Abstract of

First Person
The Road Signs of Reading

William A. Welker

The classroom strategy described in this article demonstrates to students the importance of “limiting words” in context. The many signal words in reading that affect the meaning of sentences can be classified as positive or negative. The author begins by sharing his unfortunate limiting-word experience with the students as an introduction to “road-sign words.” This approach activates students' prior experiences, which they share with their classmates. Then the author introduces the students to road-sign words by using direct instruction methods. The students are exposed to limiting-word examples in the content areas, in various classroom texts, and in their daily lives. Student activities include teacher-student discussion, student development of road-sign-word sentences in class, and a homework assignment in which they are instructed to find examples of road-sign words from various outside sources. Finally, the students are tested on their understanding of “signal words” via teacher-constructed evaluations.

Abstract from Welker, W.A. (2006, May). The Road Signs of Reading. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(8), 644–647. doi: 10.1598/JAAL.49.8.1