Abstract of

Teaching Tips
Traffic Light Reading: Fostering the Independent Usage of Comprehension Strategies With Informational Text

Barclay Marcell

Does fluency need to be an instructional precursor to comprehension? The perceived causal relationship between the two may in fact translate into the creation of word-calling students who can read with adequate speed and expression, but cannot retell story events or make inferences.

A discussion of fluency's relationship to comprehension provides the framework for a practical teaching tool that can be used to foster independent use of before-, during-, and after-reading strategies. “Traffic Light Reading” is designed to motivate word-calling students to become thinking readers. Sample lessons are described, in which the reasons for reading are clarified and the during-reading strategies are accentuated.

With modeling and ongoing practice, the use of Traffic Light Reading can help teachers engage formerly unengaged students by teaching them to monitor and repair comprehension of informational text routinely and independently.

Abstract from Marcell, B. (2007, May). Traffic Light Reading: Fostering the Independent Usage of Comprehension Strategies With Informational Text. The Reading Teacher, 60(8), 778–781. doi: 10.1598/RT.60.8.8