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Lecture No 2 (Reading Comprehension)

This document discusses strategies for improving reading comprehension. It defines reading comprehension as requiring the construction of a mental representation of a text's information. The key elements are the reader, text, and reading task within a sociocultural context. Comprehension requires abilities, motivation, and knowledge from the reader. The ultimate goal of reading is comprehension, which is an interactive and strategic process of analyzing, internalizing, and making the text one's own. General comprehension strategies taught include using prior knowledge, predicting, identifying main ideas and summarizing, questioning, making inferences, and visualizing. Specific strategies are also discussed for comprehending narrative texts like stories and expository texts meant to inform or explain.

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Haseeb Tahir
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66 views

Lecture No 2 (Reading Comprehension)

This document discusses strategies for improving reading comprehension. It defines reading comprehension as requiring the construction of a mental representation of a text's information. The key elements are the reader, text, and reading task within a sociocultural context. Comprehension requires abilities, motivation, and knowledge from the reader. The ultimate goal of reading is comprehension, which is an interactive and strategic process of analyzing, internalizing, and making the text one's own. General comprehension strategies taught include using prior knowledge, predicting, identifying main ideas and summarizing, questioning, making inferences, and visualizing. Specific strategies are also discussed for comprehending narrative texts like stories and expository texts meant to inform or explain.

Uploaded by

Haseeb Tahir
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture no 2

Reading Comprehension
Definition
• What does it mean to read and understand a text? Central to any
conceptualization of reading comprehension is that it requires the
construction of a mental representation of the information in a text
(Kintsch, 1988).

• More formally, reading comprehension has been defined as “the process


of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through
interaction and involvement with written language” (Snow, 2002, p. 11).
• Reading involves three interrelated elements: the reader, the text, and the
activity or reading task, all situated into a broader sociocultural context.
• To comprehend a text, a reader must be equipped with a host of abilities
(e.g., attention, memory, inferencing), motivation (e.g., reading goals,
interest) and knowledge (e.g., domain knowledge, linguistic knowledge),
all of which are influenced by the specific texts used and the activity the
reader is engaging in (Snow, 2002).
Comprehension: The goal of reading
• Comprehension, or extracting meaning from what you read,
is the ultimate goal of reading.

• The process of comprehension is both interactive and


strategic. Rather than passively reading text, readers must
analyze it, internalize it and make it their own.

• The process of comprehending text begins before children


can read, when someone reads a picture book to them. They
listen to the words, see the pictures in the book, and may start
to associate the words on the page with the words they are
hearing and the ideas they represent.
General Strategies for Reading
Comprehension
In order to learn comprehension strategies, students need modeling, practice, and
feedback. The key comprehension strategies are described below.
Using Prior Knowledge/Previewing
When students preview text, they tap into what they already know that will help
them to understand the text they are about to read. This provides a framework for
any new information they read.
Predicting
When students make predictions about the text they are about to read, it sets up
expectations based on their prior knowledge about similar topics. As they read,
they may mentally revise their prediction as they gain more information.
Identifying the Main Idea and Summarization
Identifying the main idea and summarizing requires that students determine what is
important and then put it in their own words. Implicit in this process is trying to
understand the author’s purpose in writing the text.
Questioning
Asking and answering questions about text is another strategy that helps students
focus on the meaning of text. Teachers can help by modeling both the process of
asking good questions and strategies for finding the answers in the text.
Making Inferences
In order to make inferences about something that is not explicitly stated in the text,
students must learn to draw on prior knowledge and recognize clues in the text
itself.
Visualizing
Studies have shown that students who visualize while reading have better recall
than those who do not (Pressley, 1977). Readers can take advantage of illustrations
that are embedded in the text or create their own mental images or drawings when
reading text without illustrations
.
Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Narrative Text

• Narrative text tells a story, either a true story or a fictional story.


There are a number of strategies that will help students understand
narrative text.
• Story Maps :Teachers can have students diagram the story
grammar of the text to raise their awareness of the elements the
author uses to construct the story.
• Setting: When and where the story takes place (which can change
over the course of the story).
• Characters: The people or animals in the story, including the
protagonist (main character), whose motivations and actions drive
the story.
• Plot: The story line, which typically includes one or more
problems or conflicts that the protagonist must address and
ultimately resolve
Theme: The overriding lesson or main idea that the author wants
readers to glean from the story.
Retelling :Asking students to retell a story in their own words forces them to
analyze the content to determine what is important. Teachers can encourage
students to go beyond literally recounting the story to drawing their own
conclusions about it.

Prediction: Teachers can ask readers to make a prediction about a story based on
the title and any other clues that are available, such as illustrations. Teachers can
later ask students to find text that supports or contradicts their predictions.
Answering Comprehension Questions

Asking students different types of questions requires that they find the answers in
different ways, for example, by finding literal answers in the text itself or by
drawing on prior knowledge and then inferring answers based on clues in the text.
Strategies for Reading Comprehension:
Expository Text
Expository text explains facts and concepts in order to inform, persuade, or
explain.
• The Structure of Expository Text
Expository text is typically structured with visual cues such as headings and
subheadings that provide clear cues as to the structure of the information.
The first sentence in a paragraph is also typically a topic sentence that
clearly states what the paragraph is about.
Expository text also often uses one of five common text structures as an
organizing principle:
• Cause and effect
• Problem and solution
• Compare and contrast
• Description
• Time order (sequence of events, actions, or steps)
Teaching these structures can help students recognize relationships between ideas
and the overall intent of the text.
Main Idea/Summarization
A summary briefly captures the main idea of the text and the key details that
support the main idea. Students must understand the text in order to write a good
summary that is more than a repetition of the text itself.

K-W-L
There are three steps in the K-W-L process (Ogle, 1986):

What I Know: Before students read the text, ask them as a group to identify
what they already know about the topic. Students write this list in the “K”
column of their K-W-L forms.
What I Want to Know: Ask students to write questions about what they want to
learn from reading the text in the “W” column of their K-W-L forms. For
example, students may wonder if some of the “facts” offered in the “K” column
are true.
What I Learnt: As they read the text, students should look for answers to the
questions listed in the “W” column and write their answers in the “L” column
along with anything else they learn.
Beret's Taxonomy

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