4. Understanding your Student's Reading Difficulties & Why she Passed the Early Grades
To understand why your adult student made it so far in school despite her poor reading skills, please read the passage titled "The Marlup" and answer the four questions below the reading passage.
1. What did the narg horp in the marlup's kump?
2. What did the marlup juf the narg?
3. Was the narg trungy?
4. How does the marlup pove his kump?
(Created by Dr. Kenneth Goodman. Reference: Burke, Carolyn. "The Language Process: Systems or Systematic?" in Hodges and Rudorf Language and Learning to Read. Houghton Mifflin, 1973, pp. 29-31)
Chances are you were able to read this passage with some fluency. If these questions comprised 60-75% of a test or quiz, you might even have made a low passing grade with your first four answers, but could you have given your opinion on the following 20-point essay question?
"In one hundred words or less, tell me why the narg wheved the marlup's kump? What do you think the marlup will do next?"
Probably not, as it was a comprehension question. As you can see, reading means more than simply decoding words. Readers must also be able to read with understanding and construct meaning from text.
(Answers:
Whev
"Why did vump horp whev in my frinkle kump?"
Er'm muvvily trungy
The marlup poves your kump frinkle)
38 comments:
I really had a hard time with this assignment. It was almost as though it was in a foreign language. I think that actually it looks worse to me because I expect to be able to read it than to someone who didn't expect to be able to read it!
This was a good exercise to demonstrate this topic. I could not understand it or answer the questions!
Great example. Just by having some understanding of the placement of verbs, nouns, etc. in English, you can almost answer the questions.
I couldn't read this. It looks like a foreign language to me.
Looked Greek to me.
Looks like what I saw when I tried to learn Spanish
I cannot read this.
I was able to answer the questions by using the words in the text. But since I know no other words in the "language", it would be difficult for me to write an essay.
I found it interesting that my brain was automatically straining to find cognates and thereby assign meaning to what I was reading.
I couldn't read the passage and I was frustrated at that. Answering the questions was a different story as I could go back and look at the passage. It didn't seem like English.
I was able to figure out all but the last question, but it took some concentration.
This was very hard to read with any clarity or understanding. Interestingly, it provided an insight to what someone who have a hard time reading or comprehending what they've read, may go through.
Shirley Smith
I wouldn't have received a 60%!
Great example! (I couldn't answer the questions...)
This was a good exercise to demonstrate this topic. I tried but mostly failed to make sense of the paragraph.
Great Example! Readers really do 'make meaning' when they read. Some research articles I read, read just like this example!!
While, using what you know of English composition and grammatical constructions, you can make a stab at answering the questions, there is no way you'd be able to do an essay question or anything that requires a substantive understanding of what's going on in the example.
I had to read it several times to try and make sense of it, Not Sure I Did!
Whew! That was an exercise in frustration. I definitely would not be able to write a good essay on the topic because my comprehension was close to zero. I can see why most people who struggle with reading comprehension drop out of school.
I could not answer the questions! It was like a foreign language.
I still can't comprehend how a student can earn a high school diploma without even basic reading skills.
Very difficult to decode and understand...understand why some adult learners feel lost as to what they are reading. Comprehension, fluency, decoding, it takes all of it..
I wouldn't have received a 60% on that quiz! Excellent example to demonstrate the point.
this was made to place yourself in the position of people who are learning to read. i kind of understood it i know that that narg was really hungry, if I'm not mistaken.
Very good exercise. The reading passage floored me!
Wow. Great demonstration. It was all guess on my part with the questions.
Crazy but effective way to prove a point. I enjoyed trying to figure what it was talking about.
All I am hearing in my head is from Dr. Seuss: The hump of a Gump...and pink ink!
Good example. It frustrated me, and I had no interest in trying to answer the questions. Writing an essay is totally out of the question.
I realized I was mainly trying to decode the words and didn't care about comprehending until it was time to answer the questions.
Great exercise!
Interesting juffs?A fun way to learn. Capital letters and punctuation make a difference.
I am working in the Information Technology where I used to encrypt text into unreadable text (add 3 letter position to change the original letter. i.e., A+3=D, D+3= G...so the word "man" become "pdq").
On a different note: This exercise showing difficulties in children to read words called dyslexia.
Fantastic example and yes, the example definitely showed the difficulties for children with dyslexia
Counldn't do it.
1. Some whev
2. Why did vump horp whev in my kump?
3. Er'm muvvily trungy
4. vump frinkle
Very challenging!
I simply could not read it at all. I tried several times but I could not pronounce the words.
Even though I could not understand one thing when I was reading, I was able to answer 3 out of the 4 questions correctly by just going back to the text and copying what was stated in similar wording. This did not mean I understood any of it any better though! Definitely the comprehension question would have stumped me. This is why educators are pushing curriculum to higher level questioning for better assessment.
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