Tests can be a poor assessment of a student's knowledge of a science, you are testing their ability to read the material in addition to their comprehension of it. Even a practical exam will have written instructions, and a students grade may not accurately reflect their understanding of the material. However an individual's competency will assessed through reading for the rest of their student and professional careers. There are technologies that can be implemented to minimize the effects of difficulty reading on the assessment e.g larger text or different formatting may help students with visual impairments, having someone read the questions to the student or using a text-to-speech program.
In addition to assistive technologies, it is important that teachers work on reading skills in all subjects. All our students may benefit from skills taught to struggling readers. Student who are reading at a high level in other subjects may need to be taught how to read the textbook and there will be plenty of unfamiliar vocabulary in our lessons. It would be a shame if difficulty and frustration over reading the class material and tests resulted in a student's dislike for the subject.
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Yes, that's a very good point. I fully agree that students struggling with reading must be exposed to, and familiarized with, scientific vocab, because on advancing to higher levels this would almost have to be second nature to them.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you had any suggestions on how one could go ahead with this? How much of class time do you think should be dedicated to this purpose?
I think it depends on the class. If you have a class that primarily has accomplished readers, then this could be a "beginning of the year" kind of activity. If your class has less accomplished readers, then perhaps this should be factored into weekly lesson plans. You could go about this various ways. I think that a good way to do it would be to introduce one or two reading strategies, and then have them do an assignment at home to practice. This doesn't have to be out of their textbook, especially if your subject material can be found in current events. I like the idea of the students discovering what science has to do with their world, and whatever assignment they complete would ensure that they get their practice with the strategies.
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