For the love of reading

Supporting struggling readers

Kaye Lowe

• Publisher: Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA)
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781925132298
• eBook ISBN: 9781925132304
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

For the Love of Reading: Supporting struggling readersexamines the world of the struggling reader from multiple perspectives. The intention is to leave the reader with a broad perception and understanding of the journey of struggling readers and be equipped with strategies and ideas to support their success to become lifelong, independent and responsible readers.

Chapter 1

Is there a problem?

The first step in addressing any problem is admitting that there is a problem. The reality is that the Connors and Emilys do exist in all schools across all jurisdictions. Today, more and more secondary schools request training workshops on how to support struggling readers. Ten years ago, they did not see this as their issue. They were discipline experts and that is what they taught. They often scoffed at the suggestion that they were teachers of literacy and held tight to their beliefs that all students enter high school equipped to read the textbook. When they defined reading, they equated it with sounding fluent when reading aloud (often judged in round-robin experiences). In as much as their definitions were limited so were the strategies used to support students struggling to read.

Fortunately, more and more secondary schools care to catch students who have ‘fallen through the gaps’; they know that without adequate reading skills, students cannot comprehend their discipline-specific texts. They have broadened their understanding of reading to include comprehension rather than focus on the ‘read aloud’ performance of students. They also understand that if they do not reach these students, there is no-one waiting in line to offer support. For most secondary students, it is their last chance. It begs the question – Why are more and more students entering high school struggling to read? Who, if anyone, previously intervened on behalf of the student? Who answered their parents’ concerns? How were they not identified and offered effective support prior to Year 7? What have these students been doing on a daily basis in the K–6 classrooms? There can be no excuses. The following observations have been made in several published reports.

• The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), Australia, 2011 to 2012 (reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013) claims that around 3.7% (620 000) of Australians aged 15 to 74 years have literacy skills below Level 1, a further 10% (1.7 million) at Level 1, 30% (5.0 million) at Level 2, 38% (6.3 million) at Level 3, 14% (2.4 million) at Level 4, and 1.2% (200 000) at Level 5. Overall, 44% (3.7 million) of men and 45% million) of women have literacy skills at Level 2 or below. At Level 1, the reader is required to recognise basic vocabulary, determine the meaning of sentences, and read a paragraph of text. At Level 2, the reader is required to match text and information, paraphrase or make low-level inferences.
• The Closing the Gap Report 2015 shows that between 2008 and 2014 the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at or above the national minimum standards in reading and numeracy has shown no statistically significant improvement nationally in any of the eight measures (Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in reading and numeracy). The 2014 Naplan Test results show that only 2 out of 10 children in very remote parts of the NT are achieving at or above the minimum standard for reading in Year 3. This drops to only 1 out of 10 by the time a child reaches Year 9. OECD’s, Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) reports that there is about 2.5 years gap between non-Indigenous and Indigenous literacy rates in Australia.
• In the United States, the majority of students leave high school without the advanced reading and writing skills necessary to succeed in college or in a career. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 2009), claims that more than 60% of twelfth-grade students score below the proficient level in reading achievement, and 27% scored below the basic level in reading.
• An estimated 32 million adults in the USA – about one in seven – are saddled with such low literacy levels that it would be tough for them to read anything more challenging than a children’s picture book or to understand a medication’s side effects listed on a pill bottle. (National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2009)

On one level there are questions pertaining to students like Connor and Emily who for many reasons fail to make satisfactory benchmarks in reading. On another level, there are questions that relate to resistant (aliterate) students – those who can read but choose not to. Experts in the field of reading motivation identify the lack of student engagement with literacy as one of the most severe crises of our schools (Guthrie, 2004). Why do so many students avoid reading, or claim to not like it? Why do students look mystified when asked the name of the last book they read and enjoyed? Why do they not see reading as meaningful in their lives? Why do students lose interest in reading as they get older? Research evidence reinforces the decline in student’s attitudes to and enjoyment of reading.

• Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data suggest a statistically significant fall in children’s reading for pleasure in the 6 year period from 2006 to 2012 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS, 2012).
• Thirty per cent of Australian children like reading, 52% somewhat like reading and 19% do not like reading. The Australian percentages were similar to international averages (Thomson et al., 2012).
• Children enjoy reading less as they become older (Clark, Osborne & Akerman, 2008; Clark & Douglas, 2011).
• Highest percentage of children who read for pleasure is in the 9 to 11 age group. A comparison of ABS statistics from 2003 to 2012 also shows that the decline in leisure reading in this age group has been less, while the highest decline has occurred amongst the 12- to 14-year-old age group (ABS statistics, 2012).
• A greater proportion of girls (92%) than boys (83%) enjoy reading at home. (The (Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, LSAC, 2012).
• Young children from households with more than 30 books are more likely to enjoy reading several years later compared to children who live in households with fewer than 30 books (LSAC, 2012).
• Children with high socio-economic status are more likely to enjoy reading at home (just under 75%) compared to only 49% of children with low socio-economic status (LSAC, 2012).
• Teens are reading less and for shorter periods of time and reading is a declining activity (‘To Read or Not to Read’, National Endowment of the Arts, 2007).
• Fewer Indigenous students like or feel confident in reading, compared to their non-Indigenous peers (‘Monitoring Australian Year 4 student achievement internationally: 2012, p. 83).

Undeniably, there is a problem; a problem that needs a concerted effort on behalf of students by teachers, principals, parents, policy makers, politicians and communities working together.

When reading is a problem

Research identifies three particular subgroups of readers for whom reading is a problem.

Struggling readers

While research refers to these students as ‘struggling’, Miller (2009) refers to them as ‘developing’ and her label is hopeful, encouraging and implies that there is potential for growth. Emily and Connor fall into this category of readers. They are the readers who, for whatever reason, are not reading at grade level. Students like Emily and Connor usually stop receiving support and assistance beyond Grade 3.

With the support of concerned parents, they go on a treadmill of ‘possible solutions’ including seeking out interventions, tutors and labels. Understandably, as the problem persists, their level of engagement decreases. Emily and Connor do not have effective strategies for reading, have limited comprehension and as a consequence, ‘doing school’ becomes hard. Their self-perceptions are usually battered and feelings of anxiety are ever present. For most, it takes tremendous resilience to turn up to school on a daily basis to go through the motions of completing worksheets, assignments, and reading tasks (Refer to the case study of Olivia that follows).

Olivia, in Grade 4 was a struggling reader. She looked and acted defeated. At our first meeting, she read gibberish when asked to read a book below her instructional level. When I asked her to write six sight words – she wrote strings of random letters. Bnchu for school; hir for boy. I found her mother waiting in a nearby room. I explained my concerns and asked if it was possible that she believed she was ‘dumb or stupid’. Her mother acquiesced and described how Olivia’s father constantly told her she was stupid and while everyone wanted to go places with her younger brighter sister, no one asked her along. Why would Olivia succeed at reading? She was already defeated as a learner.

Olivia did succeed and her success was linked to her enthusiasm for Little Athletics – the only activity not attended by her sister. She photographed her friends, scrap-booked events, wrote captions and built her literacy success around something she valued. Little Athletics gave her reason to shine.

‘Aliterate’ readers

These readers can read but choose not to read. They are reluctant, unmotivated and disinterested. Increasingly, the system is producing more and more ‘aliterate’ students – students leaving school not reading. These students’ disdain for reading is ‘justified’ in terms of a hodgepodge of factors – poverty, lack of parental education or support, impoverished literacy environments at home, second-language issues, unrealistic parental expectations, and the easy availability of other entertainment options (such as sport and technology) that entice them away from reading. Regardless, students are reading less for pleasure and Gallagher (2009, p. 2) sees it as ‘readicide’: ‘the systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in school’.

What causes ‘readicide’? Gallagher (2009) suggests the following:

• schools valuing the development of test-takers more than they value the development of readers
• schools limiting authentic reading experiences
• teachers over teaching books
• teachers under teaching books.

‘Aliterate’ readers read the minimal amount to pass the test or complete the assignment. They develop strategies to manipulate the system; for example, watch the movie, read summaries, and rely on others. For them, reading is not a pleasurable pursuit. It is simply work. However, aliterate readers can be tempted by the ‘right’ book. When it is the ‘right’ book, they will find the time to read – in class, at the bus stop, or while waiting for friends. For some, like Sam below, there are compelling reasons for locating the next ‘hot’ book.

Sam had never read a book and was convinced that reading was work and ‘for nerds’. He explained how he changed this perception when he discovered the pleasure of reading ‘Harry Potter’. He explained how he felt compelled to ask his accomplices to wait for him to finish the last chapter before going on a crime spree. I am glad he discovered the love of a good book, the shame is that he didn’t have a few more chapters to read or someone to hand him the next one in the series so that he may have circumvented his trip to juvenile justice.

Resistant readers

Resistant readers are students who can read, do read, but choose not to read what they are asked to read at school. Miller (2009) refers to them as underground readers and describes them as sophisticated and successful readers who see little merit in reading the required text.

Resistant readers enjoy reading self-selected texts outside the classroom and can spend hours reading information on the internet, participating in social networking, gaming, reading magazines, comics or books. Interestingly, resistant readers can be engaged in multiple types of reading simultaneously. Fifty-eight per cent of middle and high school students use other media while reading (National Endowment of the Arts, 2007). Resistant readers see no reason to read teacher-prescribed texts; particularly, if the teacher ‘does the book to death’ with worksheets, reports, analysis, or projects. Beyond the classroom, their reading choices are meaningful and relevant to their lives – they connect to their friends and interests.

Resistant readers can appear bored with school. However, in conversation, they are animated and talk enthusiastically about websites, books, blogs, Facebook sites, and the computer games they play at home. They are readers who love to sit and read at the computer screen or have a book on hand. These students have a lot to offer and for teachers not to capitalise on their reading habits is a travesty as in the case of James.

James is in Year 6 and prefers to be the class clown. He has a positive, likeable personality. He is always late handing in his assignments and does what he can to avoid completing school work. His parents know James is extremely competent but to a certain degree they have become complacent about his lackadaisical attitude. When he has school work to complete, he relies on his friends. He rarely reads the assigned worksheets or prescribed texts. On occasions, he will read a chapter but shows no interest in the Boy in the striped pyjamas and figures he can always watch the movie if he has to respond in class. At home, he prefers to spend his time in his room alone or with friends talking about the The 39 clues which they are all reading. They spend hours playing the interactive Internet game associated with the series and enthusiastically swap books amongst their friends.

Much has been written on the decline of middle school students’ reading habits. The primary focus has been identifying the cause of the decline rather than identifying ways to ke...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Introduction Give reading back to students
• Chapter 1 Is there a problem?
• Chapter 2 How do teachers develop independent and responsible readers?
• Chapter 3 What does it take to create a nurturing environment?
• Chapter 4 How is reading to be incorporated into the literacy block?
• Chapter 5 When it comes to reading, what is being taught?
• Chapter 6 Are reading and writing connected and why does it even matter?
• Chapter 7 What does a teacher do when Ava’s parents want to help and Liam’s don’t?
• Chapter 8 What is to be assessed and why is it important?
• Conclusion: Tapestry or travesty?
• References