Comp 12: Comprehension, Concepts and Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension Flashcards
schema based inferences
depends on prior knowledge. This type of inferences allows the reader to elaborate on the text by adding information that has been implied by the author.
Text-based inference
requires putting together two or more pieces of information from the text. Activating prior knowledge helps students make inferences
Inferencing
comprehension relies heavily on the reader’s ability to use background knowledge to make inferences. inferencing is a cognitive skill that can be used in all areas of learning.
coherence
is the relating of elements into a consistent, logical whole. Readers establish relationships between elements in a text and their background knowledge.
dual coding
is the concept that text can be processed verbally and nonverbally. Nonverbal coding focuses on imaging.
elaboration
refers to additional processing of a text by a reader, which may result in improved comprehension and recall. elaboration involves building connections between one’s background knowledge and the text or integrating new information through manipulating or transforming it.
main idea
refers to the overall meaning or gist of a passage. it is what the passage is all about, a summary statement of its meaning.
text-dependent questions
are questions that can only be answered with evidence or information from the text as opposed to questions that can be answered through the reader’s experience.
schema
the organized knowledge that one has about people, places, things, or events.
· comprehension is dependent on schema, building background knowledge lays the foundation for higher level comprehension.
student’s standard of coherence:
The reader’s criteria or general sense of the logic and consistency of the test and also how the text fits in with prior knowledge. A standard of coherence entails monitoring for meaning, being aware of when a text is making sense, and, if it isn’t, taking corrective action.
selecting or constructing the main idea
Most passages do not have an explicitly stated main idea, it must be constructed. To construct a main idea, adept readers tend to use either a whole-to parts strategy, in which they draft or hypothesize the whole and confirm it by reading the parts, or a parts-to-whole strategy, in which they note important parts, construct relationships among them and compose a main idea statement.
Fluency
has two components: accuracy and automaticity. Students are accurate readers if they can recognize the words. they have automaticity if they recognize the words rapidly.
Reciprocal teaching
students gradually learn key comprehension strategies by imitating and working along with the teacher. Introduces group discussion techniques created to improve understanding and retention of the main points of a selection. It has built in monitoring devices that enable students to check their understanding of what they are reading and to take steps to improve their comprehension if necessary.
· predicting, question generating, clarifying, and summarizing
Surface fluency refers to
the rate of reading and reading with expression
Deep fluency means that
the reader controls the rate of reading and reading with expression to maximize comprehension.
How does WORD ANALYSIS affect comprehension?
o If readers have poor word analysis and do not read fluently, they get bogged down on the decoding tasks and are unable to focus on the meaning of the text
How does VOCABULARY affect comprehension?
o If a student doesn’t know the meanings of words, there is little chance they’re comprehending what they are reading
How does ACADEMIC LANGUAGE affect comprehension?
o Lack of knowledge of “nontechnical” academic language will block comprehension in the subject
How does BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE affect comprehension?
o Background knowledge is a key predictor of students’ comprehension of a selection
What Are the 3 Levels of Comprehension Skills?
Literal, Inferential and Evaluative
*It is possible to be proficient in one level and lacking in another
Literal comprehension
o literal comprehension questions have answers that are “in the book”
o Students’ ability to understand the surface meaning of the text
Literal comprehension skills
o identify explicitly stated main ideas
o identify details and sequences of events
o identify clearly stated cause-and-effect relationships
o identify the components of story grammar: plot events, characters, the setting conflict, resolution
Inferential comprehension
o The ability of a reader to interpret what they have read
o The answers to these questions are not found in the text and must speculate based on the surface meaning
o Answers to these questions are “in your head”
Inferential comprehension skills
o Inferring Main Ideas
o Making Comparisons
o Identifying cause and effect relationships not explicitly made in the text
o Drawing conclusions
o Making generalizations
o Making predictions using evidence from the text
o Inferring themes
Evaluative comprehension
o The ability of the reader to make judgements about what they have read
o Answers to these questions are not in the text but “in your head”
Evaluative comprehension skills
o Recognizing instances of bias
o Recognizing unsupported assumptions, propaganda and faulty reasoning in texts
o Distinguishing facts and opinions in text
o Judging a text’s content, characters and use of language- did the character do the right thing?
o Analyzing themes-does the author’s theme make sense
How does SENTENCE STRUCTURE facilitate comprehension?
*three sentence structures
reviewing definitions of simple, compound, and complex sentences will help students understand the more complex grammatical stuctures
o Simple Sentence/Independent Clause: Has 1 subject and 1 verb
Ex: Fred kicked the football.
o Compound Sentence: has 2 independent clauses where the 2 clauses are joined by coordinators such as for, and, nor, but, yet and so
Ex: Fred kicked the football, and Sally played on the swings.
o Complex Sentence: has 1 independent clause and one or more dependent clauses and are linked by subordinators such as because, since, after, although, when or they are linked by relative pronouns such as that, who and which
Dependent Clauses: not a complete thought and lacks a subject
Ex: Fred kicked the football to Sam, who kicked it over the fence.
How does PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE facilitate comprehension?
o Students should be taught how to write topic sentences expressing main ideas and how to provide supporting details for each topic sentence
o This will help students understand the role of topic sentences and consequently give them a better chance of understanding the meaning of paragraphs
How does TEXT STRUCTURE facilitate comprehension?
Students with experiences working with expository text structures can use that knowledge to better comprehend the information-based texts they are asked to read
Common Expository Text Structures:
o Cause and Effect (common in science and social studies)
o Problem and Solution
o Compare/Contrast
o Sequence (author lists events in order)
o Description (author describes a topic with characterisitcs)
What the role does ORAL LANGUAGE AND COMPREHENSION has in facilitating comprehension?
o Children will acquire an understanding of the meanings of some words by repeatedly hearing and speaking them and enhance vocabulary
What the role does LISTENING COMPREHENSION AND READING COMPREHENSION has in facilitating comprehension?
Almost all students will be able to understand texts that are read to them that they could not understand if they read them on their own
** Strategic Read Aloud:
1) Teacher chooses a text
2) Text is divided into sensible parts of 250 words where target vocabulary words are picked, and inferential/evaluative questions are created
3) Before reading aloud, teacher highlights target words
4) Teacher reads the section
5) After reading, teacher asks comprehension Q’s
6) Text is reread and children listen for target words
7) The next day, target words are reviewed
What the role does TEXT-BASED DISCUSSIONS have in facilitating comprehension?
well planned discussions during and after students read a text can facilitate reading comprehension
** Instructional Conversations: Teacher leads a discussion during and after reading to promote more complex language by asking “Tell me more about___” or “What do you mean by____?” encouraging students to explain their answers using details in the text while avoiding “known-answer” questions
o Questioning the Author:
Students read one of more paragraphs and attempt to analyze the authors’ intent, craft and clarity; works best with information-based texts; Answer the following:
1) What is the author trying to tell you?
2) Why is the author telling you that?
3) Does the author say it clearly?
4) How could the author have said things more clearly?
5) What would you say instead?
What the role do WRITING ACTIVITIES have in facilitating comprehension?
o Writing summaries can help aid comprehension because students are challenged to isolate and identify the most important parts of the text
What the role does INDEPENDENT READING have in facilitating comprehension?
Help reinforce their reading comprehension skills
