Transcript Reading Comprehension - Shelby County Schools

Reading Comprehension
Suggestions for Vocabulary
Instruction
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Rationale
Research has shown that many children
who read at grade level in grade 3 will not
automatically become proficient
comprehenders in later grades. Therefore,
teachers must teach comprehension
explicitly, beginning in the primary grades
and continuing through high school (RAND
Reading Study Group, 2002).
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Content Area Reading Research
Content literacy can be defined as the ability
to use reading and writing for the
acquisition of new content in a given
discipline (McKenna & Robinson, 1990, p.
184).
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Important Concept
It’s not doing more;
it’s doing things differently.
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Strategic Teaching
Strategic teaching is the process of
incorporating purposeful planning,
multiple strategies, connected
strategies, and explicit instruction to
maximize the understanding and retention
of content material.
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Strategic Teaching
• An on-going practice
• Not a series of stand-alone lessons or
random activities sprinkled throughout
lesson plans
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Strategic Teaching
Strategic teaching incorporates before,
during, and after reading strategies as well
as a variety of vocabulary development
and writing strategies. The strategies a
teacher chooses will depend on the
purpose of the lesson, the nature of the
material being studied, and student data.
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Vocabulary Development
Vocabulary knowledge is critical to reading comprehension. If
a word is decoded and pronounced but the meaning is not
recognized, comprehension will be impaired (Stanovich,
1993).
A number of studies indicate that reading comprehension
requires a high level of word knowledge- higher than the level
achieved by many types of vocabulary instruction. The
implication is that teachers should augment traditional
methods of vocabulary instruction with more intensive
instruction aimed at producing richer, deeper word knowledge
(Nagy, 2002)
Think about the following:
HOW DO YOU TEACH VOCABULARY?
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Vocabulary Development Research
• Most vocabulary is learned indirectly.
• Some vocabulary must be taught directly.
• Students have 4 vocabularies: listening,
speaking, reading, and writing.
• Struggling students – large listening
vocabularies
• Proficient students know 4 times as many
words as struggling students.
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Indirect Word Learning
Students learn word meanings indirectly in
three ways:
1. They engage daily in oral language.
2. They listen to adults read to them.
3. They read extensively on their own.
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Specific Word Instruction
• Specific word instruction can deepen students’
knowledge of word meanings.
• Teaching specific words before reading helps
both vocabulary learning and reading
comprehension.
• Extended instruction that promotes active
engagement with vocabulary improves word
learning.
• Repeated exposure to vocabulary in many
contexts aids word learning.
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Responsibility of Content Area
Teachers
• To help students learn and understand the
vocabulary of the discipline they teach
• To apply the correct label to the new
concepts they meet
• Avoid “look-it-up, use-it-in-a-sentence,
take-a-quiz-on-Friday” strategy
• To show students that common words are
often used differently in different subject
areas
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Integration and Repetition
• Words must be “hooked” onto experiences
in our lives.
• Research (Nagy, 1998) tells us that
effective vocabulary instruction must
include integration and repetition and have
meaning in our lives.
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Vocabulary Research
• “. . . By no means will all unfamiliar words
encountered in reading be learned, and
those that are learned will require multiple
encounters with them before learning is
accomplished (Beck, McKeown, Kucan,
2002).
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Multiple Exposures
• Words are learned incrementally through
multiple exposures (Stahl, 2003).
• As many as 4 encounters with a word do
not reliably improve reading
comprehension skills; a minimum of 12
exposures is suggested.
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Teaching Vocabulary in the
Classroom
• An effective vocabulary development
program for secondary students should
include 3 main strategies:
• Promoting broad and intensive reading
and oral discussions
• Encouraging students to experiment with
words
• Explicitly teaching word meanings and
word-learning strategies
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Knowledge Ratings
• purpose is to create an awareness of
known and unknown words
• a pre-reading activity
• gives students and teacher an idea of
which words need attention and which
ones don’t
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Connecting the Visual to the Verbal
Examples: Vocabulary Word Maps,
Quadrant Cards, Vocabulary Squares,
Verbal/Visual Word Association
• Graphic organizers
• Allows students to pictorially link words
with their meanings
• Time-tested way for students to learn new
words more deeply
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Sketching Vocabulary
• Draw a picture, symbol, or icon for the
following words:
• Love
• Religion
• Divorce
• Egregious
• Forsade
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Teaching vocabulary involves
• rich discussions about the meaning(s)
of unfamiliar words;
• making connections between new
words and familiar concepts;
• using words in context;
• analyzing word parts; and
• active student engagement.
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Selection Criteria
• Choose the words you teach carefully.
Teach words that are important for
understanding a concept or the text.
Teach words that students are likely to see
and use again and again.
• Provide instruction for words that are
particularly difficult for your students.
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Final Note on Vocabulary
Please do not have students copy
definitions directly from a dictionary
or textbook glossary. This is a
passive learning activity that rarely
leads to students having ownership
of new vocabulary.
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