Miscue Analysis
Miscue analysis is conducted at the completion of a running record to provide teachers insight about a child’s language cueing system and the reading strategies employed during the reading process.
During miscue analysis, teachers evaluate according to the following criteria:
- Are there detectable patterns in student miscues?
- What is the quality of the miscues? Do students self-correct or do errors tend to be random in nature?
- How frequently do students self-correct?
- How do miscues affect overall comprehension of text read?
When evaluating patterns in language cueing systems, teachers look at three things:
- Meaning: Does error preserve meaning of intended word?
- Structure: Does error fit an acceptable English language structure? Is it grammatically correct?
- Visual: Does the child use what they know about sounds and their relationship to written language when attempting a word?
The information garnered from a miscue analysis provides teachers valuable information about student reading processes that can be used to inform planning so that instruction is targeted to meet the needs of individual readers.
