Struggling Adolescent Readers
Current issues in adolescent literacy: (NAASP, 2005)
 30% of US students drop out of high school
 Among 12th graders, 42 % of Whites, 16% of African Americans, and 22% of
Hispanics are at or above a proficient literacy level
 2 % of all high school students read below basic levels or three to four years below
basic grade levels
 50% graduation rate in urban schools
Literacy instruction for adolescents should focus on: (NAASP, 2005)
 Reading fluency
 Vocabulary and word‐reading knowledge
o Teaching students to analyze words by breaking them down and then
blending them has been shown to be effective at enhancing adolescents’
reading and spelling (Bhattacharya & Ehri, 2004; Penney, 2002)
o Semantic feature analysis can help students learn and understand
vocabulary (Bos, Anders, Filip, & Jaffe,1989)
 Background knowledge about the text being read
o Easy reading material can be used by students to gather and learn
background information on a topic in a non‐threatening way (McEwan
2007)
 Higher‐level reasoning and thinking
 Use of comprehension strategies
o Reciprocal teaching can enhance student comprehension of text and use
of comprehension strategies (Alfassi, 1998)
o Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), a cooperative peer‐based
reading instructional method in which students work in pairs to learn
strategies for retelling, summarizing, and predicting can be used with
high‐school students to improve comprehension (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Kazdan,
1999)
 Motivation and engagement
o Make literacy experiences relevant to student interests, life, and future
o Allow choice when appropriate (choice of text, responses, or activities)
o Provide interesting and varied reading materials (Kamil, Borman, Dole,
Kral, Salinger, & Torgesen, 2008).
Text Selection: (NAASP, 2005)
 Adolescent students need high‐quality, readable textbooks.
 Text should be provided across a variety of reading levels to allow all students to
read text at their instructional level
 Provide well‐supplied classroom libraries of leveled high interest materials that
capture student interest
For more information on Struggling Adolescent Readers:
 http://www.adlit.org/
 http://www.ldonline.org/
 http://www.nassp.org/portals/0/content/52924.pdf
Alfassi, M. (1998). Reading for meaning: The efficacy of reciprocal teaching in fostering
reading comprehension in high school students in remedial reading classes. American
Educational Research Journal, 35, 309–332.
Bhattacharya, A., & Ehri, L. C. (2004). Graphosyllabic analysis helps adolescent struggling
readers read and spell words. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37, 331–348.
Bos, C. S., Anders, P. L., Filip, D., & Jaffe, L. (1989). The effects of an interactive
instructional strategy for enhancing reading comprehension and content area learning
for students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 22, 384–390.
Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L., & Kazdan, S. (1999). Effects of peer‐assisted learning strategies on
high school students with serious reading problems. Remedial & Special Education, 20,
309– 319.
Kamil, M. L., Borman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., and Torgesen, J. (2008).
Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A Practice
Guide (NCEE #2008‐4027). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation
and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/adlit_pg_082608.pdf
McEwan, E. K. 40 Ways to Suport Struggling Readers in Content Classrooms, Grades 6‐12.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Penney, C. G. (2002). Teaching decoding skills to poor readers in high school. Journal of
Literacy Research, 34, 99–118.
Torgesen, J. K., Houston, D. D., Rissman, L. M., Decker, S. M., Roberts, G., Vaughn, S.,
Wexler, J. Francis, D. J, Rivera, M. O., Lesaux, N. (2007). Academic literacy instruction for
adolescents: A guidance document from the Center on Instruction. Portsmouth, NH:
RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction.