How Proficient Readers Read
Nicole Endriss
Tanya Nygren
Dominican College
School of Education
October 9, 1998
Abstract
Proficient readers exhibit certain qualities and use certain strategies in developing proficiency as discussed in professional journal articles and other educational resources. Proficiency is defined as the ability to construct meaning from text at a reading level higher than the students’ age. The research showed the following six universal qualities displayed by proficient readers: understanding the purposes of reading, applying prior knowledge, processing the structures of print, self-monitoring, applying strategies, and reading meaningful text. The strategies examined were metacognition, preparation, organization, elaboration, summarization, and prediction.
How Proficient Readers Read
In any given grade one can observe a wide range of reading abilities. These abilities are distinguishable through reading levels, comprehension skills, phonemic awareness, and a general love for reading. A student may display proficiency in any one of these four areas, but a proficient reader is one that has strong skills in all areas. Proficiency is defined as the ability to construct meaning from text at a reading level higher than the students’ age. With this definition in mind, one may wonder, "What makes one student more proficient than another?" The purpose of this paper, based on research published in professional journal articles and other educational resources, is to examine what qualities proficient readers display and what reading and comprehension strategies they use in developing their proficiency.
Review of Literature
A recent study shows that readers acquire six qualities that allow them to become proficient (Riley, 1992). Proficiency depends on these qualities working together and creating the elaborate process of reading (Myers, 1991). The first quality Riley (1992) cites is understanding the purposes of reading. Good readers develop an understanding of why they are reading a specific text, decide a goal for their reading such as educational, recreational, and informational, and develop a high level of comprehension (Aarnoutse & Brand-Gruwel, 1997; Gunning, 1996; Pressley & Whatnot-McDonald, 1997). It is with this understanding of purpose that proficient readers gain ownership of the material and develop a love for reading.
The second quality proficient readers display is applying prior knowledge to print (Riley, 1992). The ability of the readers to use their prior knowledge and apply it to what they are reading will increase their level of comprehension (Pressley & Whatnot-McDonald, 1997). A student’s existing knowledge can be grouped into schemas or units of organized knowledge and used to facilitate the process of "building a connection between what we know and what we do not know" (Gunning, 1996, p. 193). Activating prior knowledge through the use of schemas will not only increase comprehension, but allows readers to continue to build their repertoire of knowledge (Gunning, 1996) and help them work towards higher reading levels.
The third quality that can be seen in proficient readers is a strong ability to process the structures of print. This means being knowledgeable of letter/sound correspondence, syntactic structures, and semantic associations (Riley, 1992). Letter/sound correspondence refers to a person’s level of phonemic awareness. A high level in this area allows students to separate sounds and thus be able to understand and develop literacy (Gunning, 1996). Syntactic structures refer to the order of words in a sentence and semantic associations are the meaning of words. These help to make up the structures of the English language and help students make sense of the print (Hahn, 1996). Together with phonemic awareness, syntax and semantics work towards understanding text and building literacy.
The fourth quality Riley (1992) discusses as pertinent to being a proficient reader is self-monitoring. The most common way students can self-monitor is through their use of metacognition (Riley, 1992). "Metacognition or ‘thinking about thinking’ involves the awareness and regulation of thinking processes" (El-Hindi, 1997, p.10). Myers (1991) states that good readers are aware of how to effectively use their metacognitive strategies in order to develop comprehension. One method that students can use to develop metacognition is to create reading logs to document thought processes as they read text (El-Hindi, 1997). This type of exercise can help students increase both metacognition and reading proficiency.
The fifth ability that proficient readers display is the application of a variety of strategies to comprehend their reading (Riley, 1992). Some of these strategies follow a sequential order as the reading process continues. First, students should understand why they are reading a chosen text so they can have a focus for their reading. Second, while reading a text, students develop hypotheses, integrate ideas, and construct conclusions. Finally, good readers will re-read or skim previous sectors of a text to further develop their comprehension (Pressley & Whatnot-McDonald, 1997). Although these are but a few of the existing strategies available to readers, they work towards helping the student create meaning and comprehension.
The sixth and final aspect of proficient readers is that they read and enjoy a variety of meaningful texts. These texts can range from academic textbooks to fiction or non-fiction books to newspaper articles or magazines to comics (Riley, 1992). Through reading such a wide variety of texts, good readers display a strong passion for reading especially "when the text includes ideas near and dear to their hearts" (Pressley & Whatnot-McDonald, 1997, p. 450).
Proficiency in reading is distinguishable by certain qualities displayed and applied by the reader. These qualities are purpose, prior knowledge, structures, self-monitoring, strategies, and a love of reading (Riley, 1992). These six attributes all work together towards the common goal of building literacy, constructing meaning, and developing comprehension skills. The more that readers develop these qualities, the more reading they will want to do, thus leading them to become more effective readers (Riley, 1992).
Implications
Developing literacy is the main goal of any language arts program in schools. It begins at an early age and becomes a continual life long process. Throughout the process, one can see various levels of reading abilities at any age. These levels can range from illiteracy to proficiency. As future educators, we were interested in understanding these various levels and researched how a higher level of proficiency in reading is attained.
Some ways to promote proficiency include a few simple strategies that are easy to implement. First, educators need to find ways to motivate their students to read. This means making the reading meaningful to the students, giving them a choice in the selection of reading materials, and making it fun. Second, educators need to provide many opportunities for their students to read. The more opportunities that students have to read, the more they can use and further develop their reading skills and increase their comprehension. "Comprehension is the main purpose of reading. In fact, without it, there is no reading, since reading is the process of constructing meaning from print" (Gunning, 1996, p. 193). The combination of being motivated to read and reading a lot will help students develop a love for reading and increase their comprehension.
Proficiency in reading is a current topic of interest among educators, particularly in California. In order to fully understand the way students can develop their proficiency, further research needs to be conducted on the reading abilities of younger students, specifically students in kindergarten through third grade. Most research to date has been focused on older age students or students below average in reading. Research conducted on students’ reading abilities at an early age should be done in combination with assessments on comprehension levels. With more research educators will gain insight in to the ways of promoting proficiency in reading.
References
Aarnoutse, C., & Brand-Gruwel, S. (1997). Improving reading comprehension strategies through listening. Educational Studies, 23(2), 209-228.
El-Hindi, A. E. (1997). Connecting reading and writing: College learners’ metacognitive awareness. Journal of Developmental Education, 21(2), 10-16.
Gunning, T. G. (1996). Creating reading instruction for all children (2nd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Hahn, M. (1996). The structure of language. Language Acquisition and Development Reader. Domincan College, San Rafael, CA.
Myers, S. S. (1991). Performance reading comprehension-product or process. Educational Review, 43(3), 257-273.
Pressley, M., & Wharton-McDonald, R. (1997). Skilled comprehension and its development through instruction. School Psychology Review, 26(3), 448-467.
Riely, J. D. (1992). Using the proficient reader protocol to evaluate middle school reading behaviors. The Clearing House, 66(1), 41-44.
