“Because I Don’t Know How to Read”: A Case Study of a Fourth Grader With Reading Difficulty

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Rethinking Innovative Strategies to Support Exceptional Learners (Table 6)

Abstract

This is an initial result of an ongoing study being carried out in a bid to remediate the reading difficulties of a fourth-grade Nigerian student. This qualitative study is framed on Scarborough’s Reading Rope and the Socio-psycholinguistic theories. Data sources were observation notes, informal interviews, and reading strategies utilized, and were analyzed thematically. The findings showed difficulties in blending sounds, lack of needed support, fear of jest from peers, group reading, and reading strategies like blending consonants and five vowel sounds, chunking, split-and-say, partial cover of parts of words, use of pictures as prompts, etc. Implications: It will contribute to academic knowledge and practical literacy educational initiatives and interventions, serve as blueprint to educators and practitioners with struggling readers.

Author

• Blessing Chidiebere Emodi, University of South Carolina