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The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas

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Nudging Fledgling Teen Readers from the Nest: From Round Robin to Real Reading
Ginni Chase Fair & Dorie Combs
a a a

Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY

Available online: 11 Aug 2011

To cite this article: Ginni Chase Fair & Dorie Combs (2011): Nudging Fledgling Teen Readers from the Nest: From Round Robin to Real Reading, The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 84:5, 224-230 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00098655.2011.575417

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The Clearing House, 84: 224230, 2011 Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0009-8655 print; 1939-912x online DOI: 10.1080/00098655.2011.575417

Nudging Fledgling Teen Readers from the Nest: From Round Robin to Real Reading
GINNI CHASE FAIR and DORIE COMBS
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Abstract: Middle and Secondary teachers often nd it difcult to help their students read textbooks and other instructional materials. In order to ensure they read the text, teachers may rely on round robin reading and other ineffective strategies. In this article, the authors explain why this strategy hinders comprehension, uency and development of independent reading skills and provide alternative, research-based reading instructional strategies for adolescents. Keywords: Adolescent literacy, round robin reading aloud, content area reading, reading instruction

to read? Is there a way to utilize read-alouds to engage students in reading to learn? The Developmental Stages of Learning to Read As children learn and grow they move through four predictable stages of reading development: emerging readers, developing readers, transitional readers, and mature readers (Holdaway 1980; Combs 2003). The reading experiences students have in school and at home can contribute to or hinder this development. Educators know the importance of reading to young children, even infants. Exposure to a variety of print materials sends an implicit message that text is important and competent adults know how to interpret that print. Young children, emerging readers, benet from opportunities to view and explore books with engaging pictures, fold-outs, and textures. Even though these children have yet to develop an understanding of the meaning of the symbols on the page, they learn that words have meaning and that they can guess those meanings through visual or tactile cues. Predictable stories and rhythmic, rhyming text provide emerging readers opportunities for reading success (Combs 2003). As a childs knowledge of these phonemic combinations grows, she begins to read, one word at a time, slowly piecing together the meaning that is conveyed. These children are called developing readers. Particularly in the early years of this stage, children will vocalize as they read. As they improve, these children will learn to correct their own mistakes, too. Teachers can assess their vocabulary and uency by listening as children read aloud.

My students read, but then they cannot tell you what they read. They say the words, but they cant make sense of the passage. They wont read on their own and when they do, they dont comprehend it. (sixth-grade social studies teacher) My students take turns reading an article at the beginning of every class. They sign up two weeks in advance to be the reader! (sixth-grade science teacher)

iddle and high school teachers are often frustrated by their students poor comprehension of textbooks and other content-related material. They lament that texts not read in class often are not read at all. Many teachers believe that the only way their students will read is to use traditional round-robin reading aloud. In order to help students become procient, mature, and independent readers, educators must provide effective instruction that addresses uency, vocabulary, and comprehension. How, then, can teachers accomplish this when adolescents have such low motivation

Ginni Chase Fair is an Assistant Professor and Dorie Combs is a Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY.
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As children improve their decoding skills, they need opportunities to practice more rapid and uent independent silent reading. Children who are learning to read silently should practice with familiar, less challenging text that is not overloaded with difcult vocabulary. By the time most students reach fourth or fth grade, they should be reading silently much of the time. During this transitional stage, students need to learn to monitor their own silent reading. These children can benet from explicit instruction that uses metacognitive strategies, such as self-monitoring, correcting comprehension errors, and adjusting their reading speed to the task. Teachers should demonstrate these strategies to their students and encourage self-evaluations. By the end of sixth grade, students should be reaching reading maturity. Even mature readers continue to develop new skills and rene their reading processes. Reading is focused on information, interests, and workrelated tasks. Comprehension becomes more rapid and is affected by background knowledge and vocabulary more than decoding skills. Inuence of Fluency on Mature Reading Once a child begins to develop word knowledge, phonemic awareness, and syntax, these processes start to become automatic. When the reader can quickly and unconsciously recognize meanings of words, chunk groups of words into meaningful phrases, and easily hear the rhythm and intonation in the text, they can read faster and are becoming uent readers. Fluency includes at least two key components: accurate and automatic word recognition and appropriate reading rate (Applegate, Applegate, and Modla 2009). Meyer and Felton (1999) suggest an additional link between prosody, or reading with expression, to comprehension. A good metaphor for uency is skiing. When one is rst learning to ski, the process is laborious (at least as an adult!), effortful, and the steps are isolated and deliberate. Beginning skiers are, more often than not, out of control. While they have a sense of the slope and are rewardedif not yet exhilaratedby the effort, their bodies become exhausted and sore from head to toe. However, as the edgling skier gains condence and the process becomes automatic and uid, less effort and concentration are required. Skiing becomes fun and relaxing. The skier can actually enjoy the scenery as well as tackle increasingly challenging slopes. Learning to read uently is a similar process. Beginning readers must expend considerable mental effort pronouncing and decoding words, then putting strings of words into meaningful phrases. Until the reader can move with automaticity through the vocabulary and structure of the text, she can not fully appreciate the scenery. In other words, attention is still applied primarily to decoding rather than to comprehension. Some oral reading tasks (e.g., round robin and popcorn

reading [students read a paragraph or section aloud and then call on another student to read, thus popping to another reader]) redirect the readers attention from the meaning of the text to the decoding of that text. Add an audience of ones peers, and it is unlikely that the reader can appreciate the scenery or fully comprehend what is read. Fluency makes the reading process less effortful. Readers can attain uency with repeated readings of text, with guided feedback, with carefully planned and implemented oral reading tasks, and with use of texts that students choose (Bashir and Hook 2009). Direct uency lessons on prosody, text structure, and features and with varied genres of texts are also recommended (Reutzel and Cooter 2008). In middle and high school, students encounter more complex text structures and content-laden vocabulary in their instructional texts. Direct instruction on such topics will also inuence students uent reading of those texts. As a result, even at the middle and secondary levels, students need to learn to read as well as read to learn. What Happens in the Brain While We Read? Research using brain imaging such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron-emission tomogrophy (PET) scans reveals that individuals brains actually change as they learnboth physically and in terms of how they process information (Landau et al. 2004). Another fact is clear from this research: working memory, the conscious space in ones mind, is severely limited (Medina 2010; Wolfe 2009). This is true not only of young adolescents but also of mature adults. If the working memory is limited, that means that the more complex a task, the less extra space is available for other tasks. From a simple task like trying to remember a phone number to something as mentally demanding as driving a car, one can only juggle so much information at a time. Only by making the information permanent or by storing it in long-term memory can it be accessed on demand. When one tries to multitask, one or all of the tasks will suffer, and in the end, it will take longer to complete each task. Practice with a specic mental task is related to less brain activation during the task. In fact, it has been demonstrated that practice reduces the load of working memory for the particular task (Landau et al. 2004). Haier and his colleagues have conducted brain scans of individuals playing Tetris, a computer game that requires prediction, spatial skills, and mental rotation of three dimensional objects (Haier et al. 2009). The researchers scanned the brains of adolescent girls playing Tetris rst as novices and then three months later, after regular practice playing the game. They found that the girls who practiced weekly actually developed more cortical grey matter than the girls who did not practice. What is also interesting is their nding that certain

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areas of the brain were more active with novice players than with the skilled, experienced players. That is, as individuals rst learn to play the game, they use more areas of the brain to complete the complex sequence of steps. As the gamers become procient, these processes become automatic, requiring not only less brain capacity but also using different areas of the brain (Haier et al. 2009). Brain scans taken of adult readers during oral and silent reading indicate that more brain structures are utilized for oral reading, particularly areas related to interpretation of aural language. Silent reading requires the use of fewer areas of the brain and more of the frontal, meaning-making areas of the brain (Wolfe 2009). It would appear that more mature, experienced readers will depend less on the areas of the brain that are responsible for decoding and making auditory translations as both individual words and passages are quickly connected to meaning (Wolfe 2009). Automaticity, the process of accomplishing something quickly with little effort, allows more energy and mental capacity for other tasks, especially comprehension and higher-order thinking. Attention on Comprehension for Mature Reading The link between uency and comprehension is noted by researchers (Bashir and Hook 2009; Eldredge 2005; Pikulski and Chard 2005). However, the two components of reading are not synonymous (Applegate, Applegate, and Modla 2009). In study of 171 children (ranging from 2nd to 10th grade) who had been identied by a parent or teacher as a strong reader and who had indicated strong uency performance, Applegate and her colleagues found that 30 percent of the uent readers achieved a high level of comprehension, 36 percent were procient readers who needed additional instruction in comprehension, and approximately 30 percent struggled signicantly with comprehension at their current grade level. These results indicate that uency does not equal comprehension. Teachers must not assume, even if students are uent readers, that they have strong comprehension of texts. This recognition has clear implications for how teachers choose and use oral reading tasks in their classrooms. As students develop and move into new stages of reading (emerging, developing, transitioning, maturing), they are likely to show temporary setbacks as they tackle more complex reading tasks. Adolescents who have moved ineffectively through these stagesor who have failed to progress at alldemonstrate wider and wider gaps in their skills and, thus, in their comprehension. A key factor in childrens exposure to and success with increasingly difcult textual encounters is the role of the teacher. Teachers must make research-based decisions in regard to best practices in literacy instruction.

Clearly, students need direct instruction as well as time for silent, independent reading in order to achieve reading maturity. The Problems with Round-robin Reading Aloud Round-robin reading aloud has been practiced in schools for more than 300 years (Hill, 1983), and while there seems to be no research to support it, this traditional strategy remains entrenched across all grades and subjects (Hill 1983; Mueller 2001; Berglund, Telfer, and Heimlich 1991). Being told to read aloud can be a humiliating experience for students (Mueller 2001), and one mistake can result in merciless teasing from their peers. Students may act out, feign illness, or simply refuse to participate as their turn draws near (Opitz and Rasinski 1998). So, could a teacher just call on the students who want to read? Unfortunately, this approach only further alienates struggling readers and removes them from the learning experience. These children will leave the classroom, mentally, emotionally, and in some cases, physically. Round-robin reading aloud can interfere with the natural reading process (Manzo, Manzo, and Estes 2000; Opitz and Rasinski 1998). Reading is not the continuous linear process it appears to be. We read in ts and starts, skimming, backtracking, re-reading, thinking, and moving on. While trying to follow the reader, one cannot stop and re-read confusing passages, think about the implications of complex text, or savor an especially descriptive or well-turned phrase. When adults read, it is not at all uncommon for their minds to wander off or to lose focus when distracted by other factors. When this occurs, mature readers simply apply a xup strategy, refocus, re-read, and go on. Without silent reading practice, students cannot learn how to apply these x-ups. Round-robin reading aloud also takes up huge chunks of class time that could be put to more productive instructional use. In fact, because reading aloud is so much slower than silent reading, students will actually read less over the course of the school year when this approach is the primary method of reading (Stanovich 1986, cited in Opitz and Rasinski 1998). Reading aloud can also contribute to poor reading habits (Opitz and Rasinski 1998). Students who are forced to follow along while another student reads, one word at a time, will fail to develop uency. When oral readers stumble over words, when they deliberate or read with inconsistent rates, when they mispronounce or labor over the reading, their and their listeners comprehension is hindered. Both the readers and listeners will tend to subvocalize, pronouncing each word in their heads. They read more slowly, focusing on two or three words at a time as opposed to grasping the complete meaning of a longer phrase.

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Sometimes, teachers utilize round-robin reading because they have students who really want to read aloud. Teachers may believe that round-robin reading and popcorn reading are effective strategies simply because some of their students want, even beg, to do it. More capable readers may enjoy the focused attention they receive from their teacher and their peers. However, even if the teacher only calls on those who volunteer to read, assuming that this practice will alleviate embarrassment for weaker readers and capitalize on contributions of capable readers, struggling readers can take advantage of the opportunity to sit out of the limelight. Others may enjoy the time to space out and let their minds wander. Why, then, do so many middle and high school teachers continue to employ round-robin reading aloud? Often teachers are surprised to learn that this traditional, seasoned strategy is not as effective as it seems. After all, the students appear to be on-task, the room is orderly, and one child reads at a time. The teacher feels in control and can easily and quickly make assumptions about each students reading skills. However, a closer examination will reveal students who are reading ahead, others who are actually doing other assignments, some who are completely off-task, and a few who are even asleep (Mueller 2001). More skilled readers are very good at keeping up and can even predict the timing of their turn. The only student who is truly reading is the one reading aloud, and that individual is so focused on pronouncing each word that even she may not fully comprehend the passage. In short, round-robin reading aloud is not only ineffective but it also can be harmful to students because it causes embarrassment, reinforces poor reading habits, and wastes precious instructional time. According to Mueller (2001), round-robin reading can probably be considered one of the most harmful components of group learning (27). Opitz and Rasinski (1998) explain that round-robin reading more often prohibits rather than facilitates the ability to read (8). Reading as Assessment So is it ever okay for students to read aloud? Yes! Oral reading can serve several purposes. Teachers will often explain that one reason they prefer round-robin reading is to evaluate their students reading skills. Also, students enjoy opportunities to read aloud when presenting a play, poem, or performance. Another effective use of oral reading is re-reading. Many teachers argue that they use round-robin reading to assess their students reading skills. Because uency is one of the key objectives of literacy instruction, direct instruction and students oral reading can provide practice with syntax, intonation, and pronunciation as well as increase the rate of oral reading. In fact, oral reading may be the most efcient way for teach-

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ers to assess an individual students uency. Children in the upper elementary grades may be able to practice uency skills in small groups or in pairs. However, as these children become young adolescents, they develop a greater awareness of how others perceive them, and the risk of embarrassment increases. During the middle grades, most evaluations should be conducted one-on-one (Johns 1982) and combined with other instruments, such as attitude inventories, strategy surveys, and written assessments of comprehension (Mueller 2001). Fluency measures such as WCPM (words correct per minute) and those described by Reutzel and Cooter (2008) can help teachers assess this one specic area of students reading prociency. However, uency assessments need to be utilized in conjunction with other reading assessments to get a thorough measure of students reading strengths and needs. Reading to Perform Reading aloud is also a type of performance and, like any performance, requires rehearsal. Depending on the difculty of the text relative to the students, the rst reading might be a teacher read aloud, an audio tape, a video production, or individual silent reading. The performed read-aloud, then, follows the initial exposure to the text. Plays. Plays are meant to be performed, observed, and spoken, but without practice, the actors will not perform well. More importantly, students cannot perform a play when they do not understand what the words mean or if the context is over their heads. The classic example is Shakespeare. How can one expect a group of 14-yearolds to understand what is happening in Romeo and Juliet when their brains cannot process the Elizabethan language? Readers Theater. Teachers can utilize readers theater (Opitz and Rasinski 1998) and allow small groups to create and perform dialogues or short skits based on a story or book. The teacher or students can choose selections of text for students to practice as a performance and then share in a class presentation. Again, it is important that students not perform the reading of the text in a rst-time cold reading. Readers should attend to the cadence of the text and to their expression in the delivery of the text for the performance to be effective for the listeners. This, too, is why rehearsal is crucial. Poetry. Poetry should be read aloud by mature readers who are familiar with the work and who use their interpretation to guide the rhythm and tone. Allowing students to share poems that they have chosen or written with their peers helps them be more familiar with the text and also gives them an opportunity to practice the reading before performing for peers. Poetry Alive! is an engaging strategy involving reading, writing, and performing poetry. Through the process

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of practice and physically acting out a poem, students gain greater understanding and insight of poetry (see www.poetryalive.com). Reading for Clarication and Illumination Oral reading is also appropriate when re-reading for clarication, emphasis, or discussion. Even mature, adult readers will sometimes subvocalize or even read aloud on their own when they are reading highly complex, hard to understand text (Wolfe 2009). To encourage close reading of complex material, students can be asked to choose a passage of the text to defend a position or illustrate key points. Because the students have already read (or heard) the text, they have some experience with the vocabulary and main idea. Teachers often model this process by selecting these key passages for the students and reading those passages aloud, verbalizing their thoughts and conclusions along the way. When teachers are explicit in explaining to students how and why they choose these particular examples, they can then lead their students to choose such passages in small groups or on their own. For example, if students are studying the American Civil War and are reading a chapter that presents the causes of the war, the teacher might ask the students to choose a specic example from the text to read aloud to the class. In this way they are revisiting the text with a specic purpose, but with the background to make meaning as they read. The purpose of the read-aloud, therefore, is to develop higher-order thinking and to promote discussion. Also, depending on the purpose of the text and the lesson objectives, students may be assigned short passages to practice and read aloud. As a part of a whole class discussion, individuals might be asked to simply share the funniest, saddest, most descriptive, or even the most confusing passage of the text they have read. The purpose of the read-aloud prompts critical thinking rather than hinder it. While students need this independent practice, listening to a mature, competent reader can also be a pleasurable learning experience. Teacher read-alouds provide effective models of tone, pronunciation, and expression. In fact, even science, social studies, and mathematics teachers can nd picture books that will engage middle and high school students in otherwise boring content. Similarly, when teachers read informational texts aloud, they are able to stop during the reading to clarify, to ask or answer questions, to prompt discussion, and to discuss text structure or content vocabulary. On the other hand, few educators will agree that listening to a child struggle through a passage is pleasurable or helpful to anyone involved. To summarize, the important component for student read-alouds is always rehearsal. The students purposes for the task should include one of the following: to

share/observe a performance, to discuss and review critical passages, to engage in deeper understanding with a familiar text, or to explore alternate perspectives, to name a few. These types of read-alouds support the development of students comprehension while providing appropriate practice for their oral uency. Transitioning from Reading Aloud to Independent Silent Reading Round-robin reading has become a crutch for many struggling readers. They become dependent on hearing others read and listening to the teacher interpret and explain what was read. These students may dislike silent reading, but they do not believe they have the skills to read on their own. The end result is young people who hate to read but are helpless to read on their own. These students cannot simply be expected to become independent readers overnight. Reading aloud is an important step in the developmental process toward independent reading. Babies must crawl before they walk, but as they grow, they need opportunities to walk, rst with support, then on their own. Likewise, children need instruction in how to read silently. Teachers can move students toward independent reading by incorporating scaffolds, instructional activities that can be used and then gradually removed (Graves and Graves 1994, 90). These common, easy to use strategies can be integrated in any subject area at almost any age. They share certain common elements that help students improve their reading: set a purpose for reading, identify difcult vocabulary, make predictions, recognize and correct comprehension breakdowns, restate or summarize important points, and apply what is read to new situations to create knowledge, skills, or attitudes. The following strategies can be placed on a continuum that moves students toward independent reading. Reading Partners (Opitz and Rasinski 1998). To help students make the transition from reading aloud to reading silently, and as a temporary support, allow them to read aloud with a partner. Students can choose their own partners because they are likely to choose someone who reads at about the same level and with whom they feel comfortable. The partners should take turns as the reader and the summarizer, so that one reads and the other summarizes; then they switch roles. Think-Pair-Share. This relatively simple but effective strategy engages most students. Students work in pairs (or trios, if needed). They read a short section of text silently (the more complex the text, the shorter the section read). First, each student thinks or individually writes the main points of the passage. Next, the students take turns sharing their summaries with each other. During the process, they add to and correct each other to come to an agreement. Finally, the teacher

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asks representatives of the pairs to share with the whole group. Think Alouds (Moore, Alverman, and Hinchman 2000; Opitz and Rasinski 1998). With this technique, the teacher reads the text aloud, stopping periodically to share with the students his own thoughts, questions, problems, and predictions. Teachers need to prepare carefully to use this strategy. As mature readers, teachers often solve comprehension problems rapidly and unconsciously. They forget about how easy it is for comprehension to break down and about the x-up strategies so naturally utilized. As the teacher reads along, she might say, I wasnt sure what this word meant, but looking at the root, hemo, I guess it has something to do with blood. As I read this sentence, it suggests a hemotologist is someone who studies blood. That makes sense. Or another teacher might say, This part isnt clear to me. I think I missed something so I am going to go back and read the previous paragraph again. Students need to know that mature readers have comprehension problems too; they just know how to repair the damage. Guided Oral Reading and the Mediated Listening and Thinking Activity (Combs 2003; Manzo, Manzo, and Estes 2000). To further aid students through this transition, any of several guided reading strategies can be employed. The teacher may begin teaching the strategy by reading the text aloud, similar to the Think Aloud strategy. The teacher prepares several questions in advance for each section of the text. Such questions as What do you think this article/story is going to be about? and What kind of article/story do you expect this to be? are appropriate for the beginning of the piece. Later, the teacher might ask How does this character make you feel? or So far, what seems to be the main point the author is making? Before going on to any section, ask, What do you think this next section will tell us? or What do you think is going to happen next? Guided Silent Reading (Manzo, Manzo, and Estes 2000). After practicing the Guided Oral Reading strategy, the teacher can encourage silent reading by pacing the students silent reading. The teacher utilizes questions as with the Oral Reading, but in this case he tells students to read a certain section to nd out the answer to certain questions or to discover what happens next. The teacher can take time to alert students to difcult vocabulary before they trip over it as well. Reciprocal Teaching (Manzo, Manzo, and Estes 2000). Another variation of the guided reading strategy allows students to take on the role of the teacher. While all students read silently, individual students are called on to lead the discussion of each section as well as to summarize what has been read. So while the entire class is instructed to read a portion of the text, one student is designated the teacher and must prepare questions and a summary of the section.

ReQuest (Manzo, Manzo, and Estes 2000). This strategy is similar to Reciprocal Teaching, but all of the students are encouraged to ask questions of the teacher or of other students. Once the students have asked questions, the teacher can pose additional questions. The process of preparing mental questions helps students to focus on important information and clarify confusing sections. Text-Based Seminar (National School Reform Faculty n.d.). The text-based seminar, developed by Gene Thompson-Grove, utilizes an approach similar to the Socratic Seminar but with a specic focus on the text. Before beginning the seminar, ground rules are set, agreed on, and followed explicitly; these ground rules ensure that students listen, that statements are supported by text, and that one or two individuals do not monopolize the discussion. The facilitator begins by presenting a framing question, which is both broad and substantive, encouraging students to think deeply about the text. After allowing some time to briey discuss the framing question and any follow-up questions, readers are directed to re-read the text with the framing question in mind. After re-reading, the conversation begins. Instead of raising hands, students are encouraged to allow the conversation to ow. The facilitator may nd it useful to keep notes in order to take periodic breaks to recap. The ultimate goal of the text-based seminar is not to reach consensus about a particular issue; it is to lead students to a deeper understanding and critical consideration of the text. With this strategy, the process is more important than any nal product. Literature Circles (Daniels 2002). A strategy that is becoming increasingly popular in many grades, literature circles require that small groups of students plan their own reading and lead their own discussions of the book. Teachers prepare students for these discussions by assigning roles, such as the Discussion Leader, Illustrator, Orator, and Wordsmith. However, the idea is to move students into more natural discussions and discard the use of sometimes stiing roles (Hill, Noe, and King 2003). Reading Workshop (Atwell 1998; Mueller 2001; Rief 1992). At the far end of the continuum is the Reading Workshop approach popularized by Nancie Atwell. The workshop presents a very different classroom structure than that typically observed. Students are the primary decision makers as they choose which books to read, read at their own pace, respond in journals, then meet with the teacher one-on-one to conference about their reading. From time to time, individual members of the class may share books they are reading with the other students. The teacher provides regular mini-lessons to provide direct instruction with metacognitive strategies. But the students do not take tests or produce book reports about what they have read. Much class time is spent in silent reading.

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Conclusions Children, even as young as second and third grade, need both the time and encouragement to become independent readers. By the time students reach middle and high school, most reading tasks (other than those designed for dramatic purposes) should be performed silently and independently. Many instructional strategies have been found to encourage and improve independent silent reading (see Buehl 2001; Harvey and Goudvis 2000; Lapp, Flood, and Farnan 1996, for more examples). If we are to prepare our students to be successful on school assessments, in college, at work, and in their daily living, we must provide silent reading practice. In the grown-up world, there are no round robins.

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