - f i c t i o n : a n d n o n - f i c t i o n : a n d n o n - f i c t i o n : For new readers, al l writ ten
language is called stor y. In fact,
stor ies (narratives of something that
h ap p en ed to so m eb o d y, e i t h e r r ea l
or f ictional) , are most l ike spoken
language. They are personal, de-
scr ip t ive , t im e sequen ced . They are
more l ike ta lk wr i t ten down than any
other form of writ ing.I have found it useful to talk
with developing readers about the
d i f fe r en ces b e tween sp o k en an d
written language early on. We also
talk about the definit ion of story and
nar r a t ive and th e d i f feren ces be-
tween f iction and nonfiction
as well. I ask learn ers to tell family
or comm unity stories that have an
oral history, to write them d own,
then to read them back, looking fo r
the d i f ferences be tween the spokenand wr i t ten fo rm.
I then beg in in t roducing li te r -
ary elements th rough the use o f
these per sonal nar ra t ives . Charac-
te r s , se t t ing, p lo t , mood , and po in t
of view can be an alyzed through the
use of the students narratives, thus
prov id ing a b r idge f rom person al
nar rative to fiction.
Because th ey have a l im ited
under s tand ing of the d i f feren t ways
in which print can work, developing
readers often read f iction as reali ty .
For examp le , some readers ge t an-
gry at a character in a story, deman d
to kn ow why a character would act a
certain way, or p ut down a story in
disgust because of what the char ac-
ter h as don e. To clar ify the d iffer-
ence be tween the i r n ar ra t ives and
true f iction, i ts fun to assign som e
creative f iction writ in g with stu-
dents. Those who are hesitant can
ju s t ch an ge th e n am es an d p lace s of
a true stor y they have experien ced.By creating their own s tories, they
can u n d e r s t an d th e e l em en t s o f
f iction from the in side out. When
learn ers c rea te the i r own charac-
ters, i t dawns on th em h ow fiction
works . (Of course , s tuden ts n eed
some prom pts fo r c rea t ing f ic t ion
on the i r own, an d teachers m ay want
to consult some books and ar t icles
on u sing creative writ ing in the ABE/
GED classroom.)
3 )3 )3 )3 )3 ) I n a b i l i t y t o c o m p r e h e n d I n a b i l i t y t o c o m p r e h e n d I n a b i l i t y t o c o m p r e h e n d I n a b i l i t y t o c o m p r e h e n d I n a b i l i t y t o c o m p r e h e n d
b a s e d o n l a c k o f b a c k g r o u n d b a s e d o n l a c k o f b a c k g r o u n d b a s e d o n l a c k o f b a c k g r o u n d b a s e d o n l a c k o f b a c k g r o u n d b a s e d o n l a c k o f b a c k g r o u n d
k n o w l e d g e : k n o w l e d g e : k n o w l e d g e : k n o w l e d g e : k n o w l e d g e : Even f ictional n arratives can
be hard fo r new readers to under -
stand if they have no b ackgroun d
knowledge that relates to the stor y.
I t is of ten hard to relate to a charac-
ter or story that is totally foreign to
h is or her exper ien ce . Jenn ifer
Crom ley, a 1998 N IFL fellow, spen ta year r esearchin g cognitive strate-
gies for adult learnin g. In one sec-
tion she suggests that a major need
I have often described a si tuation th at happen ed one evenin g at a
learnin g center for hom eless adults where I was workin g. I had
been tu tor ing a middle- aged m an f rom