Teaching and Assessing

Language Across the UNIT 7 READING COMPREHENSION

Curriculum
Structure
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 What Does Reading To Comprehend Mean?
7.2.1 The Reader
7.2.2 The Text
7.2.3 The Socio-cultural Context
7.2.4 Reading as an Interactive Process

7.3 Features That Make Texts Complex

7.3.1 Quantitative Features
7.3.2 Quantitative Features
7.3.3 The Reader and the Text

7.4 Teaching Students to Read Discipline-based Texts

7.4.1 Understanding Text Features
7.4.2 Functions of a Text
7.4.3 Scanning and Skimming
7.4.4 Organisation of the Text
7.4.5 Prediction
7.4.6 Teaching Text Structures
7.4.7 Developing critical reading skills
7.4.8 Questioning and Challenging your Beliefs and Values
7.4.9 Detecting the Author’s Possible Bias and Prejudices
7.4.10 Outlining What is Important and Summarizing
7.4.11 Evaluating an Argument
7.4.12 Drawing Inferences

7.5 Teaching Vocabulary

7.6 KWL Chart
7.7 Reading Discipline-based Texts
7.7.1 Reading in Science
7.7.2 Reading in History
7.7.3 Reading in Literature
7.7.4 Reading in Mathematics

7.8 Let Us Sum Up

7.9 References and Suggested Readings

7.0 OBJECTIVES
After you read this unit you should be able to:
 comprehend the process of Reading Comprehension (RC) and understand
how reading is critical to learning and academic success of students across
38 different disciplines,
 understand the importance of using texts across the curriculum to develop Reading Comprehension
reading skills and incorporate appropriate reading instruction into every class,
 learn and use a range of strategies to develop reading comprehension skills
of learners in the classroom and challenge them with complex texts,
 learn and use strategies for previewing texts, monitor their understanding,
determine the most important ideas and the relationships among them,
remember what has been read, and make connections and inferences.
 enable students to become independent readers in any context.

7.2 INTRODUCTION
Let us understand what do we mean by the term. A simple definition of reading
is that it is a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been
written. The key word is ‘understands’ — merely reading aloud does not count
as reading. This definition does not mean that the learner needs to understand
everything in a text. Understanding is not an `all or nothing’ process, and therefore
reading too is not an ‘all or nothing process either’. It means that every reader
will comprehend something and perhaps some readers may not understand every
word and nor is this necessary.
Again, although reading has been defined as a process whereby one looks at and
understands what has been written, the reader does not necessarily need to look
at everything in a given piece of writing. The reader actively works on the text
and is able to arrive at understanding it without looking at every letter and word.
“Why should I bother about reading? I am not an English Teacher?”
“You don’t read in Math…”
“Science is not taught by reading.”
Many teachers respond in this manner when it is mentioned that they need to
teach reading skills while teaching subject specific content. As teachers we must
understand that when we talk about reading, we are talking about the ability to
construct meaning from the text. In school students access information primarily
through reading in all subjects, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. Research
studies show that reading across the curriculum is essential to learning; there is a
strong correlation between reading and academic performance. Students who
have problems reading texts are likely to experience difficulty obtaining information
from texts and consequently encounter difficulties in learning. Reading in Science
is not the same as reading in Social Studies topic or in Mathematics.. Thus, to
maximize learning by students, teachers need to focus on helping their students
develop strategies for reading and writing within their respective content areas. It
is important for teachers to blend and scaffold content and literacy learning in
different subjects so that students begin to view texts as interesting, informative
and engaging.
The reading process

As a first step, it might be useful to find out what you think about reading. Here
are some statements about reading. Which of these statements do you think are
true? Which of them are false? Can you explain why you think so? 39
Teaching and Assessing
Language Across the Activity 1: True or False
Curriculum
 Reading involves looking at a text and saying the words to yourself

 Reading involves putting the words in print on the page into sentences
and making sense of them

 To understand a word, you have to read all the letters in it, to

understand a sentence you have to read all the words in it

 To understand a text, you need to know the meaning of all the words
in the text

 When we read for meaning, we do not need to read every letter of

every word, nor every word in each sentence

 There are no major differences in how one reads in one’s mother

tongue and how one reads in a second or foreign language

What is actually involved in the process of reading? It is important to learn this

if we want to help our students to acquire reading skills .

7.2 READING COMPREHENSION

As teachers you may sometimes have come across students who, when asked to
‘read aloud’ a text, could do so fairly fluently, but when asked the meaning of
what they had read, would be totally at a loss. In considering the reading process,
we have to distinguish between two quite separate activities: reading for meaning
and reading aloud. It is important to clarify the difference between the ability
to read a text as in being able to enunciate its syllables, and the ability to
comprehend the text. It goes without saying, that Reading Comprehension (RC)
should be our aim, for what use is it to ‘read’ a string of words/ sentences if one
does not comprehend their meaning?

This table below shows the differences between the traditional view and the new
understanding of reading with regard to the goals of reading, the process of
reading and the role of the learner/reader.
Difference between Traditional and New Definition of Reading

Research Traditional Views New Definition of

Base Behaviorism Reading
Cognitive Sciences
Goals of Mastery of isolated facts Constructing meaning and
Reading and skills self-regulated learning
Reading as Mechanically decoding An interaction among the
Process words; memorizing by rote \reader, the text, and
the context
Learner Passive; vessel receiving Active; strategic reader,
Role knowledge from external effective strategy user,
sources cognitive apprentice
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 Reading Comprehension
Activity 2: What do you think?
What are the differences between the traditional and new
understandings of reading? Which approach is likely to promote reading
comprehension and why?

Reading to Comprehension involves interaction between 1) the reader’s existing

knowledge, 2) the information suggested by the text, and 3) the context. RC is
not simply the passive receiving of information; rather, it is an ongoing activity that
engages the reader in the act of interpretation. Further, the meaning is not something
given or inherent in the text only— the reader also constructs it.
7.2.1 The Reader
Good readers interact with the texts that they read. They have personal
expectations about what they want to get out of a text, and they bring those
expectations to bear on what they read. They actually create meaning by constructing
,or generating relationships between what they read and what they already know
In generating these meanings, they draw on their prior knowledge of and beliefs
about the subject-their ‘World Knowledge’, so to speak that relates to the
subject.
Readers have a network of prior understanding about a topic, what theorists call
schemata. Every reader organizes his /her world knowledge into categories and
a network of connections or schema that function as information-retrieval systems.
This schema is activated when a related concept or key-word is encountered in
a text, for example, in the title, or in the passage, paving the way for comprehension
by enabling further connections to be built. Researchers have pointed out that the
reader’s comprehension of a particular text is directly proportional to the
background knowledge that the reader has about the subject content of the text
(Schallert and Martin, 2003). It follows therefore, that for developing the skill of
reading, the learner would benefit from exposure to a range of texts in various
content areas, thus broadening his/ her schema and providing practice in meaning-
making.
Readers also differ from each other in their general cognitive development as well
as higher level thinking skills, their purpose for reading and socio-cultural
background. These factors also contribute to the readers engaging with and
evaluating texts in different ways; for example, in identifying with situations or
characters, or in making moral judgements.
7.2.2 The Text
Like readers, every text, every piece of writing, is unique in terms of its genre,
vocabulary, language, style, difficulty level, and thematic content. The author’s
intent is also a key feature of a text, and the manner and extent to which it is made
explicit also affects meaning-making. Some researchers opine that even ‘surface
features’ of a text such as its font type and length can influence the process of RC
(Tracey and Morrow, 2002). The text is also located in a particular time and
space; thus its socio-cultural moorings impinge upon the reading transaction.
7.2.3 The Socio-cultural Context
Reading does not occur in a vacuum; rather, as stated above, every reading
activity involves an interaction between the reader and text, both of which belong
to specific cultural contexts. Thus, sociocultural influence permeates any reading 41
Teaching and Assessing activity (Kucer, 2001; Schallert & Martin, 2003). Contexts are also created by
Language Across the the specific nature of the activity associated with the reading task, for example,
Curriculum
the purpose assigned to the reading, by the reader himself/ herself or by the
teacher. Research has shown that environments that place a premium on reading
and writing a wide range of texts, with the opportunities to draw inferences,
predict outcomes, possibilities, etc., help to enhance the RC skills of learners.

Activity 3

1. Out of the following text types, which do you find easy to comprehend,
and why?

General news report, newspaper editorial, blog, research paper, an

article in a science magazine, a recipe, knitting pattern instructions
(consider some of the features mentioned in the paragraph above)

2. Think and write about some articles, stories, with which you
encountered difficulties in understanding because their socio-cultural
context was very different from yours.

7.2.4 Reading as an Interactive Process

The terms ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ are used in this context to explain the
interactive process of reading. ’Top down’ processing refers to the use of
predictions based on one’s prior knowledge ,while ‘bottom-up’ processing refers
to the role of the text in providing input through decoding, or letter and word
recognition. Reading is thus an interactive process; there is a simultaneous interaction
of the reader’s prior knowledge and his/her sampling of the text; to put it in more
technical language, the meaning of a text is reconstructed through a constant
interaction between the information obtained through bottom-up decoding and
that obtained through top down analysis, engagement with the text. Strategies
such as summarizing, organizing, clarifying, questioning, visualizing, predicting and
evaluating are employed by the reader to build up a complete picture of the
meaning that emerges.

From this discussion we can conclude that

When we read for meaning, we do not need to read every letter of every
word, nor every word in each sentence because we can guess much of what
is said as we read it, provided the text makes sense.

Reading is an active process. when we read, we do not merely sit as passive

receivers of the text. We also draw on our own knowledge of the world and
of the language to help us guess what the text will say next.

Characteristics of reading

 Reading is purposeful

 Reading is selective

 Reading speed varies

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 Reading Comprehension
 Reading is silent

 Reading is text-based

 Reading involves complex cognitive skills

 Effective reading involves chunking of information that the well

developed schema makes possible

 Reading is based on comprehension

7.3 FEATURES THAT MAKE TEXTS COMPLEX

The complexity of a text depends on its inclusion of quantitative, qualitative features
and the connections that can be made between the text material and the reader
of the text.

7.3.1 Quantitative Features

These are features such as unfamiliar words, number of syllables and length of
sentences. If lexical content is largely unfamiliar to the learner, the text will be
difficult to understand and too much mental energy will be expended in trying to
figure out the meanings of the unknown words, resulting in frustration and lack of
interest. Depending on the ’lexile score’ we can determine what text is suitable
for a level or class.

7.3.2 Quantitative Features

Qualitative features refer to the levels of meaning and purpose of the text, organising
framework or structures that provide content such as chronological order, cause-
effect, compare and contrast, description and problem -solution, language, visual
supports such as ,graphs, pictures and maps and finally, the readership or the
audience for whom the text is written and how the author addresses the knowledge
demands with their expectations of reader’s knowledge.

7.3.3 The Reader and the Text

The connection between the reader and the text is important in determining the
complexity of a text. The reader’s motivation to read, her prior learning and the
knowledge about the subject, aptitude and readiness to learn must be considered.

Activity 4: What are the difficulties you encounter/have encountered

in the context of reading a book? Write your experiences in the light
of the discussion above.

BEYOND TEXTBOOKS: SELECTING A TEXT FOR READING

While content and topic are important criteria for selecting a text, as teachers, it
is important to select texts, other than textbooks, that can be used for specific
reading strategies or building academic skills. How will you select a text?
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Teaching and Assessing Questions to consider while Questions to consider about
Language Across the choosing a text: how you will use a text:
Curriculum
 Does the text allow students to  Which critical reading
develop or extend their knowledge strategy might I teach with
of course concepts? this text that will support
students in acquiring
course content?
 Does the text allow students to  What will I have students
use a variety of critical reading do before, during, and after
components? reading the text?
 Does the text present varied  How will students
evidence and support for its demonstrate their use of
overall message? reading the text?
 Does the text provide students  How will students
with cognitive challenges? demonstrate their use of
critical reading strategies
and content acquisition?

Activity 5: On the basis of the criteria listed for choosing and using
a text, make a list of a few texts you might use for teaching reading
in your subject. Give the reasons for selecting these texts.

7.4 TEACHING STUDENTS TO READ ACROSS

THE CURRICULUM
1. Go through the Table given below and reflect on your own reading style.

2. Identify your style of reading. What type of a reader are you?

3. What strategies will you use for making your students active readers.

Comparison of the Traits of Active and Passive Readers

An active reader (self-monitors, A passive reader

adjusts, and reflects) (simply receives information
without understanding)
Pre-Reading Pre-Reading
 Builds up background knowledge  Starts reading without thinking
before beginning to read. about the subject.
 Does not know why he/she is
 Knows the purpose for reading reading
 Asks what the text will be about  Is not curious about the text.
 Previews the pictures, title, heading,  Does not preview text
boldface quotes, etc. materials
 Does not make predictions.
 Makes predictions.
 Is overwhelmed by amount of
6. Breaks text into manageable chunks. text to be read.

44
 Reading Comprehension
During Reading
During Reading
 Gives complete attention to the
reading task.  Is easily distracted.

 Keeps the purpose in mind.  Does not know why he/she is

reading
 Self-monitors comprehension.
 Does not monitor comprehension.
 Stops to use a fix-up strategy when
comprehension is low.  Does not reread the material.
 Rereads for understanding.  Does not, or cannot, make
connections and does not have an
 Connects with text-compares learning
opinion about what was read.
with what he/she already knows. Has
opinions about the reading.  Doesn’t care what author is
saying.
 Asks what author is trying to say.
 Does not make predictions.
 Continues predicting.
 Does not ask questions.
 Generates questions and seeks
answers.
Source: Croner, Patrick, E. Strategies for Reading Science Content Reading,
The Science Education Review, 2(4), 2003, p 106

7.7.1 Understanding Text Features

Text features and reading comprehension are closely linked. Text features enable
the readers to determine what is in the text and what is important to them.
Imagine a textbook without title page, table of content, a caption, graphics,
pictures, glossary or labels.. Text features contain the title, page, table of content,
index, glossary, heading, sub-heading, keywords, illustrations. diagrams, etc. Infact,
everything except the main body of the text.

Activity 6: Fill the purpose of the text features (listed in the left
column) in the right column

Text Feature Purpose of Feature

Title A good title gives us a clue about
Table of contents the main topic of the text
Chapters able of contents tells us where to
Glossary find specific information
Graphics ....................................
Illustrations ....................................
Labels

Activity 7
Identify a text for discussion in the class. Ask students to preview the
text by reading the title, the abstract, the headings and subheading,
and skim-reading the introduction and conclusion. While they are doing
this, encourage them to make notes in the margins or in a notebook
about what they think the reading is about. Get them to share their
impressions in a group and then ask the whole class for feedback. 45
Teaching and Assessing 7.4.2 Functions of a Text
Language Across the
Curriculum Being aware of the function of a passage is important to comprehend it. Students
need to be trained to find out whether the text aims at convincing the reader,
giving information or asking for something. The reason or goal for writing
or speaking could be to
 persuade: by using arguments to influence the reader to accept his/her point
of view on an issue.
 inform: to give instructions, compare/contrast, share cause and effects, give
new information
 entertain: using narrative, anecdotes, description, or humour, to amuse,
delight, and appeal to imagination
Using Graphic Organisers to find out the author’s purpose in a text

INFORM

ENTERTAIN

PERSUADE

Figure . Author’s purpose

The teacher can invite the students to read and think what the author expects or
wants as a result of others reading the text, or why the author might be sharing
this information.
Activity 8: Collect five or six different types of text (Weather bulletin, recipe,
Newspaper article on an angry mob setting fire to a bus, Police notification
regarding curbs on Holi, etc). Match the texts with their function. There could be
more than one text for a function.

Function Text

Giving information
Warning
Giving advice
Giving instructions
Entertaining

7.4.3 Scanning and Skimming

Scanning and skimming are two types of reading techniques used to assimilate
information from different sources quickly. Scanning enables a person to look up
specific information from a text from any source (documents, maps, books,
poems, newspaper, pamphlets, posters, etc.) while skimming allows the person
46
to quickly read through something to get the basic idea.
Activity 9: Consider the following types of texts and write for each of them the Reading Comprehension
reason for reading it and the style of reading used.
Text Reason for Style of
reading reading used

1. Railway time-table Looking for a Scanning

particular piece
2. Instruction for information
using a machine information

3. Newspaper article
4. An extract from a novel
5. Telephone directory
6. A letter to the editor
7. A poem
8. Rules for playing a game

7.7.4 Organisation of the Text

This refers to the method of presentation of information in any passage, which is
mostly in the form of
 Main idea and supporting details
 Sequence
 Comparisons
 Logical sequence
Keene and Zimmerman point out that such decision –making during reading is
done at three levels: whole-text level, sentence-level and word –level. That is,
readers form a clear idea about the key themes of a text, are able to pick out,
underline and even paraphrase sentences that contain the core ideas, and at the
word-level are able to identify the key words /phrases that are essential to the
core themes/ideas. Teachers can guide students to look for clues to the key
themes from the title and subheadings (if any) in a text. Key words pertaining to
the main theme are often repeated in a text, teachers can ask students to look for
content words /phrases that are repeated, and get them to ask questions pertaining
to these.

Supporting detail :

Main Idea Supporting detail :

Supporting detail :

Figure : Main Idea & Supporting Details

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Teaching and Assessing
Language Across the Activity 10: Read the following passage and answer the following
Curriculum questions:
French physicist Charles Fabry found ozone gas in the atmosphere in
1913. At room temperature, ozone is a colorless gas; it condenses to
a dark blue liquid at -170 F. At temperatures above the boiling point
of water, 212 F, it decomposes. Ozone is all around us. After a
thunderstorm, or around electrical equipment, ozone is often detected
as a sharp odor. Ozone is used as a strong oxidizing agent, a bleaching
agent, and to sterilize drinking water. This gas is also highly reactive.
For example, rubber insulation around a cars spark plug wires will
need to be replaced eventually, due to the small amounts of ozone
produced when electricity flows from the engine to the plug.
What is the main idea of the text?
A) Ozone is the result of pollution.
B) High ozone levels in the atmosphere will cause large numbers of people
to buy new car batteries.
C) Ozone has no practical uses.
D) Ozone is a natural part of the Earths atmosphere.
Write down the supporting ideas with the following main ideas
1. Ozone is all around us
.......................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................
2. Properties of Ozone
.......................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................
3. Uses of Ozone
.......................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................
Write
 the key ideas and the supporting ideas in the text
 the sequence and ordering of sequence of sections
 how each section is connected to the others
 how knowing this information will help readers understand the
text better.

Source: http://www.massbay.edu/uploadedFiles
In these sections, we will forms on some more strategies which can be used
for teaching comprehension.

48
7.4.4 Prediction Reading Comprehension

‘Prediction’, also referred to as ‘hypothesis testing’ or informally as ‘guessing’, is

an activity that is essential for reading, at all stages of the reading process. Making
predictions is a strategy used by readers to anticipate what they are about to
read. This strategy works for all types of texts and subject areas. Prediction is
also a process-skill used in Science. Teachers can help students develop proficiency
in this skill by encouraging students to make predictions while reading the textbook
and predicting in Science. For example, in Biology, students might predict that a
seed will sprout and become a sapling under certain conditions.
Think Aloud Strategies
Teachers can use “Think -aloud “strategies to model prediction so that students
can learn the skill of prediction. This strategy can be used till students become
independent readers.
1. Pre-reading “think-aloud”: ”By the cover of the book, I can predict that the
story is about…..”
2. While-reading “think-aloud”: “My prediction that the war was fought between
the peasants and the army was wrong…. but I do think that the colonisers
had a major role to play in creating the divide.”
3. After -reading ”think-aloud”: My first prediction was incorrect...and now
that we have come to the end, my predictions were correct/incorrect”.
7.4.5 Teaching Text Structures
The term “text structure” refers to how information is organized in a passage.
Within different disciplines, texts mostly conform to certain set structure types.
For example, in fictional Literature, there are a range of narrative genres and
expository texts. Scientific texts have expository structures, often containing
description, comparison, cause and effect. A recognition of text structure types
aids learners in forming text-to-text connections for a particular story genre, which
will help them make meaning more easily. Some common types of text structures
are explained below:

i) Cause and Effect:

When a text gives reasons (cause) why something happened (effect), or
when the results (effects) of an action are explained (cause). Here is an
example from the website, www.ereadingworksheets.com
Many people think that they can get sick by going into cold weather
improperly dressed; however, illnesses are not caused by temperature-
they are caused by germs. So while shivering outside in the cold
probably won’t strengthen your immune system, you’re more likely
to contract an illness indoors because you will have a greater
exposure to germs.

49
Teaching and Assessing
Language Across the ii) Chronological:
Curriculum
In some texts, the information in the passage is organized in order of
time. Simple fables and stories for young readers are often organized
chronologically, where a sequence of events is described in a linear
manner. More complex narratives, especially novels, move forwards and
backwards in time, but even if an author uses flashbacks or flash-forwards,
the events still occur along a timeline. Non-fiction texts, especially in
subjects such as History, present information chronologically, along with
dates.
iii) Compare and Contrast:
In this pattern of organization, the similarities (compare) and differences
(contrast) between two or more objects, characters, ideas, etc. are
explored. Graphic organisers are useful in graphically depicting the
information in such texts.
iv) Order of Importance:
Here the information is expressed as a hierarchy or in priority. For
example:
Example: The most important mantra of success is to be persistent
and focused on one’s goal. Next comes maintaining a high level of
self-confidence and refusing to be bogged down by negativity or
failure.
v) Problem and Solution:
In such texts, a problem is described and a response or solution is
proposed or explained.
Example: Every day, and practically every hour in our country,
hundreds of people die in traffic accidents. Many lives could be
saved if more stringent policing and challaning of traffic violations
were to be done, especially of over speeding and drunken driving.
vi) Sequence / Process Writing:
In such text types, the information is organized in steps or a process is
explained in the order in which it occurs. Most scientific experiments,
descriptions of phenomena, recipes, and do-it-yourself articles fall in this
category.

7.4.6 Developing Critical Reading Skills

What is Critical Reading?
Reading critically does not, necessarily, mean being critical of what you read.
Critical reading means engaging in what you read by asking yourself questions
such as, ‘what is the author trying to say?’ or ‘what is the main argument
being presented?’
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Difference between non-critical and critical reading Reading Comprehension

What is the difference between critical reading and non-critical reading. The
difference between critical reading and non-critical reading can be understood
with the help of the following table.
Non-Critical Reading Critical Reading

Passive reading of text. Active, analytic reading of text.

Recognizing what a text says Re-reading to identify patterns and

about a topic. analyze how the text is written.

Goal is to make sense out of text, Goal is to interpret information,

understand information, ideas assumptions, and language; dig into
and opinions. the underlying meaning of the text.

Source: WSSU Critical Reading Manual

7.4.7 Questioning and Challenging your Beliefs and Values

It is likely that the text you are reading might challenge your attitudes, your
unconsciously held beliefs, or your positions on current issues. Thinking critically,
in the academic sense, involves being open-minded - using judgement and discipline
to process what you are learning about without letting your personal bias or
opinion detract from the arguments. Critical thinking involves being rational and
aware of your own feelings on the subject – being able to reorganise your
thoughts, prior knowledge and understanding to accommodate new ideas or
viewpoints.

7.4.8 Detecting the Author’s Possible Bias and Prejudices

is an important skill of critical reading. While reading the text the reader can ask
the following questions:
1. Is the author making claims to elevate (or demean) one social, ethnic, national,
religious, or gender group as compared to another, or all others?
2. Does the author consciously present evidence that serves to tell only one
side of an issue withholding shedding light on the opposing view ?

7.4.9 Outlining What is Important and Summarizing

Outlining and summarizing are especially helpful strategies for understanding the
content and structure of a reading selection, whereas outlining reveals the basic
structure of the text, summarizing synopsizes a selection’s main argument in brief.
Outlining may be part of the annotating making notes process, or it may be done
separately. The key to both outlining and summarizing is being able to distinguish
between the main ideas and the supporting ideas and examples. The main ideas
form the backbone, the strand that holds the various parts and pieces of the text
together

7.4.10 Evaluating an Argument

All writers make assertions that they want the reader to accept as true. As a
critical reader, you should not accept anything on face value but to recognize 51
Teaching and Assessing every assertion as an argument that must be carefully evaluated. An argument has
Language Across the two essential parts: a claim and support. The claim asserts a conclusion — an
Curriculum
idea, an opinion, a judgment, or a point of view — that the writer wants you to
accept. The support includes reasons (shared beliefs, assumptions, and values)
and evidence (facts, examples, statistics, and authorities) that give readers the
basis for accepting the conclusion. When you assess an argument, you are
concerned with the process of reasoning as well as its truthfulness. At the most
basic level, in order for an argument to be acceptable, the support must be
appropriate to the claim and the statements must be consistent with one another.

Activity 11: Read the passage below and choose the best answer to
the question.
The Earths past climate—including temperature and elements in the
atmosphere—has recently been studied by analyzing ice samples from
Greenland and Antarctica. The air bubbles in the ice have shown that,
over the past 160,000 years, there has been a close correlation between
temperature changes and level of natural greenhouse gases carbon
dioxide and methane. One recent analysis from Greenland showed that
at the end of the last glacial period (when the great ice sheets began
to retreat to their present position), temperatures in southern Greenland
rose from 5 to 7 degrees in about 100 years. Air bubbles are not the
only method of determining characteristics of the Earth?s ancient
climate history. Analysis of dust layers from ancient volcanic activity
is another such method; as is the study of ice cores, which interpret
past solar activity that may have affected our climate.
Answer the following questions while reading the text and answer
 What is the issue the writer is focusing on?
 Is the writer taking a clear stand on the issue?
 Why is the writer writing the text?’( purpose for writing)?
 Who are the readers or the audience for this writing?
 Does the writer use enough evidence to support the central
argument?
 Do you agree with the points the writer makes? Why/why not?

http://www.massbay.edu/uploadedFiles/

7.4.11 Drawing Inferences

Being able to draw inferences is an important sub-skill of reading comprehension
and crucial to higher-order thinking. Learners need to be able to combine their
background knowledge and the information culled from the text, to form conclusions
and interpret facts accordingly. As with predictions, interpretations and inferences
need to be dynamic, i.e. change as the reading continues and new information is
added. In inferencing, learners are required to do two things: a) answer questions
where the solutions can only be provided by making logical inferences, and b)
give the rationale /reasoning for their answers. Making students explain their
answers causes them to slow down, to review the given facts carefully, and to
52 collate these with the background information they have.
 Reading Comprehension
Activity 12
Take up a text that you would be required to teach in class, and
formulate questions that would require
 prediction,
 locating specific information from the text,
 inferring
 evaluating
 opinion -forming.

7.5 TEACHING VOCABULARY*

(FOR DETAIL DISCUSSION, CONSULT BES-144 BLOCK 3)

Though guessing from contextual clues is a key strategy in reading comprehension,

yet if the lexical content is largely unfamiliar to the learner, the text will be difficult
to understand and too much mental energy will be expended in trying to figure out
the meanings of the unknown words, resulting in frustration and lack of interest.
So it is a good idea for teachers to familiarize learners with key vocabulary – that
which is necessary for meaning making in the text—prior to reading difficult or
unfamiliar texts.
Teachers can pre-select a small list of words and get students to actively engage
with them and form connections with what they already know, through tasks such
as creating graphic organisers that illustrate relationships (synonymy, antonym,
similar / contrasting semantic fields, etc.) among new and known words, and
maximizing opportunities to use the new words in speech and writing. Asking
students to look up long lists of unknown, unrelated words is counter-productive.
Consider the following example.
Science learning involves lots of new vocabulary words.
Let us use morpheme as an example to build vocabulary. A morpheme is a
meaningful part or unit of a word that can’t be divided into smaller parts.
Common Science words and morphemes
Science word Morpheme (meaning) Related words
Photosynthesis Photo (light) Photography, photograph
Thermometer Therm (heat) Thermos
Microscope Micro (small), scope (see) Microwave, Stethoscope
Geology Geo (earth) Geode, Geometry
Graph Graph (write) Autograph, bar graph

How do I use this information?

Using morphemes helps you teach your students more about word meanings
and families of related words. If they learn for example, that micro means small
and scope means see, they can figure out that a microscope is an instrument
scientists use that helps individuals to see small objects. Once a learner recognizes
the meaning of a morpheme, she can use that information to learn other new
words.
*(Fora detailed discussion, consult bes-144 Block 3) 53
Teaching and Assessing Word Wall is a collection of words which are displayed in large visible letters on
Language Across the any display surface like a board wall etc.
Curriculum
All courses have subject-specific terminology which can be used for a word-wall
such as:
 Geography - terms and concepts associated with geographical regions.
 Science - terminology to describe major concepts.
 Mathematics - vocabulary for math concepts and terms e.g. integer,
polynomials, equations, analytic, geometry, measurement, coefficient.
 English Literary terms, graphic text features, prefixes, suffixes, roots, easily
confused words accept, except etc.
Venn Diagram
A Venn diagram consists of interlocking circles or ellipses. The area common to
both circles shows similarity between two items, while the differences between the
items are indicated visually by those parts of the circles that are not common to
each other. This is especially useful when showing comparison/contrast, for e.g.
between two species of animal creatures in a Science lesson, or characters in a
story. Teachers can model the use of Venn Diagram and after students have read
the contrasting ideas in the text or have read two or more texts, ask students to
complete the Venn Diagram.

7.6 KWL CHART

The KWL chart is a staple in most reading-focused classrooms, from Kindergarten
through high school, especially for content-based subjects such as Science, History,
Geography, etc. This simple, three-column chart is a way to (1) bring students’
prior knowledge about a topic to the forefront of their minds, (2) identify questions
that they will look to answer while reading the text, thereby establishing a purpose
for reading and building motivation to read, and (3) organize the information
learned while reading.
K: What the student knows about the topic.
W: What the student wants to know
L: What the student has learned after reading the lesson/ topic
The strategy requires students to build on past knowledge and is useful in making
connections, setting a purpose for reading, and evaluating one’s own learning.
Consider the following examples of a KWL Plus chart from a Geography, History
and Biology class in which the topic of study was Minerals, World War II and
Evolution respectively.
54
Topic: Minerals Reading Comprehension

Know Want to know Learned

 Metallic and How to identify  Metallic minerals contain metal
non-metallic differences in raw form and Non-metallic
minerals between metallic minerals do not contain metals
and non-metallic
 Names of  Metallic minerals are generally
minerals
some metals: associated with igneous rocks
gold, silver, Properties of and non metallic minerals are
copper metallic minerals generally associated with
sedimentary rocks
 Some are Properties of
found in ore Non-metallic  Metallic minerals are usually hard
form minerals and have shine of their own,non
metallic minerals do not have a
 Some minerals How many shine of their own;
are expensive minerals are
there?  Examples of metallic minerals are
iron,copper,bauxite and tin;
Where are they
found?  Examples of non-metallic
minerals are salt,coal and mica
Uses of both
 Mining activity is called a ‘killer
industry’ because of the health
risks involved esp. in coal mines

Topic : World War II

K W W
What we already What we want What we want to
know to find out find out
What we have  Which country  Germany was the reason
learnt started World War why World War II started
II and why? .Germany invaded Poland in
 Adolph Hitler an unprovoked attack.
Commanded  What was the
the German Nazi’s Motivation?  German nationalism that
Army began to develop before WW
 Why did the British 11 was the main reason for
 The British fight in World war the War.Nationalism rose in
fought in the II? the wake of severe economic
World War II recession and the Jews were
 Which countries did
 Adolph Hitler they fight in? made the scapegoat.
designed the  Britain and France declared
Nuclear Bomb  Which country was
the peacemaker in war on Germany after
 World War II World War II? Germany invaded Poland.
started in 1939  World War II was not fought
 What made Britain
 World War II a big threat? in a country it was more of a
ended in 1945 war of the continent.

Source: http:/2.bp.blogspot.com/-sjR_WmNO5LE.UYLqJKLyoXI 55
Teaching and Assessing
Language Across the Activity 9: Consider any topic that you are interested in, for example,
Curriculum Classical Music. Read an article about it, draw up a KWL chart and
complete the chart.

READING VISUALS (Pictures, Maps, Cartons, etc.)

Today, there is so much information being spread visually that the need for visual
literacy is being felt in all disciplines. It is more important than ever that our
students learn what it means to be visually literate. Visual literacy is about analyzing
and creating messages. Images can be used to influence and persuade, so it is
incumbent upon educators to learn how to teach with and about images and to
help our students understand the language of visuals.

Picture: After the defeat of Tipu Sultan, most of South India was now either under
the company’s direct rule, or under its indirect political control.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_independence_movement

Diagram: The scale of the universe mapped to the branches of science, with
formal sciences as the foundation.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science

Map : topography map-India

56 Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_India
 Reading Comprehension

Rainwater Harvesting, RK Laxman

https://www.google.co.in/
Students should be asked to scan the picture/map/diagram/graph/cartoon. The
teacher can ask them to answer these questions :What do you notice first? What
is the title or caption? Observe its parts. Are there labels, descriptions, thoughts,
or dialogue? List the people, objects, and places in the cartoon. List the actions
or activities. Which words or phrases are the most significant? Which of the
visuals are symbols? What do they stand for? When is it from? What was
happening at the time in history it was created? What is the message? Students
need to learn to read the visuals in conjunction with the printed text.

7.7 READING DISCIPLINE-BASED TEXTS

From our discussion in the previous section, we know that meanings of written
texts are pieced together by reading and that readers also draw on their prior
knowledge to form these meanings. Such prior sources of knowledge include,
words; sentence structure or syntax; text structures or genres and topics. But
prior knowledge is not restricted to these.
Reading in content areas requires an understanding of academic language,
knowledge of the protocols and style of discipline-based writing. It also requires
development of critical thinking skills for examining ideas and evidence, making
connections, problem solving and synthesizing complex idea in a logical manner.

Think and Reflect

 What should be the overall aim of a reading programme?
Give examples in the context of the discipline you teach.
 What factors will you keep in mind while constructing
exercises for teaching reading comprehension?
 Why should the reading materials be interesting to students?
 From the discussion above choice any topic and the
appropriate reading strategy from the subject you teach.

7.7.1 Reading in Science

Teaching Science involve engaging students with texts and supporting them with
understandings of the textual information. Encouraging students to become
independent learners and engaging them in discussions with their peers on text 57
Teaching and Assessing content, language, organisation and structure of the text can promote scientific
Language Across the reading comprehension.
Curriculum
Comprehension of scientific texts has been found to be challenging to inexperienced
readers as scientific texts are unique. Science texts normally include figures,
drawings, maps, tables, etc. Scientific registers use technical vocabulary and syntax.
The technical vocabulary in science has Latin or Greek roots poly, plasm, phyt,
therm, troph, logy. Taxonomic or categorical terminology in science requires an
understanding of multiple relationships embedded in the terms.

Reading science texts requires the critical thinking and analysis which
is similar to performing hands-on science activities. Process skills
involved in doing Science and reading are common.. “The same skills
that make good scientists also make good readers: engaging prior
knowledge, forming hypotheses, establishing plans, evaluating
understanding, determining the relative importance of information,
describing patterns, comparing and contrasting, making inferences,
drawing conclusions, generalizing, evaluating sources, and so on”
(Armbruster (1993)p. 347).

Science readers need to focus on understanding vocabulary and technical phrases

specific to science, interpreting scientific symbols and diagrams, making sense of
the organizational patterns commonly used in science texts, (exposition, description,
instruction and argumentation) and inferring main ideas using inductive and deductive
reasoning skills.
Difficulties in reading Science Textbooks
 Most science textbooks are written in an impersonal, objective tone, offering
no scope to the reader to access her prior knowledge about a topic.
 Difficulty of making connections between ideas within the text. Use of technical
words and absence of linking words like “because,” or “therefore,” adds to
the problem of making connections between key ideas in the text.

Teacher’s role: Shahnaaz, a school teacher, has come across this phrase
in the text,” If there are seven electrons in the outer level of the atom,
then the atom could bond with another atom that has one electron in its
outer energy level.” She notices that situation is commonly signalled by
the text structure if-then. Shahnaaz explains that ,in Science ,one event
is often dependent on another. Here students observe how Shahnaaz is
thinking critically about the text and negotiating meaning in a reflective
and explicit manner (Grant, et. al.2015,p.75).
The teacher can use signal words to clue the students into the text. If a
chronology or sequence of information is being shared, the teacher can
use signal words such as first, next, then and finally.
Textbooks in Science have diagrams, charts, graphs and tables. An
efficient science reader will first read the text that relates with the diagram
and then study the diagram for key labels, data values, etc. She/he will
then go back to the text to continue reading. This back and forth, science-
style reading can be demonstrated by the teacher to the students for
deeper engagement with the text.
58
 Reading Comprehension
Excerpt from a Biology textbook

Figure: Generalised animal and plant cell

All living things are made up of cells. The structures of different types
of cells are related to their functions.
Animal cells and plant cells have features in common, such as a nucleus,
cytoplasm, cell membrane, mitochondria and ribosomes. Plant and
algal cells also have a cell wall, and often have chloroplasts and a
permanent vacuole. Bacterial and yeast cells have different structures
to animal and plant cells.
Dissolved substances pass into and out of cells by diffusion.
Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_aqa/cells/
cellsrev1.html

Excerpt from a Physics textbook

Using a pump to raise water

Clamp the motor/dynamo unit next to the turbine/pump unit, which in

turn is clamped next to the head of water unit. Connect the pulleys on
the motor and pump units with a rubber band or driving belt. Apply
4-6 volts d.c. to the motor. This will drive the pump unit which takes
water from the lower level to the higher one. (It is necessary to prime
the pump by filling with water before use: this is achieved by sucking
on the third connection to the pump unit with a finger over the output
and the input underwater.)
Source: http://practicalphysics.org/moving-energy-one-thing-another-1.html
59
Teaching and Assessing In this text, the author is giving instructions for conducting an experiment and
Language Across the
describing the outcome with the help of a diagram. It is important to assess how
Curriculum
purpose shapes the content and style of a text. The teacher can discuss in the
class why texts tend to be similar or different, depending on the purpose of the
author.

Excerpt from a Chemistry textbook

Experiment Observation Inference
Warmed with acetic acid Fruity smell is Alcohol
and a few drops of formed. confirmed.
concentrated sulphuric

Chemical Equations:-

R3C-CR3 + Br2 —> No Effect

OR

R2C=CR2 + Br2 —> BrR2C-CR2Br

CH3COOH + ROH —> CH3COOR + H2O

In this text from Chemistry, we find that the reader is expected to conduct
the experiment, observe and draw inferences. The text draws on the use of
symbols in the chemical equation, the sentences are arranged logically, the
reader is expected to make inferences.

7.7.2 Reading in History

Unlike Science, History is constructed mainly through texts and cannot be
experienced ‘hands-on’ as in case of conducting experiments in Science .Reading
a history book is like having a conversation with the author who wants to tell the
reader something that he or she thinks is important and true. The author is not
only conveying information, but also trying to convince you of his or her
interpretation of the past. In other words, the author tries to persuade the reader
that these facts are important and that they are connected in a particular way.
Historical inquiry revolves around a historical question and a set of primary and
secondary documents. All works of history contain arguments, a reader has to
identify what the argument of the book or article is.
Historians read and examine the documents and in doing so ask questions like
What kind of document it is? For whom it was meant? Who is the audience?
What are the words and phrases used and what could be the author’s bias? What
is the overall text structure of the document?
Comprehending the sources in History is difficult, textbooks in history can also
make comprehension challenging. As research suggests, readers come across
many difficulties while reading the texts:
 failure to make cause and effect connections explicit (Black & Bern, 1981)
60
 use of indirect, ambiguous or irrelevant references ( Fredericksen, 1981) Reading Comprehension

 lack of sufficient detail to understand concepts and inclusion of irrelevant

information to the main ideas (Trabasso et al., 1984)
 individual sentences containing very dense ideas.

Excerpt from a History textbook

The Debate on the ‘Industrial Revolution’
Until the 1970s, historians used the term ‘industrial revolution’ for the
changes that occurred in Britain from the 1780s to the 1820s. From then,
it was challenged, on various grounds. Industrialisation had actually
been too gradual to be considered a ‘revolution’. It carried processes
that already existed towards new levels. Thus, there was a relatively
greater concentration of workers in factories, and a wider use of money.
Until well into the nineteenth century, large regions of England remained
untouched by factories or mines and therefore the term ‘industrial
revolution’ was regarded as inaccurate: England had changed in a regional
manner, prominently around the cities of London, Manchester, Birmingham
or Newcastle, rather than throughout the country. Could the growth in
the cotton or iron industries or in foreign trade from the 1780s to the
1820s be called revolutionary?
Teacher’s role: The text is an expository text, presenting a sequence of
events with the help of words like ‘from then’, ‘until,’ .The central idea, that
is, the debate on the nature of ‘Industrial Revolution’ The author is using
persuasion and evidence to support a viewpoint. We also notice the dense
language and sentences are long. Gursharan, a History teacher first analysis
the text herself and identifies the key ideas and meanings. She engages the
students in recalling their prior knowledge and asks them to highlight the key
idea. She then asks the class to break the sentences with important information
into their meaningful parts to help them navigate the text. Next, she asks the
students to identify the cause-effect sentences and persuasive arguments.

Activity 12: Collect three/four different types of texts in Science and

History (Newspaper article, textbook excerpts, articles from popular
magazines and academic journals. Read all the texts carefully and
underline the parts where one event depends on the other. Identify the
signal words that depict the cause-effect relationship, like if-the,
because, therefore, hence, etc. Write down how the messages are being
communicated in different texts.

7.7.3 Reading in Literature

Reading complex literary works poses a challenge to learners who need to
understand how the author shapes an imaginary world in novel, poetry and drama.
Students also need to recognise genres such as fable, allegory, science fiction,
sonnet, ballad etc. Readers should understand the rhetorical tools such as analogy,
irony, pun, metaphors etc. and be able to fill in the gaps left by the author. The 61
Teaching and Assessing reader needs to have the ability to make intertextual links, have knowledge about
Language Across the
the author, her background, other authors and related texts within the same
Curriculum
genres.
Sample of different genres (poetry and prose) in Literature

My Heart Leaps Up The Piano Teacher

My heart leaps up when I The piano teacher, Erika Kohut, bursts

behold like a whirlwind into the apartment she
shares with her mother. Mama likes
A rainbow in the sky: calling Erika her little whirlwind, for
So was it when my life began; the child can be an absolute speed
So is it now I am a man; demon. She is trying to escape her
So be it when I shall grow old, mother. Erika is in her late thirties. Her
mother is old enough to be her
Or let me die!
grandmother. The baby was born after
The Child is father of the Man; long and difficult years of marriage.
And I could wish my days to Her father promptly left, passing the
be torch to his daughter. Erika entered,
Bound each to each by natural her father exited. Eventually, Erika
piety. learned how to move swiftly. She had
to. Now she bursts into the apartment
like a swarm of autumn leaves, hoping
– William Wordsworth to get to her room without being seen.
But her mother looms before her,
confronts her. She puts Erika against
the wall, under interrogation –
inquisitor and executioner in one,
unanimously recognized as Mother by
the State and by the Family. She
investigates: Why has Erika come home
so late?
-Elfriede Jelinek,Nobel Prize winner for
Literature, 2004
In the texts here, we find the difference in the genres of prose and poetry .The
language of prose is straightforward and ideas are arranged into paragraphs which
look like big blocks of words. Poetry on the other hand is an expression with
rhyme and rhythm. Ideas are expressed in lines and arranged in sentences.

7.7.4 Reading in Mathematics

Even though, on the face of it, Mathematics hardly lends itself to reading, students
face reading comprehension difficulties in Mathematics which includes understanding
word problems and graphic illustrations. Mathematics language is constructed
from everyday uses of language but it is different from other school subjects
(Schleppegrell,2007), and this subject-specific nature of language in mathematics
has important implications for mathematics learning. Language in Mathematics
involves multiple modes of representation which are ways to symbolize, describe
and refer to the same entity. For example, fractions can be represented through
graphs, symbols, words, diagrams, pictures, models, manipulatives, oral or word
problems. O’Halloran (2005,p 80) explains the nature of mathematical discourse
as”multi-semiotic”, based on three semiotic systems performing three different
functions, natural language (if you multiply 8 times 8, the answer is 64),symbolism
(y-0=2(x-1)-y=2x-2) and visual images (graphs, diagrams, etc.)
62
Some special features of Mathematical text that can lead to student difficulties Reading Comprehension
as indicated by Barton and Heidama (2002) and Shuard and Rothery (1988)
include:
1. Reading mathematics often requires reading from right to left, top to bottom,
bottom to top or diagonally.
2. The text in mathematics textbooks has more concepts per sentence per
word and per paragraph than ordinary textbooks.
3. Mathematical concepts are often abstract and require effort to visualize.
4. The text in mathematics textbook is terse and compact - that is, there is little
redundancy to help readers uncover the meaning.
5. Words have precise meanings which often are not fully understood.
6. Formal logic connects sentences so the ability to understand implications and
make inferences across sentences is essential.
7. In addition to words mathematics textbooks contains numeric and non-
numeric symbols.
8. Mathematics textbooks often contain complex sentences which can be difficult
to understand.

Excerpt from a Mathematics textbook

The most basic quadratic is y = x2. When you graphed straight lines,
you only needed two points to graph your line, though you generally
plotted three or more points just to be on the safe side. However, three
points will almost certainly not be enough points for graphing a
quadratic, at least not until you are very experienced. For example,
suppose a student computes these three points:

Then, based only on his experience with linear graphs, he tries to put
a straight line through the points.

Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/grphquad.html
63
Teaching and Assessing Teacher’s role: Mathematics has a reading protocol all its own, and just as we
Language Across the learn to read literature, we should learn to read mathematics. You will notice in
Curriculum
the beginning that the paragraph includes lots of information in a short amount of
text. Sentences and words have precise meaning and connect logically to surrounding
sentences and graphic images (table, graphs, and pictures). Mathematics also
requires students to be proficient at decoding not only words but also numeric
and nonnumeric symbols. Teaching reading in in a math classroom is more about
teaching students how to use reading as a tool for thinking, reasoning, and learning.

Gopa, a school teacher ,uses the Frayer Model, a graphic organiser, to assist
her students with vocabulary development. She realises that .Mathematics
vocabulary is one feature of mathematics text that can be challenging. This
graphic organizer was designed by Dorothy Frayer and her colleagues at the
University of Wisconsin to provide for a thorough understanding of new
words. Students are asked to provide a Definition of the word, Facts or
Characteristics of the word, Examples, and Nonexamples.

FRAYER MODEL

Definition in your own words Facts/Characteristics

A quadrilateral is a shape with 4 sides  4 sides,
 May or may not be equal in length
 Sides may or may not be parallel
QUADRILATERAL

Examples Non-examples
 Square  Circle
 Rectangle  Triangle
 Trapezoid  pentagon
 rhombus

Activity 13 : How do the following in facilitate reading of Science and

History texts:
 Identifying key ideas
 Understanding the text features
 Underlining difficult words/phrases

7.8 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, our focus has been on Reading Comprehension, and on developing
reading skills across the curriculum. Comprehending a text is a multi-pronged
process, involving the text, the reader and the socio-cultural context. From defining
reading and understanding the process of reading, we have proceeded to
understand the importance of reading across the curriculum. Research has shown
64 that there is a strong correlation between RC and academic performance. Different
reading strategies are required for reading course material in diverse subjects, for Reading Comprehension
example, reading strategies required for Literature are very different from the
strategies required for Social Science or Mathematics.
Readers must develop the ability to go beyond main ideas and learn to analyse,
synthesize and evaluate information pertaining to different subjects. They must
develop the ability to sift, filter out and collate information from the spectrum
of content areas. The Unit discusses the importance of reading as a tool for
learning in different disciplines. This has been followed by a detailed discussion
of the various strategies to develop reading skills, accompanied by clear
examples. At every stage, activities have been suggested for the teacher to try
and to gain a more application –based understanding of the process of Reading
and how to teach it. By modelling, encouraging prediction-making, asking
probing questions, and focusing on higher-order cognitive skills across the
subjects in their curriculum, learners can be trained to develop their reading
skills, which will impact positively on their overall performance and learning.

7.9 REFERENCES
Anderson, R.C., & Pearson, P.D. (1984). A schema-thematic view of basic
processes in reading comprehension. In P.D. Pearson, R. Barr, M.L. Kamil,
& P. Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (pp. 255–291). New
York: Longman.
Anne Falke. The Three Levels of Reading Comprehension (What Every Educator
Should Know about Reading Research)wac.colostate.edu/books/
language_connections/chapter9.
Anne Kispal. Effective Teaching of Inference Skills for Reading: Literature
Review. National Foundation for Educational Research 2008 ISBN 978 1 84775
141 6
Frank Smith. Essays into Literacy Selected Papers and Some Afterthoughts
Keene, E.O., & Zimmermann, S. (1997). Mosaic of thought: Teaching
comprehension in a reader’s workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Laura S. Pardo. What every teacher needs to know about comprehension.
ftp.learner.org/workshops/ teachreading 35/pdf
Le Cordeur M. 2010. The struggling reader: identifying and addressing reading
problems successfully at an early stage. Per Linguam. 26(2): 77-89.
Patricia Babbitt. Scaffolding: Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension
Skills
Richard T. Vacca, Jo Anne L. Vacca (Kent State University) Maryann E. Mraz
Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum, 11th Edition
©2014 | Pearson

65
Teaching and Assessing Armbuster, B.b.(1984). The problem of “inconsiderate texts” in G.G. Duffy,
Language Across the et.al.(Eds). Theoretical issues in reading comprhenesion(pp.202-217), New York:
Curriculum
Longman.
Croner, P.E. (2003) “Strategies for Teaching Science content heading”. The
Science Education Review, 2(4)2003.
Barton, Mary Lee & Claire Heidema (2002) Teaching Reading in Mathematics.
Colorado Mcrel.
Black J.B and Bern H. (1981) Casual Coherence and Memory for Events in
narratives. Yale: Yale University.
Fredericson.(1981) “Inference in pre-school children’s’ conversations – a
cognitive perspective in J.green and C.Wallat (eds). Ethnography and Rangnage
in educational settings. Norwood, N.J: Ablex, 1981.
Trabasso, T.(Eds.) (1984) Learning and Comprehension of Texts. PP(83-
111), Hilsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Shuard, Hillary & Rothery, A (Eds). (1984) Children Reading Mathematics,
London: John Murray.
Shaller D. & Martin, D.B. (2003). A psychological analysis of what
teachers and students do in the language arts classroom in
J.Flood.D.Lapp.at all (Eds) Handbook of Research on teaching of the
English language acts (pp31-45) Mahwah, N.J:Erlbaum.
Tracey, D.H. & Morrow, L.M. (2002) “Preparing young Learners for
successful reading comprehension in C.C. Block & M. Pressley (Eds)
Comprehension Instruction: Research-based best practices (pp 219-233).
New York: Gilford Press.
www.Arvindguptatoys.Com/Arvindgupta/Essaysintoliteracy.Pdf
ereadingworksheets.com
www.phschool.com/eteach/language_arts/2002_12/essay.html
http://www.massbuy.edu/uploaded files/WSSU critical Reading Manual
https:/www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/criticalreading
https:/writtencommons.org
http:/2.bp.blogspot.com
http://on.wikipedia.org
https://www.goods.co.in/
http://www.education.gov

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