Reading Fluency
Strategy: Word Attack Hierarchy
Appropriate Grade Level: Struggling readers-lower and upper elementary
Procedures/Steps:
1) The instructor provides prompts to assist students with word attack strategies when a
student misreads a word.
2) The instructor provides the following cues in order for reading errors:
If your teacher tells you…
* Try another way- You were close, try again.
* Finish the sentence and guess the word- Use the words around it to figure out the word.
* Break the word into parts and pronounce each one- Stretch out the sounds.
* The word is____- Remember the word next time you get to it.
Or try asking yourself by…
* Using an index card to cover parts of the word, and sound out only the parts you see.
* Asking what sound does_____make?
* “Try another way” This should be used immediately after a reading error is
made , signals the student that he or she misread.
* “Finish the sentence and guess the word” The student should try to use the
context to figure out how to pronounce the word correctly.
* “Break the word into parts and pronounce each one” This cues the student to
sound out the segments independently.
* Use an index card to cover parts of the word, and the student should sound out
only the visible parts of the word.
* “What sound does___make?” The tutor should assist the student in using phonics
to sound out each part of the word.
* “The word is _____”. If the student still cannot decode the word, the instructor
should provide it and the student should repeat it and keep reading.
Comments and/or tips:
- If at any point the student is able to decode the word, the instructor should stop
delivering prompts. Do not correct minor mistakes such as ing or ed endings or the, an,
of, etc.
Source:
Wright, J., (2006). Error Correction and Word Drill Techniques. The Savvy Teacher’s
Guide: Reading Interventions That Work. www.interventioncentral.org. p 10-12.