In this information–driven age, preparing students to read a variety of texts with complete understanding should likely be one of our educational system’s highest priorities. Understanding is more than just the ability to produce information on demand (knowledge) or the ability to perform learned routines (skills). “Understanding is the ability to think and act flexibly with what one knows.” (Active Learning Practice for Schools, n. d.) A review of the literature in the area of reading comprehension of elementary-age students shows two principle areas of focus. There is a body of literature that examines the development of proficient vs. struggling comprehenders and another body of literature that compares methodologies for teaching reading comprehension.
How can what we know about the development of readers inform reading comprehension instruction? Reading instruction typically starts in kindergarten with the alphabetic principle, simple word blending, and sight word recognition. Texts read by early readers usually include very little to comprehend. As children develop reading ability, they are able read more complex texts requiring greater comprehension skills. Separate and explicit instruction in reading comprehension is crucial because the ability to comprehend develops in its own right, independent of word recognition. The ability to read words and sentences is clearly important, but as readers develop, these skills are less and less closely correlated with comprehension abilities. (Aarnoutse & van Leeuwe, 2000) While no one would argue that word blending and sight word reading skills be omitted from early reading instruction, vocabulary and listening comprehension may be at least as important in achieving the even...
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and teaching of reading comprehension strategies―[Electronic version]. Cognition and Instruction, 2 (2), 131-156.
McKeown, M. G., Beck, I. L., & Blake, R. K. (2009). Rethinking reading
comprehension instruction: A comparison of instruction for strategies and content approaches ―[Electronic version]. Reading Research Quarterly, 44(3), 218–253.
Nation, Kate, Cocksey, Joanne, Taylor, Jo S.H., & Bishop, Dorothy V. M. A
(2010) longitudinal investigation of early reading nd language skills in children with poor reading comprehension. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 51:9 (2010), 1031–1039. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02254.x
Rapp, David N. (2007). Higher-order comprehension processes in struggling
readers: A perspective for research and intervention ―[Electronic version]. Scientific Studies of Reading, 11(4), 289-312.
The first article, Improving Fluency in At-Risk Readers and Students with Learning Disabilities by Allinder, R., Dunse, L., Brunken, C., and Obermiller-Krolikowski, H. Allinder et. al. described fluency, what it is and how being a fluent reader is such an important skill to have because non-fluent readers use the majority of their brains decoding words, which prevents them from comprehending anything they just read. This article included information that being a fluent reader is necessary to comprehend what is read, but also that being able to comprehend what you read will increase the reader’s fluency (pg. 49). I cho...
Trepanier, K. G. (2009). The effectiveness of the orton gillingham instructional program when used in conjunction with a basal reading program. (Order No. 3355062, Walden University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 101. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/305080674?accountid=458. (305080674).
The reading selections for this week provide a historical perspective of comprehension instruction at various grade levels. The authors describe characteristics of learners at various grade levels, examine previous instructional goals and discuss the goals for the future, examine previous learning contexts and what learning contexts should become and how assessment strategies can be improved to meet the challenges of learners at various grade and proficiency levels. It is important to note the influence of multiple literacies and the challenges of integrating conventional discourses and nonconventional discourses in the learning context. Wharton-McDonald and Swiger (2009) said, “Instructional practices that repair the disconnect between students’ public and private literacies—practices that form connections between what is personally interesting to students and the material they are asked to read in school will support the development of comprehension processes” (Developing Higher Order Comprehension in the Middle Grades, 2009, p. 523).
Reading comprehension may be the most important skill for any student to acquire and is therefore an area of particular interest to educators. Without adequate comprehension skills, students are limited in their reading, analytical and occupational abilities. To many, including the student’s themselves, comprehension or “good reading” skills begin and end with simple decoding. It is thought that if students can ‘read’ and define the vocabulary they are reading, then they also comprehend what is read. True comprehension goes far beyond decoding, however. True comprehension requires visualization of a text, predicting events in the text, making inferences about the text and clarifying what is not understood about the text in order to lead to higher level thought processes such as personally connecting with the text. Reluctant, beginning or low-skilled readers often do not have the ability to visualize, predict, inference or clarify what they are reading and so they do not truly comprehend what the text is or what it means. Too often, these readers do not understand that “good readers” go through a series of mental processes in order to comprehend the text in ways which the low-level readers never even imagined. As educators, it is our job to show reluctant, beginning or low-skilled readers what these processes are and how they work in an attempt to boost the self-confidence and independence of these readers. One excellent way to set about this is through a strategy called a “Think Aloud”.
Wright, S., Caputa, F., & Fugett, A. (2013).Using e-readers and internet resources to support comprehension. Educational Technology and Society, 16(1), 367-379. Retrieved from Scopus database
For some students, reading comprehension does not develop normally. Many factors play a part with having difficulties mastering each reading skill to understand text. Children who struggle with reading face the challenges of working at a slower rate, relying on interventions and adjusted instruction to meet individual needs, and experiencing great frustration (Afflerbach, Pearson, & Paris, 2008; Strickland, Boon & Spencer, 2013; Watson, Gable, Gear & Hughes, 2012). Once the basic reading and language skills are acquired and learned and problems with reading comprehension are identified, students can begin to make meaning of text. Researchers believe that using specific reading comprehension strategies help students understand text and become strategic readers.
Four phases of reading development have been established (Ehri 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999) : pre-alphabetic, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic and consolidated alphabetic. These phases has led to the core understanding of children's reading development, apart from the pre-alphabetic phase phonological awareness skills are seen throughout the phases.
This means that teachers spend most of their time assessing learners on comprehension rather than on teaching them how to read with understanding. It is therefore the responsibility of teachers to teach learners how to use a variety of reading comprehension strategies because if learners are not properly taught they would never know how to read with understanding (Boling, C. J., & Evans, W. H. 2008). Many researchers (e.g. Scanlon, et al, 2010; Tompkins, 2011; Morrow & Gambrell, 2011; Collins, et al, 2007) have identified various comprehension strategies that are functional in teaching learners to improve their reading comprehension skills. A discussion of these strategies follows in the next sub-section of this
Reading is a complex process that’s difficult to explain linearly. A student’s reading capabilities begin development long before entering the school setting and largely start with exposure (Solley, 2014). The first remnants of what children are able to do in terms of reading are built from their parents and other people and object around them as they’re read to, spoken to, and taken from place to place to see new things (Solley, 2014). As kids are exposed to more and more their noises quickly turn into intentional comprehensible messages and their scribbling begins to take the form of legible text as they attempt to mimic the language(s) they’re exposed to daily.
Robeck, Mildred, C. & Wilson, John A.R. (1973). Psychology of Reading Foundations of Instruction. New York:
Every aspect of a lesson boils down to understanding what you read and being able to apply that new knowledge real life situations, and Ray Reutter and Robert Cooter’s research stated that there are strategies that involved in learning comprehension: activating, questioning, analyzing text structure, and creating mental or visual images are very important in attaining comprehension (Page 223). For me to achieve my goal, I have to develop strategies that will benefit my focal students my lesson to focus mainly on and I reach our goal.
A question that should be asked often is what impact does reading comprehension have on early childhood students? Two articles pertaining to this question were Improving Reading in the Primary Grades by Duke, Neil K and Block, Meghan K from The Future of Children and Early Literacy Instruction in the Climate of No Child Left Behind by Margaret Taylor Stewart from The Reading Teacher. The first article deals with different approaches in order to better enhance children’s comprehension and reading skills. The article is broken down into six different recommendations for the improvement of reading such as promoting reading comprehension, comprehension strategies, promoting out of school reading activities, access to kindergarten, word-reading
Comprehension is a process in which readers construct meaning by interacting with text through the combination of prior knowledge and previous experience, information in the text, and the stance the reader takes in relationship to the text (Pardo, 2004). As educators, we should use strategies that will build student comprehension. These strategies are called before, during, and after reading strategies. Before strategies activate the students’ prior knowledge and set a purpose for reading. During strategies help the students make connections, monitor their understanding, generate questions, and stay focused. After strategies provide students the opportunity to summarize, question, reflect, discuss, and respond to text (“Classroom Strategies,”
The simple view of reading indicates that reading comprehension skill depends on decoding skills and linguistic comprehension (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Hoover & Gough 1990). First study that analyzes the efficiency of the two formulas: R = D × C (Hoover and Gough, 1990) and R = D + C (Dreyer and Katz, 1992).The second study presents that analyzes by adding a factor or speed of processing into the simple view of reading formula increases ability to predict reading comprehension.
According to Temple et. Al, there are components for reading. “Reading is the act of getting meaning from a written text.” (Temple & Ogle & Crawford & Freppon, 2005, p.7) There are steps to learn to read; first step is “word recognition.” This activity is that readers recognize letters and words. Next step is “phonemes” which is the smallest sounds in language. Readers who in “phonemic awareness” are able to know how to make sounds with letters. In “comprehension” step, readers are able to understand what they are reading. They can improve reading ability by expanding knowledge of vocabulary. If they can understand words faster than previous time and accurately, they are on “reading fluency” step. The last step, which is “interpretation” or also known as “critical reading”, is a time when they are able to understand author’s thought and mind by reading their words and arguments. National Reading Panel categorized literacy by areas of alphabetic, fluency, comprehension, teacher education and reading instruction, computer technology, and reading instruction. Alphabetic includes