Adapting Reading Materials for Individualized Instruction

ABSTRACT The makeshift adaptation of materials for individualized instruction to which teachers are often forced is unsatisfactory in intermediate‐level reading. Students reading on their own often have problems because they do not know which aspects they should apply of what they already know. In the classroom, the teacher can ask guiding questions; reading material for individualized use needs to be adapted to provide the student with a similar set of guiding questions. These questions must be directed at grammatical difficulties and not simply at vocabulary. To achieve the goal of having the student read without assistance, there must be a process of gradually withdrawing assistance as he progresses. Specific types of questions and possible formats are presented. These suggestions, applied to a workbook accompanying a short novel, were shown in a comparative study to be more effective in increasing reading skills than the reading of the novel without such aid.