Jose's Reading Analysis Kristen Scott

I began by interviewing Jose, first in Spanish, then in English, about his attitude, motivation, strategies and habits related to reading in both Spanish and English.  I have included his responses in both languages.  I then asked him to read an excerpt from Cajas de Cartón, the novel we are reading in DBE class, and from two different English language texts, one non-fiction text entitled “Ruler in the Desert” from the New Practice Reader and another fictional text called “Don’t Touch That!”  I took a running record while I listened to him read and recorded the readings for analysis.

I.                     Interview:  Attitudes about Reading/Motivation:    Jose is clear that the objective of reading is to obtain meaning, but he defines this more precisely when he states “I read because I want to know about the story.  I like to read the wars because I want to know what happened in the second war.  I like to read sports because I’m an athlete.  I like to read action because it’s so fun.  I like to read about animals because I think they’re cute.”

Attitudes about Reading/Motivation:   When asked which language he prefers to read in, he said, “En español, puedo leer más.  Me gusta leer en los dos idiomas, pero prefiero leer en inglés para aprender más en inglés.  Una vez que aprendo más en inglés, volveré al español.”  “If I read now, I will be a good student and a great person in the future.”  (Wow!  When his parents came for the conferences in September, I told them, “Your son may be a newcomer to English, but he has drive and aptitude, and he is an exceptional student.  You should have him read every night in both languages, and he should look up the words he doesn’t know and write the definitions in a notebook.”  I am amazed at how they took my advice to heart!  Jose’s parents are really top-notch in every sense of the word.)

Habits:  When I asked him about his reading habits, he said, “My favorite time to read is at 7:00 or 7:30.  I usually read for thirty minutes.  After I read, I’m taking a shower, and then I go to sleep.”

Strategies:  When asked what strategies he uses when he has trouble comprehending while reading in Spanish, he said, “Divido las palabras en partes para pronunciarlas.  Las busco en el diccionario y las escribo en mi cuaderno.”   When asked the same question with regard to English, he said, “If I don’t understand, I look in the dictionary to find the words and then I write in my book for don’t forget the word.” 

Reading as a Metacognitive Process:  When asked what he thinks about when he reads, he said, “Pienso en lo que está pasando o lo que va a pasar.  Pienso en como se siente el autor.  Pienso en sus sentimientos.”

II.                   Running record:  Fluency:  The Colorín Colorado rubric defines fluency as 1) accuracy in decoding, rate (automatic recognition) and expressive and meaningful interpretation.  The MMSD rubric rates expression, phrasing, pace and word recognition and accuracy from one to four (highest).  According to the Spanish running record, Jose read 134 words in 60 seconds with no miscues.  As a confident, Spanish language dominant student, he monitored his reading, quickly and adeptly self-correcting on the words “algondero” and “cultivadores”, saying “algo-algodonero” and “cult-cultivadores”.  According to the Colorín Colorado rubric, he read at 100%, at an independent level, which I fully expected, given my observation of him reading aloud in class and responding to questions in discussions and in writing on study guides. 

According to the MMSD rubric, he scored a four in all four categories, “consistently reads aloud with appropriate and varied intonation…”, in phrasing, “reads aloud using larger meaningful phrases, in pace, “varies speed to match purpose”, and in word recognition, “reads aloud with high word recognition..and smoothly self-corrects miscues.” 

English running record:  In English, Jose read 96 words in 60 seconds.  He had three miscues, so he read 93 words correctly for a 97% accuracy/rate score (borderline instructional/independent).  His miscues included “digging” (he asked me, “Ms. Scott, what is this word?”  before beginning to read.  He read “watch-ed” for “watched”.  He hesitated, and I helped him with “dug”, and he said, “pi-i-i-pe.”, and I confirmed that it was “pipe”.   He showed more hesitancy in English, and while he did self-monitor in English (he is not content with guessing—he wants to be correct), he was not able to adeptly self-correct as in Spanish.  He asked me on two occasions, and he mumbled approximations (as in “pipe”) which I then confirmed.  This is normal, of course, given that he has only been in the US a year, and Spanish is his dominant language.

On the realistic fiction text that he was familiar with, he scored a 2 in expression “attempts to change intonation..comprehension not always apparent”, and 3s in phrasing, pace and word recognition (“resolves most miscues through self-correction”), for an overall score of 2.75 (MMSD rubric, nearing a 3, full understanding and application.) 

On the non-fiction text with which he was very unfamiliar, he scored 2s in all categories. (Phrasing: “two and three word phrases…often sounds choppy, inconsistent attention to text structures..” Pace: “reads at an inconsistent rate”..Word recognition:  “reads aloud with developing accuracy. Occasionally attempts self-correction.”).  I am certain that this discrepancy is due to prior knowledge and familiarity with one text as opposed to the other.  We all know that familiarity with a topic and its vocabulary results in better comprehension and fluency.

 Jose’s comprehension is very strong on the fictional text “Don’t Touch It!”  He re-told the story in detail, using precise vocabulary from the story.  “Marcos and Leon wanted to watch the men work.  They dug a ditch and lay a pipe.”   While Jose shows excellent fluency and comprehension while reading aloud in Spanish, in English, he also demonstrates good comprehension, despite his less than proficient fluency (rate and accuracy).  I am theorizing that this is because Jose has some of the excellent skills found among the “6 traits of a Good Reader” (he can infer, deduce, and use context clues..)  His oral skills in English are still developing and while he sometimes has trouble pronouncing and recognizing words while reading aloud, he can still comprehend the text through his use of the above-mentioned strategies. 

Conclusion:  In conclusion, I can confidently predict that Jose will be an excellent reader in both languages due to his already well-developed skills and strategies, due to his excellent attitude and reading habits and due to his strong motivation and supportive home environment.  Citing Krashen’s “affective factors” and Cummins’ “literacy engagement”,  I can say that Jose is a happy, highly-motivated learner and a very engaged reader.  These are the keys to his success.