[AAACE-NLA] STAR Struck!

[Susan Finn Miller]

I agree with John Comings that the reading profiles for adults who come to
literacy programs will very often differ from the reading profiles of
children. This point adds further support to the process for teaching
reading presented in STAR. Ideally, reading instruction would begin with
assessing adults in the different component areas and then targeting
instruction around those needs.

Susan Finn Miller


On 2/8/07 9:52 AM, "John Comings" <comingjo at gse.harvard.edu> wrote:

> I agree with Susan Miller's posting on STAR. We have no theory or evidence
> that adults acquire and improve literacy skills in ways that are
> significantly different than children, and so we can accept the child
> research until we have evidence that another approach works better.
> 
> However, the skill profile of adults can look quite different than
> children.  For example, experience might have provided an adult with an
> oral vocabulary much greater than his or her reading skill level, which
> might be held back by low fluency or poor decoding skills, while a child
> generally reads at his or her vocabulary level. This makes assessment of
> the components of reading for adults important to designing instruction
> that will build on their strengths and address their weaknesses. In
> addition, adults need help and innovative service delivery approaches that
> support their spending enough time-on-task (both instruction and practice)
> to make meaningful gains.
> 
> For now, we might accept the child research on reading instruction and
> focus our quite limited research and development resources on ways to
> support motivation to learn and persistence, intensity, and engagement in
> learning.
> 
> John Comings, Director
> National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy
> Harvard Graduate School of Education
> 7 Appian Way
> Cambridge MA 02138
> (617) 496-0516, voice
> (617) 495-4811, fax
> (617) 335-9839, mobile
> john_comings at harvard.edu
> http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu
> 
> _______________________________________________
> AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org
> http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla
> LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
> http://literacytent.org