In addition to testing the reading skills of ABE learners, the ARCS researchers administered a lengthy questionnaire, so we can give you more information about the people in Profile 10.

• One hundred (100) percent are Native Speakers of English (NSE).
  
  
• The average age is 38.
  
  
• The average number of grades completed is 8.2.

Oral Reading Accuracy:

• Profile 10 learners read passages (not timed) with accuracy at a group average GE of 2.9, a level not much different from their average on isolated Word Recognition (GE 2.5). Readers are usually able to decode more words when reading connected text where there are contextual clues to aid word recognition. But this is not the case with GE 0-2 readers. They read text word by word as if they were reading a word list. They need most of their concentration to decode; they cannot spare much attention to think about what's going on in the passage.

Word Meaning (Vocabulary):

• Receptive (Listening) vocabulary: The PPVT-III assesses word knowledge by asking the learner to select one of four pictures that best tells about a word spoken by the examiner. It is an assessment of verbal ability. The group average is 69.9 ("extremely low"). More Profile 10 learners are at the low end rather than at the high end of a range of scores, which spans from "extremely low" to "low average."
  
  
• Elicited word meanings: the average GE on the DAR word meaning subtest, "Tell me what X means," is low even though it is higher than scores on the other components. Perhaps they know more words but do not know them well enough to express their basic meanings, or perhaps they have an expressive language difficulty. Their performance suggests that Profile 10 readers have limited oral as well as written language skills.

Phonology:

• Are they able to manipulate sounds? No.
  
  
  • Phonemic Awareness (PA) - (sound deletion, as measured by the Test of Auditory Analysis Skills [TAAS]):
    The group average on the TAAS indicates only first level competence with phoneme deletion tasks. None is successful with all 13 consonant deletion tasks. Many cannot consistently delete the first and last consonant in a word, e.g., responding with gay when asked to, "Say game. Now say it again, but don't say /m/ ", and most (90%) cannot delete a consonant that is part of a blend, e.g., responding with lap when asked to, "Say clap. Now say it again but don't say /k/." (A letter within bars, e.g., /m/, denotes the sound of the letter, "mmm," not the name "em.")
    
    
    • 19% are only able to delete syllables, pic from picnic to get nic.
    • 53% are able to delete initial consonants but not final consonants.
    • 18% are able to delete initial and final consonants.
    • 9% are able to delete a consonant that is part of a blend.
    • 0% are successful with all 13 consonant deletion tasks.


• Do they know the 21 consonant sounds? No.
  
  
  • Only 10% know all consonant sounds. The average for the group is 6 out of the 21.
  
  
  
• Can they apply phonics rules when decoding? Perhaps.
  
  
  • Decoding pseudowords, as measured by the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT), Word Attack subtest:
    
    
    • Their GEs on word recognition and spelling are closely related to their performance on the WRMT word attack subtest. They do not know as many phonetically regular combinations nor the most common non-phonetic letter combinations and syllables as they need in order to read a greater variety of words. Ninety-three percent are unable to read nonsense syllables and words composed of regular phonetic combinations, e.g., zoach, phat, snolaker, and common non-phonetic combinations, e.g., igh, beyond the "moderately low" range of difficulty.

We know that if an adult Native Speaker of English (NSE) born in the U.S. is a beginning reader, he/she is likely severely reading or learning disabled. Even though two thirds report having had trouble with reading by the 4th grade, only half received some form of academic assistance in K-12. The only kind of remediation that could be effective now is a systematic, phonologically-based curriculum and continued practice toward automatic recognition of letters and sight words.

Why is the silent reading comprehension GE 0-2 group separated according to native language, English (Profile 10) and Not English (Profile 11)?

• Because each group has distinctive strengths and needs that should drive their instruction. The following table shows the reading/learning disability pattern of low print skills (alphabetics) in Profile 10 (Native Speakers of English--NSE) and the greater development of those abilities in Profile 11 (Non-native Speakers of English--NNSE). Profile 10 learners have a long history of reading failure of undocumented origin, but the problem evident at present is their inability to put sounds to symbols reliably enough to further their decoding skills.
  
  
• Vocabulary measures are low for both groups but the difference between print skills (alphabetics) and meaning skills are significantly greater for Profile 11. Their word attack and phonological abilities have developed so that, with further instruction and exposure to English words, they will raise their word recognition levels. Lack of sufficient vocabulary is holding back Profile 11 learners from reading more advanced text and has also affected their word recognition progress.

* significant difference between NSE and NNSE on word attack, phonemic awareness, listening vocabulary, and word meaning.

¹ Standard scores between 70 and 85 are in the "moderately low" range. Standard Scores below 70 are in the "extremely low" range.

Browse Profile: Menu
	Description of the ARCS Comparison Profile 10
	Suggestions for Instruction for Profile 10 Learners
	Additional Profile 10 Information from the Research
	Comparison of the Two Profiles in the Beginners Group
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