Running head: READING COMPREHENSION INSTRUCTION



Running head: READING COMPREHENSION INSTRUCTION

Reading Comprehension Instruction

in the Beginning Stage

Kelly A. Chamberlain

University of New England

Reading Comprehension Instruction in the Beginning Stage

Why do people read? People read for a variety of reasons: to find information, to learn about a new topic, to communicate with others (such as e-mails and letters), and most importantly, for enjoyment! The purpose of reading is to gain meaning, otherwise known as comprehension.

Children begin to comprehend as soon as they are read to. Children in the beginning stage of literacy can be taught specific comprehension skills to help them understand text being read to them or text they are reading themselves. If a child cannot comprehend what she is reading, reading can easily and quickly become frustrating. Reading is pointless without comprehension.

Teaching comprehension is not just the responsibility of certain grade level teachers, nor is it the responsibility of just reading teachers. Instruction on reading comprehension is necessary at all grade levels and in all subject areas to help students develop the knowledge and skills required to become successful and enthusiastic readers. How can teachers support comprehension in the classroom? What are the key comprehension strategies to teach? Can parents help their children acquire comprehension skills? What comprehension skills can be taught in the beginning stage of literacy?

Comprehension Strategies

According to many researchers in reading comprehension, there are several strategies teachers can use to increase student comprehension. According to the Texas Education Agency (2002), activating and using prior knowledge is a highly useful comprehension strategy. A child’s existing knowledge can be a critical factor in her ability to comprehend. Having students reflect on the text and what it makes them think of is a good way to activate prior knowledge. It is fair to say that children with more experiences in life will have better comprehension.

Another common strategy to increase student comprehension is generating and asking questions. The teacher should ask questions about the story during reading. Questioning forces the students to think about what is being read and reflect upon the story. Eventually, the students will be able to ask themselves questions about the text to help them identify the main ideas. According to the Texas Education Agency (20002), “generating good questions may also lead readers to focus on problems with comprehension and to take actions to deal with these problems” (p.2).

Being able to make inferences while reading can be a difficult task for some children. Making inferences requires the ability to ‘read between the lines” and make conclusions without the text directly giving information. The ability to make inferences is an acquired skill that only gets better with practice! The more stories a child reads, discusses, and reflects upon, will increase a child’s ability to make inferences. The ability to make inferences can be taught by helping students see when and where inferences need to be made along with appropriate questioning. Research by the Texas Education Agency (2002), shows that the ability to infer can directly improve a student’s ability to construct meaning.

Having students make predictions is also a great way to increase comprehension. Students can make predictions about what is going to happen next, why a character acted a certain way, or how a story might end. Students can be encouraged to think about similar stories, known as ‘text-to-text,’ or other stories by the same author to make quality predictions. Predictions can certainly be revised as the story is read.

Lastly, students should be encouraged to summarize the text. Students should be able to recognize what is important in a text and retell what happened in their own words. Gina Carrier (2006), suggests students could write their ideas in a journal or perhaps a graphic organizer designed to identify parts of a story, such as the setting, characters, and conflict.

Parents can also help their child gain good comprehension skills. Carrier (2006), makes many suggestions in ways that parents can help, including: asking the child questions throughout the book, helping the child make text-to-self and text-to-text connections, making sure the child is reading at an appropriate level to avoid frustrations, making reading a daily activity, finding books the child will enjoy to increase motivation, to model reading, and to encourage writing about what the child has read. Generally, exposing children to books and written work at an early age can be crucial to their success as readers.

What Makes a Good Reader? (In the Beginning Stage)

It’s important for teachers, parents, and students to understand what makes a ‘good’ reader. According to the Texas Education Agency (2002), “good readers read words accurately and quickly, and simultaneously deal with the meanings of those words—as well as the meaning of the phrases and sentences into which the words are grouped” (p.2). To be able to do all of this at once requires fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. If the reader is confused or unclear on something, a good reader could use a number of strategies, including rereading, using background knowledge, or asking herself questions about the text.

Good readers can make reasonable predictions using background knowledge. They recall past experiences in their lives or similar books that they’ve read. A good reader would reflect upon and change their predictions as needed while reading.

A good reader can identify the important parts of a story while reading. After identify important pieces, the reader may skip over unimportant parts or reread important parts to gain better understanding.

The Texas Education Agency also believes that good readers monitor their comprehension as they read (p.2). When a good reader is unclear, she will ‘repair’ her lack of understanding by looking up meanings of words, rephrasing a part of the text, or by asking herself questions. Often times, a poor reader will not reflect upon what she has read.

To summarize, good readers have many strategies to increase comprehension. They use different strategies in different situations and know what strategies work best for themselves. Comprehension strategies need to be taught; some students need more comprehension instruction than others.

Conclusion

According to Sousa (2005), “reading comprehension is a complex cognitive process that relies on several components to be successful” (p.90). In order for a child to be successful with comprehension, she must have an adequate vocabulary and be able to read fluently at her reading level. Comprehension skills must begin to be taught by teachers when they first enter school—or even earlier, in the preconventional stage!

Researchers have agreed on common strategies to increase comprehension for all students, including students in the beginning stage. These strategies include: summarizing, predicting, questioning, making connections, reading at the right level, writing/reflecting, and reading every day! Not all strategies will work for all children. As students are taught and practice comprehension skills, they will discover which strategies work best in each situation.

Parents are an important factor in the development of a child’s comprehension skills. Children that are exposed to books early on are more likely to have good comprehension skills and be successful readers. As children enter school and the first few stages of literacy, the parents should read with their child and ask questions as they move through the book. Parents should model reading and set aside time to read everyday.

In conclusion, reading comprehension is a necessary skill needed to be a successful reader and should be explicitly taught to students in the beginning stage of the literacy continuum, as well as other stages. With comprehension comes the joy of reading, which is a wonderful gift to give to a child.

References

Carrier, G. (2006). Comprehension. Reading Rockets, Article 12376. Retrieved February 4, 2009, from

Sousa, D.A. (2005). How the brain learns to read.

Texas Education Agency (2002). Key comprehension strategies to teacher. Reading Rockets, Article 29200. Retrieved February 4, 2009, from

Texas Education Agency (2002). What research tells us about reading, comprehension, and comprehension instruction. Reading Rockets, Article 29199. Retrieved February 4, 2009, from

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