Table 2 (cont.)
Instruction Type
Most Relevant Grade(s)
Domain
Benefits
Challenges
Language and vocabulary skills grow through life experiences as well as through exposure to direct instruction. Student growth and proficiency in oral language are typically not as closely tied to classroom instruction as code-focused skills (Anderson & Nagy, 1993).
Oral Language
Meaning- focused
K+
Oral language (including vocabulary knowledge and language comprehension)
plays a critical role in reading development
(Hogan at al., 2014). For many students, listening comprehension outpaces reading comprehension in the early grades, while decoding automaticity is still developing. Oral language data is helpful in identifying specific subsets of students who are fluent speakers but may not fully understand content when they read. Informal checks for understanding (written or verbal responses to listening) can be a way to gain insight within this area. Fluency is relatively easy to measure and serves as a good proxy for overall reading ability. In one study, fluency was found to account for approximately 50% of the variance in students’ reading comprehension for adolescent students with reading difficulties (Paige, 2011). Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading instruction. When measured in a reliable way, reading comprehension data can
Students with low fluency scores may have difficulties for many reasons (e.g., fluency is impacted by language comprehension or decoding accuracy and automaticity). Further assessment may be needed to pinpoint strengths or weaknesses for guiding differentiation. Reading comprehension is complex and can be impacted by many factors, including the reader, the text itself, and the purpose for reading (Snow, 2002). Like fluency difficulties, reading comprehension difficulties arise from different causes. Because of this, further assessment may be necessary to pinpoint the cause (or causes) of students’ comprehension difficulties.
Fluency
Code- focused
Grades 1+
Meaning- focused
Grades 2+ (or students reading connected text fluently)
Reading Compre- hension
be an extremely useful starting point to help
teachers understand how well a student is reading. Informal checks (written or verbal responses to reading) can be useful for tracking student understanding and engagement.
ALIGNING PRACTICE WITH RESEARCH TOPIC PAPER 10
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