Addressing issues of difficulties in reading literature.  It is certainly the case that many students in English classes are experiencing difficulty with reading, difficulties that will result in their not doing well on mandated reading tests.  However, these issues of reading difficulties are often addressed through technical, decontextualized instruction that denies transactional conceptions of meaning construction, responses to literature, and uses of literary texts.  This focus on teaching “reading skills” denies the active role of the reader in constructing the meaning of texts. 

    These reading skill programs are often based on deficit models of students as “struggling” or “poor” readers based simply on reading comprehension test scores based on narrow notion of “reading ability.” At the same time, PTs may underestimate students’ capacity to interpret texts based on narrow measures and thereby have low expectations for their potential success (Hamel, 2003). 

    Literature methods courses therefore need to broaden notions of reading comprehension to include a range of different kinds of interpretive practices as well as ways of determining individual differences in students’ reading difficulties as well as their strengths.  They also need give PTs an understanding of uses of think-alouds or response activities as tools for determining individual differences in students' reading processes and abilities.  And, PTs need to acquire techniques for modeling and scaffolding relevant purposes for reading and prior knowledge, as well as ways to build vocabularies.  And, they need to emphasize the centrality of developing striving readers' engagement with larger activities in which reading is embedded as part of acquiring knowledge essential to participating in those activities.  As, previously noted, they also need to know how to develop individualized reading programs to foster sustained silent reading based on students' own book selections.

Further reading on difficulties in reading literature:

Daniels, H., &  Zemelman, S.  (2004). Subjects matter: Every teacher's guide to content-area reading.  Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Finders, M., & Hynds, S.  (2003).  Literacy lessons: Teaching and learning with middle-school students.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Reeves, A. R.  (2004). Adolescents talk about reading: Exploring resistance to and engagement with text.  International Reading Association.

Fordham, N., & Sandmann, A.  (2005). Teaching reading strategies with literature that matters to middle schoolers.  Best Practices in Action

Moore, D. W., Alvermann, D. E. & Hinchman, K. A. (Eds.).  (2000).  Struggling adolescent readers: A collection of teaching strategies.  Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

O'Donnell-Allen, C.  (2006).  The book club companion: Fostering strategic readers in the secondary classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Wilhelm, J.  (2007).  Engaging readers & writers with inquiry: Promoting deep understandings in language arts and the content areas with guiding questions.  New York: Scholastic.