1
Teaching Students to Read Words: Effective Strategies for Students with Reading Difficulties
Rollanda E. O’ConnorUniversity of California at Riverside
Jekyll Island, Georgia, 2008
2
From Early Literacy to Skilled Reading
Oral language Phonemic awareness Letter to sound correspondences Decoding words Recognizing words Building reading fluency Comprehending language Comprehending written text (good spelling would be nice, too!)
3
Milestones Toward Effective Intervention
Determine where the child falls on the reading continuum
Choose an intervention with a strong research base
Shore up preskills while maintaining age-appropriate oral language
4
Word Study Strategies
Phonic Analysis Teach most common sound for each letter
Structural Analysis Letter combinations; Silent –e rule
Multisyllable Word Strategies Dropping a silent –e; Doubling rule; Affixes; BEST
Morphemic Analysis Teach meaningful parts of words
Contextual Analysis After a student tries a pronunciation: Does that make sense?
5
The Likely Suspects… Kindergarten
Understanding & use of the alphabetic principle First Grade
Alphabetic principle Phonics and decoding words
Second Grade Alphabetic principle, phonics and decoding Reading fluently
Third Grade Phonics and decoding, fluency Multisyllable words, morphemes, and comprehension
Fourth Grade Decoding, fluency, multisyllable words, morphemes Active comprehension of sentences, paragraphs, and passages
6
Interventions in Kindergarten
Segmenting Blending Letter Sounds The alphabetic principle [and meanings of words]
7
Stretched Blending
8
Teaching Letter Sounds
Avoid alphabetical order (Carnine et al., 1998) Use cumulative introduction Teach short vowels in kindergarten Start teaching letter sounds as soon as possible Integrate letter sounds with phonological awareness
activities (Ball & Blachman, 1991; O’Connor et al., 1995) Assess letter knowledge, and begin “catch-up”
instruction immediately
9
Onset-rime with 1st Sound
m
10
Segment 3-phoneme Words
11
Ex: Segment to Spell
a m s t i f
12
Measuring Progress to the Alphabetic Principle
Rapid Letter Naming
Segmenting
Goals: >50 Letters per minute
>30 segments per minute
13
Rapid Letter Naming
Time: 1 minute Number correct:________
D N b H f i m O A R
s E W y L T c X g k
B F o j a S p r U e
M z K C t q n J P x
u G Q l w Z I v Y d
V h
14
Segmenting
"I will say a word, and you tell me the sounds you hear in the word. My turn. I can say the sounds in Mike.
M--i--ke. Your turn.” (1 point/phoneme)
1. soap_______ 6. leaf_______
2. van________ 7. fall_______
3. food_______ 8. not_______
4. show______ 9. mad_______
5. make______ 10. zoo_______
15
Interventions in First Grade
Segment to Spell Phonics High frequency words [and meanings of words]
16
Phonics
Teach common sounds first Teach blending letter sounds After ~20 sounds are well known, add
consonant digraphs like th, wh, ch After consonant digraphs, introduce letter
combos (ee, ar, ing, or, al, er, ou) Next add the silent -e Rule
17
ai says /aaa/. ai says—
Teach aiairainfailbaitplainafraidfair
Discriminate aimainboatfishpaidoldmailfar
Sight wordstheygoodcome
18
Blending
For stretchable sounds: Don’t stop between the sounds
fast
For stop sounds Blend the consonant-vowel first:
fi — x ba - m
19
The problem with word families
Discuss this problem with a colleague.
20
Word Building (p. 65)
pet—pot—pat—pad—sad—sod
21
Sight Words
25 high frequency words make up nearly 1/3 of all print for primary readers
100 high frequency words make up nearly 1/2 of all print
22
28 High Frequency Words
the you are this
of that as from
and it with I
a he his have
to for they or
in was at by
is on be one
23
Teaching Sight Words
Constant time delay Spelling words aloud Word walls [ok, but be CAREFUL]
24
How Regular a Language is English?
25
Patterns in the 100 Most Common Words
th: that, than, this or: for, or, more ch: much, [which] wh: when, which, what ee: see, three al: all, call, also ou: out, around er: her, after ar: are, part
26
Teaching Silent -e
One generalization covers them all: “When there’s an -e at the end, the vowel says its name.”
Is there an -e at the end? Game sit hop hope ram
yes no
What’s the name of this letter?
What’s the sound of this letter?
Read the word Read the word
27
Assess Progress in Phonics
Most common sound for each letter High frequency letter combinations Lists of 25, 50, 75, 100 common words
28
Interventions in Second Grade
Common letter patterns & affixes Fluency [and meanings of words]
29
Highly Regular Letter Combinations
th oa qu oi
er ar ay oy
ing ea igh ph
ch oo ol wr
wh ee ir au
or ai ur aw
ou sh kn
30
Small Moves toward 2-Syllables
Inflected endings: -ed, -ing, -s, -es Words that divide between consonants Every syllable has at least one vowel Words that end in –le
31
Words That Divide Between Consonants
cannot happen
goblet kidnap
cactus magnet
rabbit triplet
plastic dentist
tablet absent
32
Words that End in –le
Purple little
Sparkle apple
33
Generate words that are decodable if:
Students can add –le Students can divide words between
consonants
34
Most Common Affixes
Prefixes Un-, re-, in-, dis- account for 58% of
words with prefixes (White et al., 1989)
Suffixes -ly, -er/or, -sion/tion, -ible/able, -al, -y, -
ness, -less
35
Why Bother Building Fluency?
One piece of the comprehension puzzle Minimum fluency requirements (Good et al., in
press; O’Connor et al., 2002)
Silent reading is NOT effective in improving fluency (NRP, 2000)
Building fluency requires frequent, long-term practice
36
Strategies to Increase Fluency
Rereading (Dowhower, 1991; Sindelar et al., 1990)
Partner reading (Fuchs et al; 1998; Greenwood et al., 1998)
Control the difficulty level of text (O’Connor et al., 2002)
37
2 Methods of Partner Reading
Modeled reading (PALS)
Each student reads in 5 minute intervals
Strongest partner reads first Allows a model for the poorer reader
Sentence-by-sentence (CWPT)
Partners take turns reading sentence by sentence Reread with other student starting first Encourages attention and error correction
38
Assess Reading Fluency
Listen to student read aloud for 1 min from Grade level text
Mark errors and omissions Help with hard words after 3 sec, but count as
error Count the words read correctly in 1 min
39
Reading Rates
Grade Average Rate Danger
1, March 45 25
1, May 60 40
2, Dec 75 50
2, May 100 60
3, Dec 120 70
3, May 135 80
40
Interventions in Third Grade
BEST Morphemes Rules for combining morphemes Comprehension strategies [and meanings of words]
41
BEST for Multisyllable Words
Break apart Examine the stem Say the parts Try the whole thing
42
BEST Examples (Shackleton)
understandingly expedition unknown Antarctic Uninhabited
43
Glass Analysis
May What word? Which letter says /mm/? Which letters say /ay/? A-y. What sound? M. What sound? [take away letters and ask what’s left]
way layer delayingday paying paymentrays mayor Sundays
44
Every
What word? Which letters say /ev/? Which letters say /er/? Which letter says /y/? E-v. what sound? E-r. What sound? y. What sound? [take away letters and ask what’s left]
never clever evidentdevil crevice neverthelesslevel several revolution
45
Teaching Vocabulary Words
What works: What doesn’t work :
Direct teaching
Frequent review
Production responses
Look it upChoose the best meaning Fill in the sentence
46
Prodigy
A prodigy is a person with wonderful talent. What’s a prodigy? What do we call a person with wonderful talent?
Is Harry Potter a prodigy? How do you know?
Michael Smith has no special skills. Is he a prodigy? How do you know?
What does prodigy mean? So--What would a child prodigy be? Mozart was a child prodigy.
47
Expedition
Expedition means: a long trip or journey. What does expedition mean? What word means a long trip or journey?
What’s another way to say: Shackleton took a long trip to Antarctica?
Lewis and Clark took canoes from Washington, DC to Washington state. Was that an expedition? How do you know?
I walked next door. Did I take an expedition? What would you call a hike from Brunswick to
Savannah?
48
Features of Vocabulary Instruction
Tell the definition or synonym. Have children repeat it. Have children use the word and the definition
at least 7 times during your instruction.
49
Your turn:
Dissect Intelligible Dwelling License
50
Teaching Morphemes to Older Students--The meaningful parts of words--
“not” Un, dis, in, im (disloyal, unaware, invisible, imperfect)
“excess” Out, over, super (outlive, overflow, superhuman)
“number” Uni, mono, bi, semi (uniform, monofilament, bicolor,
semiarid) “in the direction of”
Ward (skyward, northward) “full of”
Ful (merciful, beautiful)
51
Inter-- means between
What does inter-- mean? So what does interstate mean? What would you call a highway between
states? What would interperson mean? So what are interpersonal skills?
52
Word Strategies for Older Students
Structural Analysis Letter combinations; Silent –e rule
Multisyllable Word Strategies Dropping a silent –e; Doubling rule; Affixes; BEST
Morphemic Analysis Teach meaningful parts of words
Contextual Analysis After a student tries a pronunciation: Does that make sense?
53
Important Rules for Reading & Spelling
Every syllable has at least 1 vowel magnanimous
Drop the –e when you add a word part with a vowel close+ing, close+ly, sense +ible, sense+less
Double the consonant when words end in –cvc and you add a word part with a vowel Drip+ing, drip+less, win+ing, wonder+ful
54
When do you drop the –e from a word?
When the next part begins with a vowel. T: Does this word end in –e?
Does the next part begin with a vowel? Will you drop the –e?
make + ing port + able like + ed come + ly use + ful use + ing back + ed guide +ing
55
Rule for doubling the final consonant:
WHEN do you double the final consonant in a short word?
“When the word ends in CVC and the next part begins with a v.”
mad + er mad + ly mad + est ask + ing big + er kind + er
Dixon, et al.
56
Keys to Successful Intervention
Determine where the child falls on the reading continuum
Choose an intervention with a strong research base Shore up preskills while maintaining age-appropriate
oral language Students with reading difficulties will need 7-20
practice sessions or more to master a new concept Use the student’s progress to determine the next
appropriate intervention