Improving Decoding Skills

Without being boring

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Problem

Students who struggle with their comprehension often do not realize they must work to make sense of a text.

Solution

Students need to be made aware of the skills they need to employ to strengthen their reading. Students also need to be made aware that comprehension is the goal which can only be achieved by using the various strategies. Students should also be given a reason for reading a text i.e. …. to complete a description of …., to join a discussion to…., ...to sit a test……

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Problem

Many of our students do not adjust their reading speed to match the difficulty of the text.

Solution

Students need to be shown how to focus on their strengths and weaknesses as they read. A simple way to do this is to ensure reading tasks are accompanied with retrieval chart activities, these force students to slow down and to reread the text.

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Problem

Our students are often unaware of the strategies which should be used to monitor and repair their comprehension when meaning breaks down.

Solution

We have to teach these skills when we ask students to read a text. Comprehension strategies need to be directly taught and students need to know what a strategy is, why and how a reader uses a strategy and what comprehension looks like when a strategy is used.

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Decoding Problems

Students

• tolerate inconsistencies in their comprehension

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• do not stop and repair the breakdown in their comprehension

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• do not adjust their reading speed
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• are often unaware of the strategies which should be used

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• do not realize they must work to make sense of a text

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Decoding Solutions

Students

• need to be made aware of their strengths and weaknesses

-tell them

• need instruction on how to use their skills

-show them

• Need to be shown the strategies

-instruct them

Decoding See Reading Horizons

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The definition of decoding is the process of translating print into speech by rapidly matching a letter or combination of letters (graphemes) to their sounds (phonemes) and recognizing the patterns that make syllables and words. There is an area in the brain that deals with language processing and does this process automatically.

Tackling Hard words in Hard Sums

Word-Attack Strategies See Reading A-Z

Use Picture Clues -Visualize

• Look at the picture.
• Are there people, objects, or actions in the picture that might make sense in the sentence?

Sound Out the Word

• Start with the first letter, and say each letter-sound out loud.
• Blend the sounds together and try to say the word. Does the word make sense in the sentence?

Look for Chunks in the Word

• Look for familiar letter chunks. They may be sound/symbols, prefixes, suffixes, endings, whole words, or base words.
• Read each chunk by itself. Then blend the chunks together and sound out the word. Does that word make sense in the sentence?
• in the sentence? Read the sentence with the word to see if it makes sense.

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Connect to a Word You Know

• Think of a word that looks like the unfamiliar word.
• Compare the familiar word to the unfamiliar word. Decide if the familiar word is a chunk or form of the unfamiliar word.
• Use the known word in the sentence to see if it makes sense. If so, the meanings of the two words are close enough for understanding.

Reread the Sentence

• Read the sentence more than once.
• Think about what word might make sense in the sentence. Try the word and see if the sentence makes sense.

Keep Reading

• Read past the unfamiliar word and look for clues.
• If the word is repeated, compare the second sentence to the first. What word might make sense in both?

Use Prior Knowledge

• Think about what you know about the subject of the book, paragraph, or sentence.
• Do you know anything that might make sense in the sentence? Read the sentence with the word to see if it makes sense.

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Quality vs Quantity in Vocabulary Learning -See Paul Nation

Deliberate vs Casual Encounters with Vocabulary

See

Dorothy Brown: Eight Cs and a G

Barton, Heidema, Jordan: Teaching Reading in Mathematics and Science

TKI Vocabulary Link

Vocabulary prediction exercise - Abbreviations

Teacher modelling: Use a ‘think aloud’ strategy to demonstrate to students how you would work out the abbreviation by making connections between the diagram and text and using context clues in the text.

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Vocabulary Word Maps

Marine mammals: Reading an information report

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Learning task 4: Vocabulary

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Cline: Temperature

Cline: Ecstatic

Cline: Martin Luther King

Visuwords