LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-BEd notes
Unit 5 – Developing proficiency in written Comprehension and Production
Prepared by
Sabarish P
Reading with comprehension
Reading with comprehension
Reading is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas. It is a complex interaction between the text and the reader which is shaped by the reader’s prior knowledge, experiences, attitude, and language community which is culturally and socially situated. Reading is a cognitive process of decoding symbols to derive meaning from text (as in reading a book or reading music).
Three Components of Reading:
Decoding
Comprehension
Retention
Reading comprehension is the ability to read text, process it and understand its meaning. An individual's ability to comprehend text is influenced by their traits and skills, one of which is the ability to make inferences. If word recognition is difficult, students use too much of their processing capacity to read individual words, which interferes with their ability to comprehend what is read. There are a number of approaches to improve reading comprehension, including improving one's vocabulary and reading strategies.
Proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words quickly and effortlessly. It is also determined by an individual's cognitive development, which is "the construction of thought processes".
Factors Influencing Acquisition of Reading Ability
Factors that Impact on Reading Comprehension
Reader Based Factors
Phonemic Awareness
Alphabetic Understanding
Fluency with the Code
Vocabulary knowledge
Prior knowledge
Engagement and interest
Text Based Factors
Narrative v. Expository
Genre considerations
Quality of text
Density and difficulty of concepts
Stages of reading development
Stage 0: Pre-reading
Preschool (6 months - 6 years)
"Pretending" to read, retelling story when looking at pages of book previously read to the child
Naming letters of alphabet; recognizing some signs
-Printing own name
-Playing with books, pencils, and paper
Stage1: Initial Reading and Decoding
Grade 1 and beginning Grade 2 (ages 7-8)
Learning relation between letters and sounds and between printed and spoken words
Being able to read simple text containing high frequency words and phonically regular words
Using skill and insight to “sound-out” new one syllable words
Stage 2: Confirmation and Fluency
Grades 2 and 3 (ages 7-8)
Child reads simple, familiar stories and selections with increasing fluency.
This is done by consolidating the basic decoding elements, sight vocabulary, and meaning context in the reading of familiar stories and selections.
Stage 3: Reading for Learning the New
Grades 4-8 (ages 9-13)
Reading is used to experience new feelings, to learn new attitudes.
Reading generally from one viewpoint
Stage 4: Multiple Viewpoints
High School (ages 15-17)
Reading widely from a broad range of complex materials, both expository and narrative
Reading a variety of viewpoints
Sage 5: Construction and Reconstruction
- College and beyond ( ages 18+)
Reading is used for one’s own needs and purposes professional and personal)
Reading serves to integrate one’s knowledge with that of others, to synthesize it and to create new knowledge
Reading is rapid and efficient
Why is reading Important?
Reading is fundamental to function in today's society.
Reading is a vital skill in finding a good job.
Reading is important because it develops the mind.
It is how we discover new things.
Reading develops the imagination.
Reading develops the creative side of people.
Reading is fundamental in developing a good self image.
Reading Problems
Reading Deficiency – a mild to severe retardation in learning to read which is disparate with the individual’s general intelligence and with his cultural, linguistic and educational experience.
Reading Retardation – Originally used to designate the condition of all children whose reading was significantly below age and grade norm, regardless of the children’s potential or intelligence.
Underachiever in Reading - Restricted to those whose reading performance is not below age and grade standards but who are judged to be functioning significantly below their own potential level in reading. It is used broadly to designate the slow learner, the disabled reader, the bright underachiever, the reluctant reader, and the culturally or socially deprived pupil.
Dyslexia - Defective reading which may represent loss of competency following brain injury or degeneration, or a developmental failure to profit from reading instruction. It is often genetically determined.
Primary Reading Retardation - refers to a sense impairment of capacity to learn to read which, although there is no brain damage, this is based on a constitutional pattern of disturbed neurological organization.
Secondary Reading Retardation - refers to a reading disability for which the causation is mainly environmental or external.
Main Reading Comprehension Difficulties
confusion about the meaning of words and sentences
inability to connect ideas in a passage
omission of, or glossing over, detail
difficulty distinguishing significant information from minor details
lack of concentration during reading
TYPES OF READING
READING ACCORDING TO PURPOSE
Skimming – fast reading for general understanding of whole text.
Scanning – reading to find specific information in the text.
Intensive/Functional Reading – word for word type of reading- specialised content areas to identify/infer main ideas and details
Extensive/Recreational Reading – light type reading for leisure
Literature Reading - to familiarize readers with different genres of literature pieces: novels, short stories, biographies, dramas, epics, etc…
Detailed Study Reading - serious reading and proper note taking
ACCORDING TO READING PERFORMANCE / RATE OF UNDERSTANDING
Speed Reading – reading superficially
Subvocalized Reading – reading internally focusing primarily on the form, stress, intonation, phrasing of the language.
Proofreading – reading to detect and correct production errors of text or art.
SPE (Structure Proposition Evaluation)- reading to recognize language structures, make inferences, & evaluate ideas, reasons, or conclusions.
ACCORDING TO READING-INSTRUCTION PROGRAM
Read aloud – reading with good expressions, proper pacing, and correct pronunciation.
Shared reading - Both the teacher and student take turns in reading portions of the text.
Guided reading - Reader is left alone to do silent reading & motivated using contextual clues, examining illustrations, activating schemata
Fluency reading - To gain mastery of the pronunciation, phrasing, pausing, intonation, or stress of the text
Independent reading - chooses the material s/he wants to read
Developmental reading - to refine one’s reading comprehension skills
Selective or key-word reading - focuses on a specific or principal portion of the text to have a general view or holistic understanding of the reading material
Remedial Reading – reading program under the guidance of an experert to improve vocabulary knowledge, reading comprehension abilities, and reading attitudes.
Strategic Reading - Also called as meta-cognitive, meta-thinking, meta-reading, or meta-comprehension where reader uses high order cognitive skills to think aloud while reading.
Reading types according to PISA (Program for International Student Assessment)
In determining the students’ reading literacy, the reading situations into which readers are immersed are considered. Grouping of students’ reading materials are based on the author’s purpose in writing the text, the composition of the written materials, and the readers’ connection with the text.
Reading for private use
Personal reasons (primary)
Intellectual and social effects (secondary)
Reading materials deal with people’s lives, fictitious happenings, and expository texts for learning purposes.
Reading for public use
For social consciousness, a person reads to update himself with current social events and to know his chance/s of active involvement into these happenings.
Reading for work
Work-related materials for a better job performance
“Reading to do” (Stich, 1975; Stiggins, 1992)
Reading for education
“Reading to learn” (Stich, 1975; Stiggins, 1992) to obtain knowledge for any learning task
Instructive in nature
READING SKILLS
Previewing
Making predictions: Say what the text will be about before actually reading it.
Anticipation: The ability of activating prior knowledge in order to help the text become comprehensible.
Inferring
Understand a certain aspect of the text based on the meaning of the rest of the information.
It is necessary to use ideas stated in the text plus your personal experience.
You go farther than the text itself.
Context clues
When you have to infer the meaning of a new word you may take into account the context in which it appears.
It might be the external context or the internal structure of the word.
Predicting outcomes
Consists of establishing the end of an incomplete fragment based on the sequence of events.
Cause – effect relationships
The ability of finding the reasons or motivations why an event takes place or the consequence of an action. They might be stated or not.
Prepared by
Sabarish P
(MSc Physics, MEd, NET)Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com
