ELT203: Remedial
Instruction
UNIT II: Remedial Instruction in Reading
Prepared by:
Daza, Julie Mae A. Maglinte, Yocel M.
Dulla, Nicole M. Robo, Elieza Ann
BSED 2-A BSED 2-B
Topic: Correcting Basic Comprehension
Deficiencies
I. OBJECTIVES:
understand what comprehension is and why it is important in
effective reading and learning.
recognize common challenges and deficiencies that students
may face in understanding and interpreting written information.
learn various reading strategies to enhance comprehension.
II. INTRODUCTION
The fundamental aim of reading instruction is to enable readers to
comprehend those printed materials that will serve their goals, be they
simple or complex. The acquisition of a sight vocabulary, skill in recognizing
words, and linguistic skill in general are all directed at achieving an adequate
understanding and interpretation of the meanings embodied in printed
symbols.
Comprehension depends on the background knowledge the reader
brings to the reading, his vocabulary development, and his ability to translate
the author’s words into concepts. There is diversity in the vocabulary, use of
sentence structure clues (syntax clues), and use of essential meaning clues
(semantic clues) that children bring to reading. The language of children is
diversified because of differences in their preschool learning environments,
and their language patterns may be quite different one from another.
It has been emphasized that true reading is reading with
understanding that is, comprehension. A person’s level of comprehension
depends on his facility in using concepts or meanings evolved through
experience. The meaning of a word may be derived directly from those
experiences. The meaning of a word may be derived directly from those
experiences, to it may consist of a newly constructed meaning that results
from combining and recognizing meanings the reader already possesses.
The development of concepts that carry meanings begins early in a
child’s life. Concepts are acquired as the child begins use words and, later
sentences suitably. For application to reading, a meaning must be associated
with a word, for in reading, it is only by the use of words that meanings can
be recalled.
In normal development, a child’s experiences lead him to use sentences
for verbal communication. How well a reader understands sentences and hoe
skilful he is in using sentence forms determine how well he will be able to
read print organized into sentences. The precise meanings of certain words in
a sentence are comprehended from the context of the sentence.
The comprehension of sentences is facilitated when reading is done by
through units. Improvement in reading sentences by thought units, however,
is relatively slow, because it is dependent on increased efficiency in
recognizing single words. Only when the child has developed an adequate
sight vocabulary, can she group words into thought units.
The child with good verbal facility is able to organize her ideas into
thought units, reflected in her spoken sentences. A similar trend is found in
reading. But when a child reads by through units, the resulting organization
of the material aids comprehension. That is, proficiency in perceiving printed
material in terms of thought units is actually accompanied by understanding
of the material being read. .
Attention must also be directed to the comprehension of paragraphs
and longer units of discourse. To comprehend the material in a paragraph
requires an understanding of the relationships among the sentences in that
paragraph.
We must also note the relationships among paragraphs in longer
selections. Usually, the introductory paragraph briefly presents the plan,
central theme, or intended purpose of the piece. To comprehend longer units
of discourse, the student needs to understand this relationship between the
prefatory and succeeding paragraphs.
The implication of these trends for instruction to improve reading
comprehension seems clear. With the teacher’s guidance, reading
comprehension will become more and more skilled. Thus, a well-balanced
program of instruction through all the grades is essential to developing a
student’s reading comprehension to a level that is as good as or better than
his listening comprehension. Of course, such a program will also give
appropriate emphasis to oral language and usage and to written expression,
both of which play an important role in improving reading.
Essential to mature reading comprehension is the development of the
child’s metacognition, or awareness and control of his own thought
processes. There is also a distinct need for improving the child’s ability to
comprehend a wide variety of materials for many purposes.
III. ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITY:
“ Vocabulary Guess”
Participants will play Vocabulary Charades to act out words and
guess each other’s word. We will divide the class into two groups and
distribute slips of paper with different words to each participant.
Participants take turns acting out their word without speaking, while
others will guess the words based on the actions
IV. CONTENT OF THE REPORT:
A. Limited Meaning Vocabulary
Acquisition of the meaning of words is fundamental to all
comprehension in reading. When word meanings are ample, precise, and
rich, and when semantic variations are understood, children possess the
linguistic basis needed for effective reading. Without understanding word
meanings satisfactorily, comprehension of either spoken or printed language
is impossible.
There are two tasks in the remediation of a limited meaning
vocabulary. First, the meaning vocabulary must be increased, and second,
the habit of paying attention to words and their meanings must be
established. It must also be recognized that meanings have several aspects,
which are not discrete, but overlap in both their importance and their
development. The teaching of vocabulary entails more than merely teaching
the child to recognize words; it involves, in addition, enriching and extending
the meaning of those words.
The meaning of a word has several properties:
1. Extensiveness, depending upon the number and kinds of situations in
which the word has been met.
2. Accuracy, depending upon the skill with which the reader relates her
understanding of the meaning to her previous background.
3. Vividness, depending upon the emotions, interest, and motivation of
the reader.
4. Retainability, depending upon the usefulness of the word to the reader.
1. General Remedial Approaches to Vocabulary
Development
Direct experiences offer many opportunities for building
understanding of words and fro acquiring the habit of learning their
meanings. Children with reading difficulties are frequently lacking in
those experiences which furnish a supply of word meanings sufficient
to ensure reading with understanding. McCornick (1987) suggests
taking students outside to examine details of the school building or
walking to nearby sites. An alternative is to make use of real
experiences that students have had outside the school.
Reutzel (1985) has proposed that, on occasion, enrichment
activities suggested as the concluding part of a basal reader lesson can
be introduced first, to build experiential background and introduce
essential vocabulary.
As noted by Dolch (1951), experience alone does not educate.
Since the meanings a child learns from reading are determined by the
nature and clearness of his concepts, direct experiences should yield
as varied and accurate concepts as possible. Children should be
encouraged to seek meaning in everything they encounter and to ask
for additional explanations and further clarification of whatever they do
not understand.
Vicarious experience, such as extensive reading, provide another
way in which word meanings and the habit of attending to them is
built. Many remedial reading teachers select a book that is highly
interesting to a child with reading difficulties and read it aloud to her
as a motivating device. In his way, they demonstrate to the child some
of the rewards that come from being able to read. The child should be
shown how a mature reader uses reading itself to build a vocabulary.
2. Formal methods of enriching word meanings
The formal approach to enriching word meanings involves direct,
systematic practice within diverse contexts, emphasizing the
ineffectiveness of isolated instruction. The authors advocate
integrating new words into various situations, associating them with
experiences, and utilizing repeated oral and written usage for
meaningful learning. Activities like demonstrations and writing
exercises are recommended to extend and enrich word meanings
beyond mere reading and talking.
a. Building a Sight Vocabulary:
A child's reading progress hinges on a fundamental sight
vocabulary, crucial for those with reading difficulties. The Dolch
Basic Sight Vocabulary comprises 220 service words,
encompassing 60% of elementary-grade reading. Recognizing
and understanding these words is a challenge for struggling
readers. Teaching their meanings in context, rather than
through strict definitions, is emphasized.
For instance, in the sentence "When John and Bill came
home, mother gave them some cookies," children learn that
"them" refers to the individuals or things mentioned. Complex
words like "where" or "myself" can be challenging without
teacher guidance, emphasizing the importance of meaningful
words for effective learning.
b. Using Contextual Clues and Authors Definitions
Context provides a framework for understanding new words,
as the meaning often depends on the surrounding words in a
sentence or passage. Teaching children to read ahead and look
back to deduce meanings enhances their skills in deriving
significance from context.
Additionally, authors' definitions contribute valuable
contextual clues, either within the sentence or through related
words or phrases. This approach fosters a deeper understanding
of word meanings, especially when dealing with words that have
multiple meanings. It promotes effective word study by
connecting words to their usage in context, facilitating a more
comprehensive and meaningful vocabulary acquisition process.
Example: "The explorer marveled at the ancient ruins,
surrounded by a dense jungle."
In this context: The word "marveled" can be understood as
expressing admiration or amazement, given the explorer's
reaction to the ancient ruins.
The phrase "surrounded by a dense jungle" provides
additional contextual clues, reinforcing the idea that the ruins
are situated in a lush, overgrown environment. This example
illustrates how contextual clues help derive the meaning of the
word "marveled" within the specific context of the sentence.
c. Analyzing Word Structure
Breaking down words into their components—such as
prefixes, suffixes, and roots—facilitates comprehension by
revealing the building blocks of meaning. Understanding the
meaning of common prefixes, suffixes, and roots equips
individuals to decipher the meanings of complex words. For
example, breaking down "unhappiness" into "un-" (not), "happi"
(root for happy), and "-ness" (state of) helps deduce its
meaning. This method makes learning new words easier and
helps in understanding how words work together in sentences.
It's like learning the building blocks of words to unlock their
meanings.
d. Using Dictionary
Using a dictionary is essential for learning words because it
gives exact meanings, helps with pronunciation, guides on using
words in sentences, provides examples, and shares other words
with similar or opposite meanings. It's like a super helpful guide
for building a strong vocabulary.
Example: Take the word "ephemeral." The dictionary says it
means something that lasts for a very short time, like how
cherry blossoms bloom and fade quickly. It shows you how to
say it, and even gives examples like "The beauty of the cherry
blossoms is ephemeral." Using a dictionary makes learning
words super easy.
3. Informal Methods of Enriching Word Meanings.
There are many informal approaches to enriching and expanding
the meanings of the words found in the reading vocabularies of
children. The child with reading difficulties might help his remedial
reading teacher by writing similar sentences for younger readers.
Multiple-choice exercises using antonyms, synonyms, or semantic
variations could be constructed. A dictionary could be used to find the
choices. Another dictionary activity that would be both interesting and
instructive would be for the child with a limited meaning vocabulary to
make his own dictionary of new words he has found interesting.
Encouraging the child to write is invariably helpful. Experience
charts are an especially effective activity for building vocabulary when
groups of children work together.
B. Ineffective Use of Sentence Sense
Besides knowing the meanings of words, other basic comprehension
skills are needed to understand sentences. Among them are reading in
thought units, using punctuation as an aid to meaning, interpreting
connectives, identifying pronoun-antecedent relationships, and adjusting to
varied sentence structures
1. Grouping Words into Thought Units
Many children with reading difficulties struggle with grouping
words into thought units. They must recognize each word individually
and closely study each word to identify it. As they become more a dept
at word identification, they can group some themes together, allowing
for clear comprehension of sentences.
2. Using Punctuation
Using punctuation in every sentence is very important.
Ineffective interpretation of punctuation or ignoring it may hinder their
sentence comprehension. Therefore, children need supervision to
recognize the use of punctuation in every sentence. Training in this
aspect of reading is necessary for full sentences comprehension and
for reading aloud. In fact, interpretive oral reading helps to develop
this skill.
3. Interpreting Connectives
To improve sentence comprehension, teach a child how
sentences are constructed using direct, easily found sentences and
introduce complex sentences. Emphasize the importance of learning
connectives, as they can change the flow of thought or qualify it. Start
with simple illustrations and provide examples from the student's
textbook. For example, if a child is weak in sentence comprehension,
they can ask questions about the sentence, its parts, and reasons for
changing their minds.
4. Identifying Pronoun Antecedent Relationships
Children who have difficulty with basic comprehension often
have this problem. To deal with it, give some examples or give them
the proper direction for them to easily understand like underlining a
word in a sentence to identify what is the pronoun in the sentence.
5. Using Syntax
Syntax is crucial for understanding sentence meaning. Children
who struggle with syntax may not comprehend what they read.
Encourage them to note word relationships, such as actor, action, and
object. Combining spoken language knowledge with reading
comprehension exercises can help.
6. Adjusting to Varied Sentence Structure
The inability of the reader to sort out properly relates the
meaning of different parts of a sentence is sometimes complicated by
sentence structure. To deal with this kind of difficulty, a teacher must
help the reader develop flexibility through analyzing of sentences. For
example, the student can be asked to tell whether a phrase signifies
when, why, how, what, or where, in a sentence.
C. Insufficient comprehension of larger units
Frequently, children with basic comprehension problems are unable to
understand each sentence as a separate unit, unrelated to the other
sentences in the paragraph. It is possible for them to read and understand
words, thought units, and sentences and yet not comprehend fully the
connected material in a paragraph. Similarly, some children are unable to
sense the relationships among paragraphs in various narrative and
expository materials. Each of these is a separate difficulty and must be dealt
with in its own way.
1. Knowledge of Organization within a Paragraph
Comprehension of a paragraph requires an understanding of the
relationships among the sentences of the paragraph. Many readers
who have difficulty with comprehension need guidance in identifying
the topic sentence of the paragraph and in relating it to other,
explanatory or amplifying sentences within the paragraph.
Remedial teaching in regard to the organization of the
sentences in the Para- graph centers on helping the child understand
the interrelationships among those sentences. Activities requiring the
child to find which one of several statements best represents the
general meaning of a given paragraph are effective.
2. Relating the parts of a Long Selection
For full comprehension of longer units, the child should be
taught to sense the relationship among the paragraphs that makes up
the selection (Hoskins1986). To fully understand a child must learn the
elements or procedures of a paragraph in logical sequence. For
example, stories commonly comprise three parts, the beginning which
gives the setting, next, the body of the story which includes the plot
and the actions and reactions of the protagonist and others, lastly the
last paragraph which relates the resolution of the problem or the
conclusion of the events (Templeton& Mowery, 1985). In the remedial
reading, teacher assists the child who is having difficulty
comprehending longer units by teaching her text structure so that she
understands the relationships among paragraphs better and is able to
identify the main parts of stories and expository materials.
V. ASSESSMENT
True or False: Write T if the statement is correct and F if otherwise.
1. Direct experiences alone are sufficient for building understanding of words and
acquiring the habit of learning their meanings.
2. Children with reading difficulties are often lacking in direct experiences that
provide an adequate supply of word meanings for reading with understanding.
3. McCormick (1987) recommends taking students outside to examine details of the
school building or walking to nearby sites as a strategy for building experiential
background.
4. Children should not be encouraged to seek meaning in everything they encounter
and to ask for additional explanations and further clarification of what they do not
understand.
5. Vicarious experiences, such as extensive reading, do not contribute to building
word meanings and the habit of attending to them.
6. According to Dolch (1951), experience alone is sufficient for education
7. Reutzel (1985) proposes that enrichment activities suggested as the concluding
part of a basal reader lesson should always be introduced first to build experiential
background and introduce essential vocabulary.
Multiple Choice: Write the letter of the correct answer.
8. Which approach to enriching word meanings involves breaking down words into
their components, such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots, to reveal the building blocks
of meaning?
A) Building a Sight Vocabulary
B) Using Contextual Clues and Authors Definitions
C) Analyzing Word Structure
D) Using Dictionary
9. Which of the following comprehension skills is emphasized when a teacher
instructs students to analyze sentences by identifying phrases that signify when,
why, how, what, or where?
A. Grouping Words into Thought Units
B. Using Punctuation
C. Interpreting Connectives
D. Adjusting to Varied Sentence Structure
10. Which of the following is emphasized in the context of remediating
comprehension difficulties in children?
A. Knowledge of individual sentence meanings
B. Understanding relationships among paragraphs
C. Identifying the topic sentence of a paragraph
D. Sequencing paragraphs logically within a story
VI. REFERENCES
Bond, G.L., Tinker, M.A., Wasson, B.B. & Wasson, J.B. (1994). Reading Difficulties: Their
Diagnosis and Correction. USA: Allyn and Bacon