Module 3: Reading Reflection

Do you agree with Marilyn Adams (1990, p. 108) who argued that rather than relying on context, “Skillful readers of English thoroughly process the individual letters of words in their texts?” Why or why not?


After reading the selected chapters, I feel that Adams does make a good point about readers processing individual letters of texts. I think that this is an important skill while reading. As a reader you must know the letters in order to process words. However, I do not fully agree with his statement, "Skillful readers of English thoroughly process the individual letters of words in their texts rather than relying on context." I believe that the foundation of reading should be making meaning, and therefore we must read a variety of materials. By reading a variety of materials, we are encompassing the reader with many words. From the words they will begin to to identify letters in order to identify new words. Once the words are identified, the reader then is able to make his or her own connections while reading, taking the meaning to the next level. Once they have established importance, students will learn to read for meaning.  Weaver states that, "The recognition of words also facilitates the development of schemas and the further use of both schemas and context in identifying subsequent words." Therefore, I believe that readers do need to learn how to properly process letters in order to make meaning of the texts in which they read. If they are able to process the letters in order to identify the words, they will be able to make connections to those words based on their own familiarity.  By combining the ideas of Adam, and Weaver, teachers can see what skills they need to develop in order to allow the reader to make meaning of what they read. 


I really connected to chapter 9 of the text. I think that often times by differentiating reading groups, teachers do use higher order skills when teaching the "accelerated" groups. They are proficient readers and that is the next step. These readers are reading fluently and are already able to recall basic facts from the story without our help.  Likewise, when teaching the "struggling readers", as stated from the text, teachers tend to focus on basic phonics instruction, and recalling stated facts from the stories. As teachers, we need to guide all readers and teach appropriate strategies in order for them to make the best of reading. All readers should know strategies in order to make them stronger readers. By identifying and analyzing miscues we can teach strategies to produce better readers. Having students identify their own miscues, as well as their classmates, really facilitates peer learning. Once they are aware of certain stressors they can work together to motivate and encourage one another within the classroom.