Comprehension Eh What is Comprehension n Comprehension q

Comprehension Eh?

What is Comprehension? n Comprehension q q A process through which meaning is extracted and constructed by interacting with written language Can be effected by n The reader q n The text q n His/her motivation to read and the strategies used while reading Words used, author’s ideas, and the complexity of the ideas presented/how they are presented The environment q The activity or purpose for which the text is being read The above information is from Shedd, Meagan (2008). Comprehension. Presentation for TE 301, East Lansing, Michigan

What is Comprehension? n n n Comprehension and Fluency (refer to Fluency Power. Point) Comprehension and Vocabulary (refer to Vocabulary Power. Point) When all other aspects of literacy development fall into place, comprehension can occur

What good comprehenders do when they read n A good comprehender starts thinking before reading and doesn’t stop when the book is done q q q After reading a title of a book or chapter, they predict what is going to happen While reading, they question why things are happening Also while reading, they imagine the events of the story in their head If anything that is not understood while reading, they search for clues in the text to help, or if all else fails, ask After reading, they summarize and make inferences about the text Also after reading, they connect it to their own life or some other form of prior knowledge The above information is from Shedd, Meagan (2008). Comprehension. Presentation for TE 301, East Lansing, Michigan

Affects on Student’s Comprehension n Prior knowledge q n The amount of varied experiences students have had affects the amount of schemas that can be connected and the richness of the comprehension (Field Notes, April 1 st) Oral Language q q Students may have difficulty understanding questions when asked orally (Shedd, 2008) Students may be comprehending, but are just not understanding the questions asked

Affects on Student’s Comprehension n Short-term or working memory (Shedd, 2008) q q n This is our “active” memory that holds a small amount of information for about 20 seconds (wikipedia. org) If a student has problems with his/her short-term memory, he/she may have to continually re-read to comprehend the text, because they always forget what they had previously read Motivation (Shedd, 2008) q q If students are not motivated to read, they will not practice various literacy concepts and will therefore have difficulty with comprehension. Conversely, if students have difficulty with comprehension, they may be unmotivated to read which will again, lead to a lack of practice with various literacy concepts

Affects on Student’s Comprehension n Linear vs. Hypertext q q Hypertext can cause disorientation The main issues students have with hypertext is getting used to the ways in which we use it different than linear text n n Finding things relevant to the topic desired requires prior knowledge of the topic Hypertext is often skimmed for main ideas since there are so many sources to choose from The above information is from Shedd, Meagan (2008). Comprehension. Presentation for TE 301, East Lansing, Michigan

Diagnosing the problem n Students could have comprehension issues for many different reasons q q These issues may arise during certain activities or could be content specific These issues may arise because the student is not using strategies to decode the text Having difficulty with any one of the literacy concepts discussed in previous Power. Points can affect comprehension This is why a large number of good assessments should be used n It is especially important to use multiple assessments when testing comprehension, so as to get a broader view of how the student is doing with comprehension (In the case of a problem in comprehension: what is the cause and what course should be taken for instruction) The above information is from Shedd, Meagan (2008). Comprehension. Presentation for TE 301, East Lansing, Michigan

Issues for Second Language Learners n SLL’s may have a particular problem with motivation q Since it is harder for SLL’s to learn another language, they may be less motivated to try q Also, if the parents of the SLL place zero value on learning English, the SLL will be much less motivated to try n n n As discussed before, the less students read/practice the various literacy concepts, the less they will comprehend SLL’s may have problems with texts that have a lot of metaphors q Metaphors can be vary confusing for SLL’s because they often play on double meanings of words Difficulty with early literacy concepts q Difficulty learning letter-sound relationships and morphology leads to difficulty decoding and a smaller vocabulary, which leads to low fluency and not “seeing the big picture”, which leads to low comprehension

Assessments and Activities n Summarizing and Predicting q q Have a student predict what they think is going to happen in a short story after reading the title and seeing the cover illustration After the student reads the text aloud, have him/her summarize it n n n Predicting helps the student “jump-start” their imagination Summarizing gives the teacher a good idea if the student is comprehending the text or not While the student reads aloud, the teacher should note things like fluency and decoding strategies The above information is from Shedd, Meagan (2008). Comprehension. Presentation for TE 301, East Lansing, Michigan

Activities and Assessments n Journal Entries q Give time for students to read their books every day n After each reading session is over, have the students write a short journal entry relating to the text (what’s happening, questions they have, predictions, how it relates to them, etc. ) q Reading these entries periodically will give the teacher an idea of how the students are thinking about the book The above information is from Shedd, Meagan (2008). Comprehension. Presentation for TE 301, East Lansing, Michigan

Activities and Assessments n Formal assessments q q Fill in the blank questionnaires Gates-Mac. Ginitie Qualitative Reading Inventory All formal assessments such as the ones above should measure multiple aspects of literacy development, not just comprehension. It is key to understand these other aspects along with possible problems to understand the cause for problems with comprehension The above information is from Shedd, Meagan (2008). Comprehension. Presentation for TE 301, East Lansing, Michigan

References • Shedd, Meagan (2008). Comprehension. Presentation for TE 301, East Lansing, Michigan • Field Notes (2008). April 1 st visit to Mt. Hope Elementary and talk with Mrs. Holley • http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Short-term_memory