What is it?
‘Pause, prompt and praise’ tutoring procedures were developed for
use by non-professional reading tutors, primarily parents of low
progress readers, peer tutors and volunteers. This method stresses
that children learn to read by reading, not by learning a large number
of separate words or subskills. It assumes three things: first, that the
child is provided with an appropriate level and type of text; secondly
that the child’s progress is carefully monitored with respect to the
text using running records or simple miscue analysis; and thirdly,
that the teacher or tutor listens to the reading and gives appropriate
feedback.
Who can benefit from Pause, Prompt and Praise?
Low-progress readers-benefit from the
extra practice of reading aloud; improving
fluency, self-corrections and reading
level.
Parent tutors-working together to
successfully remedy a weakness in
reading may result in an improved parentchild relationship.
Peer tutors-working together provides
feelings of closeness and friendship and is
good social training.
Who can be a Pause, Prompt and Praise tutor?
Anyone interested in helping a struggling reader can be trained
in the ‘pause, prompt and praise’ method. This method has
been used successfully with teachers, parents, peers and
community volunteers. Numerous studies have been completed
demonstrating its effectiveness.
How often should the tutoring take place?
Tutoring sessions for younger students should occur at least three
days a week and last approximately 10-15 minutes each.
Older students may be tutored three days a week for approximately
15-20 minutes per session.
How does this method fit into my child’s busy routine?
Tutoring sessions can be done during the school day using
peer tutors, cross-age tutors or parent volunteers. Tutoring
sessions may also take place at home using parent tutors.
Where will I find the appropriate materials?
You will use the correct level reading materials
supplied by your child’s reading teacher. Children
learning to read must adopt a variety of strategies
for predicting and working out unknown words.
Reading material at the appropriate level provides
some unfamiliar words, but also enough known
words to be able to make good predictions, even if
these are miscues. Running records will be used to
assess the child’s rate of reading accuracy. If the
rate is below 80% the text is too difficult. If the
rate is over 95% it is too easy. An ideal level for
children learning to read, with all the advantages of
making mistakes, is said to be between 80% to 90%
accuracy.
How do I know if my child is making progress?
Running records will be taken regularly
to monitor your child’s progress. When
the student reads a title at 90% or better,
he/she will be given a title at the next
highest level. Your child will be able to
chart his/her own progress.
How do I motivate my child to participate?
The ultimate goal is for our children to adopt a life-long love of
reading. In order for this to happen, students must encounter
successful reading experiences. Children will only succeed when
they are given appropriate leveled materials. It is also beneficial to
keep a record of the many titles your child has read. Once they see
how they are progressing, their intrinsic motivation will increase.
Students participating in this tutoring project will receive free takehome books which they will keep. This will help instill a love of
reading and pride in ownership of good literature.
Pause
Pausing is difficult for most reading tutors, but it is a key factor in
responding helpfully to the child who is learning to read. Mistakes
(errors, miscues) are to be expected; it is an important part of the
process of learning to read. When students are interrupted
immediately upon making an error, their opportunity for selfcorrection is limited. This not only inhibits learning and progress,
but also fosters dependence. The delaying of attention to errors by
five seconds or until the end of the sentence leads to more selfcorrection and an increase in the child’s reading accuracy. Selfcorrection is seen as an indicator that the child is reading actively.
They are able to ‘solve’ problem words independently
Prompt
The type of prompt or feedback given depends on the nature of the miscue.
If the error does not make sense, then the prompt should be aimed at giving
clues about the meaning of the story, perhaps by asking a question
(contextual prompt).
If the mistake makes sense but the word is still not correct, the tutor’s
prompt should be aimed at helping the child to look again at the graphic
and auditory properties of the word, how it looks and sounds
(graphophonic prompt).
Should the child hesitate and then say nothing, the tutor can either ask the
child to read to the end, or from the beginning of the sentence. Often this
additional context will help the child to work out the unknown word.
When the child is not able to correct the miscue after two prompts, the tutor
is to provide the correct word. This encourages the fluency of the story and
does not draw unnecessary attention to the child’s difficulty in responding
correctly.
Praise
Praise for correct reading must be specific and immediate. The
praise should be contingent upon good reading behaviors. For
example praise should be given following:
•Self-corrections
•Prompted corrections
•Reading sections or pages without error.
The criterion for success should be allowed to shift from small,
tutor-dependent to more complex, independent behaviors.
A Team Effort
Setting up a ‘Pause, Prompt and Praise’ peer tutoring program
requires some initial effort from teachers. Continual monitoring of
both tutors and tutees is essential for a successful program.
At the end of the year, all participants (parents, teachers, tutors and
tutees) will be asked to complete a survey in order to evaluate the
success of the program. We believe that with a little time, patience
and planning our low-achieving readers can experience the success
they deserve while learning to read.
Resource Page
Glynn, T., Dick, M. & Flower, D. (1992) Pause, Prompt and Praise: a reading
tutoring programme (Education Department, University of Otago, Dunedin).
Merrett, F. (1994) Improving Reading: a teacher’s guide to peer-tutoring (London,
David Fulton.
Wheldall, K. & Colmar, S. (1990) Peer tutoring for low-progress readers using
“Pause, Prompt and Praise’, in: H. C. Foot, M. J. Morgan & R. H. Shute (Eds)
Children Helping Children (London, Wiley), pp. 117-134.
Wheldall, K., Colmar, S., Wenban-Smith, J., Morgan, A. 7 Quance, B. (1992)
Teacher-child oral reading interactions: how do teachers typically tutor?,
Educational Psychology, 12, pp. 177-194.
Wheldall, K., Merrett, F. & Colmar, S. (1987) ‘Pause, Prompt and Praise’ for
parents and peers: effective tutoring for low progress readers, Support for Learning,
12, pp. 5-12.