Reading Comprehension

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Reading Comprehension

• Suggestions for Vocabulary Instruction

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Rationale

• Research has shown that many children who read at
  grade level in grade 3 will not automatically
  become proficient comprehenders in later grades.
  Therefore, teachers must teach comprehension
  explicitly, beginning in the primary grades and
  continuing through high school (RAND Reading
  Study Group, 2002).

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Content Area Reading Research

• Content literacy can be defined as the ability to
  use reading and writing for the acquisition of
  new content in a given discipline (McKenna
  Robinson, 1990, p. 184).

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Important Concept

• Its not doing more
• its doing things differently.

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Strategic Teaching

• Strategic teaching is the process of
  incorporating purposeful planning, multiple
  strategies, connected strategies, and explicit
  instruction to maximize the understanding and
  retention of content material.

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Strategic Teaching

• An on-going practice
• Not a series of stand-alone lessons or random
  activities sprinkled throughout lesson plans

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Strategic Teaching

• Strategic teaching incorporates before, during,
  and after reading strategies as well as a variety
  of vocabulary development and writing strategies.
  The strategies a teacher chooses will depend on
  the purpose of the lesson, the nature of the
  material being studied, and student data.

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Vocabulary Development

• Vocabulary knowledge is critical to reading
  comprehension. If a word is decoded and
  pronounced but the meaning is not recognized,
  comprehension will be impaired (Stanovich, 1993).
• A number of studies indicate that reading
  comprehension requires a high level of word
  knowledge- higher than the level achieved by many
  types of vocabulary instruction. The implication
  is that teachers should augment traditional
  methods of vocabulary instruction with more
  intensive instruction aimed at producing richer,
  deeper word knowledge (Nagy, 2002)
• Think about the following
• HOW DO YOU TEACH VOCABULARY?

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Vocabulary Development Research

• Most vocabulary is learned indirectly.
• Some vocabulary must be taught directly.
• Students have 4 vocabularies listening,
  speaking, reading, and writing.
• Struggling students large listening
  vocabularies
• Proficient students know 4 times as many words as
  struggling students.

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Indirect Word Learning

• Students learn word meanings indirectly in three
  ways
• 1. They engage daily in oral language.
• 2. They listen to adults read to them.
• 3. They read extensively on their own.

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Specific Word Instruction

• Specific word instruction can deepen students
  knowledge of word meanings.
• Teaching specific words before reading helps both
  vocabulary learning and reading comprehension.
• Extended instruction that promotes active
  engagement with vocabulary improves word
  learning.
• Repeated exposure to vocabulary in many contexts
  aids word learning.

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Responsibility of Content Area Teachers

• To help students learn and understand the
  vocabulary of the discipline they teach
• To apply the correct label to the new concepts
  they meet
• Avoid look-it-up, use-it-in-a-sentence,
  take-a-quiz-on-Friday strategy
• To show students that common words are often used
  differently in different subject areas

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Integration and Repetition

• Words must be hooked onto experiences in our
  lives.
• Research (Nagy, 1998) tells us that effective
  vocabulary instruction must include integration
  and repetition and have meaning in our lives.

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Vocabulary Research

• . . . By no means will all unfamiliar words
  encountered in reading be learned, and those that
  are learned will require multiple encounters with
  them before learning is accomplished (Beck,
  McKeown, Kucan, 2002).

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Multiple Exposures

• Words are learned incrementally through multiple
  exposures (Stahl, 2003).
• As many as 4 encounters with a word do not
  reliably improve reading comprehension skills a
  minimum of 12 exposures is suggested.

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Teaching Vocabulary in the Classroom

• An effective vocabulary development program for
  secondary students should include 3 main
  strategies
• Promoting broad and intensive reading and oral
  discussions
• Encouraging students to experiment with words
• Explicitly teaching word meanings and
  word-learning strategies

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Knowledge Ratings

• purpose is to create an awareness of known and
  unknown words
• a pre-reading activity
• gives students and teacher an idea of which words
  need attention and which ones dont

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Connecting the Visual to the Verbal

• Examples Vocabulary Word Maps, Quadrant Cards,
  Vocabulary Squares, Verbal/Visual Word
  Association
• Graphic organizers
• Allows students to pictorially link words with
  their meanings
• Time-tested way for students to learn new words
  more deeply

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Sketching Vocabulary

• Draw a picture, symbol, or icon for the following
  words
• Love
• Religion
• Divorce
• Egregious
• Forsade

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• Teaching vocabulary involves
• rich discussions about the meaning(s) of
  unfamiliar words
• making connections between new words and familiar
  concepts
• using words in context
• analyzing word parts and
• active student engagement.

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Selection Criteria

• Choose the words you teach carefully. Teach
  words that are important for understanding a
  concept or the text. Teach words that students
  are likely to see and use again and again.
• Provide instruction for words that are
  particularly difficult for your students.

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• Final Note on Vocabulary
• Please do not have students copy definitions
  directly from a dictionary or textbook glossary.
  This is a passive learning activity that rarely
  leads to students having ownership of new
  vocabulary.