Strategies for enhancing pupils reading comprehension

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Strategies for enhancing pupils reading
comprehension
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Key issue addressed by the study

• The study explored the effect of using four
  cognitive strategies on childrens reading
  comprehension
• The four strategies were
• predicting
• clarifying
• questioning
• summarising

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What the study found

• The experimental classes scores improved
  significantly in summarising and questioning
  tests
• The childrens scores increased by 19 where they
  were asked to choose main idea questions for
  each paragraph of a text (where the answers came
  from several places)

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When the intervention was more successful

• The results were better
• when the strategies were used in more lessons
• for the younger pupils (suggesting earlier
  intervention is better)

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No link between decoding and reading comprehension

• Children who had good decoding skills didnt
  necessarily have good comprehension skills
• Children who had weak decoding skills didnt
  necessarily struggle with comprehension

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What prediction involved

• Prediction
• encouraged children to think about what they
  already knew
• was practised by writing the title of a text on
  the blackboard and asking pupils to guess what
  the text might be about

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What clarification involved

• Clarification
• gave pupils the opportunity to ensure they had
  understood the text
• involved pupils working in pairs, looking for
  unfamiliar words and trying to discover meaning
  (if they couldnt, they would ask for help from
  classmates or the teacher)

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What questioning involved

• Questioning
• prompted pupils to consider main points rather
  than details
• required pupils to ask questions for which the
  answers were short (where the answer could be
  found in one sentence)
• required pupils to ask questions where the
  answers came from several paragraphs

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What summarising involved

• Summarising
• focused pupils on central parts of a text
• required children to create a suitable headline
  for a short text
• allowed pupils to identify and compare the main
  parts of a text

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Rules of a good reader

• Having these prompts on the classroom wall
  encouraged pupils to use the strategies
• think first what you already know (prediction)
• if there are words you dont know, find out what
  they mean (clarification)
• formulate main point questions about the text
  (questioning)
• after reading, think what the main points are
  (summarising)

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Drama and drawing helped

• Dramatisations were used in some lessons to
  maintain pupils concentration
• The researcher suggested that drawing
  illustrations could also help with comprehension

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Dialogue was important too

• The researchers felt that active dialogue between
  teachers and pupils and amongst pupils helped
• Other studies have shown that teachers who spend
  more time on texts help pupils to engage deeply
  with them

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Who were the children in the study?

• 10 and 12 year old children in both mainstream
  and special education classes
• Six classes from one primary and one special
  school
• Children in parallel control classes

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How was the information gathered?

• Teachers in six classes were trained to teaching
  the cognitive strategies
• The intervention was carried out in normal class
  time over five weeks
• 2 classes had 10 lessons and 4 classes had 15
• All pupils were tested on
• their decoding abilities
• their ability to summarise a text
• their ability to identify the main questions that
  a text answers
• All pupils received pre- and post-tests

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How can teachers use this evidence?

• The cognitive strategies were found to improve
  reading comprehension in normal class time
• Could you incorporate the cognitive strategies in
  your lessons?
• Would having prompts on the wall encourage your
  pupils to use the strategies?

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How can school leaders use this evidence?

• The strategies were most effective when used
  frequently and with younger pupils
• Could you encourage your colleagues to try the
  strategies in different subjects, such as history
  and science?
• Encouraging children not to rush when reading
  texts helped pupils engage more deeply. Does your
  schools approach to reading include
  encouragement to prepare for one story with text
  for a period?

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Follow-up reading

• Study reference Takala, M. The effects of
  reciprocal teaching on reading comprehension in
  mainstream and special education (2006)
  Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research,
  Vol. 50, No. 5 pp. 559-576
• Available online at http//www.standards.dfes.gov
  .uk/research/themes/English/Thecomprehension/

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