Literacy assessment and intervention strategies for struggling readers

¶ … literacy educators utilize critical thinking skills identifying students' strengths challenges. They rely sound reasoning identify issues presenting obstacles reading process formulate inferences diagnosing reading difficulties.

Education unit discussions

The 'clues' that identify Gianna's innately weak literacy skills are her poor word identification skills and limited vocabulary. If Gianna simply had problems reading aloud to the class, it might be assumed this was due to a lack of self-confidence. However, her skill deficits are manifest even in non-oral work, although both her oral and written comprehension seems to be well below grade level. Combined with an unsupportive environment at home, an intervention seems warranted to improve word recognition, vocabulary, and poor reading comprehension strategies. It is essential to address the components that affect reading fluency as well as the issue itself in a more holistic fashion.

Unit 8 discussion

Although many students naturally assume that learning rote skills such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization are dull, it is possible to teach these subjects in a fun and engaging manner. For example, students can be given silly passages and asked to correct them to 'make sense' by correcting different grammatical mistakes. Subjects like spelling can be made to seem fun and engaging by asking students to create sentences using their favorite cartoon characters. Crossword puzzles, word finds, and other games can reinforce a vocabulary list. Collective social activities like spelling bees further reinforce the principle of 'fun learning' and also use social reinforcement to encourage enthusiasm about learning. The basics of all of these elements can be linked to stories in a manner that encourages students to see the connection between the joy of reading and writing and the basic mechanics that make up the process. Of course, perhaps the most effective technique of all is to assign challenging but age-appropriate reading passages to students and have them note different grammatical constructions within the text and to create a spelling unit based upon the core vocabulary words being used.

Unit 9 discussion

One common debate within the field of education is the extent to which phonetics vs. A whole language approach should be adapted when teaching reading. On one hand, students need to have joy and motivation to learn and that is provided by reading interesting books and other written material, not through phonetics and memorization. However, grammar and other vital elements cannot be discounted, given that students must learn them to express themselves coherently. Thus a balanced approach between allowing students to learn experientially by reading in context and engaging in creative writing exercises vs. A stress on phonics and drills is preferred. Only then can students have a truly comprehensive literacy experience in which they understand how the building blocks of spelling and grammar relate to the greater context of assimilating written material.