Struggling Readers

Despite good intentions, reform-minded schools in the United States are coming togripswiththepossibility thattraditionalschoolcultureismaking struggling readers out of some youth, especially the ones whohave turned theirbacksonaversionofreadingandwritingco...-demic literacy. Why might thisbe the case? I argued elsewhere (Alvermann, 2001) thatintheirefforttoraisethebarbyimplementing...—a noteworthy goal by most people's reasoning—schools are promoting certainnormativewaysofreadingtextsthatmay... students they are trying to help. The practice of constructing certain types of readers as “ ...

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of collegiate students enrolled in a developmental reading course in a community college setting. Through issuing a survey and interviewing eight students in the course, researchers sought to explore developmental students" past reading experiences, present reading experiences, and perceptions of the developmental reading course. Results of the study suggest that classroom instruction focusing on comprehension and vocabulary activities presented in a developmental reading course in a community college setting was beneficial in numerous ways. Course components led students to write better papers in other classes and towards enhanced vocabulary and comprehension skills.

Although low English reading test scores play an important role in long-term English learners (LTELs) continued classification as English learners (ELs), limited research exists on how these students actually construct meaning with academic texts in English. This article uses a literacy-as-social-practice perspective to examine the reading practices that five high school LTELs vocalized during think-alouds with biology and English language arts texts. The findings document the focal students’ detailed understandings of the texts and identify four categories of meaning-making practices in which students engaged to differing extents during think-alouds: summarizing and identifying important information; making connections to background knowledge; going beyond the text; and recognizing limitations. These findings are significant because they provide a much-needed depiction of the actual reading practices of students who have remained classified as ELs for all or most of their academic trajectory.

This piece describes how a school, as part of a district adolescent literacy initiative, offered a literacy enrichment block to students at-promise within its school-wide literacy plan. District- and school-wide attributes of the project are highlighted as well as a detailed description of Reading Workshop, the "second shot of thoughtful literacy instruction." Article appears on pages 7-22.

This article discusses the qualitative portion of a larger mixed method intervention study that examined the effects of literature circles (peer-led small group discussion of an assigned reading) on the reading achievement of college students in developmental courses. An experimental design was used to measure the effectiveness of the researcher-developed intervention, and grounded theory was employed to analyze reading attitude, reading motivation, response to participation in a literature circle, and textual engagement. Thirty-seven college students in required reading courses participated in the five-week study. Quantitative analysis revealed that literature circle participants outperformed their control group counterparts on all measures of comprehension, and qualitative analysis revealed that literature circles increased depth of textual engagement and provided opportunities for discourse, collaboration, and social interaction. These findings, supported by a strong theoretical base, suggest that literature circles would be an effective addition to a post-secondary developmental reading curriculum. " With book reports, I just think too much about it. I can't think of what to say, but when we talk about it [in literature circles] and hear other people's stories, it helps me bring out mine. "

When the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Reading (NAEP) results are published biennially, journalists and policymakers focus on the approximately third of a fourth-grade cohort who fail to attain the basic standard in reading comprehension. A legitimate concern is that these students do not have the literacy levels required for full participation in the global digital world of the 21st century. However, the attributions and claims of their literacy levels go far beyond this concern, as illustrated in a segment on the National Public Radio website titled "Why Millions of Kids Can't Read and What Better Teaching Can Do About It" (Hanford, 2019). In 1992, the NAEP framework committee (National Assessment Governing Board, 1992) called for periodic studies of oral reading fluency (ORF) to establish whether students can recognize the words on the NAEP passages when reading orally. In the latest NAEP ORF study (White et al., 2021), oral reading assessments were administered to a sample of students who represented the 36% of fourth graders who performed below basic on silent reading comprehension on the 2017 assessment. The research team divided students who performed below the basic level into three groups: high, medium, and low. Averages for words correct per minute (WCPM) and accuracy levels for these three groups were as follows: high, 108 WCPM and 94% accuracy; medium, 95 WCPM and 92% accuracy; and low, 71 WCPM and 83% accuracy. These findings led the researchers to conclude that most students scoring below the basic level had problems with fluency, word reading, and phonological decoding and could benefit from support in these areas. They also recommended investigations into whether elementary schools are teaching accurate and efficient reading skills. Reports of a strong correlation between ORF and silent reading comprehension (Reschly et al., 2009) have increased the emphasis on ORF in assessment, instruction, interventions, and policies (e.g., No Child Left Behind, 2002). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

This proposal’s aim is to create a space for student choice and voice within a prepackaged reading program. By creating a space for student perspectives, I sought to reengage students in independent reading and
to reduce Ms. Johnson’s reliance on oral reading within the classroom. I decided to share this proposal for two reasons. First, it is an example of a relatively small-scale transformation in instruction that could make a big difference in students’ experience of a course. Second, and unfortunately, Ms. Johnson and I were unable to put this proposal into action. She left her position as a reading intervention teacher the following year. Consequently,
I hope that sharing this proposal facilitates its use to support change elsewhere.

The book reveals how to recognize what in your writing overwhelms the reader's memory, attention, and knowledge to create confusion, misunderstanding, disinterest, and frustration. Through many examples and corrected exercises in literature and science, and with the help of original assessment tools, this book will turn you into a reader's writer.

Many students of color who are also identified as " struggling " readers are likely to have negative experiences in school. In this article, I discuss the findings of a case study examining how reader identities emerged in and through language for such students. The discourse data analyzed here concern an interactional pattern in which the focal students and their teacher collaborated in disrupting identities of deficiency, and instead constructed literate identities within whole-group discussions of text. These findings highlight moments of agency from students marginalized in schools and point toward ways that teachers and students can collaboratively create space for students' literate voices to be heard.

This chapter describes how educators can connect upper elementary students (grades 3–5), particularly those who struggle to read or find it difficult, to books that they are able and want to read. Learn how to consider students' reading abilities and their preferences while simultaneously becoming familiar with a variety of high-interest texts and text types that are appropriate for this student population. A high-interest book list and teaching tips for supporting engaged reading are included.  http://www.reading.org/General/Publications/Books/bk387/contents

This descriptive case study examines preservice teachers' beliefs about themselves as teachers of reading as they develop identities for teaching through experiences in a Foundations of Literacy course and their tutoring relationships with elementary students during an accompanying practicum. As the preservice teachers learned about foundational literacy development and assessment, they came to understand some students as " struggling readers, " although their beliefs were not always grounded in assessment results. Practicum experiences both challenged and reinforced their existing beliefs about struggling readers, as well as their own sense of self-efficacy in responding to struggling readers' needs. Findings suggest that the types of student information preservice teachers attend to shape both productive and inaccurate beliefs about teaching students who struggle.

The study investigated the effect of phonics strategy on Lower Basic 3 struggling readers' performance in reading comprehension in Education Zone B of Benue State, Nigeria. One research question and one hypothesis guided the study. The population was made up of 22,172 pupils in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. The sample comprised 174 Lower Basic 3 struggling readers located in six intact classes in 6 public schools using multi-stage sampling technique. Reading Comprehension Performance Test (RCPT) with reliability coefficient of 0.88 was utilized for data collection. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research question. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 alpha level. Finding revealed that there was significant difference in the mean performance scores of pupils exposed to phonics strategy and those exposed to letter identification strategy in reading comprehension in favour of those exposed to phonics strategy. It was therefore, recommended that teachers of English Language be trained to use phonics strategy to teach reading comprehension in order to alleviate most reading problems in young children and prevent future problems in their educational pursuits.

En estas páginas discutimos cierto sentido común instalado en torno a la pasividad y escasa presencia infantil
en el mundo laboral y las protestas. Tomando el caso de las industrias del dulce en Buenos Aires, de elevada mano de
obra infantil en la primera década del siglo XX, mostramos que los niños participaron en los movimientos huelguísticos,
en ocasiones con modalidades de acción propias, constituyéndose como actores y sujetos activos.

This study examines the relationship between types and sequences of selfregulated reading activities in task-oriented reading with quality of task achievement of 51 low-achieving adolescents (Grade 8). The study used think aloud combined with video observations to analyse the students' approach of a content-area reading task in the stages of orientation, text reading and answering questions. Results show that in general these low-achieving adolescents are infrequently monitoring their text comprehension or making connections with prior knowledge. Nevertheless, important differences are found between types and sequences of self-regulated reading activities related to task achievement. The low-achieving adolescents showing a straightforward linear approach to the task (orientation, reading of the whole text and finally answering of questions) yielded more success. In addition, readers demonstrating more activities directed at connections between text contents and prior knowledge during reading showed better task achievement. Implications of these findings for literacy education of this special group of adolescents are discussed.

Improving the ability to read and comprehend, especially for students who struggle with reading, is one of today’s most pressing educational priorities (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Despite extensive efforts, many students continue to struggle with reading, increasing the possibility that they will drop out of school (Hammond, Linton, Smink, & Drew, 2007). Unless we develop more effective instructional approaches to address this problem, we will fail to develop the potential these students possess to improve their individual lives, as well as our collective lives. It is essential that all students become fully prepared for a wide range of reading experiences so that each and every individual can reach their potential, fulfil their goals, and make our world a better place through their accomplishments

This essay contrasts the texts offered for proficient and struggling readers in three widely used programs that offer sets of texts on the same topic but with different levels.  The underlying assumptions of these programs appear to be that struggling readers get more proficient by reading less and by reading texts with short, choppy sentences.  Neither assumption is validated by research.

Complex learning of any kind occurs best when it is whole-to-part .  That is, we skills learn best if we are able to get a sense of the whole first, then we are taught individual skills.  In literacy instruction this means that students should be immersed in authentic reading and writing experiences first, then taught the skills necessary to decode, identify words, comprehend, or write.

Studies have revealed that middle school-level students are more apt to excel when challenged by material that both stretches the bounds of their experience and introduces them to new vocabulary and language skills.  Gary Paulsen’s book Hatchet and Doris Buchanan Smith’s A Taste of Blackberries help middle school students and teachers accomplish both of these highly desirable objectives.  These two stories represent departures from the usual children’s fare, which has traditionally avoided subjects publishers consider too disturbing or emotionally complex.  The result of this late-20th-century paradigm is a bland and uniform literary approach that does not allow children to comprehend and come to terms with the more negative aspects of everyday life.  These two stories help motivate middle school learners by challenging them to develop cogitative and emotional coping abilities.

ÖZET Münazara, gerek Doğu gerekse Batı edebiyatlarında çok eskiden beri yaygın kullanılan bir tarzın adıdır. Dolayısıyla bu tarzın kaynağına dair çok farklı görüşler mevcuttur. Batılılar münazaranın eski Önasya uygarlıklarından, Yunan ve Latin edebiyatları vasıtasıyla kendilerine ulaştığını kabul etmektedir. Bizde başta M. Fuad Köprülü olmak üzere Meserret Diriöz ve Orhan Şaik Gökyay gibi araştırmacılar ise münazara tarzının ilk olarak Türklerin sözlü edebiyat geleneğinde teşekkül ettiğini, daha sonra Arap ve İran edebiyatlarına geçtiğini ve yakın zamanlara kadar da müstakil bir yapı ve zengin konu çeşitliliği ile geldiğini iddia etmişlerdir. Gerçekten de Türk, İran, Arap ve Batı edebiyatlarında münazara tarzının yapı, icrâ ve icrâ bağlamı arasında ortaklıklar ve çok yakın benzerlikler vardır. Biz de yazımızda bu ortaklık ve benzerliklerden de yola çıkarak Türk edebiyatında münazaranın kaynağına toplumsal yönden bakmaya çalışacağız. Zira Türklerin içtimai yaşamının en önemli tarafını teşkil eden üstünlük mücadelesi, yani savaşlar münazara tarzının da esasını oluşturmaktadır. Türklerin sahip oldukları 'sağ kol' ve 'sol kol' şeklindeki yapılanma, bir taraftan münazara tarzının belirginleşmesinde etkili olurken diğer taraftan bu tarzın günümüze kadar gelmesini sağlamıştır. Dolayısıyla Türklerde münazara tarzının vücut bulmasında 'savaş'ların doğrudan tesiri vardır. Bu bağlamda yazıda Türklerin daha ziyade savaşlara dönük mücadele yeteneği ve anlayışının münazara tarzı için de kaynaklık teşkil ettiği ortaya konmaya çalışılmıştır. ABSTRACT The debate is a style that has been used extensively both in eastern and western literature. Hence, there are many, very different considerations about the source of this style. Westerners accept that the debate has reached them from ancient pre-Asian civilizations through Greek and Latin literatures. Notably, Fuad Köprülü, researchers such as Meserret Diriöz and Orhan Şaik Gökyay claimed that the debate style first took shape in oral literature traditions of the Turks, and was passed onto Arab and Persian literature. It has recently come up with a distinctive structure and a rich variety of subjects. However, in Turkish, Iranian, Arabic, and western literatures, the debate style closely-shares similarities and common features between the structure, performance, and performance context. Based on these similarities and common features, we examine the source of the debate in Turkish literature from a conventional point of view. Likewise, the struggle for superiority, namely the wars, which constitutes the most important part of the Turks social life, forms the basis of the debate style. On the one hand, the " right arm " and the " left arm " structure of the Turks has become effective in the development of the debate style and on the other hand, provided this style to survive till date. Therefore, the " wars " have a direct effect on the embodiment of the debate in the Turks. In this context, the study has suggested that the ability and understanding of the Turks toward wars constitute a source for debate style.

This comparative case study investigated the implementation of an empowerment model for struggling readers that utilized the Internet as a context for reading, writing, and communicating in 3 different classroom contexts. Through student-centered techniques, such as flexible grouping and peer teaching, we designed Internet Reciprocal Teaching to support the development of the new literacies of online reading comprehension among elementary and middle school students. Results suggest that peer collaboration was the primary means of strategy exchange and that students who were previously perceived as struggling readers became active in coaching, leading, and sharing new strategies. In effect, peer collaboration appeared to reconceptualize struggling readers' role in the classroom and set the context for greater engagement in literacy activities and investment in learning.

This exploratory study was designed to evaluate the interplay of students' rate and comprehension in independent silent reading of accessible text, within the frameworks of the Simple View of Reading and the RAND Reading Study Group. In the first phase, 61 sixth graders were given a reading test (GRADE), a motivation questionnaire, and an on-screen measure of comprehension-based silent reading rate (SRF-O, adapted from aimswebPlus SRF)
with on-grade and below-grade text. Two-thirds of students had perfect or near-perfect SRF-O comprehension, but the other one-third had moderate to poor comprehension. These weaker
SRF-O comprehenders had relatively low GRADE scores, but others with comparable GRADE scores comprehended well on SRF-O. The poorest SRF-O comprehenders read with increasing
rate and decreasing comprehension across the SRF-O texts. In the second phase, the 21 students with weaker SRF-O comprehension took an oral reading fluency (ORF) test and a paper form of the silent reading rate measure (SRF-P) in a one-on-one setting. All students comprehended well
on SRF-P and their SRF-P rates correlated highly with GRADE and ORF. Results support the view that poor comprehension in independent silent reading of accessible text may be due to
factors other than reading ability (such as assessment context) and that, when students read with comprehension, their rate is a good indicator of their reading ability.

Despite good intentions, reform-minded schools in the United States are coming to grips with the possibility that traditional school culture is making struggling readers out of some youth,
especially the ones who have turned their backs on a version of reading and writing commonly referred to as academic literacy.  This chapter focuses: (1) assumptions underlying the research on struggling readers; (2) various approaches to thinking about school culture and struggling readers; and (3) teaching for critical awareness using new media and interactive communications technology.

Watch the eyes of the struggling readers with whom you are working.  You can get a lot of information.  If they are force fed a steady diet of phonics, you will see a different type of eye movement than if they have a more balanced (and research-based) approach.

On readers in the Marciana Library in the 20th century. Draft of "Topi e topoi de Bibliotheca a Venezia. Note su letture permesse e letture ostacolate, tra uso e abusi", by Stefano Trovato (published in "Dialogo. Studi in memoria di Angela Caracciolo Aricò", a cura di Elena Bocchia, Zuane Fabbris, Chiara Frison e Roberto Pesce, Venezia, Centro di Studi Medioevali e Rinascimentali “E. A. Cicogna”, 2017 [ISBN 978-88-96543-10-8], pp. 379-394)

This phenomenological case study explores the disconnect that high school readers labeled as struggling perceived between their reading identities and experiences in traditional English classes. It analyzes how participation in a young adult literature (YAL) elective provided participants space in which to enact identities and exhibit agency in ways that were different from those afforded in their English classes. This paper contributes uniquely to the larger research conversation by examining two different spaces (traditional English classes and a YAL class) and demonstrating how students' identities as readers manifested in different ways across two contexts. Using Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain's (1998) theory of identity as a lens of analysis across student-generated oral reflections gathered through Seidman's (2006) interview protocol, the study reveals how student participants were supported in their attempts to deconstruct their experiences in traditional classroom spaces, build new conceptions of their reading selves in a unique classroom setting, and, in the process, assume greater agency in shaping their individual reader identities, advancing the argument that differing classroom contexts can provide students with varying levels of opportunity to reject and/or accept ascribed reading identities. This work is significant in the way it emphasizes the importance of classroom and school contexts, the possibilities that come with inviting students to engage as readers in school rather than engage in school reading, the benefits and risks of reimagined relationships between students and teachers and students and peers, and the possibility that young adult literature in and of itself offers implications for reader agency.

De nombreux élèves terminent le primaire avec un niveau d’engagement très faible envers la lecture. Or, selon
plusieurs auteurs (Guthrie et Wigfield, 2000; Stanovich, 1986; Turcotte, 2007), cet engagement contribue à la
réussite en lecture. L’objectif de cette étude est de décrire ce phénomène du non-engagement vécu par certains
élèves du primaire afin de mieux comprendre les expériences marquantes ayant nui à leur engagement. Des
entretiens phénoménologiques réalisés auprès de six élèves de la 6e année identifiés comme non-engagés en lecture
ont permis de mettre en lumière leurs expériences négatives vécues dans une variété de contextes, ainsi que des
expériences positives n’ayant pas été suffisantes pour susciter un engagement à long terme.

“Gateways to literacy: Multimodal methods of engaging learners” was our one-week summer literacy institute for teachers and graduate students focusing on innovative ways of engaging learners in our classrooms. We let our imaginations lead us to interesting, new and cutting-edge approaches to literacy teaching. We brought in “out-of-the-box” ideas in areas such as: Telling our stories, Diverse learners, Social-emotional teaching/learning, Technology in the classroom and Infusing arts in the curriculum, and
combined these with passionate presenters and our focus was always the student. The result was an invigorating experience for our participants as well as a wealth of ideas and practices to carry away regarding multiple ways to interest, motivate and engage students in school learning, something that is getting more and more elusive in these times.

This descriptive case study examines preservice teachers' beliefs about themselves as teachers of reading as they develop identities for teaching through experiences in a Foundations of Literacy course and their tutoring relationships with elementary students during an accompanying practicum. As the preservice teachers learned about foundational literacy development and assessment, they came to understand some students as "struggling readers," although their beliefs were not always grounded in assessment results. Practicum experiences both challenged and reinforced their existing beliefs about struggling readers, as well as their own sense of self-efficacy in responding to struggling readers' needs. Findings suggest that the types of student information preservice teachers attend to shape both productive and inaccurate beliefs about teaching students who struggle.

Abstract Long-term English learners (LTELs) are frequently characterized as struggling with academic reading in English. This paper moves beyond broad generalizations about this population's English-reading practices to a situated analysis of one ‘LTEL’ – Lizbeth Sanchez's – making meaning in her sophomore biology classroom. This analysis of Lizbeth's reading practices reveals that she successfully navigates the primary reading practices through which she was expected to acquire new disciplinary knowledge. Although the examined reading practices were fundamental to academic success in her biology classroom, they are distinct from those predominantly portrayed as academic reading on standardized tests and in the research literature. Nevertheless, these findings provide an important counter-narrative about a population that is frequently represented as lacking both academic and linguistic ability. In addition, they illustrate the significance of how academic reading is conceptualized for recognizing and building upon the abilities of ‘struggling readers.’