Transcript 10 Things You Should Know about Teaching Deaf Students Text Comprehension Strategies Dr.

10 Things You Should Know about Teaching
Deaf Students Text Comprehension Strategies
Dr. Susan Easterbrooks
Professor, GSU
Dr. Nanci Scheetz
Professor, VSU
Learning to read poses unique challenges to
students with hearing loss.
The primary challenge is that we cannot assume
they have the background knowledge or the
language skills that most students bring to the
reading process.
Text comprehension strategies allow us to help
students bridge between language they
understand and language they do not understand.
I. Instruction in grammar (underlying syntax
and morphology) is as important as vocabulary
instruction for children with hearing loss.
• Vocabulary knowledge is a necessary precursor to learning to read,
but it is not sufficient to move reading past the late second/early
third grade.
• Most 8-10 year old children who are deaf are still struggling to learn
to comprehend information that is couched in basic sentence
patterns.
• 2nd grade reading matter contains compound and complex sentence
structures. 3rd grade reading matter contains every known
grammatical structure.
Here are some examples of the way Sally’s uses language.
Sally is in the 2nd grade and has a moderately severe hearing loss.
Her language is typical of children with this amount of hearing.
She communicates through speaking and listening and benefits
from some sign support.
She playing with new girl.
Jess is playin with new in park.
Mouse climb up.
She stare boy. Why? Because loose tooth.
He eatin carrot try get loose tooth out.
The boy fell and hurt elbow.
The mouse love strawberry fruit.
The boy sad drop break beautiful flower glass.
What do you notice about
this language sample?
-Is it typical for 2nd graders?
-If not, at what age would you
expect this kind of language?
-Does she use compound
sentences?
-Does she use complex
sentences?
- Does she use compoundcomplex sentences?
Now compare Sally’s grammar with the grammar from the following 2nd
grade level story, “Tony’s Bread,” by Tommie dePaola.
•
One day he would have a bakery of his own in Milano and become the most
famous baker in all of Northern Italy.
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“Now that she is old enough to marry, Tony thinks that no man is good
enough for his Serafina,” the three sisters whispered to each other.
•
Day after day he experimented until he had mixed the lightest, richest
dough with as many raisins and as much candied fruit as he could put into
it.
What do you notice about this language that would make it difficult
for Sally to understand? You could teach her the necessary words,
but that would not be sufficient for her understanding.
Sally’s sentences are about 5 to 6 words in length on average. She will likely break
up the sentence below as shown. This will influence her ability to understand the
sentence.
“Now that she is old enough to marry, Tony thinks that no man is good enough for his
Serafina,” the three sisters whispered to each other.
Question
What does Tony think?
Likely answer
No man is good.
What did the three sisters say?
Whisper to each other.
What does Tony think about Serafina?
She have enough.
As stated earlier, vocabulary is necessary but it is not sufficient when trying to help a
child with a hearing loss learn to read.
II. If the student does not understand the underlying
grammar, this poses problems in interpreting sentencelevel meaning.
Consider the following sentences: Which sentences go with which
picture?
1
2
3
4
a.
The boy kisses the girl.
e. The tree hit the car.
b.
The girl kisses the boy.
f.
The car hit the tree.
c.
The boy is kissed by the girl.
g.
The tree was hit by the car.
d.
The girl is kissed by the boy.
h.
The car was hit by the tree.
• Deaf students tend to retain surface order of
sentences, so they would might say that the
following sentences mean the same thing:
The car hit
the
tree.
The car was hit by the tree.
III. The vocabulary and grammar challenges in a book need
to be within the student’s Zone of Proximal Development or
they will not understand the text.
Zone of proximal development (ZPD) from the
perspective of students with hearing loss must include:
– Vocabulary
– Grammar
If the reading matter we are giving the student is not within his
ZPD, then he or she must apply text comprehension strategies to
discern meaning.
IV. Text comprehension strategies are
metacognitive tools.
Metacognitive tools provide students with a series of steps they can
go through to construct meaning from print. (Teaching a child to
fish.)
Some of the strategies are for teachers to use when instructing
students in the use of strategies. Some of the strategies are for
students to use when they are reading.
Strategies included are useful with decoding, comprehension, and
fluency.
Steps for teaching a strategy
– Choose an authentic strategy
– Choose material that supports the strategy
– Demonstrate its use
– Guide its use (direct instruction guided
instruction with feedback independent use)
– Practice and reinforce its use
V. Teach strategies to use before reading
• Preteach/prelearn vocabulary and grammar in the text
– Heavy use of visual organizers; co-teaching support from TOD
– Develop sight words for preteaching
• Activate prior knowledge
• Use anticipation guides
• Teach various purposes for reading
– Narrative, persuasion, expository, skimming and summarizing
• Discuss questions presented at the end of chapters, if available.
•
Observe, review, and discuss pictures and captions to aid
comprehension
•
Teach prediction and inference based on activation of prior knowledge
Teach prediction of main idea
•
Teach extemporaneous summarizing skills
•
Teach how to develop and use self-assessment inventories
•
Teach key “do not” strategies
Do not start reading without thinking about the subject
Do not start reading without knowing why you are reading
Do not ignore pictures, titles, captions, and any other visual indicators
on the pages that will help you
VI. Teach strategies to use during reading; reading
must make sense.
•
Revising prediction and inference (DRTA, QAR, ReQuest) as you proceed.
What will happen next? Was your prediction right or wrong?
•
Making connections- relating what you are reading to what you already
know
•
Asking questions that will need to be answered (SQ3R)
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Searching for information segments that match questions asked
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Using knowledge of story structure and themes
•
Activating mental imagery based on prior knowledge, visual cues, and
information accumulated from the text- visualization
•
Making inferences
•
Using summarization skills
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Using Self-Monitoring of Comprehension (clarifying misunderstandings)
•
Always stopping to use “clean up” or “fix up” strategies when
comprehension lags.
• Using decoding skills
• Using prediction logs
• Using graphic organizers
– Story maps, diagrams, character charts, advance organizers, etc.
• Asking for help
• Applying knowledge of text organization
– Expository and narrative text have different structures
•
Seeking proof of fact versus opinion
•
Monitoring fluency when reading out loud
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Remembering your Do Nots
– Do not continue reading if you do not understand what you have just
read
– Do not forget to use your strategies
– Do not hesitate to ask for help
VII. Teach strategies to use after
finishing the material.
• Deciding if you have achieved your goals.
• Retelling
• Using self-evaluation of comprehension
• Summarizing main ideas and important points
• Thinking about what made your prediction good or bad
• Extending your knowledge with outside sources
• Relating what you read to your real life
• Remembering your Do Nots….
– Do not pretend you understood if you don’t.
VIII. Read to students with hearing loss
Because students with hearing loss are so delayed in language, often the parents and
caregivers have not read to them as much as parents of children who can hear.
Reading to (storytelling) and with (shared reading) students with hearing loss is an
important way to increase vocabulary and grammar knowledge.
After 3rd grade vocabulary develops because we read.
Students with hearing loss do not read as much as students who can hear, so
their vocabularies become even more limited.
Reading to and with students also improves their knowledge base.
As a general rule of thumb, read at least two more books to or with students
on any subject they are reading for class.
IX. Re-reading is an effective way to improve a
student’s text comprehension.
• Repeated readings of stories help students master vocabulary and
grammar and help improve text comprehension
–
Dowhower, Herman, Knupp, Koskinen, Larking, O'Shea, Rashotte, Richek
• Read at least 4 times
– 1st
Read the story to the student. Ask if the student has any
questions
– 2nd Student reads the story and focuses on asking the teacher
questions about words and concepts not known
– 3rd
Teacher reads the story and checks comprehension on all
figurative language (especially verb and other idioms, metaphors,
similes) and passages requiring inferences
– 4th
Student reads the story to himself or herself and teacher asks
comprehension questions at the end
X. Consider programs such as “Read for Real” for middle
grades and older students who are struggling readers.
•
http://www.zaner-bloser.com/html/RDgen.html
This program was designed for older struggling
readers to help them…
develop and demonstrate comprehension skills
through guided instruction in reading strategies
 take ownership of new vocabulary by providing
cues and clues for unlocking word meaning
gain independence in accessing information
improve test scores
I.
Instruction in grammar (underlying syntax and morphology) is as
important as vocabulary instruction for children with hearing
loss.
II.
If the student does not understand the underlying grammar, this
poses problems in interpreting sentence-level meaning.
III.
The vocabulary and grammar challenges in a book need to be
within the student’s Zone of Proximal Development or they will
not understand the text.
IV.
Text comprehension strategies are metacognitive tools.
V.
Teach strategies to use before reading.
VI. Teach strategies to use during reading; reading must make sense.
VII. Teach strategies to use after finishing the material.
VIII. Read to students with hearing loss
IX. Re-reading is an effective way to improve a student’s text
comprehension.
X. Consider programs such as “Read for Real” for middle grades and
older students who are struggling readers.