The English language is hard partially because of some ambiguities in key terms that are used daily. There are words that are just confusing.

Worst of all in my opinion is the word “sorry”.

I’m Sorry

The phrase “I’m sorry” can mean dramatically different things that are easily confused. 

At a funeral, I might say “I’m sorry” to express sympathy or empathy for the person’s loss. But it’s not an apology or admission of guilt. I’m not suggesting that I caused the death.

If I bump into someone on a crowded bus and say “I’m sorry”, it is a sort of apology or at least a recognition that I take some responsibility for the minor mishap. At least, I acknowledge that I regret that this happened even if I’m not assuming responsibility.

However, there’s also the true expression of regret and guilt as in when I ate all the cookies when Mom had said I was only allowed to have one. Busted by Mom, I’ve been shamed and am apologizing to my hungry and cookie-less siblings with “I’m sorry”.  This was an actual admission of guilt, blame, and regret. To this day, I feel guilty about pigging all the freshly-baked cookies that one time!

Back to Education

How is a teacher supposed to get her elementary school students to understand these nuances of meaning when such a critical word has such a range of frequently confused meanings?

I think the answer is to model precise use of language and then to start asking your students to do the same. If a student uses “I”m sorry” in a confusing way, a teacher can ask saying: “Are you just expressing sympathy for an unfortunate situation or are you accepting blame, stating regret,  and resolving to try not to repeat it?”  Of course, in the context of an elementary classroom, that would be harsh and not fully appropriate but I think you see the idea.

Real World Modelling of Being Precise with Words

As a more realistic example, a teacher could say to her students, once an ambiguous word is used: “I’m sorry that English is so hard to understand.”  Then, the teacher could ask the class if they felt the teacher was:

A: Saying it is regrettable that English is so hard
B:  Taking responsibility personally for having created the complexities in English
C: Both of the above

Like many multiple choice class questions, this can be discussed and then people can either vote either by a hand count or having three places in the room to go to be vote and be counted (this is more engaging for many young students and helps avoid having them sit still for too long a time).

Modelling Speaking Precisely

Personally, I could avoid saying that “I”m sorry English is so hard to understand” since it’s ambiguous if I’m taking responsibility or not for the regrettable peculiarities of English (Perhaps as mayor of VocabularySpellingCity I do have some complicity). 

Instead, I should say: “It’s a shame that English is so hard to understand.” This way it’s clear that I’m expressing sympathy for the teachers and students’ heavy burdens without suggesting that I have any guilt or complicity in it.  But in addition to speaking precisely, it’s better pedagogy to explain to everyone why we are choosing the words that we do.

What can parents of students with learning disabilities expect from these learning resources?

VocabularySpellingCity offers more than 40 fun and engaging games for K-12 students. Here are just a few sample games that are especially helpful for students with ADD/ADHD, Autism, Language-Based Learning Disabilities, and Dyslexia.

Try a sample game:

• ADD/ADHD: Missing Letter

• Autism: Which Initial Sound?

• Dyslexia: Rhyme & Climb

• Language-Based Learning Disabilities: Sound It Out!

Our games provide audio and visual cues, useful for students with learning disabilities. Students can work together or independently to increase their learning enjoyment in the classroom or during practice at home. For those students needing handwriting practice, VocabularySpellingCity also has printable activities that can be created using any word list.

VocabularySpellingCity provides families and classrooms with more than 40 fun activities including spelling, vocabulary, phonics, and writing practice tools, and English language games. These activities help students of all ages and abilities hear, say, write, break down, and play with words. We provide learning resources for ALL learners. If you have any questions about VocabularySpellingCity and how our learning programs can help students with learning disabilities become better learners, please contact us via email or by phone Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm EST at (800) 357-2157 if you wish to speak directly with a staff member.

Some of the most challenging words (and phrases) for students to learn are those that are metaphorical in nature – words not meant to be taken literally.  Idiomatic expressions, a type of figurative language, are among the most challenging words for students to learn. Expressions like going bananas, it’s raining cats and dogs, a chip on your shoulder, and it’s all Greek to me, are not to be taken literally.  The meaning of these expressions is hidden. It is up to the listener or reader to understand the underlying meaning of such expressions. Whether written or spoken, idiomatic expressions are common. Authors use idioms to make their writing more interesting and authentic.

Yet, unless the reader understands the hidden meaning of the idiom, s/he will have difficulty understanding the text in which the idiom is situated. Given the importance in understanding idioms, it seems reasonable to expect that figurative language, and idiomatic expressions in particular, be an integral part of a reading/language arts curriculum. However, if you take a look at reading and language arts instructional programs, you will find, at best, only a limited amount of coverage in any such topics. So what to do?

There are literally hundreds of idioms that are worth teaching. One approach that I might suggest is to teach idioms by themes or topics. At the beginning of the week, identify a theme that contains a number of idiomatic expressions. The website The Idiom Connection has organized expressions by theme. There you will find themes such as clothes idioms, animal idioms, number idioms, sports idioms, and more. Select (or ask your students to select) 8-10 idioms that belong to the chosen theme. Display these idioms on a chart along with their underlying or hidden meaning. Below is a chart for dog idioms.

Keep the display up throughout the week and encourage students to use the displayed expressions in their own oral and written language. For example, you might ask students to use at least one idiom in their personal journal at the end of each day. Of course, if you want students to use the expressions, you’ll need to find ways to use them yourself. For example, if a student provides an incorrect response to a question, you might say that he’s “barking up the wrong tree,” or if you don’t think the school principal will like an idea you might say, “well you just can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” or if you have a group of students who are “hounding” you with a request, you might tell them to “call off the dogs.” As you can probably see, finding ways to use these expressions is a fun challenge for both you and your students.

After having playfully used the idioms throughout the week students will probably have a good understanding of them. But if you want to take it one step further, at the end of the week ask students to work by themselves or with a partner to write a paragraph or two that summarizes the work done over the week or the plans students might have for the weekend and embed as many of the week’s expressions as possible. Here’s an example of what one student wrote recently:

“My sister and I have been hounding our parents to take us to the high school football game this weekend. Since he didn’t want to be in the doghouse, Dad finally told us to call off the dogs –  he agreed that he would finally take us. However, since it is supposed to rain cats and dogs this weekend, we think we might ask Dad to let sleeping dogs lie and wait for another day to take us to a game.”

Can you imagine the fun of having students read and discuss their short compositions with their classmates on a Friday afternoon? Moreover, you can save the very best essays to share with students in the following school years. Learning to read and learning words should be fun. Bringing idioms into your classroom is sure to add joy and authentic learning to your classroom experience.

Other Idiom Resources:

• VocabularySpellingCity – A great resource for finding and using idiomatic expressions with students.
• Go Figure! Exploring Figurative Language -Instructional activities for teaching idioms and other forms of figurative language. Features texts containing targeted words and expressions.
• Idioms And Other English Expressions – Strategies and suggestions about how to introduce idioms and incorporate them into your language and writing instruction. 
• Tim Rasinski’s website – Find blog posts and resources that feature idioms.

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Tim Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. His research on reading has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. Read more about Rasinski here, or connect with him on Twitter @timrasinski1. 

For more from Tim Rasinski, continue to follow us for his exclusive VocabularySpellingCity blog series and be sure to watch a video recording of his webinar “Automaticity (Fluency) in Word Learning Improves Comprehension”

Rasinski’s research on word fluency is cited in the report, “Applying Best Practices For Effective Vocabulary Instruction,” written by VocabularySpellingCity in partnership with McREL International.

“Some days there won’t be a song in your heart.  Sing anyway.” — Emory Austin

A few months back, my two-year-old grandson, Alex, was invited to a kid’s party. Alex is generally shy and somewhat reserved. However, once the song “Baby Shark” was played, Alex went right up to the small stage at the front of the room and, on his own, began to dance and sing for the rest of the children and adults. (I must admit, Alex has some dance moves that he needs to teach his grandpa). What a delight to see this toddler be so inspired by the music, to (without any prompting) perform in front of a large group of kids and adults, most of whom he did not know.   

What this episode demonstrates to me is the power of music and song to add joy to the human experience and to show the potential for using music and song as vehicles for teaching – especially reading. Music and song can add so much to any classroom.

• Music and Song are Fun – School should be an enjoyable experience for children. Most children (and adults) can find great joy in music and song. My daughter, who is getting married later this year, insists that the “Chicken Dance” and “YMCA” be part of the playlist for the reception. Sixty years later, I can still remember taking delight in singing “Oh Susanna” and “Polly Wolly Doodle All Day” in my own elementary school classroom. How about you?
• Music and Song Create Community – One of our roles as teachers is to help children learn that they live in a community larger than themselves – their families, places of worship, classrooms, schools, etc. Music and song help bring us together as communities. The patriotic songs that we hear on national holidays, as well as our school anthems, help to develop that sense of common purpose that helps to define a community.
• Music and Song Reflect Culture and History – So much of one’s culture and history is embedded in the songs we sing. Think of “Yankee Doodle” from the American Revolution, or the “Battle Cry of Freedom” from the Civil War, or “Over There” from the First World War. But beyond wars, songs can reflect, and even amplify our culture and history. When teaching about the Civil Rights era, how can we not expose our students to “We Shall Overcome” or the many other songs of that time? Similarly, the Great Depression was a time for songs to uplift the American spirit – think “Happy Days are Here Again” (and of course the darker side of such times as reflected in “Buddy Can You Spare a Dime”).
• Music and Song can Lead to Reading – Song lyrics are a form of written text available for reading instruction that often gets forgotten.  The very nature of songs and song lyrics make them especially well-suited for reading. Songs have rhythm and melody (a form or prosody for you fluency folks) that make them memorable. How often have you seen the bobbing heads and swaying bodies of children as they sing a favorite song?  Why as children, on the night before an important test, did we put the information we wanted to retain into the melody and rhythm of a familiar song or poem? The words in songs can be the gateway to building sight vocabulary. Sight words are, at their essence, memorized words – by sight and sound. By introducing words to students in the context of memorable songs (make sure the words are visible to the students), we provide them with a joyful first encounter to words that will eventually be recognized by sight.
• Song Lyrics for Children Rhyme – Rhyming words are, for the most part, made of what we in reading call rimes (or word families or phonograms). Teaching rhymes/rimes can be a very powerful way to help children gain proficiency in phonics. Learning “me” and “knee” from “Oh Susanna” will help children cement the  “-e/ee” rime in their minds and lead to other words such as “be,” “he,” “we,” “bee,” “see,” “tee.” “Row Row Row Your Boat” contains the words “stream” and “dream.” The “-eam” word family can lead children to learn to decode “beam,” “cream,” “seam,” “steam,” “scream,” “team.”

Teachers who do find ways to make songs a more integral part of their curriculum are usually pleased with the results. For example, first grade teacher Becky Awasaki has her students learn and rehearse several songs each week. They then celebrate what they have learned each week with an end-of-the-week sing-a-long with invited family and friends. She shared with me after a year of bringing songs back into her classroom, “I have never seen so much progress in reading. All my first graders are reading at or above grade level – and they love to sing!” Her students were singing and taking great delight in songs for sure, but because the written lyrics were always in front of her children, they were reading as well.

Songs and song lyrics offer so many ways to make literacy instruction (and schooling in general) so much more joyful, varied, and effective. Moreover, with the advent of the internet, access to song melodies and lyrics for children have never been easier. So let’s certainly keep a poem in our pockets, but also let’s keep a song in our hearts – and in our classrooms!

Some Great Websites for Children’s Songs

• https://kidsongs.com/lyrics
• https://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/songs/childrens/index.htm
• https://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/learning.html

Also, visit my website where I have posted some songbooks we use in our own reading clinic program (Camp Read-A-Lot).    

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Tim Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. His research on reading has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. Read more about Rasinski here, or connect with him on Twitter @timrasinski1. 

For more from Tim Rasinski, continue to follow us for his exclusive VocabularySpellingCity blog series and be sure to watch a video recording of his webinar “Automaticity (Fluency) in Word Learning Improves Comprehension”

Rasinski’s research on word fluency is cited in the report, “Applying Best Practices For Effective Vocabulary Instruction,” written by VocabularySpellingCity in partnership with McREL International.

In my previous blogs, I described how word recognition automaticity is an important component of reading fluency and how automaticity can be developed through authentic repeated readings of poems, songs, scripts, and other texts that are meant to be performed for an audience. In this blog, I’d like to focus on another component of fluency that doesn’t get as much attention as word recognition automaticity and reading speed – prosody!

Prosody is a linguistic term that refers to the expressive or melodic aspects of oral language and reading. When I think about someone who is a fluent speaker or reader, it’s not someone who speaks or reads fast, but someone who uses her or his voice to convey and enhance the meaning of their speech or text.  A growing body of research over the past 20 years has shown that prosody is consistently and significantly associated with reading proficiency. That is, readers who read orally with good expression (prosody) tend to be proficient readers (comprehension) when reading orally or silently. This association has been found with students in the primary and secondary grades.

Think about the students who struggle in your classroom as they do their best to read word-by-word, in a staccato and monotone manner. Clearly, these students have not enjoyed the reading experience, nor are they likely to be fully comprehending the text they are reading.  In addition to working on improving students’ word recognition accuracy and automaticity, would working their prosodic or expressive reading also improve their reading? The answer is yes. But, just how can we improve students’ prosody?

Interestingly, the answer to that question takes us back to my previous blog – authentic repeated readings of texts that are meant to be performed or read orally for an audience. Think about it  – poems, songs, scripts, speeches, stories, and the like, are meant to be performed orally. And for an oral performance to be satisfying for a listening audience, the text needs to be performed not only with perfect or near-perfect word recognition, but it also needs to be performed with appropriate expression or prosody.   

Listen to the recording of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream Speech. Notice how he used his voice (intonation, rhythm, cadence) to convey his intended meaning. Not only are the words he used important, but also in the way he read and delivered them to the nation. I am certain that before delivering his speech, Dr. King rehearsed it many times in order to achieve the level of prosody that he felt would have the greatest impact on listeners.

Can we use a similar approach in our classrooms?  I think so. Find texts that require expression, intonation, emphasis, phrasing, rhythm, and other aspects of prosody. As I mentioned in my previous blog, these texts could be stories with a strong voice, but they could also be scripts, poems, songs, dialogues, monologues, and more. Allow students opportunities to rehearse (or engage in the repeated reading of the texts) over several days with coaching and feedback from you.  Then, on a designated day, allow students to perform their assigned text for an audience of classmates or others.

In doing this form of repeated readings or rehearsal, we actually get more with our instruction. Students will improve both their word recognition accuracy and automaticity as well as improve their prosody in their reading. In addition, you will find students’ comprehension improve, their confidence in themselves as readers will grow, and they will have great joy and satisfaction in learning to read something well and performing it for a grateful audience.

I have often said that teaching is difficult because it is both an art and a science, and we tend to focus on one at the expense of the other.  The best teachers I know are both artists and scientists. This authentic use of repeated readings is a good example of the art and science of teaching reading. The science of teaching reading focuses on reading competencies required to be a good reader (phonics, fluency, automaticity, prosody, comprehension). The art of teaching reading involves finding authentic experiences for students to engage with poetry, song, theater, stories, and other texts that make reading an aesthetic experience as well as an academic exercise.    

References

Miller, J., & Schwanenflugel, P.J. (2008). A Longitudinal Study of the Development of Reading Prosody as a Dimension of Oral Reading Fluency in Early Elementary School Children. Reading Research Quarterly, 43(4), 336–354.

Paige, D. D.,  Magpuri-Lavell, T., Rasinski, T. V, & Smith, G. (2013).  Interpreting the relationships among prosody, automaticity, accuracy, and silent reading comprehension in secondary students.  Journal of Literacy Research, 46(2), 123-156

Rasinski, T. V., Reutzel, C. R., Chard, D. & Linan-Thompson, S. (2011).  Reading Fluency. In M. L. Kamil, P. D. Pearson, B. Moje, & P. Afflerbach E (Eds),  Handbook of Reading Research, Volume IV (pp. 286-319).  New York: Routledge.

Resources

Rasinski, T. (2010).  The Fluent Reader.   New York:  Scholastic.

Rasinski, T. & Smith, M. C.  (2018). The Megabook of Fluency.   New York:  Scholastic.

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Tim Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. His research on reading has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. Read more about Rasinski here, or connect with him on Twitter @timrasinski1. 

For more from Tim Rasinski, continue to follow us for his exclusive VocabularySpellingCity blog series and be sure to watch a video recording of his webinar “Automaticity (Fluency) in Word Learning Improves Comprehension”

Rasinski’s research on word fluency is cited in the report, “Applying Best Practices For Effective Vocabulary Instruction,” written by VocabularySpellingCity in partnership with McREL International.

In my previous blog, I explored the importance of repeated reading as an approach to improving students’ reading and overall reading proficiency. I pointed out that when students read a text several times, they not only demonstrate improvement in their reading of the current text but also on new texts never before read.  

While the results of research on repeated reading are compelling, the more practical question is how can teachers make repeated reading an integral part of their classroom instruction. In many classrooms, well-meaning teachers have children read a text multiple times for the purpose of increasing their reading speed. This to me does not seem a very authentic purpose for reading a text multiple times. When in real life do people engage in multiple readings of the same text for the purpose of reading it faster?  

I think that a more authentic and engaging form of repeated readings emerges from the notion of performance. If a reader were to perform a text for an audience, he or she would certainly want the opportunity to rehearse or practice the reading in advance. That rehearsal is a form of authentic repeated reading. Readers rehearse their text for the purpose of performing a meaningful oral rendering of the passage for an audience. Speed is not the goal of this form of repeated reading. Meaning or comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading.  

Certain texts – poetry, song, speeches, dialogues, monologues, and reader’s theater scripts – lend themselves particularly well to oral reading performance. I am particularly fond of reader’s theater scripts as an authentic form of repeated reading. Unlike putting on an actual play, reader’s theater involves students actually reading their scripts without the use of acting, props, costumes, or scenery. Students simply stand or sit in front of an audience, and read. Without using acting, props, and the like, students have only their voices to convey a meaningful and satisfying performance of the script to an audience. This means that students’ rehearsal or repeated reading must be focused on meaning. Moreover, reader’s theater is a very safe form of performing, as each student’s part is not overly long and they are not required to memorize a script. They only need to read with appropriate expression, enthusiasm, and meaning.  

As one young student said after engaging in reader’s theater, “I never thought I could be a star, but I was the best reader today.”

Without question, students love the opportunity to practice and perform. Authentic forms of repeated reading, such as reader’s theater, allow all students to be the best readers in their classrooms for the texts they perform. Moreover, regular use of reader’s theater and other forms of real repeated readings undoubtedly leads to significant improvements in fluency and overall reading achievement for all students, especially those who find reading difficult (Rasinski, 2010).

Although there are many sources for reader’s theater scripts, one of the best belongs to my colleague and former second grade teacher Chase Young. Teachers will find over 100 scripts that Chase has written with his own students.  Most are based on children’s books. These can inspire students to write and perform their own scripts after reading books in their class.

The Megabook of Fluency

Another good source of fluency material is The Megabook of Fluency that I wrote with my colleague and fifth grade teacher Melissa Cheesman Smith. In it, you will find a variety of materials and activities that teachers can use to make repeated readings and fluency instruction fun, authentic, and effective. Melissa and I were honored to learn that our Megabook of Fluency was just awarded the Teachers Choice Award for 2019!

Fluency and repeated reading instruction can be fun, authentic, and effective. We just allow our creativeness as teachers to make it happen.  

Martinez, M., Roser, N., & Strecker, S. (1998). “I Never Thought I Could Be a Star”: A Reader’s Theatre Ticket to Fluency. The Reading Teacher, 52(4), 326-334. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20202073

Rasinski, T. (2010).  The Fluent Reader.   New York:  Scholastic.

Rasinski, T. & Smith, M. C.  (2018). The Megabook of Fluency.   New York:  Scholastic.

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Tim Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. His research on reading has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. Read more about Rasinski here, or connect with him on Twitter @timrasinski1. 

For more from Tim Rasinski, continue to follow us for his exclusive VocabularySpellingCity blog series and be sure to watch a video recording of his webinar “Automaticity (Fluency) in Word Learning Improves Comprehension”

Rasinski’s research on word fluency is cited in the report, “Applying Best Practices For Effective Vocabulary Instruction,” written by VocabularySpellingCity in partnership with McREL International.

In my previous blog, I identified several essential foundational reading competencies. These are accuracy in word knowledge (phonics, spelling, and vocabulary), automaticity with words, and prosody. In this blog, I’d like to discuss the importance of automaticity in word recognition and how we can help nurture it in our students.

I like to describe automaticity this way – each one of us has a limited amount of cognitive energy in us. If we use it for one task, we lose it for another task that needs be done at the same time. There are essentially two important tasks to be done when reading. The first is to decode and understand the individual words in print. The second and more important task is to understand the message that the author is trying to convey. If readers use too much of their cognitive energy for the lower-level task of word recognition, they will have less available for comprehension. As a result, comprehension falters, not because readers are unable to understand the text, but because they have used too much of their limited cognitive resources.  

The solution to the problem described above is automatizing the lower level word recognition task. When word recognition is not only accurate but also automatic, readers use only a very small amount of their cognitive resources for this task, thus allowing them to use more for the important task of comprehension. The best example of automaticity in word recognition is you reading this blog. When you encounter the words on the page, you do not have to analyze them – most are recognized instantly as sight words. Very little of your cognitive energy is devoted to word recognition, and so you are able to focus most of that energy where it needs to be – comprehension.

So, how did you develop your automaticity in word recognition?  The answer is easy – practice! The more reading you did, the more automatic you recognized the words that you read over and over again. So, there is no doubt that getting students to read a lot is essential to developing automaticity.   

However, there is another form of practice that is equally powerful, especially for students who struggle in developing automatic word recognition. It’s called repeated reading and involves having students read one text multiple times until they can read it with a degree of fluency. Not only do students improve their automaticity (faster reading) on the texts they practice, they also show improvements in automaticity and comprehension on brand new passages that they have never seen before. There is a transfer, or generalization effect, from practicing one passage to a new, previously unread passage.

You may think having students read texts repeatedly seems a bit odd. But think of all things we do repeatedly, like practicing for the big game or rehearsing for a play. I have often used learning how to drive as a good analogy for repeated reading. When you first learned how to drive, you probably only practiced on one car (the family car) and it is likely that for the first few times out you took the same route. But as you mastered that one route with that one car, you were soon able to successfully drive other routes in other cars (your brother or sister’s car).  Moreover, as you developed automaticity in your driving you were able to multi-task. For most of us we can now drive almost any car safely and at the same time listen to the radio, converse with a passenger, or talk on the phone (if permitted by law where you live). This same idea is true for reading. The practice that allows you to automatically recognize the words in print allows you to multi-task too. The other task, of course, being comprehending what you read.

Repeated reading does indeed work. The challenge for teachers is finding how to create authentic situations where students will want to engage in repeated reading. In my next blog, I will explore making repeated reading a reality in our classrooms.  

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Tim Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. His research on reading has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. Read more about Rasinski here, or connect with him on Twitter @timrasinski1. 

For more from Tim Rasinski, continue to follow us for his exclusive VocabularySpellingCity blog series and be sure to watch a video recording of his webinar “Automaticity (Fluency) in Word Learning Improves Comprehension”

Rasinski’s research on word fluency is cited in the report, “Applying Best Practices For Effective Vocabulary Instruction,” written by VocabularySpellingCity in partnership with McREL International.

With the continued support of federal funding, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) legislation has had significant implications for English Language Learners (ELL). States now have to establish an entrance and exit plan to move ELL students into the general education population.

Vocabulary is the cornerstone to establishing such plan. ELLs need exposure to both academic and social vocabulary to build word knowledge. Other considerations for ELL vocabulary instruction include:

• An increase of multiple exposures to words
• A safe environment to practice where they won’t be judged
• Opportunities to hear, read, speak, write and play with words
• Corrective feedback while learning
• Engaging games and learning activities

Even the best teacher may struggle with providing an effective vocabulary instructional cycle for their ELL students. Enter, VocabularySpellingCity.

As a productivity tool, VocabularySpellingCity allows teachers to assign various word lists featuring basic classroom vocabulary (seat, group, lunch, recess) as well as subject area vocabulary from literature, math, science or social studies lesson. ELL students can learn, review, and revisit any word lists the teacher makes visible. Word lists are paired with VocabularySpellingCity’s over 40 learning games and activities to provide students with engaging and effective word practice. During the learning process, ELL students receive corrective feedback to keep them on the right track. VocabularySpellingCity is that safe place for students to hear, read, speak, write, and play with words as many times as they need.

ESSA funding requires products to be evidence-based. A recent McREL study found that with only 10 minutes of daily practice on VoabularySpellingCity, intermediate ELL students saw a 46.5% increase in reading comprehension. McREL is currently seeking funding to continue the study during the 2019-2020 school year.

A strong foundation in reading is necessary to become a competent and proficient reader. In a previous post, I reported on a recent study that found that students who were proficient in the foundational competencies of word recognition, spelling, sight word reading, and fluency were 7 times more likely to also be proficient in overall reading achievement than students who have not achieved proficiency in the foundational competencies. Could it be that one of the reasons we continue to have nearly two-thirds of American fourth graders reading below a “proficient” level is insufficiently developed foundational reading skills?

In order to help students become proficient in the foundational reading skills, we need to know what they are so that we can teach them. So just what are the foundational reading skills? I think all of us would agree that the ability to decode words (phonics), encode words (spelling), and understand the meaning of words (vocabulary) are foundational to reading. VocabularySpellingCity does a great job of providing teachers, parents, and children with engaging activities for developing these essential competencies.

VocabularySpellingCity games, like Which Letter Team, allow students to work on foundational skills, such as phonics and spelling.

However, there are two other fluency foundational skills that often get less attention. The first of the fluency competencies is automaticity in word recognition. Automaticity refers to the ability to recognize words in print effortlessly. You are a superb example of automaticity. As you read this blog, my guess is that you are instantly and effortlessly decoding the words. Did you have to stop at any of the words to examine them, sound them out, or consider their meaning? My guess is you stopped very few times. Automaticity is so important because when you are effortless in word decoding, you are able to use your cognitive energy toward comprehending the message in the text. Think of students who might have to stop at every 10th word in a text to decode the pronunciation or meaning of the words. Although they may be able to analyze those words, their understanding of the overall text suffers since they have used up much of their cognitive energy in word analysis.   

We often think that getting children to decode words accurately through phonics is sufficient for reading. It is not. The real goal should be accurate and automatic word recognition. Many of our students who struggle in reading may be accurate, but they have yet to achieve automaticity.

The second of the foundational fluency competencies is what has been termed prosody.  Prosody in reading simply refers to the patterns of rhythm, stress, and intonation in reading orally. In other words, prosody in reading is a technical term for reading with expression.  Readers who read with expression need to be monitoring the meaning of the passage they are reading in order to embed appropriate expression. Moreover, when one reads with good expression, their expression enhances the meaning of the text for themselves and anyone listening to them read. Have you ever listened to someone read in a word-by-word monotone voice? It was probably more difficult to understand their message than if they had read with good expression.

Now think of the children in our classrooms who do not read with good expression – they simply read to get the words out. They are likely to struggle with understanding the meaning of words. Indeed, many of our students who struggle in overall reading proficiency are not sufficiently expressive in their oral reading. The problem is that often little attention is given to expressive reading. If you are using a commercial program for reading instruction, check out the extent to which the program asks you to focus your instructional attention on developing expressive reading. Probably not much.

The research is very clear on these two fluency related foundational reading competencies. Students who are automatic in their word recognition and prosodic in oral reading tend to be more proficient in overall reading proficiency than students who have yet to develop automaticity and prosody. Instruction in these areas is clearly called for. In my upcoming blog posts, I will explore how we can help students develop these two additional and critical foundational reading competencies.    

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Tim Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. His research on reading has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. Read more about Rasinski here, or connect with him on Twitter @timrasinski1. 

For more from Tim Rasinski, continue to follow us for his exclusive VocabularySpellingCity blog series and be sure to watch a video recording of his webinar “Automaticity (Fluency) in Word Learning Improves Comprehension”

Rasinski’s research on word fluency is cited in the report, “Applying Best Practices For Effective Vocabulary Instruction,” written by VocabularySpellingCity in partnership with McREL International.

It seems that we humans are always looking for the next new thing, whether it is cars, smartphones, music, technology, politics, or instruction. While I am all for things newer and better, I think that sometimes in order to move forward, we need to look to the past. I’d like to briefly revisit the importance of nursery rhymes as an approach for building a solid reading foundation (phonemic awareness) with young children.

Most of us grew up with nursery rhymes at home and perhaps even in school. To this day, many of us remember Jack and Jill, Peas Porridge Hot, Peter Piper, Little Bo Peep and more. An important study done several years ago demonstrated the importance of nursery rhyme knowledge. Bryant, Bradley, Maclean, and Crossland found that nursery rhyme knowledge among three-year-old children was a strong predictor of success in reading and spelling over the next three years, even after controlling for differences in social background, I.Q., and children’s initial phonological skill levels at the beginning of the study (1989). The authors argue that nursery rhymes enhance children’s phonological awareness, which is a foundational skill for reading.    

In a more recent study, Rasinski and Stevenson studied at-risk first grade students learning common nursery rhymes at home using a repeated reading protocol over three months (2005). They found that children learning nursery rhymes at home demonstrated significantly greater progress in word recognition and fluency over first graders who received the same reading instruction in school but without the additional assistance at home.

Nursery rhymes are important. Not only do they impact phonological awareness, they can lead to improvements in sight vocabulary, word families (rimes) awareness, and overall reading fluency when such rhymes are read repeatedly. Yet, interestingly, I hear from early childhood teachers that fewer and fewer children know their nursery rhymes. Has it happened that parents no longer view nursery rhymes as important and have moved on to the “next new thing” in literacy education?  

As we begin a new school year, perhaps it’s time to look back to nursery rhymes as a way to prepare children for literacy in pre-K classrooms, and begin literacy instruction in kindergarten and first grade. Imagine having children in early childhood classrooms learning to read, reread, and perform two or three rhymes every week; and then continuing practicing them at home with Mom and Dad. And because nursery rhymes are public domain material you can easily find them online. On my website, you can find a downloadable book of nursery rhymes that you can print out, make copies, and use in your classroom and share with parents. I am certain with the use of nursery rhymes, we can get these children off to a fast start in their reading development.   

Bryant, P. E., Bradley, L., Macclean, M., & Crossland, J. (1989).   Nursery rhymes, phonological skills, and reading. Journal of Child Language, 16(2), 407-428.

Padak, N., & Rasinski, T. (2005). Fast Start for Early Readers:  A Research-Based, Send-Home Literacy Program.  New York:  Scholastic.  

Padak, N., & Rasinski, T. (2008).  Fast Start:  Getting Ready to Read.  New York: Scholastic.

Rasinski, T., & Stevenson, B. (2005).  The Effects of Fast Start Reading, A Fluency Based Home Involvement Reading Program, On the Reading Achievement of Beginning Readers.  Reading Psychology: An International Quarterly, 26, 109-125.

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Tim Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. His research on reading has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. Read more about Rasinski here, or connect with him on Twitter @timrasinski1. 

For more from Tim Rasinski, continue to follow us for his exclusive VocabularySpellingCity blog series and be sure to watch a video recording of his webinar “Automaticity (Fluency) in Word Learning Improves Comprehension”

Rasinski’s research on word fluency is cited in the report, “Applying Best Practices For Effective Vocabulary Instruction,” written by VocabularySpellingCity in partnership with McREL International.