Article: Hiebert, E. H. (2024). Unpacking automaticity: Scaffolded texts and comprehension. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (68)4. 369–379.
Full text of article: https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.1394
Purpose
On the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), nearly 70% of U.S. eighth graders read at basic or below basic proficiency levels. Many of them can read most words in the texts but lack automaticity to attain sufficient levels of comprehension.
In this review, Freddy Hiebert examines the standard intervention for secondary students lacking automaticity—repeated oral reading—and the limited evidence for its impact on silent reading comprehension. She then presents an alternative approach using texts where the core 2,500 most frequent word families in written language comprise the majority of content.
Findings
For five decades, improving oral reading automaticity through repeated reading has been the standard approach to support reading efficacy and comprehension. However, studies of oral reading fluency interventions with secondary students have not demonstrated significant comprehension improvements.
Hiebert proposes an intervention based on critical word zones: high-frequency and medium-frequency words. Research indicates texts primarily using words from these zones yield better reading success than those with high percentages of low-frequency and rare words. Hiebert describes these texts with high proportions of critical words as scaffolded texts. English language learners particularly benefit from wide reading of such scaffolded texts.
Applications
Provide struggling readers with texts rich in the critical word zones of high- and medium-frequency words
Select thematically-related text sets, noting rare words requiring additional support
Exercise caution with commercial “leveled” websites, as simplified texts often increase vocabulary demands
Ensure students without auditory challenges read texts silently rather than relying on audio support
Use critical word zone scaffolding as a temporary intervention to be phased out as reading improves
Related resources on TextProject.org
Scaffolded Texts for Middle- and High-School Students at TextProject.org are centered around themes that support building of automaticity, background knowledge, and reading engagement.
