VI: COMPREHENSION

Objectives

As a result of reading and studying this chapter students will be able to:

• Identify definitions of comprehension
• Recognize the reader competencies that impact comprehension
• Recognize the dimensions of text that impact comprehension
• Explain the three elements of comprehension: text, activity, context
• Describe the strategies good readers use before, during, and after reading
• Name and explain the comprehension strategies that need to be explicitly taught
• Explain the importance of metacognition in reading
• Sequence the steps of explicit comprehension strategy instruction
• Define scaffolding in terms of process and tools for comprehension strategy instruction
• Explain the benefit of contextualized instruction for comprehension strategies
• Define and explain the benefits of reader response in discussion and writing
• Identify important considerations when teaching reading comprehension to English-language learners

Key Terms

• Genre
• Narrative text
• Informational (expository) text
• Surface features of text
• Graphic features of text
• Adept diction
• Media
• Considerate texts
• Engaged readers
• Metacognition in reading
• Monitoring comprehension
• World knowledge
• Schema theory
• Literal questions
• Inferential question
• Applied questions
• Strategic questions
• Multiple strategy instruction
• Scaffolding
• Reader response

Assessment

Instructional PowerPoint

Web Resources

The following websites and resources may be useful to reading teachers in planning and implementing their lessons.

• Building Comprehension Through Explicit Teaching of Comprehension Strategies
  This presentation by Nell K. Duke of Michigan State University covers explicit instructional strategies for comprehension and the research that supports them.
• Metacognition
  Learn more about metacognition, what it is, and how you can use metacognitive strategies for successful teaching.
• "Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension" by C.R. Adler
  This article presents seven scientifically based strategies for improving text comprehension including: Monitoring Comprehension, Metacognition, Graphic and Semantic Organizers, Summarizing, and more.
• Comprehension Strategies
  Comprehension resources and information from the books Strategies That Work, Mosaic of Thought, and Reading with Meaning. Resources include research articles, graphic organizers, lesson plans, and more.
• Explicit Instruction
  A very detailed explanation of this teaching method and some evidence of its effectiveness compiled from over 40 years of research.
• Teaching About Story Structure Using Fairy Tales
  This lesson uses familiar stories and the writing process to teach story structure and demonstrate student comprehension.
• "What Works in Comprehension Instruction" by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  An interesting article that presents a multiple-strategy instructional approach (Transactional Strategies Instruction) to teaching comprehension.
• Improving Comprehension of Information Text
  This presentation by Nell K. Duke of the Michigan State University covers the importance of informational text and the strategies for using this type of text in your reading instruction.