Margin Notes

Struggle Is Not a Bad Word: Misconceptions and Recommendations About Readers Struggling with Difficult Texts by Sarah M. Lupo, John Z. Strong, and Kristin Conradi Smith (Journal of Adult & Adolescent Literacy, 2018)

“Instead of using the label ‘struggling reader,’ we focus on the conditions under which readers might be less successful and how to support them when reading difficult texts (Frankel & Brooks, 2010). It is important that teachers take time to assess their students’ strengths and needs in order to provide appropriate texts and supports. The types of texts that teachers use with their students is an issue of equity: Teachers must provide a text diet rich with difficult texts to adolescents, including those who may struggle when reading them, to ensure equitable literacy instruction for all. (Hiebert, 2017: Tatum, 1999).

Summary

In this article, Lupo, Strong, and Conradi Smith review research and professional literature to address the long-held belief that assigning readers easy texts that they can read fluently is the best way to facilitate growth in comprehension. Limiting readers to easier text—shorter texts with shorter sentences and fewer rare words—negatively impacts their vocabulary and comprehension development. Instead, readers need practice reading difficult texts, with support, to improve their comprehension.

The researchers identify four misconceptions about reading difficult texts and offer an evidence-based recommendation for each one:

Misconception 1: A High Lexile Ensures That a Text is Hard to Read

The Lexile Framework is commonly used as a measure of text difficulty despite questions about its validity. Readability measures often exclude important aspects of what makes a text difficult, including the readers’ familiarity with the topic and vocabulary, the concreteness of ideas, the cohesiveness of the text, and the formality of the language.

Recommendation 1: Consider What Makes a Text Difficult

Understanding how a text may challenge readers is essential for designing the supports necessary for all readers to comprehend the text. Consider:

1. the vocabulary difficulty
2. the knowledge demands
3. the difficulty of concepts or themes

Misconception 2: Readers Are More Engaged and Can Learn More from Easier Versions of Texts

Providing easier versions of texts has not been proven to improve learning and comprehension.

Recommendation 2: Motivate Readers Through Choice, Collaborative Learning, and Leveraging Knowledge

Increase motivation by:

1. allowing students to choose the texts they read
2. providing opportunities for talking about texts
3. connecting texts to students’ existing funds of knowledge and building new background knowledge

Misconception 3: Reading Easier Texts Leads to Greater Gains

When students experience a steady diet of easy texts, their comprehension growth is diminished by less exposure to rich vocabulary and syntax as well as fewer words overall.

Recommendation 3: Provide More Opportunities for Students to Read

Increase students’ volume of reading by:

1. providing a text diet that includes a variety of texts, both easier and more challenging
2. developing readers’ agency to persist through texts that challenge them
3. take a thematic approach with a focus on creating connections within and across texts

Misconception 4: Some Readers Cannot Read Complex Texts

As a result of this misconception, readers identified as struggling experience less comprehension instruction and less discussion about texts.

Recommendation 4: Scaffold Students’ Reading of Quality Texts

This requires a shift in thinking:

1. from differentiating text levels to differentiating instructional supports
2. from over-relying on reading aloud as a support for readers to providing time and scaffolds for them to read independently

Conclusion

Rather than assigning easier texts, teachers can consider the needs and motivations of readers and plan instruction that makes a wide range of interesting texts accessible to all readers.

Takeaways For the Classroom

• Use assessments to get to know readers—who they are, what they can do, and the next steps for them to grow.
• Instead of relying on Lexiles and other readability measures, examine texts to identify the aspects that will challenge readers: vocabulary, knowledge demands, and concepts or themes.
• Incorporate choice whenever possible.
• Engage readers in discussion about text to enhance their comprehension.
• Activate prior knowledge with strategies such as quickwrites and anticipation guides.
• Develop background knowledge with shorter multimodal texts on related topics (videos, images, songs, podcasts, TEDTalks, etc.).
• Create text sets to support engagement, comprehension, vocabulary, and knowledge. Use the combination of texts and instructional supports to scaffold students’ comprehension of challenging text.