Readers generally fall into one of three levels: Instructional Level readers, Frustration Level readers, and Independent Level readers. Read more about what the terms mean, and how to assess what level your learner is at is by way of a method known as a cloze.
While learning to read, learners go through different reading stages, known in academic terms, as the Frustration Level, Instructional Level, and the Independent Level.
Readers at the Frustration Level are frustrated by their near-complete inability to read what you put in front of them.
Readers at Independent Level can read most of what you put in front of them, but will still need your help to understand everything.
At the Independent level, learners truly begin to enjoying reading: they do not need any help, and can fully understand you present to them.
We all remember ourselves at the Frustration Level, when we first started to learn how to read in first and second grade. This is the stage reading when we recognized some of the letters of the alphabet, but confused most of them. We could not understand much, and were discouraged by reading, were probably quite bored, and claimed - often quite vocally - that reading was too hard, and that we hated it.
In my particular instance (I'm from Russia) learning how to read in Russian was hard for me. I was in the first grade. I couldn't read letters in the Russian alphabet well enough to read words.
The Russian alphabet:
As a result, the meaning of my reading textbook was completely unclear to me. I couldn't read anything in it. I felt so sad and lost! I had no enthusiasm for reading.
My parents were not satisfied with my reading progress either, and gave me a really hard time. My mother always sat next to me when I tried to do my reading homework, and in her hand she held a Russian slipper, similar to the one you can see in this picture. I
n Russia, every child understands what that slipper mean !If your mom or dad picks it up, you know you're going to get punished if you don't do what you're told!
I was very scared of that slipper, and so I read! Or at least I tried to. I worked hard to recognize the letters in my book, and I learned to read rhyming words this way.
It wasn't easy! Above is the entire Russian alphabet: 33 letters, not 26! Would you know what each of those letters sounds like? No? Then you are at the frustration level!
Here's a hint: the letter that looks to you like a capital "B" actually sounds like this in Russian: "veh". And the last letter, the one that looks like a backwards capital "R", sounds like this: yah. Are you frustrated and confused? So was I!
I had moved to on to the Instructional Level by the end of spring. I was six years old. I could sound out all of the letters (guess what, the backwards "R" above is a vowel in Russian, not a consonant!). But more important (my mother put the slipper away), I could read short poems and short stories with of from my teacher, Svetlana a very young teacher whom I liked very much:
And when I went home, I could retell to my little sister, Valentina, the stories I read at school, as my parents had always asked me to do.
By the second grade, I managed to move to on to the next stage of reading, the Independent Level. I was able to fully understood everything I read in school, and was a fluent reader. In fact, I was the fastest reader in my class of 30. I could read 103 words a minute!
My parents and I were so happy when I finished my first fairy tale which was 10 pages long. I still remember the name of that fairy-tale: "The Humpbacked Horse". It was a fairytale about a little horse who visited the garden of a family every night and ate up all the fruit. There were three sons in the family. The eldest son was the silly one, the middle son was the average one. The youngest son, Ivan, was the smart one.
The father sent his children one by one to guard the garden . The two older boys were not helpful at all. They always fell asleep. Only the youngest kid managed to catch the horse whose name was "The Humpbacked Horse".
Later Ivan became friends with the humpbacked horse. Ivan had a lot of adventures with his new friend. Little horse had helped Ivan find and save his love who was the Tsar's maid. At the end, Ivan and the Tsar's maid got married and they lived happily thereafter. At that time I started to swallow books, reading at least three stories a week, without any assistance. At last I became my parent's pride. I had reached the Independent Level.
Our learners go through very much the same process, moving from frustration to instructional to independent reading levels. Where do you think your learner is now?
In part two of this post, I'll talk about how to use a cloze exercise to assess whether a book or story might be too difficult for your learner to tackle. You'll also be able to whether your learner is at the frustration, instruction or independent level of reading.
Literacy and Learning for Life
Join the conversation
While learning to read, learners go through different reading stages, known in academic terms, as the Frustration Level, Instructional Level, and the Independent Level.
Readers at the Frustration Level are frustrated by their near-complete inability to read what you put in front of them.
Readers at Independent Level can read most of what you put in front of them, but will still need your help to understand everything.
At the Independent level, learners truly begin to enjoying reading: they do not need any help, and can fully understand you present to them.
We all remember ourselves at the Frustration Level, when we first started to learn how to read in first and second grade. This is the stage reading when we recognized some of the letters of the alphabet, but confused most of them. We could not understand much, and were discouraged by reading, were probably quite bored, and claimed - often quite vocally - that reading was too hard, and that we hated it.
In my particular instance (I'm from Russia) learning how to read in Russian was hard for me. I was in the first grade. I couldn't read letters in the Russian alphabet well enough to read words.
The Russian alphabet:
As a result, the meaning of my reading textbook was completely unclear to me. I couldn't read anything in it. I felt so sad and lost! I had no enthusiasm for reading.
My parents were not satisfied with my reading progress either, and gave me a really hard time. My mother always sat next to me when I tried to do my reading homework, and in her hand she held a Russian slipper, similar to the one you can see in this picture. I
n Russia, every child understands what that slipper mean !If your mom or dad picks it up, you know you're going to get punished if you don't do what you're told!
I was very scared of that slipper, and so I read! Or at least I tried to. I worked hard to recognize the letters in my book, and I learned to read rhyming words this way.
It wasn't easy! Above is the entire Russian alphabet: 33 letters, not 26! Would you know what each of those letters sounds like? No? Then you are at the frustration level!
Here's a hint: the letter that looks to you like a capital "B" actually sounds like this in Russian: "veh". And the last letter, the one that looks like a backwards capital "R", sounds like this: yah. Are you frustrated and confused? So was I!
 |
| Svetlana Alexevna, my first grade teacher in Russia |
 |
| Valentina, my little sister, wearing a traditional Russian bonnet |
My parents and I were so happy when I finished my first fairy tale which was 10 pages long. I still remember the name of that fairy-tale: "The Humpbacked Horse". It was a fairytale about a little horse who visited the garden of a family every night and ate up all the fruit. There were three sons in the family. The eldest son was the silly one, the middle son was the average one. The youngest son, Ivan, was the smart one.
The father sent his children one by one to guard the garden . The two older boys were not helpful at all. They always fell asleep. Only the youngest kid managed to catch the horse whose name was "The Humpbacked Horse".
Later Ivan became friends with the humpbacked horse. Ivan had a lot of adventures with his new friend. Little horse had helped Ivan find and save his love who was the Tsar's maid. At the end, Ivan and the Tsar's maid got married and they lived happily thereafter. At that time I started to swallow books, reading at least three stories a week, without any assistance. At last I became my parent's pride. I had reached the Independent Level.
Our learners go through very much the same process, moving from frustration to instructional to independent reading levels. Where do you think your learner is now?
In part two of this post, I'll talk about how to use a cloze exercise to assess whether a book or story might be too difficult for your learner to tackle. You'll also be able to whether your learner is at the frustration, instruction or independent level of reading.
Happy tutoring!
Tatyana Pavlova
Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics/ Bashkir State University
MA Education/ESL 2014, Cambridge College
ENGLISH AT LARGELiteracy and Learning for Life
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