MODULE SUPPORTR-ALI 110

Diploma in Grade R Teaching

ACADEMIC LITERACY: Unit 1, Understanding Academic Literacy, Section 3 (Becoming a skilled

reader)

What is Skilled Reading?

As illustrated through Scarborough’s ”Reading Rope Model”, the multifaceted

skill of reading is constructed through a combination of intertwined (twist or

twine together) language skills and competencies:

Fig. 1: Illustration of the many strands that are woven together in skilled reading (Scarborough, 2001)

Fig. 2:The Big 5 Reading Skills (Hildebrand, 2020).

What Skilled Readers Do:

Skilled readers:

Quickly and correctly match words and their meanings while they are reading;

Make accurate meaning efficiently from printed texts;

Use different skills together to make meaning from texts (Scarborough, 2001):

Language comprehension: The ability to make meaning of what you read;

Word Recognition: The ability to decode (unfamiliar) words;

Use clues in other parts of the text;

Use a dictionary;

Decode parts of the word;

Look for definitions, explanations, and synonyms;

Look at illustrations and diagrams.

How would you help Mike to become a

skilled reader?

Fig. 3: Moll, Bradbury, Winkler, Tshule, Van Voore and Slonimsky (2010: 120 – 121)

6 Techniques for Building Reading Skills—

in Any Subject

Students need good reading skills not just in English but in all classes. Here are

some ways you can help them develop those skills:

Teach CLOSE reading skills

Guide students in annotation (a note by way of explanation or comment added to a

text or diagram) by directing them to do more than highlight or underline.

Encourage students to have a conversation with the text by jotting notes on the

text while reading—this keeps students engaged and often increases

comprehension. Annotations can include:

Defining new words | Asking questions | Coding recurring words and themes

Making personal connections to the text | Citing current events

Highlighting heading and subheadings | Summarizing paragraphs | Chunking

Categorizing information | Numbering and ordering | Drawing pictures

Source: Barber (2016)

6 Techniques for Building Reading Skills—

in Any Subject…

Appeal to the senses

Reading passages aloud and verbalising questions you would mentally ask while reading can be a great benefit to students.

Students often have no idea how to ask questions, what type of questions to ask, or the frequency of questions, so modelling this skill is invaluable.

This can be further reinforced especially for visual learners by using an overhead projector to write questions, mark key words and phrases, and interact with a text.

Always encourage students to read with a pen or pencil in hand.

Guide students in setting reading goals

After reading any text, help students evaluate their reading skills:

Did you feel confident reading the text? Why or why not?

What parts of the text gave you trouble? Could you have used a different strategy to make reading the text easier?

Students should evaluate goals on a regular basis and create new goals based on their needs and growth.

Source: Barber (2016)

6 Techniques for Building Reading Skills—

in Any Subject…

Vary text length

When approaching a particularly difficult text, break it up in shorter segments.

Students often become discouraged with lengthy texts that require intense concentration.

Giving smaller segments allows the students to digest chunks of text in pieces, acquire

academic vocabulary, and build confidence.

Offer opportunities for choice reading

Simply put, the best way to improve reading is to read, and students are more

likely to read when they have a choice in what they are reading.

Assess content and skill

Students should be able to demonstrate their skills in assessment, whether it’s

formal or informal, formative or summative.

Recall and comprehension questions are a good way to check for basic understanding,

but teachers should then move to the harder how and why questions.

Source: Barber (2016)

It’s BigBrain Time!

Module Outcomes:

Define what it means to be academically literate.

Explain the difference between personal literacy and academic literacy.

Identify the competencies that skilled readers use in order to develop such

competencies yourself.

Practice Questions:

Define each of the concepts contained in Scarborough’s Reading Rope.

Explain the difference between language that is literal versus language that is

figurative.

Explain why Scarborough’s Reading Rope model is regarded as a metaphor

for the reading process.

Describe your attitude (positive or negative) while reading academic

texts. Why do you feel that way?

For example: As I was reading the article, I felt… I felt this way

because… I have a … attitude toward reading academic texts. This

will … the way I learn. I must …

READING IS FUNDAMENTAL!