READING
Struggling adolescents
The great challenge, of course, is how
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Providing multiple opportunities to roles for each member of a secondary staff
do we get struggling adolescent readers practise using the strategies; relative to literacy instruction.
to read when reading has often been a
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Providing feedback to students on their
negative, non-reinforcing experience? application of the strategies; Conclusion: What works
Research has provided some direction.
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Actively involving students in ongoing Research indicates that struggling
Students should have a wide choice of discussions of the meaning of the text and adolescent learners can become capable,
interesting reading materials (at different how the targeted strategies can be used strategic learners when schools concentrate
levels) and a variety of ways to demonstrate to facilitate understanding; and their thought, energy, and effort on
their understanding. They should also be
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Setting expectations for continued use of improving literacy. Central to this process are
encouraged to interact with other students, strategies across various class assignments. the following actions:
as this active engagement will enhance Teachers must do more than merely
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Make improved literacy performance
comprehension. Finally, students should be present strategies in the hope that they a priority for the entire school staff.
active participants in setting their learning will become meaningful tools. They must Develop a staff-wide, agreed set of literacy
goals, which ideally should be tied to topics make strategy usage a regular part of goals. Improving literacy is not just the
that interest them and are relevant to what their instruction, so students can practise responsibility of the teacher or teaching
they want to become in the future. them with the content they need to learn. assistant; all members of the staff should
However, several studies have underlined be involved;
the fact that it takes time, considerable
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When a large percentage
Increase student engagement and
professional development and follow-up motivation to read. Give students a
of the student body lack key support to adequately equip teachers to choice in what they read and how they
literacy skills, the problem
teach strategies with fi delity and confi dence. demonstrate their competence. Provide
a broad array of texts that relate to the
exceeds what a teacher or a
Options for instructional intensity students’ world, not just the classroom;
teaching assistant alone can
Some adolescents require more intensive,
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Explicitly model how to interact with
address
explicit literacy instruction than their subject discipline-specifi c text. Provide students
teachers can provide. Typically, this intensive with authentic opportunities to practise
instruction is offered in a supplemental these strategies;
Subject material reading class by reading specialists or
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Teach students a variety of comprehension
Subject teachers play a vital role in teachers who have in-depth preparation strategies. Then provide students with
increasing the literacy profi ciency of in diagnostic and formative assessments, multiple opportunities to practise the
struggling readers. As different methods characteristics of struggling adolescent comprehension strategies, receive
are required for navigating and processing readers, reading methodologies, and explicit feedback on their use of the strategies,
materials from different disciplines, subject and direct instruction. and continue to use them; and
teachers create authentic opportunities The teacher/student ratios in these
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Provide varying levels of literacy
for students to practise learning strategies reading classes need to be small (generally instruction. In addition to supplemental
within that discipline. Furthermore, as no larger than 1:15) to allow students ample reading classes, consider a continuum of
struggling readers are likely to have opportunities to respond and receive carefully literacy instruction that focuses on the
diffi culty accessing and understanding text designed, timely feedback. Depending on diversity of the students’ needs.
materials used in a particular subject, it is student needs, instruction could include
important to teach (through class lectures or cognitive strategies for navigating texts in About the authors
discussions) essential content knowledge, the various disciplines, as well as instruction Don Deshler is Director of the Center for
and explicit instruction in terms of how key in some fundamental skill areas such as Research on Learning and the Williamson
vocabulary and concepts take on specifi c word analysis, reading fl uency, or vocabulary Family Distinguished Professor of Special
meanings within the content area. building. An effective instructional protocol Education at the University of Kansas in
would include clear models of the desired the US. Michael Kennedy holds masters
Comprehension strategies reading behaviour by the teacher, carefully degrees in both educational technology
Adolescents who are successful in school structured lessons to provide ample practice and exceptional children and youth, has
generally use an array of cognitive strategies opportunities, explicit feedback, and specifi c taught for nine years, and is currently a
to meet academic demands. Research instruction to help students transfer the doctoral fellow in the Department of Special
evidence indicates that strategies such as newly learned strategies to various text Education at the University of Kansas.
questioning, summarising, imaging, and genres and instructional settings.
comprehension monitoring can improve While a supplemental reading class is a
understanding and recall of information. This necessary component of a school’s overall
Further reading
research also suggests that it is generally approach to literacy improvement, it is not Deshler DD, Palincsar AS, Biancarosa G
helpful to teach students more than one suffi cient. Because of the broad diversity & Nair M, (2007) Informed Choices for
strategy to better equip them to meet of secondary students who struggle with Struggling Adolescent Readers, Newark,
curriculum demands. literacy, it can be helpful to think in terms DE: International Reading Association.
Subject teachers can enhance literacy of a continuum of literacy instruction as a
performance by: framework for improving literacy. Such a
Pressley M, Billman AK, Perry KH, Reffi tt
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Identifying appropriate comprehension framework underlines that (a) some students
KE, & Reynolds JM (eds.), (2007) Shaping
strategies for their content area; require more intensive, systematic, explicit
Literacy Achievement—Research We Have,
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Modelling how these strategies should be instruction in content, strategies, and skills;
Research We Need, New York, NY: Guilford
used to understand discipline-specifi c text; and (b) there are unique (but very important)
Press.
spring 2009 Better: Evidence-based Education 11
Better Spr09 pp10-11 Struggling.indd 11 20/4/09 09:15:56
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