READING MISCUES: WHAT THEY TELL US
A reading miscue when there is a difference between what is on the page and what students say during oral reading. We do not use the word ‘error’ because reading miscues often represent mature reading behavior. There is a hierarchy of miscues, all of which tell you something different about how individual students are creating meaning with print.
- Meaningful miscues. A meaningful-miscue is one that does not change the fundamental meaning of the sentence. For example: If the student said, “The dogs run down the road,” instead of “The dogs ran down the road,” this would not change the meaning of the sentences. This tells us the student is using context and background knowledge to create meaning with print. This is a mature reading behavior.
- Schema-related miscues. A schema-related miscue fundamentally changes the meaning of the sentence but is still very much related to the passage. This tells us that the student is engaged in a meaningful reading behavior: using background knowledge. An example of a schema-related miscue include the following: In reading a passage about making roads the students said, “The truck made the road smooth” instead of “The grader made the road smooth.” This is a significant miscue as it changes the meaning of the sentence. A truck is much different from a grader. However, trucks and graders are both used in the making of the road.
- Significant miscues. A significant miscue is what we most commonly think of as an error. Here (a) the miscue changes the meaning of the sentence, (b) the miscue does not make sense within the sentence, (c) the students skips the word, or (d) the student needs help with the word. If the sentence was, “The dogs ran down the road”, and students said, “The dogs rammed down the road,” or “The dogs rope down the road,” these would be significant miscues as they fundamentally change the meaning of the sentence. This tells us there is a word identification problem.
- Meaningless pronunciation. A meaningless pronunciation is when students correctly sound out the word, but it is clear that they have no understanding of the word. You can tell by their inflection if they understand the word. It is often pronounced in the form of a question. “Fossils?” Or, the individual parts of the word may be pronounced correctly but they are put together in a stilted way or imprecise way. The meaningless pronunciation tells you something about students’ conceptual and word knowledge. There are three possible reasons for a meaningless pronunciation: (a) students do not have a concept to match the word in long term memory, (b) students' conception of the word does not match the context in which the word was found, or (c) students were not able to make the link between the word and the concept. This information can be used to design future lessons for both vocabulary and concept lessons.
This is an excerpt from my book, 10 Essential Instructional Elements For Students With Reading Difficulties: A Brain-Friendly Approach, published by Corwin Press (2016).
Related Mini-Lectures
REFERENCES
Ducket, P. (2008). Seeing the story for the words: The eye movements of beginning readers. In A Flurky, E. Paulson & K Goodman (Eds.) Scientific Realism in Studies of Reading, 113-128. New York: LEA
Goodman, K., Fries, P.H., & Strauss, S.L. (2016). Reading the grand illusion: How and why people make sense of print. New York, NY: Routledge.
Paulson, E.J. (2002). Are oral reading word omissions and substitutions caused by careless eye movements? Reading Psychology, 23, 45-66.
Paulson, E.J. & Freeman, A.E. (2003). Insight from the eyes: The science of effective reading instruction. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Paulson, E.J. & Goodman, K.S. (2008). Re-reading eye-movement research: Support for transactional models of reading, 25-50. In A Flurky, E. Paulson & K Goodman (Eds.) Scientific Realism in Studies of Reading, New York: LEA
Wilde, S. (2000). Miscue analysis made easy: Building on student strengths. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Retired Educator
7 年Thank you. I have taught Pre-k thru 2nd grade for over 20 yrs. Recently, I became an ELA co-teacher for grades 3-5 and I am truly concerned with being effective so these discuss are excellent resources.
Reading Specialist - North Allegheny School District
7 年Thank you-great post-sharing :)
Instructional Designer, Philosopher, and Academic Architect
7 年True, it does formative assessment does provide better instructional data. However, before we succumb to the urge to remove the only national accountability model currently in place from our schools and students, I believe it is a prudent suggestion to ask those advocating for such radical reforms to look before promoting a giant leap off the proverbial cliff. Three reasons why we need the ability to measure what is happening in our schools. Reason 1: In the absence of cohesive, national data on what is/isn't taking place in our schools, the citizens making up this great democracy do not have an accurate tool to measure educational progress or the effectiveness of learning. Without a safety net, we make it even easier for our children's futures to become inconsequential and further dimish our ability to advocate for a strong educational system which seeks to equip students for success. Reason 2: Without accurate information about the child’s learning progress, society may lack the impetus or ability to pressure the system to deliver better results. More details on how to redistribute this "pressure" to come. Additionally, the lack of solid, useful data allows those in positions of the greatest power to influence our educational system without any catalyst for change. This would be disastrous! We are already are seeing the repercussions of politicians, CEO, and top administration's lack of an ethical compass, especially when it comes to providing for the welfare of our children. So then, why should we conclude in the absence of data and transparency measures these same individuals or corporate America would suddenly grow a conscience? Reason 3: Without the ability to make an informed data-driven decisions, our populace's perception of education quality may revert back to previous misconceptions. Thus, basing their evaluation of educational quality/progress on proxies that may hold no relationship with quality of learning going on in our schools. For Example: A teacher’s ability to teach may be judged by seniority or formal qualifications alone. The problem here, research has proven these are inadequate indicators of student learning and a deterrent to innovation. As I hope you will see, the removal of the annual high-stakes testing would leave our children's educational future cloudy and at considerable risk. Perhaps, the safer course of action is to focus our efforts on building a parachute for our students, teachers, and local schools? In this I mean to say by realigning the model of accountability to focus the consequences towards those in positions of influence, we can harness the potential of transparency while simultaneously removing our local schools from the war-zone.
Intermediate Phase teacher at independent Prep School
8 年Thanks. Always learn something new from your writing etc.
Vice President, Career Services
8 年thanks for sharing!