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)