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Struggling Adolescent Readers - Vanderbilt University · Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A Practice Guide (NCEE #2008‐4027)

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Page 1: Struggling Adolescent Readers - Vanderbilt University · Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A Practice Guide (NCEE #2008‐4027)

Struggling Adolescent Readers Current issues in adolescent literacy: (NAASP, 2005)

30% of US students drop out of high school

Among 12th graders, 42 % of Whites, 16% of African Americans, and 22% of Hispanics are at or above a proficient literacy level

2 % of all high school students read below basic levels or three to four years below basic grade levels

50% graduation rate in urban schools Literacy instruction for adolescents should focus on: (NAASP, 2005)

Reading fluency

Vocabulary and word‐reading knowledge o Teaching students to analyze words by breaking them down and then

blending them has been shown to be effective at enhancing adolescents’ reading and spelling (Bhattacharya & Ehri, 2004; Penney, 2002)

o Semantic feature analysis can help students learn and understand vocabulary (Bos, Anders, Filip, & Jaffe,1989)

Background knowledge about the text being read o Easy reading material can be used by students to gather and learn

background information on a topic in a non‐threatening way (McEwan 2007)

Higher‐level reasoning and thinking

Use of comprehension strategies o Reciprocal teaching can enhance student comprehension of text and use

of comprehension strategies (Alfassi, 1998) o Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), a cooperative peer‐based

reading instructional method in which students work in pairs to learn strategies for retelling, summarizing, and predicting can be used with high‐school students to improve comprehension (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Kazdan, 1999)

Motivation and engagement o Make literacy experiences relevant to student interests, life, and future o Allow choice when appropriate (choice of text, responses, or activities) o Provide interesting and varied reading materials (Kamil, Borman, Dole,

Kral, Salinger, & Torgesen, 2008).

Text Selection: (NAASP, 2005)

Adolescent students need high‐quality, readable textbooks.

Text should be provided across a variety of reading levels to allow all students to read text at their instructional level

Provide well‐supplied classroom libraries of leveled high interest materials that capture student interest

Page 2: Struggling Adolescent Readers - Vanderbilt University · Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A Practice Guide (NCEE #2008‐4027)

For more information on Struggling Adolescent Readers:

http://www.adlit.org/

http://www.ldonline.org/

http://www.nassp.org/portals/0/content/52924.pdf

Alfassi, M. (1998). Reading for meaning: The efficacy of reciprocal teaching in fostering reading comprehension in high school students in remedial reading classes. American Educational Research Journal, 35, 309–332. Bhattacharya, A., & Ehri, L. C. (2004). Graphosyllabic analysis helps adolescent struggling readers read and spell words. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37, 331–348. Bos, C. S., Anders, P. L., Filip, D., & Jaffe, L. (1989). The effects of an interactive instructional strategy for enhancing reading comprehension and content area learning for students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 22, 384–390. Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L., & Kazdan, S. (1999). Effects of peer‐assisted learning strategies on high school students with serious reading problems. Remedial & Special Education, 20, 309– 319. Kamil, M. L., Borman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., and Torgesen, J. (2008). Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A Practice Guide (NCEE #2008‐4027). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/adlit_pg_082608.pdf McEwan, E. K. 40 Ways to Suport Struggling Readers in Content Classrooms, Grades 6‐12. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Penney, C. G. (2002). Teaching decoding skills to poor readers in high school. Journal of Literacy Research, 34, 99–118. Torgesen, J. K., Houston, D. D., Rissman, L. M., Decker, S. M., Roberts, G., Vaughn, S., Wexler, J. Francis, D. J, Rivera, M. O., Lesaux, N. (2007). Academic literacy instruction for adolescents: A guidance document from the Center on Instruction. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction.