According to Harper and Kilarr the idea that what is written must be read word for word to gain meaning is a misconception. I completely agree with their statement. Reading is a process in which several different contexts are used to identify and conceptualize unfamiliar words. They are interdependent upon one another and the most proficient readers access all of them to gain meaning from text. This theory contradicts the theory by which a text wouldn’t be read until nearly all of the words could be read independently.
I feel that too often if a student is having difficulty reading fluently or with comprehension, the first thing that is tried is an intensive, boxed phonics program. I don’t feel that this is beneficial to most students who need to be engaged and develop a better understanding of the purpose of the text through valuable connections.
I found it especially interesting that most of a student’s new vocabulary is gained through reading. (Weaver, 46) If we actually only encouraged students to read texts with familiar words, they wouldn’t gain the vocabulary that they will need and the skill set that allows them to gain meaning through contexts would diminish. It would be a tremendous disservice to restrict reading to texts that were already easily understandable.
According to Weaver, proficient readers rely on several strategies to gain meaning from texts such as predicting, monitory, and either correcting or confirming. Using these strategies consistently means that a proficient reader can make frequent miscues that do not change meaning and still have an understanding of the text. For this reason, it is important to analyze and track miscues made by young readers to assess what kind of miscues are being made and how they affect comprehension.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI agree that at times the methods for helping students become fluent readers are not always the most effective methods overall. Like you reflected upon in your response, simply more reading and experience with reading is the key to allowing students to build their vocabulary and abilities. This is why it is so important to get to know your students and find books that appeal to their interests so that they remain interested and excited about reading. And once their interests are intrigued, then it is much easier to focus on some of their problem areas and know how to direct them next time and encourage new skills.