Weblog: Reading
Read All About It: The National Institute for Literacy Launches New Newsletter
Catalyst, the Institute's first newsletter in more than a decade, is here! The inaugural issue is packed with news and information about NIFL's programs, people, publications, and services. Take a look at: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/publications/Catalyst5-08.pdf
Cognitive Instruction Strategies Website
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has built a website devoted to Cognitive Strategy Instruction. While it is geared mainly to children, many of the strategies are also applicable to adults. Check it out at: http://www.unl.edu/csi/index.shtml
The Writing Road: Reinvigorate Your Students' Enthusiasm for Writing
LDOnline.org has a new article by Regina Richards on how to help your struggling writers. Please go to: http://www.ldonline.org/article/5608 to learn more about strategies to provide meaningful and effective writing instruction to your learners.
The Media Library of Teaching Skills
The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free web-based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms and tutorials. These videos are intended to applicable to all levels of ESOL, ABE, and GED instruction.
This article continues... »NIFL Discussion on Comprehension Monitoring Strategies for Adult Readers
From February 4-8, 2008, please join the NIFL Family Literacy Discussion listserv for a discussion moderated by Susan McShane and Donna Elder on the topic of comprehension monitoring strategies for adult readers. To sign up for this discussion, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Familyliteracy
This article continues... »Reading Skills for Today's Adults
Reading Skills for Today's Adults is an easy to use online resource. This project was designed to create leveled reading selections that are appropriate for and valued by adult learners. These materials, combined with the research-proven strategies of repeated reading and guided oral reading, aid in building learners' fluency and comprehension skills. The materials correspond to Casas 200 - 235. This project helps adults become better readers and more informed consumers, parents, employees, citizens and community members. The focus of these reading selections will be on topics such us: Civics, Employment, Housing, Health, School, Money, and Government. The readings are appropriate for both ESOL and LD learners. To explore more about this resource, go to: http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/readingskillshome.htm
New Publication on How Adults Learn to Read
The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) just announced the publication of QEd, a new, free, and online five-issue series on how adults learn to read: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/news_events/07-12-07.html
Virginia Reading Project II - Updated & Expanded!
Join us for two regional workshops this year in which adult educators will learn about instructional methods and assessments for teaching reading to both levels ABE and Pre-GED/GED. All strategies are research-based and proven against adult learners. Every participant will receive a notebook full of instructional ideas and knowledge about the components of reading, as well as a copy of the new Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults, by Susan McShane and published through NIFL. Some of the excellent material in the original Viriginia Reading Project material will be included, as well as lesson ideas from NCSALL. Be on the lookout for VAELN announcements or offer to host a regional workshop!
Contact Susan Holt for more information at 1-800-237-0178.
Authentic Instruction...or Not?
We like to say we are using "Authentic Instruction" and "Real Materials" to teach our adults. But are we really? NCSALL (the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning & Literacy) says that our instruction and the materials we use are only authentic and contextualized IF the learner has first identified them as a need or goal, to use in his/her life. If we assume our learner needs to learn how to write a check, and never find out that indeed he has no checking account nor wishes to, we have not done him a service. On the other hand, if our student identifies a need to register her child for school, and we bring in a form to teach her just that, it is authentic and contextualized instruction, using real materials. This is being truly learner centered, while it provides writing and reading instruction that will transfer to other tasks. For more depth on authentic instruction, see NCSALL's publication at >http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/teach/jacobson.pdf
Adult Reading Components Study
John Strucker just paid a visit to Richmond on April 19 and 20. In one of his excellent seminars, he discussed a new research project that is now an interactive website for teachers. It is the Adult Reading Components Study (ARCS). In this study, nearly 1000 adult learners were assessed in 5 areas of reading, and the resulting scores were grouped into 11 basic profiles, or groups. You can take the mini-course to learn more about reading, or you can download the quick, free assessments, post your student's scores in "Match a Profile" and receive instructional information instantly for your student's profile. It is fascinating and will help us understand our students better, to meet their needs. Try it out.
John Strucker Lecture Rescheduled
Dr. Strucker's lecture on Improving Instruction for Adult Intermediate Readers has been rescheduled for Thursday, April 19, 9:30 to 11:30 AM at The READ Center in Richmond.
John Strucker is one of the most highly influential leaders in the field of adult literacy and reading in the U.S. today. For the past ten years he has been Research Associate at the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), and a Lecturer in the Harvard Graduate School of Education (GSE), where he teaches a laboratory practicum course, "Developing Reading in Adults and Older Adolescents." Dr. Strucker received his Doctorate from Harvard GSE in 1995. He is a member of the National Institute for Literacy's Adult Reading Expert Group.
To register for this lecture, please click on this link. As soon as you are registered, you will be sent a confirmation and directions to The READ Center. If you have questions, please contact Catherine Norrell at 800-237-0178 or norrellch@vcu.edu.
This article continues... »Regional Reading Workshop for Nonprofit Organizations, May 2 & 3, Fredericksburg
Adult Reading Instruction: Assessing Needs, Addressing Needs, Achieving Outcomes, Susan McShane, Trainer, NCFL. This workshop is a pilot project of the National Center for Family Literacy, funded by Verizon Foundation, and developed for community-based literacy organizations.
Description: This training offers a detailed introduction to the research, with emphasis on translating the research into practice. It introduces the components of reading that may contribute to a (perhaps unrecognized) reading problem: alphabetics skills, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. It also introduces common reader profiles identified by research and suggests resources for initial assessment. Participants learn and practice a variety of research-based instructional strategies for addressing adults' needs in the reading-component areas.
Primary Audience: Tutors and other instructors Secondary Audience: Program administrators from community-based adult literacy programs
Click here to register:We will send you a confirmation, directions, and a list of hotels in the region. Please be aware, workshop costs are free, but hotel costs are on your own.
For questions regarding registration, please contact Catherine Norrell at 800-237-0178 or norrellch@vcu.edu
This article continues... »Quizlet for Vocabulary Development
Want a fun way for your students to learn their vocabulary online? Try out Quizlet. It allows the student to enter his/her personal list and meanings, then juggles them in flashcard style, Q&A, multiple choice - a variety of methods to reinforce learning. You may have to help them through setting up, but then it's in their hands. See http://www.quizlet.com A bonus: it's free.
John Strucker:Improving Instruction for Adult Intermediate Readers
You are cordially invited to attend ...
John Strucker is one of the most highly influential leaders in the field of adult literacy and reading in the U.S. today. For the past ten years he has been Research Associate at the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), and a Lecturer in the Harvard Graduate School of Education (GSE), where he teaches a laboratory practicum course, "Developing Reading in Adults and Older Adolescents." Dr. Strucker received his Doctorate from Harvard GSE in 1995. He is a member of the National Institute for Literacy's Adult Reading Expert Group.
Dr. Strucker's interest in adult literacy began when he worked as a labor and community organizer in Chicago in the 1970s. Before joining NCSALL, he taught adult literacy and ESL for 11 years at the Community Learning Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in the diagnostic assessment and teaching of adults with reading difficulties.
During his tenure at NCSALL, Dr. Strucker has been the Principal Investigator on three large-scale research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences: the "Adult Reading Components Study," a cluster analysis of the reading strengths and needs of 955 adult literacy and ESL students, "Components and the International Adult Literacy Study (IALS)" - a latent class analysis of the component skills of 1,084 IALS Level 1, 2, and 3 participants, and "Improving Instruction for Adult Intermediate Readers," an intervention study testing an adaptation of the Boys Town Reading Program with 275 adult learners.
Dr. Strucker's other interests include teacher-training in adult education, the application of technology to literacy learning, the development of adult literacy assessment tools, and family literacy.
To register for this lecture, please click on this link.
Comprehension & Vocabulary- The Vicious Cycle
Many of our adult learners are stuck in a vicious cycle: "Their limited vocabulary and background knowledge create comprehension problems, and because they have difficulty with comprehension they don't choose to read much, so they don't develop vocabulary through reading." What will help? "Explicit vocabulary instruction is necessary to enable these adults to read material related to their educational, vocational, and family goals."
- Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults, p.60-61.. McShane/NIFL
An excellent tool that will help your student improve both vocabulary and comprehension, and that is particularly attuned to adults and their interests, is "News for You" by New Reader's Press. I will be providing more detail on this in the publication list above, presently.
What is Fluency?
There are three main areas of Fluency:
- speed
- accuracy
- expression
According to Susan McShane's book Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults, "fluent reading sounds like speech." It's also essential to good comprehension! How can you help? According to research, "guided repeated oral reading" is one of the best ways to improve your student's fluency. Choose a text that is a level below an instructional level for your student, so s/he can read it easily. Then use methods such as:
- modeling good reading
- echo reading
- reading in pairs or choral reading
- tape-assisted reading (so the learner can work more independently)
- or combinations of the above.
See McShane's book for more detail!
Phonics...Phonemes...What's the Difference?
The five components of reading instruction are: - Phonemic Awareness - Decoding - Fluency - Vocabulary - Comprehension
Phonemic Awareness is about speech sounds only. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in the spoken language. Phonemic awareness means that when a student hears the word "cat," she can take the word apart to hear the individual sounds K/A/T. This does not usually come naturally, but often has to be taught directly. Being able to identify individual sounds in this way is crucial to developing decoding skills. Phonics instruction is a strategy for teaching decoding, which allows learners to recognize words in print. Phonics instruction teaches individual sound/letter relationships so that beginning readers can "sound out" words so that they can read them independently and accurately, and approximate the spelling of them when they write. So... Phonics Instruction builds decoding skills, which depends largely on the student's phonemic awareness.
Got that?
Adapted from Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults, NIFL, 2005. Author: McShane
Coming Soon - Reading Tips
Monthly Reading Instruction Tips selected from expert publications are Coming Soon!