Motivating Reluctant Readers
Rob Waring
Featured Speaker Talk
PANSig Okinawa
May 2106
What is a ‘reluctant reader?’
Someone who may exhibit these traits:
• reads because they have to
• reads things they may not want to
• often have issues with self-esteem
• often attribute their difficulties to
external factors - too much noise, poor
vision, unfairness, text too small etc.
• rarely acknowledge their lack of ability
• often have a sense of helplessness
• often have been frustrated for years
and have become skilled evaders and
hiders who act up to avoid reading
Solution: Get out of their way
• Often we teach or make them study too much
• The more we leave them alone, the more they will
learn
• Focus on the LOOOOONG goal
• The main focus should be to create life-long readers
• Don’t worry about this week’s successes and failures
• Don’t do anything that will hurt reading confidence,
motivation and self-esteem as a reader
Solution: Build confidence
• Reading within their ability level at first, and increase the
challenge over time
• Build off successful reading achievements
• Discuss and share problems (reading blogs??) so they don’t
feel alone
• Find out what makes students anxious before, when and after
reading
• Train them to expand their comfort zone
Solution: Help them READ
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Lots of reading - a wide variety of materials
Easy interesting materials
Re-reading is ok, reading to them aloud is ok
Read for general understanding not to learn language
Train them to ignore unknown words and go back only if
communication breaks down
• Make a relaxed atmosphere so they enjoy the reading
• Flexible approach
Solution: They set and monitor their goals
• Rather than impose reading amounts get them to set them.
– Some research show students often suggest more reading than the
teacher does
• Reading goals can differ by student even within a class – as
the goals should be personal
• Do this within the context of assessment of their whole class –
or the lazy ones will say ‘none’
Solution: Make it more than just reading
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Connect the story to them in some way
Maybe they prefer listening?
Find the reason why. Busy? Reading problems?
Have a scavenger hunt for information
Create your own story
Make reading a reward not a punishment
Sit with them as the read to find out their reading
problems
• Read what they are reading
• Get them hooked on a series not a book
• Let them give book talks
Solution: Make it about them
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They discuss how they read, what they do
Ensure the texts are ones they want to read
Select texts they want to read
Give a questionnaire to find out what they like
Much easier to find interesting materials
But … ensure it’s the right level for them
Find things other than graded readers
– Magazines, brochures, comics, TV guides, manuals, newspapers
• Connect to them from their world view
Solution: Build Fluency
• It helps students to move from the word-by-word
level of reading to the ‘idea-level’ of reading
• It helps build eye-span so students see more text in
one eye movement and thus can process more text
• It allows us to save time for other things
• They read faster so they will get feelings of
accomplishment sooner.
Solution: Add a challenge
• Challenge them to read about a difficult topic
• Reading races and competitions,
• Gamification – use of game-like features
– Stars, buttons, points,
– Competitive tasks
– Leader boards
• Set high reading goals
– Speed
– Amount
– A little outside their comfort zone
Solution: Make it aural
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Let them listen to the texts
Make it into a serial
Copy the images only. Students order the pictures
Read, listen, read, listen
Podcasts, online listening
Give them a different goal each time
– Let them find errors
– Listen for background sounds, tone, voice
– Listen and compare understanding after a chapter
Solution: Extend the reading
• They research one aspect of the story e.g. farm life in 19th
century England and make a presentation about it
• Students read a famous classic story and research the author
and the history behind the story and why it is famous
• Make a profile of the characters – clothes, habits etc. and they
think of someone like that
Solution: Create communities
• Buddy Reading
• Allow students to write comments or leave  faces
in the books after they read
• Students help build a reading lounge or library with
displays
• Let them choose the books for the library
• Reading Circles – make groups of 4-5 and assign
different roles to each one.
Solution: Bring their world into the
classroom
Build your own library
1. They find something they want to read
2. They translate any words or phrases they don’t know on
the article
3. They bring it to class and explain the text
4. The partner reads the texts and translates anything they
don’t know
5. All texts go into a box – students choose 2 to read at
home
6. Repeat every week
Motivating reluctant readers
When working with reluctant readers teachers should:
-prepare structured lessons – class readers
-allow less freedom as perceived complexity can confuse
-cover less content – don’t make it feel like ‘study’
-more rewards for effort
-continuously reward achievement
-create an environment for them to meet their achievable goals
-make the reading relevant to them so they can engage
-allow them to choose shorter achievable texts
-acknowledge their resistance
-discuss with them why they are being asked to read
-assign partners to guide them – help them to share
-focus on building a culture of success not failure
-not punish failure
Signs of a struggling reader
1. They ask you to read something for them
2. They ask you how to spell a word
3. They come up with excuses not to read
4. They read word by word
5. They can't answer questions about what they just read
6. They don't make comments when they are reading
7. They skip words
8. They slur words when reading and hope that you don't
notice
9. They keep asking you the meaning of words
10. They read as fast and they can
Principles of speed reading
• Speed reading is only one part of developing the reading
skill
• The focus should be speed, not to other things (e.g.
trying to learn new vocabulary).
• The reading should be easy - very few unknown
vocabulary.
• Comprehension should be tested, or reading quickly
without understanding is pointless.
– general understanding rather than detailed knowledge
– not important to get all the questions right
– should aim for 70-80% when doing speed reading.
Principles of speed reading II
• Reading should be timed accurately. The score should also be kept.
• Students should not use their fingers or pens to trace words as this
encourages slow word-by-word reading.
• An aim is to build reading confidence. So teacher encouragement
and feedback is important. Students should not expect instant gains
in speed.
• Setting reading speed goals and keeping reading speed scores can
help focus the learners.
• A little often is better than a lot infrequently. The skill should be
built continually.
• Speed reading should be isolated from other activities so the focus
is clear.
• Don’t read aloud. Try not to read aloud in your head (subvocalization). It slows reading to the speed you can talk.
• Don’t try to build reading speed too quickly. Some studies have
shown long term negative effects.
Speed reading methods
• Read a given text once and record the speed. Keep
measuring speed over time.
• Re-read a passage 10/15/20% faster.
• Read for (say) 5 minutes. Mark the spot on the page. Reread from the start and try to beat the previous mark.
• Skip information that may not be relevant. Scan ahead to
find things that may not need reading.
• Card speed reading. Put a piece of paper or card across the
page above where you are reading and drag it down as you
move down the page. This prevents re-reading.
• Hop reading. Scan a block of text, then skip to the next
block of text and scan that.
• Ask someone to move their finger down the page slightly
ahead of where you are. Aim to follow the finger.
Speed reading tips
• Put the reading in the center of your line of vision not at an angle.
• Raise your speed slow till you still feel comfortable – like learning to
drive faster.
• Remember that when you practice speed reading, your aim is to
read faster, not to enjoy the reading. Focus clearly on building
speed while retaining comprehension.
• Scan ahead before reading, look at the cover, headings, photos,
glossaries, table of contents and key sentences to help set the
context.
• In some texts the beginning and ending sentences often carry to
most important messages so read those a little slower than the
middle.
• Don’t assume that you can read all types of reading at the same
speed. School texts books should probably be read more slowly and
carefully – as with legal documents.