The development of reading material for inner-city adolescents with reading difficulties

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to develop reading material suitable for use with Canadian “inner-city” children more than three years behind their expected reading level. -- Four books and a questionnaire were developed and tested with ten selected students from a St. John’s school. -- The stories were designed for students twelve to fifteen years old. Linguistic and thematic relevance to the inner-city setting was a main consideration in design. The reading level of the material was grade three and the words were selected on the basis of straight phonetic structure. All the stories were designed so that they should make enjoyable reading for the subjects. -- Results indicated that the design considerations of controlled phonetic structure, language, setting, thematic relevance and simple humour were successfully met. Thus the books provided enjoyment for the students and were positively received.