Reading Education for Primary School Students with Reading Difficulties: A Theoretical Study

Abstract

Reading, which can be described as seeing a written text and making sense of it in a unique way, has a certain process of its own, as in other language skills. This process, in which concepts and facts are important, is somewhat complicated, as mental, cognitive and affective skills seem to be effective in reading. In the reading process, there are some sub-skills such as word recognition, fluent reading, reading comprehension and decoding. Reading happens when each of these skills is put into practice and supports one another. Because the individual can get to know himself, life and people, and also discover the thoughts of others, and approach the environment and the world with different perspectives through reading, it has important contributions to the skills of "critical thinking, communication and creativity", which are accepted as skills of the 21st century. However, successful strategies and practices related to students with reading difficulties are rarely covered in the curriculum. It can be seen in the curriculum that whether to give support to such students is left to the initiative of the classroom teachers. Moreover, it is thought that the sooner the problems of students with reading difficulties are intervened, the more successful they will be. It has been emphasized that it is very important to take individual or small group teaching as a basis in the education of reading difficulties and to provide in-class support to students. In this training, it is considered very important to use the methods and techniques of repetitive reading, echo reading, paired reading and reader’s theater.