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"Reading is a message-gaining, problem-solving activity, which increases in power and flexibility the more it is practiced." (M. Clay, 1972, Reading, The pattern of Complex Behavior)
Language Most children come to school with food control of their oral language, which includes the sounds of the language, a large vocabulary, and the ability to construct sentences. The low-progress reader must learn to use his own language to make predictions.
Concepts about Print Left to right movement across the page, word by word matching, spaces, punctuation, etc. are concepts good readers respond to automatically. These concepts cannot be taken for granted, however, and are often a confusion for some children at the early stages of learning to read.
Visual Patterns Good readers can scan groups of words, syllables, blends, or letters to get just enough information to check against the meaning. Beginning readers must discover for themselves what visual cues are helpful.
Sound and Sequence Reading involves knowing about the sound sequences in words. That knowledge can help the reader predict a word from a few cues or to check on a word he is unsure of.
Good readers integrate all four sources of information. Their reading is focused on meaning and checked by looking for sound-to-letter relationships. They search for relationships and link old knowledge to new. They make discoveries on their own in active ways. They approach reading as a problem-solving task.
Low-progress readers tend to operate on a narrow range of strategies all the time. They invent text and pay no attention to the print on the page. They may ignore gross discrepancies between the word they say and the word on the page. They may search so hard for the words they know or make guesses from the first letters that they lose the sense of the story. These unsuccessful attempts at reading become habituated and automatic because they are practiced every day. The low-progress readers have no other resources to fall back on, and may become passive.
MSV Cues