Reading Miscue Analysis:

1. Reading Miscue Analysis: Purposes and Procedures

2. A Brief Historical Perspective: • Developed by Kenneth Goodman in the 1960’s • Sought to enhance our understanding of the reading process • This knowledge can help us to improve reading instruction

3. Miscue: • What does it mean? • “A miscue, which we define as an actual observed response in oral reading which does not match the expected response, is like a window on the reading process.” (Goodman, 1969) • Why do we need a new term?

4. Readers make use of 3 cueing systems • Grapho-phonic: • She was not a type-i-cal/typical baby. • Syntactic • None of us never/ever figured out why. • Semantic • She was a small yellow bird/canary.

5. A bit more history . . . • Yetta Goodman and Carolyn Burke (1970’s and 1980’s) • Miscue analysis as a tool to help teachers to learn about the reading process • Diagnostic tool for reading assessment and instruction in the classroom

6. Three Basic Questions: • How does the learner construct meaning through printed texts? • What cueing systems in the reader using? • What is the quality of the miscues?

7. Key findings of the miscue analysis research: 1. All readers make miscues when they read aloud 2. The miscues of effective and ineffective readers are qualitatively different • Their miscues tend to preserve meaning 3. The correction behaviors of effective and ineffective readers is different • They mostly correct when meaning is lost

8. Key findings of the miscue analysis research, continued: 4. Effective readers engage in a great deal of prediction when they read 5. Effective and ineffective readers use grapho-phonic knowledge differently 6. Effective readers use a wider range of strategies in the attempt to understand text.

9. Three Stages of the RMA: 1. Collecting and recording data • Session 1: Reading Interview • Session 2: Oral Reading and Retelling 2. Analyzing miscue data on the coding form 3. Interpreting the data  Reader Profile

10. Steps in conducting the RMA: 1. Select a student subject: • Able to read at least 500 words • Perhaps a child with some struggles in reading • Gather whatever information you can about how this child is perceived as a reader

11. Steps in conducting the RMA: 2. Conduct the first session: • Be prepared: tape recorder, interview form, and several possible texts • Let the child speak into the tape recorder • Ask the interview questions, but also following the child’s lead as appropriate • Have the child read aloud from one or more of the texts you’ve provided

12. Steps in conducting the RMA: 3. Recording the interview data: • Transcribe the tape of your interview, using the format of a play, showing both your questions and comments and the child’s • You may make side comments in square brackets [on things you should or should not have done, explanations, etc.]

13. Steps in conducting the RMA: 4. Preparing for the second session, I: • Selecting appropriate texts • Unfamiliar text, but of interest to the child • Natural language • Challenging, but not too difficult • Around 500 words • A cohesive chunk of text • Preparing the “selection copy” for your markings

14. Steps in conducting the RMA: 4. Preparing for the second session, II: • Preparing the Retelling Guide • Literary elements • Avoid simple yes/no questions and leading questions • Ask probing follow-up questions

15. Steps in conducting the RMA: 5. Conducting Session II - Oral Reading and Retelling/Discussion: • Materials needed: • original text and “selection copy” of the text • tape recorder • Retelling notes for yourself

16. Steps in conducting the RMA: 6. Conducting the oral reading: • Test tape recorder • Provide a brief explanation and directions (see Weaver, p. 195) • As the child reads, take only those notes that are necessary • If the child appeals for help . . . • If the child is really stuck . . . • Only stop if . . .

17. Steps in conducting the RMA: 7. Conducting the retelling/discussion • Guide child into unaided retelling (p. 196) • Ask follow-up questions, as needed • If needed, the child can silently look over the text again and then again attempt to retell and discuss the story

18. Steps in conducting the RMA: 8. Transcribing the Retelling • As a dialogue, like the interview 9. Recording the Miscues on the Selection Copy • Learn and use the miscue markings shown in Weaver • Practicing listening for and marking miscues with Betsy and “The Man Who Kept House”

19. Steps in conducting the RMA: 10. Coding the Miscues and Analyzing Patterns • What is coded as a miscue? • Insertions, omissions, substitutions and reversals • In repeated attempts, the first attempt is coded • What is not coded as a miscue? • Identical word repetitions, etc. (see handout)

20. Steps in conducting the RMA: 11. Numbering the miscues on the selection copy: • Number the miscues starting from the beginning of the passage • If you can, discard the miscues in the first 200 words of text

21. Steps in conducting the RMA: 12. Recording Miscues on the Coding Form: • Fill in the information in the upper left corner • Transfer the miscues to the Coding Form in the columns labeled “Text says” and “Reader says” • Leave a blank in the appropriate column for an insertion and an omission • If the reader tries unsuccessfully to correct a miscue, the last attempt is written in the “Reader says” column

22. Steps in conducting the RMA: 13. What questions do we ask of each of the miscues? 1. Does it reflect the child’s ordinary speech patterns? 2. Did it go with the preceding grammar and meaning? 3. Did it go with the following grammar and meaning? 4. Did the miscue leave the essential meaning of the sentence intact? 5. Was the miscue corrected? 6. Was the miscue graphically similar? 7. Was the sentence, as the reader left it, semantically acceptable within the whole original selection? 14. Figuring percentages for each column

23. Steps in conducting the RMA: 15. Drawing conclusions about the reader’s use of cueing systems and reading strategies (see Weaver, p. 201) • Using prior knowledge and context to predict • Using following context to correct miscues that didn’t fit • Using graphic cues along with context and schemas Almost never / seldom / about half the time / frequently / almost always

24. Steps in conducting the RMA: 16. Drawing together data from various sources • Comprehending score • Number of Yes sentences (column 7) divided by total number of sentences read • Notes from reading interview • Notes on miscue patterns • Notes on retelling and discussion • Summary of strengths and needs

25. Three Basic Questions: • How does the learner construct meaning through printed texts? • What cueing systems in the reader using? • What is the quality of the miscues?

26. Four Possibilities for Miscue Quality & Reading Comprehension: 1. High quality miscue ~ Good comprehension 2. Low quality miscue ~ Poor comprehension 3. High quality miscue ~ Poor comprehension 4. Low quality miscue ~ Good comprehension

27. Developing an Instructional Plan • What are this child’s strengths in terms of cueing systems, reading strategies, and correction behaviors? (comprehending) • Based on the retelling/discussion, what can you say about the child’s comprehension? • What needs do you see in the child’s reading? • What kinds of experiences would be helpful?