Cloze Procedure
The Cloze Procedure is a technique for omitting words from a passage so that the reader is forced to use background experience, knowledge of syntax, vocabulary, interest, and, generally, higher order thinking skills to fill in the blank and complete the thought. Words deleted can be selected either purposely or systematically in one of these three ways:
- Purposely select certain content.
- Systematically select every xth word.
- Systematically select certain parts of speech.
Instruction:
In preparing the text for students, the following are general guidelines:
- Leave the first and last sentences of the passage intact.
- Leave the same number of spaces for each omission, regardless of the length of the word.
- If you wish to discourage synonyms, leave the number of spaces that there are letters in the word.
- Number the omissions, to make checking easier (e.g., in the (4)________ the old man found ….).
- Letter can be given as prompts (e.g., She wrote on a c __ __ __ __ __ __ __ .)
- Letters to prompt can be placed first, as above, or first and last: c __ __ __ __ __ __ r. You can also omit consonants or vowels but keep in mind that words with only consonants are much more easily read than those with only vowels: c __ m p __ t __ r is easier than __ o __ __ u __ e __ .
- For younger or more struggling readers, you can put a choice of words they can choose from under each sentence to fill in the missing word.
Cloze activities take time to prepare but they can be used in any content area at any age or grade level.
