Comprehension...
DEFINITION:
The understanding that a student has from the reading. The individual must use lower order reading processes (decoding and vocabulary) and higher order reading processes (using context clues and previous knowledge) to gain an understanding of the main concepts of the text. (Pressley, 2000) The individual must read the words as well as understand the meaning associated with them.
KEY TERMS:
- Decoding - this is the ability to figure out a word within a text, once a student spends less time decoding, their will not need as much effort to read so their comprehension may increase
- Vocabulary - in having a larger vocabulary the student stumbles over fewer unfamiliar words, thus increasing their fluency in reading and overall comprehension of the text
- Prior Knowledge - their previous learning and understanding of words, this may include the connotations they have associated to the word
- Phonological Processing - by being able to process words using phonology they will be able to read more fluently and increase comprehension
DEVELOPMENT:
An individual must have the above key terms to increase their comprehension of different texts. In addition to those, it helps to have an understanding of oral language, fluency, short-term/working, motivation, and type of text (genre). If a student cannot store words long enough to string them together to gain meaning then they will not comprehend what they read. Students must also have the motivation to understand what they are reading. They must realize that different genres/texts are written differently with certain vocabulary and style associated with it. By having fluency when reading (due to decoding and vocabulary), they are able to spend less time deciphering a word which frees up more brain power to focus on their comprehension of what they are reading. The student must also be able to hold knowledge of what they read in their head to make connections between sentences and paragraphs for their comprehension. They must carry over the knowledge gained from one page to another. However, if a student is not motivated to understand the reading, they may go through the motions of reading without absorbing any of the text's meaning.
There are many strategies that a student may learn to utilize when reading an unfamiliar text. It is as though they are trying to solve a mystery, problem, or science project. The students may make predictions based on snap judgments, question each aspect, imagine while you are reading. Other options are rereading for clarification, summarize each sentence or paragraph, or utilize their prior knowledge to decipher what words or phrases mean.
When students just don't get it... a student cannot gain total comprehension just by knowing the individual definitions, it is necessary for them to remember what they have read and connect it to the entire text. This skill is beyond just vocabulary and reading fluency. Their comprehension may be relative to their ability to remember what they read, even if they know all the words.
An individual must have the above key terms to increase their comprehension of different texts. In addition to those, it helps to have an understanding of oral language, fluency, short-term/working, motivation, and type of text (genre). If a student cannot store words long enough to string them together to gain meaning then they will not comprehend what they read. Students must also have the motivation to understand what they are reading. They must realize that different genres/texts are written differently with certain vocabulary and style associated with it. By having fluency when reading (due to decoding and vocabulary), they are able to spend less time deciphering a word which frees up more brain power to focus on their comprehension of what they are reading. The student must also be able to hold knowledge of what they read in their head to make connections between sentences and paragraphs for their comprehension. They must carry over the knowledge gained from one page to another. However, if a student is not motivated to understand the reading, they may go through the motions of reading without absorbing any of the text's meaning.
There are many strategies that a student may learn to utilize when reading an unfamiliar text. It is as though they are trying to solve a mystery, problem, or science project. The students may make predictions based on snap judgments, question each aspect, imagine while you are reading. Other options are rereading for clarification, summarize each sentence or paragraph, or utilize their prior knowledge to decipher what words or phrases mean.
When students just don't get it... a student cannot gain total comprehension just by knowing the individual definitions, it is necessary for them to remember what they have read and connect it to the entire text. This skill is beyond just vocabulary and reading fluency. Their comprehension may be relative to their ability to remember what they read, even if they know all the words.
ASSESSMENTS:
Informal - retelling. summarization. observations during class discussion reading groups. graphic organizers. journal entries. listening and reading comprehension. qualitative reading inventory (QRI).
Running record (see Fluency) look for errors that disrupt meaning or violate syntactic rules.
Retelling.
Cloze (fill in the blank)
IRI (Information Reading Inventory)
Reading of basal assessment
Standardized tests [Diagnostic Assessments of Reading, Gates-MacGinitie, Qualitative Reading inventory (QRI), Brigance, Metropolitan Achievement Test, Michigan Literacy Progress Profile (MLPP)]
Observations during class
Discussion
Concept mapping
TEACHING METHODS:
give the students ample time to read texts
have them talk or write about the texts
have age and content appropriate books
utilize authentic texts and a variety of genres
emphasize context clues (including 'reading' pictures)
scaffold and model effective strategies
- This site provides many activities for grades K-12 in regards to comprehension. These provide a plethora of resource ideas for activities to aid comprehension in various ways.
This website contains many useful sites when working with comprehension, it is a Garfield site.
Informal - retelling. summarization. observations during class discussion reading groups. graphic organizers. journal entries. listening and reading comprehension. qualitative reading inventory (QRI).
Running record (see Fluency) look for errors that disrupt meaning or violate syntactic rules.
Retelling.
Cloze (fill in the blank)
IRI (Information Reading Inventory)
Reading of basal assessment
Standardized tests [Diagnostic Assessments of Reading, Gates-MacGinitie, Qualitative Reading inventory (QRI), Brigance, Metropolitan Achievement Test, Michigan Literacy Progress Profile (MLPP)]
Observations during class
Discussion
Concept mapping
TEACHING METHODS:
give the students ample time to read texts
have them talk or write about the texts
have age and content appropriate books
utilize authentic texts and a variety of genres
emphasize context clues (including 'reading' pictures)
scaffold and model effective strategies
- This site provides many activities for grades K-12 in regards to comprehension. These provide a plethora of resource ideas for activities to aid comprehension in various ways.
This website contains many useful sites when working with comprehension, it is a Garfield site.
SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS:
Comprehension for SLL is completely based on their fluency and vocabulary. It is incredibly important for them to not only be able to pronounce the words, but also understand what they mean. Then they need to be able to string the words together for extended meaning. It is easy for SLL to mix up the meaning of words, especially cognates, which would greatly affect their comprehension. It is also very important to gain a grammatical understanding in order to recognize the tense of a sentence or the meaning that it holds. There are some sentences that could be read in a couple different ways and are therefore ambiguous, but have a grammatical understanding and the ability to utilize context clues they would be able to figure out what it means.
Comprehension for SLL is completely based on their fluency and vocabulary. It is incredibly important for them to not only be able to pronounce the words, but also understand what they mean. Then they need to be able to string the words together for extended meaning. It is easy for SLL to mix up the meaning of words, especially cognates, which would greatly affect their comprehension. It is also very important to gain a grammatical understanding in order to recognize the tense of a sentence or the meaning that it holds. There are some sentences that could be read in a couple different ways and are therefore ambiguous, but have a grammatical understanding and the ability to utilize context clues they would be able to figure out what it means.