Utilizing Running Records with ELLs

Running records are one of my favorite ways to assess students and to obtain usable information to guide further instruction. I appreciate how running records do not require extra materials and can literally just be done with the text, a piece of paper and a pencil! Running records do not take much time, however they can provide a quick snapshot of a student engaging in the reading process. This snapshot can then be used to identify weaknesses, or areas for future instruction, and also to identify strengths deserving of praise. This week, I administered running records to ELL students for the first time at Crossroads School.

The first student I worked with, M, is a native Spanish Speaker from Puerto Rico. This is his first year at Crossroads and he is considered a Level 1 ELL. He receives daily English instruction from the ELL specialist in a small group setting, where he is pulled out of his regular class. For M, I chose a DRA 3 book, In the Sky.  This nonfiction book is from the Journeys literacy program and discusses different things that can be seen in the sky in the day and the night. This book has 38 words and is 6 pages in length. It has color photographs to support each text and there is a window like photo around each picture. I introduced the text to M, and read him the title, then I asked him to read it aloud to me. He nodded and began reading. When he came to words he didn’t automatically recognize, he used his knowledge of phonics to say the sounds of the letters and blend them together.  As he read, I noticed that M’s eyes shifted back and forth from the picture to the words often. This tells me that he utilizes pictures for clues to the words.  He had 3 miscues, all substitutions, while reading and no self-corrections. Overall, he read at a 92% accuracy rate. He read:

Page 4:  Look at the cloud now.

Page 5: The cloud are in the sky.

 Page 6: Look at my window. What do you see?

Cloud was plural (clouds) in both sentences. “Look at the cloud” now is grammatically correct, however, “the cloud are in the sky” does not make sense grammatically. He kept the meaning of the sentence intact (M) and he read words that visually look almost identical to the actual words on the page (V). I would classify this error as a structural error (S), because changing a plural to a singular word here does not follow acceptable English Language rules and he did not recognize this or self-correct.  He also read, “Look at my window,” instead of, “look out my window.” The words at and out may look visually similar as they are both relatively short words ending in t and the substitution that he made still makes sense grammatically. His substitution of at for out, does however change the meaning. Looking at a window implies that the window is the focus, whereas looking out the window implies that whatever is on the other side of the window that is the area of focus. This substitution would be a meaning error.

Based on my analysis of his miscues, I was then able to provide him with two quick lessons before he returned to his class. Because M misread the word cloud twice, ignoring the ending, I briefly taught M about recognizing situations when he would see an s at the end or a word. If there is one cloud it is just a cloud, but when there are two or more they are clouds. I told him to keep an eye out for s at the end of words, because often that means that there are more than one.  The second quick lesson, was about self-monitoring. I turned to the page that said, “Look out the window. What do you see?”  We talked about how after talking about the sun, moon and stars, it wouldn’t make sense to say look at the window! This book is about things in the sky. When we read, it is important to stop and ask yourself, does that make sense? For future instruction, I model and give M opportunities to practice reading fluently. While he read accurately. His intonations were slightly off and almost every sentence sounded like a question.

The second student that I worked with, L, was also a first grader, but she is from France. Like M, she is a Level 1 ELL student and receives daily small group instruction as well. For her, I chose another book from the Journeys reading program, Snack Time. This nonfiction book is a DRA 3 with 50 words. This book features children enjoying food together during their snack time. There is a repetitive sentence pattern and the foods included in the book are bananas, apples, oranges and carrots. L read this book making 3 errors: two substitutions and one insertion. She read with a 94% accuracy rate. She reread two phrases, but made zero self-corrections.

While reading, L substituted the word “a” for “an,” for instance a orange and a apple. These substitutions did not affect the meaning of the sentence and the two words she interchanged do look visually similar. However, this substitution is a structural, or syntactic, error because words that begin with a vowel cannot be preceded with a in English, they must be preceded with the word an. L’s other miscue was an insertion, where she read, “she said that these carrots make a good snack.”  The text did not say these. This error did not interfere with meaning and the sentence she read was structurally acceptable, so this error was visual. Her voice did not correspond with the printed words in a 1 to 1 ratio. 

After her reading, I provided her with quick feedback and praise based on information from her assessment. First, I pointed out the word an on the page with the apples and asked her to say that word with me. I explained that an is a special word that only comes before words that begin with a vowel, a, e, i, o or u.   If the word is ant, you would say it is an ant. If the word is bear, it is a bear. Next, we went to the page with the carrots. I asked her to use her finger to point to the words as she reread that page. She reread it correctly and omitted the word “these” that she had added the first time. I explained that when we read, we must match our voices to the words on the page and we can’t add words that we do not see even if they make sense. For future instruction, similar to M, I would model fluency and provide L with opportunities to practice fluent reading. I may use rereading, partner reading and listening to audio recordings of books.

In my opinion, running records provide give quite a bit of “bang for your buck.” For teachers trying to maximize every minute of the school day, running records can give you a peek into a reader’s head in a very short amount of time. When administered properly and when the miscues are analyzed properly, running records can be a power tool to guide instruction for helping all students, including ELLs, become better readers.