Alondra's Reading Analysis

Alondra Reyes-Ponce is a rarity; a middle schooler who loves to read and will admit it.  She reads in both English and Spanish.  At home Alondra reads for pleasure in both languages, but at school Alondra is only exposed to text in English because our program is a support model.  Alondra has shown continued growth over the past two years in her reading scores and is a recent graduate of Read180, a remedial reading program.  In order to graduate from the class Alondra had to show a fluency rate of 195 words per minute and score a proficient lexile level of 850 or higher on three separate occasions.  Alondra’s ACCESS reading score for 2009-2010 was a level 5.  Her MAP score of 783 in 2010 climbed to 878 in 2011.    

As a reader, Alondra is aware of the importance of reading to become a better reader and says that she “practices her reading at home”.   Alondra’s attitude toward reading is positive.  When I asked her why she reads at home she said “because I like to read and it’s good to read.  It makes you smarter.”  I asked her what she thinks a good reader looks like and she responded with a puzzled look.  I pushed a little further asking what kinds of things do you think a good reader does?  Alondra responded by telling me that “A good reader reads books at their level.  Then, when you get to be a better reader you read more, harder books.  You have to read a book that you understand to be a good reader.”   These are concepts strongly encouraged in Read 180.  Students are discouraged from reading books that are too difficult for them, but encouraged to read books just beyond their lexile level.  I then asked Alondra:  “What strategies do you think a good reader uses?”  Alondra told me that students could look up words in the back of the book (if there are any), ask someone about words they don’t know and write summaries.  I asked her if she writes summaries about what she reads and she said “sometimes, but not that much”. 

Alondra reads more in English than she does in Spanish because there are more books available in English that she likes.  She reads the most at home and likes to read in the car to pass time.  Alondra’s favorite genres are humor, horror and social issues.  Alondra read chapter 2 of Tuck Everlasting in English and chapter 3 of the same book in Spanish.  The lexile level of Tuck Everlasting in English is 770.  The book is not lexiled in Spanish.  I chose a book slightly below Alondra’s lexile in English because I wanted to be sure it would be appropriate for her reading level in Spanish which she has much less practice with. 

Alondra’s comprehension of the text in both English and Spanish was very strong.  She understood words and phrases in English that I took for granted would be very difficult for her to understand such as petticoats, rueful and tolerantly.  She answered a series of comprehension questions with a significant amount of detail and was able to make inferences and predictions based on what she had read.  She did not comment throughout the reading, but did express her thoughts and ideas clearly while summarizing and answering questions. 

Surprisingly, Alondra told me that the text she read in Spanish was more difficult to understand than the text in English.  She said that many of the words in the text were words that she recognized, but were not words she was accustomed to using or reading.  This made an impact on her fluency, but not on her comprehension.  Again, Alondra was able to articulate easily what happened in the story and answer a series of comprehension questions.  She did not make the same inferences or go into as much detail in Spanish as she did in English.  I think it should be mentioned however, that this is a translated text vs. and authentic one.  When I asked Alondra about the setting (specifically the weather) she was forced to make an inference because the text was literally translated as “en un día que también parecía a punto de hervir”.  When I asked her “y cómo fue el día”? she responded by saying “no sé, creo que soleado, sí con sol porque (ella) estaba afuera.  Overall, I think Alondra’s comprension in both languages was very strong.

Alondra’s fluency in English shocked me.  I have not heard her read since last year and it is evident that she has made some true gains.  She read the passage in English with ease.  According to the criteria set forth by the Assessing Fluency Rubric by Colorín Colorado, I would place her at the Independent level in terms of her accuracy and rate.  Alondra read 199 words in 1 minute with only 3 significant error and not counting her self corrections.  In terms of her expressive reading I would place her at a level 4 according to the same rubric.  Alondra read using much expression in English and chunks phrases appropriately. 

Contrary to what I expected, Alondra’s fluency in English was stronger than her fluency in Spanish.  She did not have the same control over the words in Spanish as she did in English.  I believe this is due to the lack of materials and opportunity to practice in her L1.  Alondra read 151 words in one minute, with 7 errors not counting self corrections.  This places her at the instructional level according the Colorín rubric.  Alondra’s expressive reading was impressive for not having had the opportunity to read aloud for quite some time in Spanish.  Somewhere between Level 3 and 4 would be an accurate assessment of Alondra’s expressive reading in Spanish.  Although she reads in smaller word phrases in Spanish, strong expressive interpretation is still evident.  She understand the text adding intonation, but stumbles over some of the words. 

It is truly enjoyable watching a student with Alondra’s positive attitude and work ethic make such tremendous gains in reading over such a short amount of time.  I hope that will she continue to practice reading in Spanish so that she experiences similar growth to what I have observed her make in English.  What an amazing kid!