Draft:HI-LO (High Interest-Low Vocabulary) Reading

High-interest/Low-vocabulary (Hi-Lo) Reading is a term that refers to texts that are intended to be engaging to readers, but easy to read. These materials usually have controlled vocabulary and sentence structures, but with topics and stories of interest to teen and preteen, as well as to adult readers. They are particularly useful with struggling and reluctant readers, as well as English Language Learners.:

Hi-Lo Fiction: High Interest-Low Vocabulary reading materials may be fiction or nonfiction. Quality Hi-Lo fiction starts with a compelling storyline, credible characters and themes to which readers can relate. Then it is carefully edited to control the readability level and build in additional structures to support struggling readers, such as

• Straightforward plot development with few literary elements
• Clearly distinguishable characters
• Vocabulary complexity and supports
• Sentence length and structure
• Supportive formatting

Readability: Readability refers to the degree of challenge presented by a particular text. Different publishers use different formulas for measuring the reading levels of their Hi-Lo books. Readability formulas such as Flesch-Kincaid or the Fry Readability Graph are traditional measures of reading difficulty, as well as resources such as Lexile levels or Accelerated Reader. Most of these formulas use a combination of word and sentence length to measure reading ease. Most trade books have some sections that are easy and some that are difficult. Good hi-lo reading materials take the measure of reading difficulty on every page to ensure that students aren't blocked by sudden difficult passages.

Reading Volume: Reading proficiency (how well you read) has been strongly correlated with reading volume (how much you read). Increasing reading volume helps build vocabulary knowledge, story sense and engagement in reading. In his book What Really Matters in Response to Intervention (Pearson 2009), literacy expert Richard Allington states, "Whenever we design an intervention for struggling readers, the single most critical factor that will determine the success of the effort is matching readers with texts they can actually read with a high level of accuracy, fluency and comprehension" (p. 45) The Common Core State Standards concur that "Students need opportunities to stretch their reading abilities but also to experience the satisfaction and pleasure of easy, fluent reading" (CCSS, Appendix A, p. 9).

Motivation: Hi-lo reading materials can help build fluency, vocabulary and background knowledge. Most importantly, they get struggling, striving or reluctant readers to read more.Too often, students who struggle with reading can become discouraged with reading and with school. Reading Hi-Lo books can help young readers build both the confidence and competence to tackle increasingly complex texts.