Four Reader Roles for the 21st Century Adapted from Freebody & Luke, 1990 and Ash, 2002

1. Four Reader Roles for the 21st CenturyAdapted from Freebody & Luke, 1990 and Ash, 2002 Code Breaker Text User Meaning Maker Text Analyst

2. Code Breakers Good readers decode the words in the text and their meanings • Understand how print works • Use many strategies to read unknown words and to find the meanings of unknown words • Clarify the meaning of difficult words and phrases • Use varied strategies to make sense of difficult ideas and concepts Adapted from Freebody and Luke, 1990 and Ash, 2002 by Ash with Kijowski, 2002

3. What Do We Know about Adolescents as Code Breakers? • Many students in middle school and high school still have difficulty decoding multisyllabic words. (Curtis, 2002) • Adolescents continue to learn about relationships among root words, prefixes and suffixes and to apply rules that govern syllabication. (Ganske, 1999) • Vocabulary growth varies greatly between students who read well and those who struggle, and vocabulary knowledge has a great impact on how well students can understand what they read. (Stanovich, 1986; Anderson & Freebody, 1981) • In adolescence, the gap in reading fluency grows between proficient readers and readers who struggle. (Bristow & Leslie, 1988)

4. Meaning Makers Good Readers interact with the text to make meaning • Use personal and background knowledge to make text connections (to themselves, other texts, and the world) • Make predictions and revise them as they read • Read “between the lines” and make inferences • Ask questions while they read • Summarize the text and synthesize ideas/information within it with other ideas/information • Monitor comprehension and repair it when it goes awry

5. What Do We Know about Adolescents as Meaning Makers? • Many middle and high school students are proficient at literal level understanding, but have difficulty with inferential and critical understandings (NAEP, 1997) • Most adolescents have difficulty applying comprehension strategies to challenging texts. (Wood, Motz, & Willoughby, 1998) • Good adolescent readers are more able to select and to apply appropriate comprehension strategies while they read than are readers who struggle (Kletzien, 1991, 1992; Fehrenbach, 1991; Loranger, 1994) • Very little comprehension instruction goes on in middle school and high school language arts classes, let alone content area classes (Durkin 1978/1979, Langer, 2001; O’Brien, 1988; O’Brien, Stewart, & Moje, 1995; Ratekin et al., 1985)

6. Text Users Good Readers decide how they can use the text and the meaning they made with the text • Set a clear purpose for reading (to find information, to evaluate arguments, to be entertained, etc.) • Create or identify a method of expressing what they have learned, interpreted, or constructed while reading • Understand that different kinds of reading and expression are called for in different reading situations

7. Text Analysts Good Readers analyze the text with a “critical eye” • Identify the author’s purpose - Why did he/she write the work? • Identify the author’s point of view toward the story/topic • Identify other possible points of view toward the story/topic • Infer if the author expects the reader to hold certain beliefs/viewpoints about the story/topic or the world at large • Accept or resist the author’s implied message or the author’s expectations for the reader’s beliefs/viewpoints

8. What Do We Know about Adolescents as Text Users and Text Analysts? The short answer, very little.

9. O’Brien’s (2001) work with students in the Literacy Lab shows that even students struggling with school-based literacies can become very competent Text Users and Text Analysts, when print is only one of the many media used. Moje’s (2000, 2002) work with students outside of the academic mainstream indicates that many students use literacy in very sophisticated ways outside of school and that their views of themselves are intricately intertwined with their developing roles as Text Users and Text Analysts. Emerging Studies