Publications for Making Sense of Decoding and Spelling: An Adult Reading Course of Study

Making Sense of Decoding and Spelling: An Adult Reading Course of Study

Making Sense of Decoding and Spelling: An Adult Reading Course of Study is an evidence-based course of study designed to teach adult learners to decode and spell words accurately and fluently. The materials were developed during a research study by Charles MacArthur, Judith Alamprese, and Deborah Knight. When implemented as designed, the course was found to have positive learner gains. Materials for the course of study include three publications: (1) Teachers’ and Administrators’ Guide, (2) Lesson Plans, and (3) Learner Activity Book.

Teachers' and Administrators' Guide Complete Lesson Plans Learner Activity Book
Teachers' and Administrators' Guide (4.79MB) Complete Lesson Plans (9.22MB) Learner Activity Book (2.97MB)

How to Use the Materials

The materials are designed to be used as one component of a comprehensive adult reading course targeted to adult basic education (ABE) learners at the low-intermediate level (fourth to seventh grade equivalence level). The lessons are scripted and sequential, with each building on skills taught in previous lessons. It is important to have all three publications to use the course effectively.

Teachers' and Administrators' Guide. The Guide is designed to assist ABE instructors in using the Making Sense course of study, and provides important information for ABE administrators and teachers to use in supporting instruction with Making Sense.

Lesson Plans. The Lesson Plans document contains 30 scripted lesson plans with related charts to create overhead transparencies, PowerPoint presentation or handouts. The course of study begins with a review of basic alphabetic decoding skills and then teaches the most common and useful patterns of English words, and their applications in decoding, spelling, and fluent reading.

Learner Activity Book. The Learner Activity Book is designed for use by individual learners in conjunction with the lessons. Each learner should have a copy.

The research behind the materials

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute for Literacy and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education funded six adult literacy research awards in September 2002. The research focused on increasing understanding of the specific cognitive, socio-cultural, and instructional factors, and the complex interactions among these factors, which promote or impede the acquisition of English reading and writing abilities within adult literacy programs. Dr. Charles (Skip) MacArthur, University of Delaware and Judith Alamprese, Abt Associates Inc. are researchers from the projects who are part of the Adult Literacy Consortium. Consortium members have contributed to the literature base on reading and/or writing. A webcast archive of Dr. MacArthur and other members of the consortium discussed their findings, including the Making Sense materials, in a webcast which is available in the LINCS archive.