Tucker Signs go to high school

What do high school students think about Tucker Signing Strategies for Reading? Eighth-, ninth-, and eleventh-graders (names withheld) in a Midwestern high school shared these thoughts following their attendance of approximately ten hours of instruction in the use of Tucker Signing Strategies to decode words from lists of words that high school and college students should know:

“It’s like, I can read without worrying about it now.”

“When I was taking my exams, I came upon words that in the past I would have just skipped over. But then I saw tion or er or aw, and I thought, ‘Maybe I can do this.’ And I did! And I did great on my exams.”

“Dr. Tucker said the signs would look silly and it would be all right if we laughed. We did laugh and laugh, but inside I was thinking, ‘Wow, this is helping me read better.'”

“I didn’t attend many sessions. I wish I’d attended more of them.”

“My teachers and my mom said they can see improvement in my reading skills.”

“I read more now because I can.”

Students who could read independently fewer than 50% of the words on the list below at the onset of the program were selected to participate in the program. Sessions were held approximately two days a week for approximately five weeks.

As students demonstrated the ability to read most of the words on the following list, as well as other, similar words from content-area texts, they were post-tested. Some students could read 45 or more of the words independently and tested out of the program in as few as three weeks. Students who attended two or more sessions showed greater improvement in word recognition skills than those who did not attend at all.

In addition to improvement in word recognition skills, instructors noted increasingly positive attitudes among students toward program participation.

Pre- and Post-Test Wordlist

aberration accolade

affirmation auditory

belligerent benediction

cartography cerebrum

circumlocution compunction

decimate equine

eviscerate genocide

glaucoma holocaust

incarceration induction

juxtapose laceration