Miscues and Miscue Analysis Ashley Blossom An ESL & Reading Professional Development Based on pages 24-30 of Teaching Reading in Multilingual Classrooms by David E. Freeman & Yvonne S. Freeman

Three Cueing Systems Graphophonic Cues A combination of visual + sound + phonic information used to scan a text Visual information: identifies letters Sound information: how words should sound Phonic information: connecting letter patterns with sound patterns Syntactic Cues Knowledge of word patterns and phrase combinations For example, using parts of speech to construct/predict meaningful sentences. Knowing that “The sun is _____” will likely not be followed by another noun like “table” but an adjective like “bright” or “yellow”. Semantic Cues Use of word meanings and interpretations to gather comprehension from a text Information obtained from pages 25-27 of: Freeman, D.E. & Freeman, Y.S. (2000). Teaching reading in multilingual classrooms. Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.

Strategies for Constructing Meaning Sampling: Browsing a text, getting “a feel” for the text before reading Predicting: Using background knowledge & cueing systems to make predictions Inferring: Fill in missing information using clues from the text, background knowledge, etc. Confirming/Disconfirming: Checking the accuracy of predictions, meaning and understanding of a text Integrating: Continually adding new information to one’s comprehension of a text Information obtained from pages 27-30 of: Freeman, D.E. & Freeman, Y.S. (2000). Teaching reading in multilingual classrooms. Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.

What is a miscue? Miscue: “an unexpected response to a text” such as: Omitting a word Inserting a word Substituting a word for another word Reversing words Information obtained from page 29 of: Freeman, D.E. & Freeman, Y.S. (2000). Teaching reading in multilingual classrooms. Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.

What to do about miscues… Ask questions to determine what type of miscue the student is making! Does the miscue look (or sound) like what was on the page? (graphophonics) Does the miscue sound like language? (syntax) Does the miscue make sense? (semantics ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL7zC6mbzEY Information obtained from page 29 of: Freeman, D.E. & Freeman, Y.S. (2000). Teaching reading in multilingual classrooms. Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.

Conducting Miscue Analysis Select a reading that is both an unknown and grade-level text & print two copies, one for you and one for the student Listen & record (optional-but recommended) the student reading the text Score the text and record miscues as the student reads REMEMBER: Miscue analysis does not assess comprehension but reading fluency

Why conduct miscue analysis? Miscue analysis allows you to hear and see what times of errors or miscues your students (ELL or not!) are making in order to better focus goals and objectives for that particular student. Frequent miscue analysis provides the necessary assessment data to create effective small groups & workshops, determine what needs to be re-taught and/or how native language or a lack of English understanding is effecting student reading.