How to Help Students Who Struggle with Reading

The ability to identify words on the page forms the basis for all reading. Students without reading difficulties tend to read a lot, and their skills improve rapidly as a result. However, when a student struggles to decode the text they are reading, their fluency may be affected, which can dampen their enthusiasm for reading. Here are some strategies for improving a student’s word identification skills:

• Choose texts at the right reading level. To boost your students’ confidence and understanding, it is important to minimize the frustration caused by hard-to-understand books. Generally speaking, reading becomes frustrating when the reader understands fewer than 90 percent of the words in the text. If the student can read 90 to 94 percent of the words accurately, the text will require some effort, but the reader is considered to be within their zone of proximal development (they can read most of the words on their own, with some support). For independent reading, 95 to 100 percent of the words in the text should be understood to prevent frustration for the student.

• Apply the five-finger rule. To help students signal the difficulty level of their reading, ask them to raise their hands and start reading the first page of a book they have chosen. Then, ask them to lower a finger every time they come across a word they do not understand. If they lower all five fingers before the end of the first page, the book is considered too difficult for them. When this happens, they can try a different book.

• Help students develop reading fluency (the ability to read words quickly, accurately, and with the right register and tone). Students can practise by reading a short text of around 100 words aloud, repeating it three to five times. Try to keep things fun by encouraging students to read in a theatrical voice, giving them a toy megaphone or microphone as a prop, or making an audio recording of them reading. Having students take turns reading aloud is not recommended in class, however, because it can cause anxiety in students who struggle with reading. Furthermore, when this technique is used as a stand-alone method, individual students do not get enough practice time to improve.

• Use explicit instruction techniques when teaching new vocabulary. Teach your students the new words they will encounter in stories, math problems, or even textbooks. Explicit instruction techniques include miming, providing an adapted definition (not the one in the dictionary), and using the word in context. Repeated exposure to new vocabulary words is important. Use the new words as often as possible.

• Decode words by looking at the images. Ask your students to examine the images in the text to better understand what they are reading. They can use visual clues to confirm, correct, or add to their understanding of the text.

• Notice the different types of mistakes your students make. When a student reads aloud, you can pinpoint sounds, syllables, or words they may be struggling with. Here are some common error categories:

  • Substitution, where the student reads a word that is different from the one written in the text

  • Omission, where the student skips over one or more words in the text

  • Addition, where the student adds words that are not in the text

Feel free to step in and help when you notice a student hesitating over a word, and make a note of any self-corrections they make.

Once your students learn to recognize written words and decode graphic elements in a text, they will have more cognitive space for comprehension. Here are a few strategies to help them improve this skill:

• Teach your students to ask questions (before, during, and after reading).

  • Encourage your students to reflect on the text by predicting what will happen, then asking questions to clarify what they have read. For example, a student might think about what the main character’s strengths and weaknesses are, then check their hypothesis against the text. Remind your students that there are no bad questions, and add your own if they are hesitant.

  • Students can raise their hands to ask questions for group discussion, or even write them down on sticky notes. Try hanging these Alloprof posters in your classroom, and use them to remind students of the steps to understanding different types of texts.

• Read slightly more advanced texts with your students. This gives you the opportunity to pause to explain words or phrases, ask your students questions, and encourage them to predict what will happen next.

• Play a Battleship reading game. Visualizing passages in a text is essential for comprehension. For this activity, students work in pairs. Give student A a blank sheet of paper and student B a text with a descriptive passage. Students sit facing each other, using a binder or hardcover book as a screen. Student A reads the text aloud one or more times, and asks student B to draw what they hear. Student B must pay attention to word groups, or phrases, which can change the way they see the story in their mind (they transform our thoughts, images, etc.). Display all the drawings and repeat the activity a few days later, swapping roles and choosing a new text.

• Play Book of Spells. In this interactive Alloprof game, students answer reading comprehension questions on different texts. The more answers they get right, the more items they can collect (doughnuts, soap, etc.) to help their adorable little monsters grow. The game’s entertaining narrative and quest format optimize the player’s engagement with reading. As an added bonus, many of the stories in the game are written by celebrated Quebec authors.

Reading a text is about more than just decoding and understanding it. Once a student learns to explain their understanding, interpretation, assessment, or opinion of the text, and their reaction to it, they become strategic readers. Modelling these strategies regularly and exploring how they relate to one another are key to helping students develop their own point of view. Here are a few ways to teaching students how to apply these strategies to reading in your classroom:

• Vary your questions to help students develop their ideas. Stick to open-ended questions. Here are some ideas for formulating your questions and prompts:

  • Why do you think . . .

  • Tell me more about…

  • Give an example of…

  • How could we elaborate on this idea?

  • Do you agree or disagree with the actions of _____? Why?

  • What do you mean?

  • Who would you recommend this book to? Explain.

  • What do you think of this book? Why?

• Teach students to make comparisons. Have them look at various options—the qualities of two characters, the characteristics of two situations, the impact of the same action on two characters, etc.—and decide on what they will compare. Then ask them to back up their comparison.

• Have students try to put themselves in protagonists’ shoes. The aim is to understand the characters’ reasoning and motivation. Students can also draw on their own experience and give reasons to support their position. For example, a student may draw a link with a family member or with their own lives, explaining a situation that they have experienced or witnessed. To develop this idea further, students can also draw links to other books or to current events.

• Organize literature circles, book debates, and book battles. Divide students into small groups to discuss a book they have all read. Each student can take on a role (summarizing the book, finding difficult words, analyzing characters, etc.) to encourage a multi-level exploration of the text. During this activity, students are encouraged to express their ideas clearly, justify their ideas with examples from the text, and listen critically to what their fellow students have to say. A book debate takes this strategy one step further by creating a scenario where students have to defend their interpretations or preferences vis-à-vis the selected books or themes. To hold a book battle, choose two books to go head-to-head and explain to your students that only one can win. Students will use various criteria to judge different aspects of the books:

  • Theme

  • Illustrations

  • Main character

  • Settings

  • Values

  • Author’s voice and style

  • Choice of vocabulary

  • Plot or humour

  • Ending

  • Etc.