Changing reader attitudes towards their reading - retrospective miscue analysis

Students come to reading courses with faulty assumptions about the reading process and their proficiency as readers. How can I best help students re-examine their assumptions?

This past school year I experimented with "Reading Apprenticeship" techniques, modeling the reading process and engaging students in metacognitive analysis of my reading and their own. This summer I am re-investigating a complementary technique called retrospective miscue analysis, using the text Retrospective Miscue Analysis by Yetta M. Goodman and Ann M. Marek.

In this technique, a student reads a text out loud while the teacher logs miscues for future analysis, followed by a retelling of the text. A miscue occurs when an oral reader reads a text in a way that the listener would not expect. Miscue is not another word for mistake - readers at every level may make changes to the text that do not alter the meaning. In the log, the teacher categorizes the miscues according to whether they are similar in graphic appearance or sound, and whether they have altered the syntax, semantics or meaning of the sentence.

After analyzing each oral reading session the teacher selects sampling of miscues to discuss with the reader. The student and teacher review the thought pattern the student followed to make the miscue and the impact this had, if any, on the search for meaning. The student and teacher meet for a series of these retrospective analyses to support the student's gradual development of understanding of the reading process and his/her strengths. For example, Marek describes meeting with three community college students weekly for 12 to 16 weeks. Because this technique emphasizes revealing student strengths, the teacher begins by focusing on miscues that demonstrate use of effective strategies.

The ultimate goal is for the student to take control of the reading process. As this occurs, the student shifts from decoding words to reading for meaning. The immediate objectives of the sessions are for the student to evaluate the impact that particular miscues had (if any) on their comprehension and to use this analysis to become aware of the strategies that he/she is using to make meaning and to appreciate his/her collaborative role in the reading process, valuing the background knowledge and understanding that he/she brings to the text.