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Support the development of reading skills |
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This unit covers the competency related to providing assistance to students who need additional support with their reading. Introduction: Reading is the base skill required for effective engagement with the world in which our young people live. Its' value cannot be underestimated. Young people who do not grasp the skill of reading and comprehending are significantly disadavantaged not only in their schooling but in all aspects of their life. Nagy and Anderson (1984) estimated that, as regards in-school reading, the least motivated students in the middle years might read 100 000 words a year while the average students at this level might read 1 000 000. The figure for the enthusiastic middle year reader might be 10 000 000 or even as high as 50 000 000. If these estimations are anywhere near correct, then there are staggering individual differences in the volume of language experience, and therefore, opportunity to learn new words. There would also be significant differences in the volume of reading outside of the classroom and this disparity between students is likely to increase as the student progresses through the grades. The effect of the volume of reading on students' vocabulary growth could mean that the more motivated reader gains a cumulative advantage overtime. In other words: the rich get richer.
Note this table is based on North American school years that run from July one year to May the next. When students experience difficulty in learning to read they often become reluctant to engage in what, for them, is a difficult and unrewarding task. This reluctance to read makes the problem even worse. Those students who have rewarding and successful experiences are inclined to read more and more so that the gap between the successful literacy learners and the unsuccessful ones widens. As a consequence, an important aspect of supporting reading is to provide opportunities so that relucant readers experience success. However, providing support for less successful readers is a skilled task. Education support workers, or education paraprofessionals, is one way in which a focus on reading can be extended in classrooms thereby allowing students to have more opportunities to engage with reading and experience success. Students must acquire effective reading strategies. Like many fields of knowledge, the area of reading and literacy has a set of terms with specific meanings; you will need to know and understand how these terms are used when supporting the development of student's reading skills. Ensure you use this Glossary so that you become familar with the language used in this area. The responses the teacher aide makes to the student's attempts to read can act as a scaffold that leads to future success, or they can act as a wall that inhibits progress and can actually turn students off reading. Apart from learning to use effective strategies for reading, one of the most important goals of supporting reading is to make the reading experiences rewarding so that students experience both the pleasure of reading and the way in which it can enrich their lives. Students need to read for real purposes that have relevance to their lives. In this way, students will be encouraged to read beyond that which they encounter in school. What are your beliefs about reading? Are they similar to these? If
students have not had rewarding experiences with books, they will
need to be introduced to books in order to become comfortable with
them, to know how books work and how books can enrich their lives.
Resources Reference Materials Bibliography Nagy, W. E.,
M Anderson, R. C. (1984). How many words are there in printed
school English? Reading Research Quarterly, 19, 303-330. |
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