Instructors use context clues to teach students to look at all of the information on a novel page. This task helps readers get the most out of a specific passage. Unfamiliar words and phrases within a passage can be confusing, but students use context clues to help them understand the significance of the unknown material. For example, if student's don't understand a character's motivation, they might look for vocabulary words, such as "desperately" or "hopelessly" to clue them. The instructor's job is to coach students to look for context clues in the words and sentences that reveal information to the reader.
Teachers often use sentence audits as a writing tool. However, sentence audits can also be useful within a reading context. Students use sentence audits to analyze a paragraph or page of reading and identify specific types of sentences. These may include passages with description, sensory images or those that illustrate author purpose. Students should be taught that authors include these types of sentences to help the reader gain greater understanding of specific writing and reading strategies. Another way to include a sentence audit is to instruct students to remove sentences from a paragraph and identify them as descriptive, sensory or contributing to author purpose.
Reading a passage without any quotation or punctuation is difficult. However, instructing students to identify and include correct punctuation and quotations is a valuable learning exercise. Though this activity may seem like a grammar exercise, the larger message is that reading imparts meaning to the craft of literature and our lives. Additionally, without proper punctuation, writing looses that meaning. It's difficult to impart meaning and understand a written passage without quote markers to identify changes in speaker. Punctuation identifies to readers the proper places for a pause or extra emphasis. Knowing how to read punctuation is an important part of literary fluency.
When students read aloud, it can be a nerve-wracking experience. Most students should have had years of experience reading aloud by the time they reach middle school. However, many have managed to avoid reading aloud, especially English language learners and reluctant readers. Readers Theater -- read by a teacher or strong student readers -- strengthens weaker readers by helping them hear what words and phrases sound like when read correctly. Teachers should select readers that place special emphasis on voice, pacing and tone. That way they don't just recite the piece, but rather impart meaning to the passage with an expressive reading.