Directing the Actors: Teaching Comprehension in the Context of

a Research Project

Sharon B. Kletzien

West Chester University of Pennsylvania

READING, WRITING, AND CONTENT: Supporting Comprehension and Engaging Children With Research

Projects that Motivate Them to LearnSymposium IRA Atlanta 2008

Comprehension

• Can be taught in all contents using informational text

• Too important to be left to “reading” time

• Strategy instruction can help students learn to comprehend

Comprehension Strategies

• Should be taught in context – not in isolation

• Should be taught as a means of understanding – not as an end in themselves

• Should be taught with understanding that strategy use is idiosyncratic depending on text, reader, and purpose

Comprehension Strategies Useful in Informational Text

• Before Reading– Accessing Prior Knowledge– Predicting– Questioning

Kletzien & Dreher, 2004

Comprehension Strategies Useful in Informational Text

• During reading– Making connections– Questioning– Visualizing– Inferencing– Using text structures to identify major ideas– Paraphrasing– Clarifying

Kletzien & Dreher, 2004

Comprehension Strategies Useful in Informational Text

• After reading– Summarizing– Creating visual representations (pictures,

graphs, etc.)

Kletzien & Dreher, 2004

Strategy Instruction

• Declarative knowledge – what it is

• Procedural knowledge – how to do it

• Conditional knowledge – when to use it

Strategy Instruction

• Explain what the strategy is• Explain how to do it• Give examples of when it might be useful• Model numerous examples, inviting the

child to begin using the strategy with you• Gradually release responsibility for using

the strategy to the child

Paraphrasing

• Putting the text into one’s own words– Translating the information into personal

speech– Connecting with one’s prior knowledge

• Different from summarizing

• Different from retelling

Summarizing

• Reduce the text to approximately 1/3

• Reduce lists to a general statement

• Select a topic sentence (or construct one)

• Delete redundancy

• Delete unimportant information

(Brown, Campion, Van Dijk, 1981)

Retelling

• Use structure of the author

• Use language of the text

Paraphrasing

• Translating text into one’s own way of saying it

• Puts emphasis on understanding what one has read

• If one cannot put what one has read into one’s own words, chances are that it has not been understood.

Paraphrasing

• Provides a way to monitor comprehension

• Connects prior knowledge with the text

• Encourages deeper processing of text

Monitoring Comprehension

• Jason– Fourth grade– Fair word recognition– Could retell using the author’s words– Could not respond to comprehension

questions or discuss concepts

Connecting Prior Knowledge

By searching for one’s own words to express an idea, one must access similar concepts thus connecting what is being read with what has already been learned.

Deeper processing of text

• By accessing prior knowledge, new knowledge can be incorporated

• Instead of creating a “text base,” a reader creates a “situation model” incorporating new and known information (Kintsch, 1998)

Deeper processing of text

• Jimmy– Fourth grade– Quick rate– Adequate retelling of narrative– Unable to comprehend complex material– Uses prior knowledge rather than text-based

information to discuss informational texts

Deeper Processing

• Taught to slow his reading down for more complex material

• Taught to integrate visual material (graphs, illustrations, etc.) with text

• Taught to reread if unable to paraphrase

Deeper Processing

“It’s telling you if you want to know how far lightning is. You can always count when you see the lightning, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and then hear the thunder. And if it’s 5 seconds, that counts as 1 mile away. And if you count to 20 seconds, the lightning is four miles away because 4 times 5 equals 20. And if you count 10 seconds, it’s really close and you have to take cover.”

Lexie

• Sixth grade

• Adequate word recognition

• Adequate comprehension in narrative

• Fourth grade level in informational text

• Lack of knowledge of informational text structures

Paraphrasing

• Helps students monitor comprehension

• Encourages connections to prior knowledge

• Encourages deeper processing of text

• Prepares students to take notes “in their own words”