TextProject Topics
- 1
- 2
Reading Automaticity & Fluency
April 7, 2011
The biggest obstacle to proficient reading for many students is their lack of automaticity, or speed, in understanding words. Most students, even those in the lowest quartile, can recognize frequent words…eventually. The problem lies in the length of time that it takes them to recognize even common words. Struggling readers devote their energies to recognizing words, thus not attending to the content of what they are reading.
Stamina & Silent Reading
April 7, 2011
By the end of the primary grades, students who are not proficient silent readers begin falling further and further behind in school. If students aren’t adept at silent reading, they simply can’t keep up. But for many students, good silent reading habits do not come naturally. In particular, silent reading habits do not smoothly transfer from frequent oral reading events. Silent reading involves self-monitoring and also the stamina to keep reading and thinking, even when content is challenging. For many 21st century students, the skills of silent reading depend on instructional experiences in classrooms.
Vocabulary
April 7, 2011
Of all the features of complex text, vocabulary is the one that best predicts students’ comprehension. It is also the feature of complex text that is the most straightforward to teach. TextProject has numerous resources to aid in teacher knowledge and in classroom implementation of a generative vocabulary program—one in which students come to understand how English vocabulary work as opposed to strictly memorizing new words.
Beginning Reading
April 7, 2011
How children are initiated into reading influences their overall success and their engagement over their lifetimes. Reading opportunities that recognize young children’s developmental capacities, their interests, and their ways of learning all contribute to creating engaged and proficient, lifelong readers. Text—whether it is on a sign or in a book—is central to reading. The texts in school can be thought of as a diet for beginning and struggling readers. To get a good start in reading (or restart, in the case of struggling readers), texts need to give students core and critical information about the written language. TextProject is the premiere site for information on appropriate texts for beginning and struggling readers.
Morphological Awareness
April 5, 2011
Vocabulary is the term for the words of a language and morphology is the term for the study of the parts of words. Students’ vocabularies expand through the study of word parts, specifically root or base words (e.g., connect), affixes (e.g., reconnect, connection), and inflectional morphemes (e.g., connects, connecting, connected). The study of word parts increases awareness of the links between words, including the origins of words in other languages. The term cognate means to have “the same ancestry.” Many English words are close cognates to German words (e.g., apple/Apfel). Other English words are easily traced to French words (e.g., communicate/communiquer). French and Spanish both originated from Latin which means that cognates also exist between English and Spanish words (e.g., communicate/comunicar). TextProject provides valuable resources for teachers to support students in developing morphological awareness and knowledge across languages.
- 1
- 2