Reading accurately and fluently is a very important skill that students should master. According to Common Core Stat Standers CCSS, one of the third grade standards in reading is that students should read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. To fully understand this standard, we should break it down by thinking about the following questions: First, what does sufficient accuracy mean? Second, what does sufficient fluency mean? Third, how accuracy and fluency should be measured? These questions will be answered through defining and explain this standard, its significance, historicizing discourses around it, and how its ethical and ontological aspects have shaped its application in today schools. Fluency is "the ability to read a text quickly, …show more content…
Fluency and comprehension are strongly related to one another. (Hudson, Lane, 2005) Therefore, student by reading fluently can be "freedom from word identification problems that might hinder comprehension." Fluent reading is closely related to proper expression because we more likely express a word by reading it fluently. Accuracy is a key component of fluency. Accuracy is the ability to read by recognizing the words automatically without mistakes. (Rasinski, 2003). Actually, fluency is an integral part of accuracy. To reach the stage of fluency, the reader must first achieve a level of accuracy in reading. Reading accurately means automatic reading without errors. For the reader to reach this stage, the reader must practice reading constantly, especially repeating words that the reader does not know. Repetition helps the reader to memorize and pronounce the word correctly, helping to read it correctly automatically, and then reach the fluency stage. Historically, the conditions of emergence of this standard could be linked to early efforts of scholarly works psychologically, philosophically, and sociologically. One rote of this standard could be linked
Finding a definition of literacy is not as easy as it sounds. The Webster definition says that to be literate is to be” able to read and write.” But to some researchers, this definition is too simplistic, leading to multiple models of literacy. Most Americans adhere to the autonomous model, which falls closest to the standard, dictionary definition. Believers in this form say that literacy is a cognitive activity that students learn like any other basic skill. It has a set of proficiencies that one must master in order to be capable of decoding and encoding text (Alvermann, 2009; SIL International, 1999). A competing theory is the ideological model, which claims literacy is intrinsically linked to culture, and therefore what constitutes a “literate” individual is ever-changing. Society is the largest influence on literacy, according to this thought, and it is affected by politics, religion, philosophy and more (Alvermann, 2009; SIL International, 1999). These two are just the tip of the iceberg. For example, some studies recognize “literacy as competence,” which is a “measure of competence to do a given task or work in a given field,” (SIL International, 1999) such as being computer literate. Although more researchers are recognizing and exploring multiple literacies, the one that most influences American schools is the autonomous, cognitive model – the ability to read and write. For many, it seems a simple task, but millions of adolescents are struggling or reluctant readers, and there are many reasons why young readers have difficulty with reading. XXXXXX------NEED HELP WITH THESIS STATEMENT HERE PLEASE—(This paper will focus on the effects of low reading skills, some of the possible causes of reluctant and struggling readership...
The book Readicide by Kelly Gallagher is the ugly truth of the policies adopted in the school system to prioritized test taking strategies for the most part of the day and killing the enjoyment of students reading. The author points out that students’ reading has shifted negatively and the reading percentage has decreased. Students hate to read and classic novels are slowly vanishing from classrooms. The findings to Gallagher’s discoveries are research based and heartbreaking as the movement of standardized testing has been reinforced in most states. There are too many standards to teach and teachers are held accountable for students testing performance. Therefore, educators are forced to do test preps where students are provided with facts to be memorized and lack of comprehension. The author emphasized that students are no longer able to choose a book for the enjoyment of reading. Students’ interests are no longer taken into consideration. Students are reading less and less at school to make time for test prep. Gallagher says that as an educator and parent young
In the essay, “On the Presumption of Knowing How to Read”, by John Guilliory, He emphasizes the lack of articulation on reading in college. Guillory states “Upward of forty percent of college freshmen are directed to remedial classes of some kind in their first year” (qtd by Guillory 8). He claims that freshmen in college are put in remedial class for writing because the lack of understanding of what they are reading. He also states that many students that are not in remedial classes may also lack the interpretive skill. He has seen many students just be able to paraphrase and give an unobjectionable comprehension of the reading. Guillory states that not being able to move beyond simple understanding seems as if there is a resistance to reading. Guillory suggests that we need to learn the conceptual break in reading.
“Literacy—the ability to access, evaluate, and integrate information from a wide range of textual sources—is a prerequisite not only for individual educational success but for upward mobility both socially and economically,” states Sean Reardon (18). Literacy plays a significant role in civilized society. As Reardon mentioned, literacy is an important part of social and economic progression; therefore, it is unsurprising that thousands of dollars are poured into the education system each year to ensure that students can be considered literate. Reardon continues on to claim, “by third grade virtually all students can “read” in the procedural sense—they can sound out words and recognize simple words in context” (20). However,
The causes of reading difficulties often arise because of learning disabilities such as dyslexia, poor preparation before entering school, no value for literacy, low school attendance, insufficient reading instruction, and/or even the way students were taught to read in the early grades. The struggles that students “encounter in school can be seen as socially constructed-by the ways in which schools are organized and scheduled, by assumptions that are made about home life and school abilities, by a curriculum that is often devoid of connections to students’ lives, and by text that may be too difficult for students to read” (Hinchman, and Sheridan-Thomas166). Whatever the reason for the existence of the reading problem initially, by “the time a [student] is in the intermediate grades, there is good evidence that he will show continued reading g...
How many of us really believe that a child's intelligence, achievement, and confidence can be represented adequately by standardized tests? How can any distribution curve classify all children? What about all we have learned about children?s growth and their response to education? Few teachers and parents would accept that a single test score could define any child (Russel, 2002). We must ask if these tests address the educational concerns of teachers and parents and do they provide useful information about individual children or the class. Almost all teachers feel pressure to teach to the tests and feel that tests clearly limit educational possibilities for students (Russel, 2002). We feel it is detrimental to a child's education to enjoy reading. An article reported by the BBC news (2003) entitle...
“Standardized tests are defined by W. James Popham, former president of the American Educational Research Association, as ‘any test that’s administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard , predetermined manner.” (ProCon.org, 2011, p. 6) The debate over these tests has become a very hot topic especially since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. The debate over these tests covers all academic areas and therefore is relevant to the area of children’s literacy. At the core of this debate is the main stance of both sides:
There are many complications that arise when seeking a single definition of literacy. The debate over what is literacy and what isn’t is one that is of critical importance to the education of our country’s students. When originally asked at the beginning of this course about what literacy is, my initial response was the ability to read and write. While I suppose my answer wasn’t wrong, it certainly wasn’t entirely right either. Reading and writing are certainly important aspects of any persons literacy and are therefore one of the reasons why schools test in these areas frequently. However, as the course progressed I came to understand that there maybe more to what I originally thought about what literacy is. I came to realize that coming up with a single definition would prove to be a tedious task since there now appeared to be so many things that can be considered literacy. Through reading articles pertaining to literacy and observing various settings where literacy is used, I have been able to come to a better understanding of what literacy is.
Drew, S. V. (2012). Open up the Ceiling on the Common Core State Standards: PREPARING STUDENTS FOR 21ST-CENTURY LITERACY—NOW. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, (4). 321. Retrieved 29 March 2017 from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com .proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=9&sid=038c2a83-68e8-498d-8bc0-74dee409185b%40sessionmgr103&hid=117
Students have the ability to read grade level text but continue to demonstrate difficulty with comprehension of information because they are unfamiliar with the vocabulary of learning. This problem appears to occur more frequently in English learners (EL) and Students with Disabilities (SWDs). Students benefit from specific and explicit vocabulary instruction (Hattie 2000).... ... middle of paper ...
To accomplish vocabulary development, before reading the teacher needs to instruct their students on any prerequisites that they need to understand to interpret the text appropriately. This means the teacher has to pull out the most important words as well as those that may be too difficult for the stud...
In the 1980’s a report called “A Nation At Risk” stated that American children had fallen behind in such subjects as math and science. Thus came the advent of education’s increased focus on literacy and numeracy, accountability and academic standards. These high standards, according to Dumas (2000), are the most significant trend in schools today.
In this paper, I will analyze reading strategies for the content area of language arts in a fifth grade class. Reading comprehension is one of the most critical skills a student can master. Without a firm grasp on the comprehension process, learners will struggle in every subject they encounter, whether it’s science, math, or social studies as well as everyday living skills. The content areas typically included disciplines like science, social studies/history and math, but any area outside of English literature instruction constitutes a content area. The reading associated with content area courses reflects not only the concepts and ideas important to these subjects, but also the text structures used by those practicing the field.
Many people think fluency is just reading fast. Fluency is the ability to decode and comprehend at the same time. Some teachers think that you do not need to teach fluency because it will come naturally. In some instances yes, but to create a strong reader fluency needs to be taught. Mrs. Baughman says that her school does not teach or score fluency. She is recalling this information from when she was an intervention specialist. Reading out loud is a good way to check a student’s fluency, but there are some other ways to measure fluency. Repeated reading of a passage, usually poetry
Reading is an essential skill that needs to be addressed when dealing with students with disabilities. Reading is a skill that will be used for a student’s entire life. Therefore, it needs to be an important skill that is learned and used proficiently in order for a student to succeed in the real world. There are many techniques that educators can use to help improve a student’s reading comprehension. One of these skills that needs to be directly and explicitly taught is learning how to read fluently for comprehension. “To comprehend texts, the reader must be a fluent decoder and not a laborious, word-by-word reader” (Kameenui, 252). Comprehension can be difficult for students with learning disabilities because they tend to be the students that are reading below grade level. One strategy is to incorporate the student’s background knowledge into a lesson. This may require a bit of work, but it will help the students relate with the information being pres...