REMEDIAL READING Prepared by: Dr. Arminda G. Casuyon

I. What is remedial reading? A. Correcting the effects of originally poor teaching and poor learning. B. Teaching for the first time those skills that were not taught but which should have been taught.

II. Types of reading difficulties. A. Word recognition 1. Word –by-word reading caused by over dependence on phonics, failure to recognize sight words instantly, failure to comprehend, or may be a bad habit. a. Use reading material on a lower level of difficulty. b. Use familiar materials. c. provide experience in choral reading. d. Do read aloud interesting selections. e. Use picture word cards.

2. Incorrect phrasing caused by insufficient word recognition and insufficient comprehension. recognition and insufficient comprehension. a. Demonstrate proper phrasing by reading to the class. b. Give practice on reading common phrases. c. Use sight phrase cards. d. Reproduce reading passages and dividing these into phrases. e. Provide choral reading with several readers who phrase properly. f. Have children read and dramatize conversation. g. Have children read orally phrases that extend only to the end of the liner.

3. Poor pronunciation caused by the following: (1) student may be weak in phonics, (2)student may be unable to use hisknowledge of phonics, (3) student may have some hearing defect, (4) student may be a careless reader, and (5) student may have some speech defect or accent.

a. Have children make word cards or lists and build their own file of words that they habitually mispronounce. Allow for periodic study of these words. b. Have students practice in using various consonant sounds. c. Teach the child to use the diacritical marks found in the dictionary. d. When the pupil mispronounces a word in oral reading, call attention to the correct pronunciation with as little fuss as possible. e. Preceding the pupil’s reading of difficult material, you may read it aloud. f. Play games that deal with sounds. f. Play games that deal with sounds.

4. Omissions caused by insufficient word recognition or word analysis skills or a recognition or word analysis skills or a bad habit of omitting certain words. bad habit of omitting certain words. a. Call the reader’s attention to omissions when they occur. b. Have children choral read or let one childread a passage. c. Ask detailed questions that require thorough reading. Ask about only a sentence or paragraph at a time. d. Give help with word middles or endings. e. Allows the child to use a paper guide.

5. Repetitions caused by poor word recognition, poor word analysis, or the recognition, poor word analysis, or the development of bad habit. development of bad habit. a. Call the repetitions to the student’s attention. b. Have the students choral read. c. Have the student pace with her hand and keep up with this pace as she reads. d. Provide easier or familiar materials in which the vocabulary presents no problem. e. Let the students read the material silently before they attempt to read orally.

6. Inversions or reversals may be caused by the students’ failure to develop a left-to- right eye movement or a left- to-right reading pattern, failure to develop a strong enough visual image for the word, the student’s immaturity.

a. Emphasize left-to-right in all reading activities. b. Have the pupils trace the troublesome words with their index fingers while they sound the words. c. Use flashcards to give practice on troublesome words. d. have the pupils trace the word and write it from memory. e. Use a colored letter at the beginning of words commonly confused. f. Make the student aware of the importance of sequence of words commonly reversed by placing one word over another. then, lines are drawn from the first letter of the top word to the first letter of the bottom word.

7. Insertion is possibly caused by the student’s oral language development student’s oral language development that may surpass her reading level. that may surpass her reading level. a. Call the student’s attention to the insertion that she may not be aware of. b. Ask questions that require an exact answer. These questions can focus on the descriptions of the objects in the story described by adjectives that are often inserted. c. Have students choral read. d. Have the student read along with a passage that has been tape- recorded.

8. Substitutions are caused by carelessness in reading or carelessness in reading or inadequacy in word recognition inadequacy in word recognition skills. skills. a. Make pupils keep a file of flash cards ofwords that cause difficulty. b. Work on beginning syllables and/or sounds that cause difficulty.

c. Use the difficult words in multiple choice sentences that is similar to the following: John’s father gave him a (watch, witch, water) for his birthday. John’s father gave him a (watch, witch, water) for his birthday. d. Call attention to the mistake and correct it when it occurs. e. Ask questions about the subject matter that will reflect the pupil’s mistakes. Have him read to make corrections.

9. Basic sight words not known a. Have pupils write troublesome words on cards. Trace the word using the index and middle fingers and sound the word as it is traced. (Kinesthetic method) b. Use sight words that cause difficulty in sentences. Underline the words. c. Use pictures to illustrate some words. d. Have pupils pantomine the troublesome words.

e. Use words commonly confused in multiple - choice situations. f. have the pupil read the entire sentence, look at the beginning and the end of theword, and then try to pronounce it on the basis of its context and configuration. g. Cut letters from sandpaper or velvet so that the child can “feel” the word as he pronounces it. h. Each day pass out a few basic sight words on cards to students. Each student in turn goes to the board and writes his word. The class should try to say aloud. After it is pronounced correctly, have them write it in a notebook.

10. Sight vocabulary not up to grade level a. Have the pupil read as widely as possible on her free or low instructional level. b. have the pupils start a card file of new words. c. Discuss meanings of new words as you come to them. d. Build on the pupil’s background of experience as much as possible. e. Use picture word cards on which the unknown word appears under picture illustrating that word.

11. Lacks knowledge of the alphabet a. Teach the child the alphabet song. As the student sings the song, have a copy of the alphabet and ask the student to point to each letter as it is sang. b. Present a few letter each day and discuss their characteristic shapes such as the fact that they are ”x” height or that they have ascenders or descenders. c. Ask students to trace letters in the sand or salt. d. Teach one-third of the alphabet at a time.

12. Unable to use context clues a. Show the student that it is possible to derive the meaning of words from their context. Example: “The careless boy did his work in a haphazard manner.” manner.” b. Construct sentences or short paragraphs in which words that should be able to be determined are omitted. c. Have the student practice reading up to a word, sounding at least the first sound, and then reading several words following the unknown word.

13. Guesses at words Pupils guess at new words instead of analyzing the correct pronunciation. a. While the child is reading orally, the teacher should call the attention to the words at which the reader guesses. At the same time, help should be given in the systematic analysis of the word. Help in blending these sounds together. b. As the pupil reads, circle or underline the words that she guesses. Replace these words with blank lines and have the student reread the material. Ask her to fill in the correct words from context.

14. Consonant sounds not known a. Construct flash cards on which the consonant is shown along with a picture illustrating a word that uses the consonant b. Put consonant letters on cards. As you call the sounds of letters, have the pupil pick up the correct card to match the sound of the letter. c. Put various letters on the board and have the children make lists of the words that begin with these letters d. Record consonant letters with their sounds and let the students hear these as many times as it is necessary.

Games: I’m Thinking of a Word, Checkers, Any Card Word Puzzles, Stand-up (Ex. All those whose names start like meat, stand.)

15. Vowel sounds not known (Activities may be like those forNo. 14) (Activities may be like those forNo. 14) 16. Blends, digraphs, or diphthongs not known (Activities may be like those for No. 14)

17. Lacks desirable structural analysis a. Make lists of the common word endings and have the children underline these endings and pronounce their sounds. a. Make lists of the common word endings and have the children underline these endings and pronounce their sounds. b. Use multiple-choice questions that require the pupils to put proper endings on the words. b. Use multiple-choice questions that require the pupils to put proper endings on the words. Ex. The boy was (looked, looks, looking) in the window c. Make lists or flash cards of the common roots, prefixes or suffixes and use them in forming new word. c. Make lists or flash cards of the common roots, prefixes or suffixes and use them in forming new word.

d. Make lists of all the words that can be made from certain roots. Ex. work – works, working, worked. e. Make a list of words to which the pupil adds prefixes or suffixes to give certain meaning to the word. f. Teach the pupils syllabication principles

18 Comprehension inadequate Comprehension includes the following skills: Comprehension includes the following skills: Recognize main ideas Recognize important details Develop visual images Predict outcomes Recognize author’s organization Do critical reading a. Teach the student to be aware of mental a. Teach the student to be aware of mental images he is forming as he reads images he is forming as he reads b. Stress the necessity for the student to be b. Stress the necessity for the student to be able to recognize the words for which he able to recognize the words for which he does not know the meaning while he reads does not know the meaning while he reads

c. Teach students to constantly ask who, what, when, where, and why as they read. d. Stress the necessity of the students to monitor what he reads to see if he understands the material e. Use some type of marker for words that you think students will find difficult to understand. f. Tell students to think about the material they read

19. Vocabulary inadequate a. Whenever new words come up in lessons, stop and discuss them in sufficient detail, so all students develop a concept of their meaning. a concept of their meaning. b. Develop picture files for each unit in the student’s textbook. c. Place pictures on the bulletin board and have students try to find as many words as possible to describe the pictures. have students try to find as many words as possible to describe the pictures. d. Encourage students to use “vocabulary cards.”

e. Discuss the use of figurative language. f. Encourage students to discuss and do exercises such as The Reader’s Digest “It pays to Increase Your Word Power.” g. Encourage students to use the dictionary to derive a word’s meaning. h. Teach students to prepare lists of words that have synonyms and discuss the words.

20. Lacks desirable study skills Unaided recall scanty Response poorly organized Unable to locate information Unable to skim Unable to adjust rate to the difficulty of the material High rate at the expense of accuracy Low rate of speed

21. Undeveloped dictionary skills a. Make sure the child knows the sequence of the letters of the alphabet. b. Explain the purpose of the guide words at the top of the pages in a dictionary. c. Teach the use of diacritical markings. d. Have the children use the dictionary to find the proper meaning for the way in which certain words are used in sentences.