Susan,

Here are a couple of more thoughts shared by another of my colleagues, Tom Schnell at UMSL. 

I'd say that she adult learner has been the "beneficiary" of a reading approach that has emphasized ability to call words 
over a more inclusive approach that includes word meaning, sentence and 
paragraph comprehension, and general information.  Her inability to alphabetize 
seems strange, unless she fails to grasp the concept of alphabetizing.  I'm not 
sure what it means to say she cannot make obvious choices about leveling 
children's books unless it requires reading skills she doesn't have herself.

A quick answer is to utilize reading materials that are of interest, perhaps 
starting with stories she dictates to a tutor, and which might need to be 
rewritten to a lower vocabulary level than her actual speaking vocabulary.  
Then, I'd teach Directed Reading Activities using that material and include lessons on alphabetizing, 
vocabulary, and simple sentence comprehension.

With older learners, the keys are interest, motivation, short lessons with detailed instruction, and appropriate 
materials.

Best,
Jeri Levesque, Ed.D.
Evaluator, LIFT



 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Susan McShane <smcshane at famlit.org>
To: The Family Literacy Discussion List <familyliteracy at nifl.gov>
Sent: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 2:30 pm
Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 971] Re: ComprehensionMonitoringStrategiesDiscussionBegins Today




































This learner obviously presents many challenges,
and I’m afraid I don’t have any simple answers for you. However, I would
like to say I’m very glad you’re working with her. It’s clear
that she needs and deserves the help. She’s apparently just “calling
words” as they used to say, and that’s not an indication of her
comprehension of the passage. It also appears that both oral communication
skills and background knowledge may be limited. 



 



It might make sense to work on vocabulary—teaching
a few new words every week, with plenty of examples of how to use them, lots of
practice, and regular review. She might create a “personal dictionary”
that includes all the new words she learns, along with definitions and sample
sentences. This makes vocabulary development “concrete” and she’ll
be able to see her growth.



 



Once again, I think we all appreciate your
efforts. If anyone else has any ideas, please pass them on.



 



 



Susan McShane



National Center for Family
Literacy



502-584-1133, Ext. 175



smcshane at famlit.org
















From:
familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Charlotte Learning
 Center

Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
2:14 PM

To: 'The Family Literacy
Discussion List'

Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 970]
Re:ComprehensionMonitoringStrategiesDiscussionBegins Today






 



Hi all thanks for all of your replies.
Here is more information on the individual I spoke of yesterday:



The student is a 67-year-old African
American female who quit a segregated school in the 11th grade, and
probably had a poor education up to that point. She just got a job at a library
recently through the Virginia Older Workers program. She cannot alphabetize.
She also cannot make pretty obvious choices about leveling children’s
books. Her tutor (and new boss) has had to rephrase directions quite often and
says weak vocabulary and weak oral communication skills are definitely part of
her case.



 



What I mean by mainstream refers to what
we expect of someone who has gone to school and has the cultural literacy we
would expect of a high school graduate today; for example she may not know what
a “main idea” is, but can still learn and understand? How can she
possibly be able to read at a 6th grade level and not comprehend at
a 1st grade level?



 



For those of you who want more info from
the assessment:



 She is in the late within word stage
of spelling (cluct for CLUTCH), reading at 98% on her Word Recognition in
Context 6th grade passage, 90% on the untimed Word Recognition in
isolation at the 6th grade list. She demonstrated Independent and
Instructional scores up to that point, except in the Oral Comprehension where
she bombs across the board. Her silent reading comprehension also bombed. Her
reading rates are around 100 wpm. Yes, which come to think of it contradicts a
fluency reader at the 6th grade, but could be 3rd. Before
she read the passages on the informal reading inventory, I asked her some
questions to assess her background knowledge e.g.: Her answer to “What is
soccer” Her answer: “Game played outside by two people”. Or,
“What do flowers need to grow? “A yard.”  



 



Mora



 
















From:
familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Susan McShane

Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008
5:28 PM

To: The Family Literacy Discussion
List

Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 961] Re: ComprehensionMonitoringStrategiesDiscussionBegins
Today






 



Hi Mora,



 



I was actually referring to simplifying
the task rather than the reading level of the material, but you raise a good
point. To introduce a comprehension strategy you probably want to begin with
material that isn’t too difficult to decode. The learner should be able
to focus mainly on the strategy, not on identifying the words. (After
they’ve learned the strategy, obviously they can use it with anything
they need to read, and sometimes the material will be difficult. That’s
when they need the strategy most!)



 



As to your other points, before responding
we have a few clarifying questions: 



 




 
Has
     this student been successful in demonstrating her comprehension when
     reading silently? Is oral reading as an assessment task intimidating for
     her, so perhaps she is working hard not to make any mistakes and is
     therefore not able to focus on meaning? 

 
You
     suggest that her “mainstream” communication skills are
     limiting her ability to answer questions/demonstrate understanding.
     I’m not quite sure what you mean by this. I assume you’ve had
     other opportunities to converse with her. Is there any reason to believe
     she is not a good oral communicator? 

 
Is
     it possible that the vocabulary is part of the problem? You used the term
     “native” in describing her. Is she a native English speaker or
     do you mean to say she is a Native American? Of course, even native
     English speakers may have very limited vocabularies.

 
We
     also find it baffling that she can read accurately at the 6th-grade
     level but doesn’t appear to comprehend even at the 1st-grade
     level. Do you have any other—perhaps less formal—assessment of
     her understanding? Have you heard her participate in discussions about her
     reading? Or, once again, have you given a silent reading
     test—perhaps answering questions in some curriculum material
     she’s using?





 



You’ve presented us with a very
interesting—and intriguing—example. If you can give us some more
information, we might continue with this conversation. Do others have anything
to suggest with regards to this student?



 



Susan
















From:
familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Charlotte Learning
 Center

Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008
3:54 PM

To: 'The Family Literacy
Discussion List'

Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 956] Re:
Comprehension MonitoringStrategiesDiscussionBegins Today






 



Susan, you said to have a student restate
after a few sentences if necessary. If a student has such low understanding of
a text (that they are able to read fluently) it does make sense to lower their
instructional reading level, to something, as you said, that isn’t too
complicated.



However,  I have a native, elderly
adult student who can read fluently up to a 6th grade level, but
cannot correctly answer comprehension questions at any level (1st-6th) on a
QRI.   Deciding an instructional level given her fluency rates is a
little baffling. 



How does one assess a starting point for
using these comprehension strategies?



 



And also, how much of comprehension
testing is also a test of oral communication skills, and perhaps in this
instance (in the QRI) “mainstream” communication skills are
required to demonstrate comprehension, e.g. give the main idea.



Mora
















From:
familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Susan
 McShane

Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008
11:44 AM

To: The Family Literacy Discussion
List

Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 953] Re:
Comprehension Monitoring StrategiesDiscussionBegins Today






 



Hello Everybody! Since there are so many possibilities
in the broad category of comprehension monitoring, Donna and I think that
it’s probably best to start with something that makes sense to the
learner and isn’t  too complicated. 



 



One possibility is restating—that is
putting what they’ve read into their own words. You can explain that
it’s a good way to stay focused on the meaning and to “test”
their understanding.  Ask them to stop after the first section or
paragraph (or even the first couple of sentences) and try to put what the
writer said in their own words. If they can’t do it, that’s a clue
that they may need to re-read and think about it more carefully.



 



Another possibility is a variation on the
“coding text” strategy. The book includes an example that has
several different kinds of marks to indicate questions, mark important facts,
and make other responses to the text. You might start with something much
simpler that introduces the idea of marking the text. Maybe they could just
underline any words they don’t understand or put a check mark by any
important or interesting facts or bits of information. If they begin with just
one or maybe two kinds of “codes” it may be less intimidating. 



 



Starting with one of these simple
approaches also makes it easier for you/the teacher to demonstrate and model
the strategy.



 



Does this sound reasonable? Has anyone
done anything like this or used any other comprehension-monitoring strategies?



 
















From:
familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Gail Price

Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008
11:19 AM

To: The Family Literacy Discussion
List

Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 952]
Comprehension Monitoring Strategies DiscussionBegins Today






 



Good morning, List members,



 



I am very pleased to welcome Susan
 McShane, Reading
Initiative Specialist at the National Center for Family Literacy, and Donna Elder, Reading Specialist at the National Center for Family Literacy, to our List.
They will be leading the discussion on comprehension monitoring strategies for
adult readers. I know many of you have been looking forward to this discussion
and I hope you are prepared to join in with your questions, comments and
experiences. 



 



I would like to get us
started by asking Susan and Donna how they introduce the comprehension monitoring
strategies on pages 80- 82 of Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults: First Steps for
Teachers, to students. Is there a particular strategy
that you introduce before the others? How might you present the strategy to
maximize learner buy-in? 



 



 



 



 



Gail J. Price



Multimedia Specialist



National
 Center for Family
Literacy



325 W. Main Street,
  Suite 300



Louisville,
 KY 40202



gprice at famlit.org



502 584-1133, ext. 112



 



 



Join us
for the 17th Annual National Conference on Family Literacy!

"Literacy
Grows Families and Communities"

March 30, 31, & April 1, 2008-Louisville, KY

Register online at www.famlit.org/conference



 






 





----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Family Literacy mailing list
FamilyLiteracy at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/familyliteracy
Email delivered to jalsails at aol.com



 


________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever.  Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/familyliteracy/attachments/20080205/05f3e6d4/attachment.html