There are various ways to provide modified reading assignments for struggling students, especially English language learners in mixed ability classes. By understanding how modification strategies work, teachers can wrestle more effectively with questions such as: How can I scaffold content for lower performing readers?" and "How can I provide instruction for all levels of student reading proficiency?"
Once teachers know their students' reading abilities, they can begin the process of modifying the material to provide instructional support so struggling learners can succeed. In a mixed ability classroom, modification strategies include instructional support, or more specifically, what the teacher can do to simplify the task so students can access information.
Modify Reading Instruction Based On Students' Abilities
Once teachers identify significant areas in which students struggle, they can create new targeted instructional goals and objectives. These specific instructional goals will guide classroom learning and how teachers can modify instruction. Teachers will need to experiment with a variety of modification strategies to determine the best way to help students meet instructional goals.
Modifying Reading Assignments
Locating Specific Information
Providing instructional support in reading can begin with the small things such as providing the paragraph numbers where students can find specific information easily. Students can also extract and list all the names of people, places and numbers and then classify them into groups.
Understanding Vocabulary in Context
Struggling learners often have difficulty comprehending vocabulary in context because their language skills are still in transition. Modification strategies include:using words that have something in common,focusing on no more than 5 words in a given lesson, having students underline all the words they know, composing questions to ask/clarify in class, asking T/F questions where students correct the false questions, and giving evidence. Additionally, teachers can use cognates and provide guide-in questions that help students elicit the meaning more effectively.
Finding the Main Idea or Message of a Story or Text
By far, struggling students need instructional support to help them synthesize information when it comes to locating the main idea or message of a story or text. Teachers can first start by using simpler and shorter texts where 99% of the vocabulary is understood and where the focus is on comprehension.
Modification reading strategies reinforce vocabulary development and provide opportunities for students to practice comprehending deeper meanings of vocabulary and texts. In this way, modified reading assignments take into account the wide range of students' reading abilities which is typical of a mixed ability class. As teachers discover what modified reading assignments and strategies work for their particular classes, they can continue to refine information.
Dorit Sasson - Hello! I'm an ESL instructor, teacher diversity coach and writer for the educational markets who writes on English language learners ...
