Goodman, Yetta M., Watson, Dorothy & Burke, Carolyn (2005). Reading Miscue Inventory: From Evaluation to Instruction. Second edition. Katonah, NY: Richard C. Owen Publishers.

This is a good book to have in your professional library if you want to better understand the reading process and help students improve their reading ability. Miscue analysis and its underlying theory developed from years of listening to people of varied age, ability, and language background and trying to understand how and why they processed written text as they did. While collaborating with Ken Goodman on his early research, Yetta Goodman and Carolyn Burke became interested in bringing miscue analysis to teachers in classrooms and clinics.

Miscue describes a situation in which a reader's observed response does not match the expected response. Instead of using the term error or mistake, miscue was used to underscore the fundamental belief that reading is cued by the reader's experiences and language and thus is not random, uncontrolled behavior. Miscue analysis is a quantitative-qualitative procedure for analyzing the reading of a text as the reading takes place. It is complex and time consuming to understand and use; however, it allows the user to investigate reading related phenomena and provides insight into how the reader's thoughts and language are brought to the reading task, how experience aids the reader to interpret the author's meaning, and how the reader constructs meaning. It is a methodology and an open-ended heuristic tool that can be used to help gather information about the reading process. It reveals the reader's strengths as well as the strategies used to understand and construct meaning; and, it provides knowledge about the reading process by including numerous ways of investigating what readers do as they read.

The Reading Miscue Inventory book was written to help educators use miscue analysis to understand the reading process, value readers, and investigate reading programs and materials. An overview of Kenneth Goodman's holistic model of reading, which serves as the basis for theories underlying miscue analysis, is included. A historical perspective of the development and use of miscue analysis is presented making it clear to the reader why, decades after the initial concepts were introduced, this tool remains a cornerstone to the study of reading. The ideas and strategies developed continue to provide guidelines for understanding why readers read as they do and how knowledge about language, experiences, and the environment influence the process and product of reading.

The authors use a case study approach to present much of the information and support the use of miscue analysis by providing a wealth of examples and forms, including detailed descriptions for preparing and marking typescript. The reader is coached to ask questions about miscues, patterns of miscues, the relationship of those patterns to each other, and how miscues affect the remainder of the written text.

The content of this book is important to the field of reading and reading research. Miscue analysis aids classroom teachers, special educators, reading specialists, and reading researchers in understanding the reading process and discovering ways to support reader's strengths. Those interested in the reading process will find the book valuable for better understanding the reading process and helping readers be proficient in the reading process.

Pages: 305     Price: $29.95     ISBN: 1-57274-737-4

Reviewed by Dr. Kathleen E. Fite, Professor of Education, Texas State University