Reading and the Adult Learner: Strategies for Success

1. Reading and the Adult Learner:Strategies for Success Presenter: Gloria Lowell

2. Who is this lady ? • A BRIEF history about me and how it came to be that our paths have crossed. • “ Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.”—Mark Twain

3. Thinking about our Personal Literacy Histories:An exercise for you and your students!Take a moment and answer the literacy history questionnaire . We will share with a partner and the larger group when we are done.

4. What is Reading? • Reading is a complex system of deriving meaning from print that requires all of the following: • The skills and knowledge to understand how phonemes, or speech sounds are connected in print; • The ability to decode unfamiliar words; • The ability to read fluently ; • Sufficient background information and vocabulary to foster reading comprehension • The development and maintenance of a motivation to read—Partnership for Reading • Comprehension is the goal of reading instruction. All the above components contribute to the development of Comprehension

5. How do these components work together? • Alphabetics: Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Instruction • Phonemic Awareness is the ability to detect individual speech sounds in words. Phonemic awareness is required for developing accurate decoding skills. • Decoding is a word identification skill that involves using letter-sound correspondence to recognize words in print. At the higher levels it includes using larger word parts-like syllables, prefixes and suffixes. • The alphabetic skills of phonemic awareness and decoding are necessary but not sufficient for reading comprehension!!!

6. Fluency Development • Fluency is vital to comprehension. A fluent reader identifies words rapidly and accurately with little effort, and therefore is able to focus on meaning. A fluent reader also “interprets” while reading to determine appropriate phrasing and expression. • Alphabetics skills are required to develop fluency. Fluency is necessary but not sufficient to ensure reading comprehension!!

7. Vocabulary Development • Vocabulary Development is important to reading in two ways. The beginning reader uses decoding skills to “translate” print into words that are already part of his oral vocabulary. At higher reading levels, vocabulary knowledge is critical for understanding increasing difficult materials. Learners not only need to learn new words; they need to deepen their knowledge of words they already know. • Vocabulary is vital to reading comprehension on all levels!!

8. Comprehension Strategies Instruction • Comprehension-strategies enable learner to monitor their own understanding as they read and to solve comprehension problems. • Even accurate, fluent reading does not guarantee comprehension. Specific comprehension strategies may need to be taught!!!!

9. What do we know about Adult Learning Needs? • Adults who don’t read well face serious barriers at they attempt to earn a living, support their children’s learning, and to fully participate in civic and community life. • They are unable to gain access to a wealth of print information that readers take for granted, and they miss out on the joy of reading for pleasure. • Many adult learners have developed interpersonal and other skills that have enabled them to function in society. • They do, however ,have hopes and dreams for the future, and they believe that education will give them options to improve their lives. • Many adult learners do not realize the extent to which their reading ability is a barrier to their continued educational progress. • Many enroll with the goal of earning a GED certificate and expect to meet that goal in a matter of weeks or months. • For most, their reading skills deficits affect their performance on nearly every part of the GED test battery.

10. Challenges in meeting adults reading needs • Many ABE classes are multi-level making instructional planning difficult. • In leveled classes, teachers are armed with a few TABE scores, making it difficult to know just what each adult needs and how to go about providing it. • Continued enrollment can be a serious problem for adult educators. • Teachers may be “running hard” to keep up with the needs of a growing number of immigrants who need to learn to read and write in English as well. • Teachers may need special training in cultural sensitivity. • Teachers may need other resources such as teaching assistants, tutors , appropriate materials, computers etc.

11. Research Principles • Let’s review these together with our handout.

12. Let’s look at Reading Assessment:Why do we assess Reading Skills of Adult Learners? • In general, we have at least three purposes for assessment: • To identify individual goals, strengths and needs for initial planning. • To check on learning and spot problems-for ongoing progress monitoring • To assess learning over time- for outcomes measurement. • Assessment is especially important in working with adult readers due to their varying needs. There is no effective-one size fits all for teaching reading. In order to help students begin at the appropriate level and make progress, teachers must know exactly what needs to be taught and learned. • What are our types of measures: Standardized tests, classroom or curriculum based tests and supplemental/alternative assessments.

13. Types of Assessment &Instructional Practices: Alphabetics (Phonemic Awareness and Decoding) • P.A. Assessment- Assess students ability to delete syllables from words. Ex.-Say Remember. Now say it again but don’t say /re/. Member. Also assess students ability to delete phonemes. Ex.-Say stack. Now say it again but don’t say /t/. Sack. Also test Phoneme Segmentation-Break each word apart and say each in sound order. Ex. So /s/ /o/ and Phoneme blending-Students listen to me say a word slowly. Then tell me what the word is /f/ /it/ -fit • Decoding Assessments-These tests are usually oral and ask the student to decode pseudo words like sek, tob, and gled. Tests also include samples o words with several vowel and consonant sounds; consonant diagraphs, like sh and th, common rimes like at (in bat and cat) and at higher levels multi-syllabic words. Analysis of test results reveal which sounds and patterns the reader know and which needs to be taught.

14. Types of Assessment & Instructional Practices in Vocabulary Development • Vocabulary can be difficult to assess – oral vs. reading vocabulary and expressive vs. receptive. • We can do it through tests (usually multiple choice). If we give an oral test we can measure receptive (listening) vocabulary by asking a person to match a spoken word with a picture. Oral Test of expressive (spoken) vocabulary require the individual to generate a definition of a spoken work. • What kind of vocabulary instruction is most effective? Direct vocabulary instruction, pre-teach words in instructional text, ensure multiple exposures of text, keep learners actively engage. You should also teach word-learning strategies (prefixes and suffixes) and specific strategies for using context clues. • Teach learners how to use a dictionary. • Choosing words to teach—For direct instruction you may choose signal words or idiomatic expressions, words heard frequently in the news or subject matter terminology. Direct instruction can also include homophones and homographs.

15. Assessment & Instructional Practices: Fluency • Since fluency involves speed, accuracy and expression, you will need more than one measure to address all these aspects. You can use an IRI (an informal Reading Inventory) or Timed oral reading tests. You might also want to create a rubric for phrasing and expression. • Instruction and practice in fluency can include reading with the teacher or tutor, echo reading, choral reading, paired or partner reading, tape-assisted reading, a performance reading

16. Assessment & Instructional Practices: Comprehension Strategies • Assessment of comprehension can include multiple choice tests, curriculum based tests, short answer questions and informal assessments. • Strategy instruction should include explicit instruction in: • Predicting • Connecting • Questioning • Visualizing • Identifying Big Ideas • Summarizing • Monitoring • Evaluating

17. Guidelines for Strategy Instruction • Teach strategies in mini-lessons using a combination of explanations, demonstrations, think-alouds, and practice activities. • Provide step-by-step explanations and modeling so that students understand what the strategy does, and how and when to use it. • Provide guided and independent practice opportunities so that students learn to apply the strategy in new situations. • Have students apply the strategy in content-area subjects as well as literacy activities. • Teach groups of strategies in routines so that students learn to orchestrate the use of multiple strategies. • Ask students to reflect on their use of single strategies and strategy routines. • Hang charts in the classroom of strategies and strategy routines students are learning and encourage students to refer to them when reading or writing. • Differentiate between strategy and skills so that students understand that strategies are problem-solving tactics and skills are automatic behaviors.

18. When is she going to stop talking? • Ok, enough of me let’s teach each other.

19. Next Steps • More P.D. in Comprehension Strategies. • Create a “Learning Community” to continue work in McShane’s book? • Go home, pour a glass of wine, get into pajamas and watch television.