Cowling reasons that this is because their minds are too occupied with the mechanics of decoding the written language to be able to give adequate attention to meaning. Students can become so adept at disguising their poor reading skills (by guesswork and context) that their problems may not be evident even to their teachers; but they are on a 'reading plateau' and may remain there throughout…
The methods described in this book will ensure that the 300 most used words can be committed to long-term memory and recalled at will by the student. These words cover three-quarters of all that we read and write, giving students the confidence to tackle writing on any subject, and strategies to continue improving their spelling generally.