Comprehension Development

Reading the word and the world-Freire & Macedo

R. Grant

Defining Comprehension

Think-pair-share:

How do you define comprehension? Think about it for a moment. Share your thoughts with a peer. Now, share your definition and your

neighbor’s with the class.

Critical Pedagogy, Literacy and Understanding

Reading does not consist merely of decoding the written word or language; rather, it is preceded by and intertwined with knowledge of the world.

Reading always involves critical perception, interpretation, and rewriting of what is read.

(Freire & Macedo, 1987)

Defining Reading Comprehension

Comprehension is a creative, multifaceted process in which students engage with the text (Tierney, 1990)

Comprehension is the process whereby the reader constructs meaning by interacting with the text (Anderson & Pearson, 1984)

Theories about Comprehension

Behaviorist

Cognitive

Scheme

Reader Response

Critical Literacy

Sociocultural

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Factors influencing comprehension-the reader

The reader- the background knowledge that readers bring to the reading process influences how they understand the text as well as the strategies they use while reading

Factors influencing comprehension- text and purpose

The text being read- the author’s ideas, the words used to express those ideas, and how the ideas are organized and presented affect comprehension

Readers vary the way they read according to their purpose

Subprocesses of Comprehension

Microprocesses focus on fluency, the ability to read quickly, smoothly, and with expression

Integrative processes deal with the semantic and syntactic connections and relationships among sentences

Subprocesses of Comprehension

Macroprocesses relate to the big picture– the entire text Components of macroprocesses

Recognizing the structure of text Selecting the most important information to

remember

Subprocesses of Comprehension

Elaborative processes are used by students to activate their background knowledge and make connections with the text they are reading or listening to 3 types of connections

Text-to-self Text-to-world Text-to-text

Subprocesses of Comprehension

Metacognitive processes is students’ conscious awareness of their thinking Elements of metacognitive processing

Awareness Monitoring Fix-up strategies

Levels of Comprehension

Literal Focus on identifying main ideas & details, sequencing events, & noticing cause-effect relationships

Inferential Reading between the lines to make inferences or draw conclusions

Evaluative Go beyond the text & think more deeply

Basic Goals of Reading

To enable the learner to gain understanding of the world and of themselves

To develop appreciations and interests

To help the learner to find solutions to their personal and group problems

To develop strategies to support independent understanding and thinking

Teachers’ Role

To support comprehension teachers need to: Activate students’ prior knowledge Guide students’ reading of a text Foster active and engaged reading Reinforce concepts gleaned from the text

reading Encourage careful/critical thinking Pursue inquiry on different topics