Adult Basic Reading Instruction
Best Practices Defined
Why Focus on Reading Components?
There is a standard, stable, agreed-upon definition of reading used by researchers when referencing reading assessment, instruction, and progress monitoring that includes 5 individual reading components. While the overall goal of reading is always comprehension, all of the reading components contribute to the development of comprehension. Knowing this and how each component effects reading comprehension allows for more targeted interventions.
Reading components are categorized as either Print-based or Meaning-based.
"Print skills (phonemic awareness, decoding, and fluency) have to do with reading words accurately and rapidly. When these skills are strong and reading is comfortable and automatic, a reader can more easily attend to the meaning of a text, which is the focus of vocabulary and comprehension-strategy instruction." (McShane, 2005).
While they support each other in the overall development of comprehension, the inverse is also true.
If a student's print-based skills are weak, that student will struggle to engage the necessary cognitive strategies to attend to vocabulary building and comprehension. The implication is that explicit instruction in the print-based skills is mandatory for struggling readers.
The following is adapted from McShane (2005), Kruidenier, National Institute of Literacy (2002, 2005), and Snow's Rand Report (2002).
Phonemic Awareness (p.a.)
Print Skill
Ability to detect individual speech sounds within words.
Required to develop decoding skills and to blend the letters to "sound out" a word and produce the right word.
Adult beginning readers have p. a. deficiencies. Intermediate ABE readers have limited p. a. Research on p.a. may not apply to English learners.
Decoding
Print Skill
A word identification skill; uses letter-sound correspondence to recognize words.
Required to develop fluency.
Decoding starts with letter-sound relationships. Then words are "sounded out" and matched, if correctly pronounced, to a word in speaking vocabulary. Only when this process works can comprehension be achieved.
Fluency
Print Skill
Rapid, efficient, error-free reading; includes appropriate phrasing and expression.
Required to ensure comprehension,
Some level of comprehension is also required for fluency, and fluent reading involves comprehension.
Even adults with high level scores on comprehension tests but who then plateau and fail to make progress may require fluency training.
Vocabulary
Meaning Skill
Knowledge of word meanings; categorized as oral vocabulary (critical for literacy development), and reading vocabulary (critical for comprehension at all levels).
Requires strong print skills.
Vocabulary instruction is most important for mid- to high-level readers, and crucial for English learners.
Background knowledge is vital to vocabulary development, as is morphology training.
Comprehension
Meaning Skill
"The process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language."* (McShane, 72)
Requires strong print skills; good vocabulary and relevant background knowledge; and active, strategic thinking.
Comprehension breaks down for reasons related to any or several of the reading components. Because these processes are not observable, an instructor must perform specific assessments to know which component poses a comprehension barrier.