Cloze experiments to change readers' ideas about reading

Struggling readers try to make sense of text by relying heavily on the graphic and phonic features of words. This means they often make poor predictions about what text means because they are busy substituting words that look or sound similar but don't mean the same. For example, substituting dimple or simple won't help a reader understand what an author means by pimple.

One way to move students past this habit would be to give them a cloze text to work with. In a cloze text the reader has a passage with blanks where words were removed. The reader's task is to insert words that make sense. This exercise puts readers in a position where they have to take risks to make meaning and they can't rely on graphophonic cues.

For example:

• Once upon a ________,
• The little pig built _____ house out of straw
• The wolf walked ________ the road

Apparently a traditional cloze text eliminates every seven words. Another approach would be to leave an introductory section intact and then eliminate words according to a pattern, such as every ten words.

In Debra Goodman's chapter, The Reading Detective Club, in Retrospective Miscue Analysis by Goodman and Marek (1996), she describes using cloze exercises she built from predictable stories or folk tales in order to reap the benefits of retrospective miscue analysis with a larger group of students. Goodman had students work the exercises in pairs and then share responses. She would put all responses on the board and ask:

• Do these responses make sense?
• Why did you come up with this response?

The second question opens the door to the reading process. Following questions might include:

• What did you see in the text that led you to this response? 
• What clues did you use to come up with this response?
• What were you thinking about when you came up with this response?