Guided reading

Understanding EAL/D students’ strengths and learning needs in the Reading and Viewing mode will help with appropriate text selection. Teachers consider a range of factors in selecting texts for EAL/D students including:                  

• content which connects to prior knowledge and experiences, including culturally familiar contexts, characters or settings
• content which introduces engaging and useful new knowledge, such as contemporary Australian settings and themes
• content which prepares students for future learning, e.g. reading a narrative about a penguin prior to a science topic about animal adaptations
• language at an accessible but challenging level ('just right' texts)
• availability of support resources such as audio versions or translations of the text
• texts with a distinctive beat, rhyming words or a combination of direct and indirect speech to assist with pronunciation and prosody
• the difficulty of the sentence structures or grammatical features in the selected text. Ideally, students read texts that have some challenge, but that they can read well enough to comprehend the text.  This is not always feasible, particularly at the higher levels of primary school. If the text is difficult, the teacher could modify the text or focus the reading on a section before expecting them to read the whole text.              

Students also need repeated exposure to new text structures and grammatical features to extend their language learning, such as texts with:                  

• different layouts and organisational features
• different sentence lengths
• simple, compound or complex sentences
• a wide range of verb tenses used
• a range of complex word groups (noun groups, verb groups, adjectival groups)
• direct and indirect speech
• passive voice, e.g. Wheat is harvested in early autumn, before being transported to silos.
  
• nominalisation (where a verb takes on the characteristics of a noun), e.g. The presentation of awards will take place at 8pm.

EAL/D students learn about the grammatical features as they arise in authentic texts. For example, learning about the form and function of passive sentences when reading an exposition text, and subsequently writing their own passive sentences.                  

All students in the class including EAL/D students will typically identify a learning goal for reading. Like all students, the learning needs of each EAL/D student will be different. Some goals may be related to the student’s prior experience with literacy practices, such as:                  

• ways to incorporate reading into daily life at home
• developing stamina to read for longer periods of time
• developing fluency to enable students to read longer texts with less effort.

Some goals may be related to the nature of students’ home language(s):                  

• learning to perceive, read and pronounce particular sounds that are not part of the home language, for example, in Korean there is no /f/ sound
• learning the direction of reading or the form of letters
• learning to recognise different word forms such as verb tense or plural if they are not part of the home language.

For more information on appropriate texts for EAL/D students, see: Languages and Multicultural Education Resource Centre                   

• activate prior knowledge of the topic
• encourage student predictions
• set the scene by briefly summarising the plot
• demonstrate the kind of questions readers ask about a text
• identify the pivotal pages in the text that contain the meaning and ‘walk’ through the students through them
• introduce any new vocabulary or literary language relevant to the text
• locate something missing in the text and match to letters and sounds
• clarify meaning
• bring to attention relevant text layout, punctuation, chapter headings, illustrations, index or glossary
• clearly articulate the learning intention (i.e. what reading strategy students will focus on to help them read the text)
• discuss the success criteria (e.g. you will know you have learnt to ….. by ………).

• ‘listen in’ to individual students
• observe the reader’s behaviours for evidence of strategy use
• assist a student to monitor meaning using phonic, semantic, contextual and grammatical knowledge
  
• confirm a student’s word problem-solving attempts and successes
• give timely and specific feedback to help students achieve the lesson focus
• make notes about the strategies individual students are using to inform future planning and student goal setting. See Teacher's role during reading).
  

• talk about the text with the students
• invite personal responses such as asking students to make connections to themselves, other texts or world knowledge
• return to the text to clarify or identify a decoding teaching opportunity such as the revision of phoneme-grapheme correspondence blending or segmenting
  
• check a student understands what they have read by asking them to sequence, retell or summarise the text
• develop an understanding of an author’s intent and awareness of conflicting interpretations of text
• ask questions about the text or encourage students to ask questions of each other
• develop insights into characters, settings and themes
• focus on aspects of text organisation such as characteristics of a non-fiction text
• revisit the learning focus and encourage students to reflect on whether they achieved the success criteria.            

Before reading a fictional text, the teacher can                   

• orientate students to the text. Discuss the title, illustrations, and blurb, or look at the titles of the chapters if reading a chaptered book
• activate students’ prior knowledge about language related to the text. This could involve asking students to label images or translate vocabulary. Students could do this independently, with same-language peers, family members or Multicultural Education Aides, if available
• use relevant artefacts or pictures to elicit language and knowledge from the students and encourage prediction and connections with similar texts.

Before reading a factual text, the teacher can                   

• support students to brainstorm and categorise words and phrases related to the topic
• provide a structured overview of the features of a selected text, for example, the main heading, sub headings, captions or diagrams
• support students to skim and scan to get an overview of the text or a specific piece of information
• support students to identify the text type, its purpose and language structures and features.

During reading the teacher can                   

• talk to EAL/D students about strategies they use when reading in their home language and encourage them to use them in reading English texts. Teachers can note these down and encourage other students to try them.

After reading the teacher can                   

• encourage EAL/D students to use their home language with a peer (if available) to discuss a response to a teacher prompt and then ask the students to share their ideas in English
• record student contributions as pictures (e.g. a story map) or in English so that all students can understand
• create practise tasks focusing on particular sentence structures from the text
• set review tasks in both English and home language. Home language tasks based on personal reflection can help students develop depth to their responses. English language tasks may emphasise learning how to use language from the text or the language of response
• ask students to practise reading the text aloud to a peer to practise fluency
• ask students to create a bilingual version of the text to share with their family or younger students in the school
• ask students to innovate on the text by changing the setting to a place in their home country and altering some or all of the necessary elements.

The text chosen for the small group instruction will depend on the teaching purpose. For example, if the purpose is to:                  

• demonstrate directionality - the teacher will ensure that the text has a return sweep
• predict using the title and illustrations - the text chosen must support this
• make inferences - a text where students can use their background knowledge of a topic in conjunction with identifiable text clues to support inference making.

Text selection should include a range of:                  

• genres
• texts of varying length and
• texts that span different topics.

It is important that the teacher reads the text before the guided reading session to identify the gist of the text, key vocabulary and text organisation. A learning focus for the guided reading session must be determined before the session. It is recommended that teachers prepare and document their thinking in their weekly planning so that the teaching can be made explicit for their students as illustrated in the examples in the information below.                 

Students

Jessie, Rose, Van, Mohamed, Rachel, Candan                 

Text/Level

Tadpoles and Frogs, Author Jenny Feely, Program AlphaKids published by Eleanor Curtain Publishing Pty Ltd. ©EC Licensing Pty Ltd. (Level 5)                 

Learning Intention

We are learning to read with phrasing and fluency.                 

Success criteria

I can use the grouped words on each line of text to help me read with phrasing.                  

Why phrase

Phrasing helps the reader to understand the text through the grouping of words into meaningful chunks.                  

An example of guided reading planning and thinking recorded in a teacher’s weekly program (See Guided Reading Lesson: Reading with phrasing and fluency).       

Students

Mustafa, Dylan, Rosita, Lillian, Cedra                 

Text/Level

The Merry Go Round – PM Red, Beverley Randell, Illustrations Elspeth Lacey ©1993. Reproduced with the permission of Cengage Learning Australia. (Level 3)                 

Learning intention

We are learning to answer inferential questions.                  

Success criteria

I can use text clues and background information to help me answer an inferential question.                  

Questions as prompts

Why has the author used bold writing? (Text clue) Can you look at Nick’s body language on page11? Page 16? What do you notice? (Text clues) Why does Nick choose to ride up on the horse rather than the car or plane? (Background information on siblings, family dynamics and stereotypes about gender choices).       

An example of the scaffolding required to assist early readers to answer an inferential question. This planning is recorded in the teacher’s weekly program (See Guided Reading Lesson: Literal and Inferential Comprehension).     

• an example of guided reading planning and thinking recorded in a teacher’s weekly program, see Guided Reading Lesson: Reading with phrasing and fluency)
• questions to check for meaning or critical thinking should also be prepared in advance to ensure the teaching is targeted and appropriate
• an example of the scaffolding required to assist early readers to answer an inferential question. This planning is recorded in the teacher’s weekly program.

Research suggests the quality and range of books to which students are exposed to such as:                

• electronic texts
• decodable texts
  
• student/teacher published work
  
• picture books
  
• information texts
• recipes
  
• newspaper articles.
  



Students need to have access in the classroom to the full range of genres we want them to comprehend (Duke, Pearson, Strachan & Billman, 2011, p. 59). A  variety of authentic text types as well as decodable texts addressing the students current reading need and the identified instructional purpose, need to be to be read and explicitly taught.     

When selecting texts for teaching purposes include: levels of text difficulty and text characteristics such as:          

• the length
• the degree of detail and complexity and familiarity of the concepts
• the support provided by the illustrations
• the complexity of the sentence structure and vocabulary
• the size and placement of the text
• students’ reading behaviours
• students’ interests and experiences including home literacies and sociocultural practices
• texts that promote engagement and enjoyment.

For ideas about selecting literature for EAL/D learners, see: Literature                      

Students

Jessie

• finger tracking text
• uses some expression
• not pausing at punctuation
• some phrasing but still some word by word.

Rose

• finger tracking text
• reading sounds smooth.

Van

• reads with expression
• re-reads for fluency.

Mohamed

• uses pictures to help decoding
• word by word reading
• better after some modelling of phrasing.

Rachel

• tracks text with her eyes
• groups words based on text layout
• pauses at full stops.

Candan

• recognises commas and pauses briefly when reading clauses
• reads with expression.

1. I really liked the way you grouped those words together to make your reading sound phrased. Did it help you understand what you read? (using meaning and visual or print information)
   
2. Can you go back and reread this sentence? I want you to look carefully at the whole word here (the beginning, middle and end). What do you notice? (using visual or print information)
   
3. As this is a long word, can you break it up into syllables to try and work it out? Show me where you would make the breaks. (using visual or print information)
4. It is important to pause at punctuation to help you understand the text. Can you go back and reread this page? This time I want you to concentrate on pausing at the full stops and commas (using visual or print information and meaning) 
   
5. Look at the word closely. I can see it starts with a digraph you know. What sound does it make? Does that help you work out the word? (using visual or print information, using phonic knowledge and skills).
6. This page is written in past tense. What morpheme would you expect to see on the end of verbs? Can you check? (using visual and structural or grammatical information) 
   
7. Did what you read make sense? When you read something that does not make sense, you need to go back and reread, looking carefully at the words and letters to decode a word that does make sense (using visual or print information and meaning). 
   

Specific feedback for EAL/D students may involve and build on transferable skills and knowledge they gained from reading in another language.        

• I can see you were thinking carefully about the meaning of that word. What information from the book did you use to help you work out the meaning?
• Do you know this word in your home language? Let’s look it up in the bilingual dictionary to see what it means.

• engage in a conversation about the new text
• make predictions based on title, front cover, illustrations, text layout
• activate their prior knowledge (what do they already know about the topic? what vocabulary would they expect to see?)
• ask questions
• locate new vocabulary/literary language in text
  
• articulate new vocabulary and match to letters/sounds
• articulate learning intention and discuss success criteria.

• read the whole text or section of text to themselves
• use concepts of print to assist their reading
• use pictures and/or diagrams to assist with developing meaning
• problem solve using the sources of information - the use of meaning, (does it make sense?) structure (can we say it that way?) and visual information (sounds, letters, words) on extended text (Department of Education, 1997)
• recognise high frequency words
• recognise and use new vocabulary introduced in the before reading discussion segment
• use text user skills to help read different types of text
• read aloud with fluency when the teacher ‘listens in’
• read the text more than once to establish meaning or fluency
• read the text a second or third time with a partner.

• be prepared to talk about the text
• discuss the problem solving strategies they used to monitor their reading
• revisit the text to further problem solve as guided by the teacher
• compare text outcomes to earlier predictions
• ask and answer questions about the text from the teacher and group members
• summarise or synthesise information
• discuss the author’s purpose
• think critically about a text
• make connections between the text and self, text to text and text to world.

Before reading the student can:         

• activate their home language knowledge. What home language words related to this topic do they know?

During reading the student can:         

• refer to vocabulary charts or glossaries in the classroom to help them recognise and recall the meaning of words learnt before reading the text
• use home language resources to help them understand words in the text. For example, translated word charts, bilingual dictionaries, same-language peers or family members.

After reading the student can:         

• summarise the text using a range of meaning-making systems including English, home language and images.