A receiver operating characteristic curve.

It is, in other words, important that the right reading accuracy criterion be chosen, deliberately. If, through anxiety or as a result of instructions, a student believes it is crucial that every last word be correctly read then the number of wrongly read words will fall – but so will the number of correctly read ones managed within a reasonable time. This may paralyse his reading. If confidence grows and the student decides to allow for a certain number of wrongly read words then the hit rate will also rise. The hit rate has to be kept high or reading stalls, so it is also, by definition, necessary deliberately to accept that there may be some wrongly read words. The only way the overall situation can be improved is by improving the student’s own reading skills or by choosing a simpler text to read. (The choice of text level is, of course, of major importance.) Tutors must avoid inculcating a rigid, anxious insistence on reading every word correctly at all costs; must avoid giving the impression that that is what reading is. A student must be kept high on his graph by keeping confidence high. Weak readers may be afraid of taking chances, and so read too timidly and slowly to reach meaning. Meaning, though, is the goal of reading, and confident but, if necessary, slightly carefree speed is the essence of it. Student and tutor alike need the courage to operate near the edge of the student's reading ability where meaning is successfully reached almost all the time but where slavish attention to absolutely scrupulous accuracy at every word does not demotivate. We have to avoid barking at print; we seek to promote the fun in reading without exacerbating the fear of it.