Comprehension

//Taken from segments of Comprehension in Beginning Reading from the Institute for Development of Educational Achievement at [] //

Comprehension is...

 * the essence of reading
 * active and intentional thinking in which meaning is constructed through interactions between the text and the reader (Durkin, 1973, see [|References]).
 * Definition:** the complex cognitive process involving the intentional interaction between reader and text to extract meaning.

Factors that Impact Reading Comprehension

 * **Reader Based Factors** || **Text Based Factors** ||
 * * Phonemic Awareness
 * Alphabetic Understanding
 * Fluency with the Code
 * Vocabulary knowledge
 * Prior knowledge
 * Engagement and interest || * Narrative v. Expository
 * Genre considerations
 * Quality of text
 * Density and difficulty of concepts ||

Research on Reading Comprehension tells us that...
Readers taught cognitive strategies make significant gains on measure of reading comprehension
 * Readers who comprehend well are also good decoders
 * Teach decoding and word recognition strategies
 * Time spent reading is highly correlated with comprehension
 * Provide for lots of in-class reading, outside of class reading, independent reading
 * Encourage kids to read more, read widely - develop a passion for reading

National Reading Panel (2000; see [|References])

 * Question:** Does text comprehension instruction improve reading achievement?
 * Answer:** Yes, but there have been relatively few studies conducted with children in grades K, 1, and 2. The NRP concluded that the instruction of cognitive strategies improves reading comprehension in readers with a range of abilities.
 * The National Reading Panel recommends:**
 * Question answering
 * Comprehension monitoring
 * Cooperative learning
 * Graphic/semantic organizers/story maps
 * Question generation
 * Summarization

Strategies to Teach Comprehension

Causes of Reading Comprehension Failure
Kame'enui & Simmons, 1990
 * Inadequate instruction
 * Insufficient exposure and practice
 * Deficient word recognition skills
 * Deficient memory capacity and functioning
 * Significant language deficiencies
 * Inadequate comprehension monitoring and self-evaluation
 * Unfamiliarity with text features and task demands
 * Undeveloped attentional strategies
 * Inadequate cognitive development and reading experiences

Comprehension Strategies for Proficient Readers
[|If it Fits strategy]
 * Consist of...**
 * an awareness and understanding of one's own cognitive processes
 * recognition of when one doesn't understand
 * coordination and shifting the use of strategies as needed


 * Types of Comprehension Instruction that Have Evidence of Improving Comprehension**
 * Comprehension monitoring
 * Cooperative learning
 * Multiple strategies
 * Mental imagery / mnemonics
 * Graphic organizers
 * Summarization
 * Semantic organizers including:
 * story maps
 * question answering
 * question generation

Comprehension instruction should:

 * Begin in early childhood with storytelling and discussions
 * Consist of question answering and lessons on simple story structure in kindergarten and first grade with accessible texts
 * Include comprehension strategy instruction in second and third grade in narrative and expository texts

Comprehension materials and programs should...

 * Explicitly teach listening and reading comprehension strategies.
 * Provide a range of examples for initial teaching and practice.
 * Provide independent practice activities that parallel requirements of instruction.
 * Begin with pictures and simple sentences to teach comprehension before moving to paragraphs and longer text passages.
 * Use text passages in which the main idea or comprehension unit is explicitly stated, clear, and in which the ideas follow a logical order.
 * Use familiar vocabulary and passages at appropriate readability levels for the learners.
 * Use familiar topics during initial learning.
 * Use familiar, simple, syntactic structures and sentence types.
 * Use both narrative and expository texts.
 * Progress to more complex structures in which the main ideas are not explicit and passages are longer.
 * Insert questions at strategic intervals to reduce memory load for learners.
 * Teach skill or strategy with the aid of carefully designed examples and practice.
 * Continue skill or strategy instruction across several instructional sessions to illustrate the applicability and utility of the skill or strategy.
 * Connect previously taught skills and strategies with new content and texts.
 * Cumulatively build repertoire of skills and strategies that are introduced, applied, and integrated with appropriate texts and for authentic purposes over the course of the year.

Strategies to Teach Comprehension