READING COMPREHENSION

I've noticed that many books about reading, and specifically about comprehension for that matter, don't even define what "comprehension" is. Perhaps it's assumed that we all know what it is; or maybe "comprehension" is a slippery term that we have trouble grasping, or "comprehending," if you will! Webster's Collegiate Dictionary offers this definition: "capacity of the mind to perceive and understand." Reading comprehension, then, would be the capacity to perceive and understand the meanings communicated by texts. Simple, huh? Clear. Now we comprehend comprehension! Ah! A closer look at reading shows that this issue is much more complicated than it seems. Facile definitions coupled with the complicated nature of reading comprehension is what keeps us from understanding it fully, and from teaching it as well as we can. Let me focus on a few issues to help explain successful reading comprehension: Comprehension requires the reader to be an active constructor of meaning. Reading research has demonstrated that readers do not simply "perceive" the meaning that is IN a text. In fact, expert readers coconstruct meaning WITH a text. The research base shows that reading is a "transaction" in which the reader brings purposes and life experiences to bear to converse with the text. This meeting of the reader and the text results in the meaning that is comprehension. Comprehension always attends to what is coded or written in the text, but it also depends upon the reader's background experiences, purposes, feelings, and needs of the moment. That's why we can read the same book or story twice and it will have very different meanings for us. We, as readers, are an equal and active partner with the text in the meaning-making process of comprehension.

What processes and strategies are required to be an active constructor of meaning as a reader? Again, the processes have been underarticulated. There is wide agreement among reading researchers that every time a reader reads anything, they make use of the following strategies:

Activate prior knowledge, and connect the applicable prior experiences to the reading (if students don't have the requisite background knowledge about a topic, they will be unable to comprehend) Set Purposes Predict Decode Text identify word and sentence meanings Summarize bring meaning forward throughout the reading, building on prior information to create new and fuller meanings Visualize see characters, settings, situations, ideas, mental models Question Monitor understanding - the most salient difference between good and poor readers is that good readers know when and often why they are not comprehending Use Clarifying and Corrective strategies where needed Reflect on and Apply the meaning that has been made to new situations

Three points: 1. Since these strategies are used every time anybody reads, if your kids don't use all these strategies, then these are the ones to teach them first. They have the greatest transfer value. 2. We need to know HOW to teach these strategies and give them over to students (this is where the featured techniques of think-alouds and action strategies come in). Simply explaining the techniques won't suffice. Students need help in the process of HOW to do it. Just as explaining how to ski won't be sufficient to get a novice down the hill, neither is explaining a text, or explaining a comprehension strategy, going to do the job in promoting comprehension. 3. These strategies are necessary to reading comprehension in all situations, but they are usually insufficient to comprehension. Readers of any text generally go well beyond these general process strategies as they use engagement strategies to create a textual world, move around in it, evaluate it, etc. As students get older and read more sophisticated texts they must also learn how to meet the demands of making meaning with new text structures (argument, classification, satire, definition, fable, etc.) and new task-specific conventions (like those to tip off a reader to irony, symbolism, unreliable narrators, etc.). A reader who reads a satire or an ironic monologue or even a fable, for that matter using only general process strategies will not comprehend it. She needs text, and task, specific strategies to notice that a text is ironic, and to know what to do as a result. Yes, comprehension and teaching it are more complicated than most of us think! Finally teachers of reading have another big problem. We are expert readers ourselves. That means that we literally do hundreds of things every time they read that are automatic. This automaticity means that we are unaware of what we are doing as we read. And all of the stances and strategies that we use are not made available to our struggling readers. In fact, our struggling readers don't even know they are supposed to be using all of these strategies. The kids who most need our help are the ones who are the least like us. And the best way to help them is to take off the tops of our heads, to become aware of and share what we are doing as readers. We need to explicitly model what we do, guide and nurture them to do the same things, and then create situations that will encourage and help them to purposefully use the same strategies. I propose the teaching model of: Using think-alouds and action strategies, two rich sets of teaching techniques, are ways of doing just that. See the Think-Aloud Stategies page for guidelines to implement them. Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a text/message. This understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text/message. .[1]

Proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words quickly and effortlessly. [2] 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.

Many educators in the USA believe that students need to learn to analyze text (comprehend it) even before they can read it on their own, and comprehension instruction generally begins in pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten. But other US educators consider this reading approach to be completely backward for very young children, arguing that the children must learn how to decode the words in a story through phonics before they can analyze the story itself. During the last century comprehension lesson/s usually comprised students answering teachers' questions, writing responses to questions on their own, or both.[citation needed] The whole group version of this practice also often included "Round-robin reading", wherein teachers called on individual students to read a portion of the text (and sometimes following a set order). In the last quarter of the 20th century, evidence accumulated that the read-test methods assessed comprehension more than they taught it. The associated practice of "round robin" reading has also been questioned and eliminated by many educators. Instead of using the prior read-test method, research studies have concluded that there are much more effective ways to teach comprehension. Much work has been done in the area of teaching novice readers a bank of "reading strategies," or tools to interpret and analyze text. [3] There is not a definitive set of strategies, but common ones include summarizing what you have read, monitoring your reading to make sure it is still making sense, and analyzing the structure of the text (e.g., the use of headings in science text). Some programs teach students how to self monitor whether they are understanding and provide students with tools for fixing comprehension problems.

Instruction in comprehension strategy use often involves the gradual release of responsibility, wherein teachers initially explain and model strategies. Over time, they give students more and more responsibility for using the strategies until they can use them independently. This technique is generally associated with the idea of self-regulation and reflects social cognitive theory, originally conceptualized by Albert Bandura.
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Teaching reading comprehension

One strategy for reading comprehension is the technique called SQ3R. This stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review. In order to get an understanding of the text, you should survey the chapters. This consists of quickly looking at the title, headings and any subheadings. Look at any end of chapter questions as well. While surveying, you ask questions about the topics you have scanned, such as, "What did my teacher say about this chapter?" The next thing is to begin reading. In a chapter book, you would read the majority of the words. In a textbook, just read quickly for the key words. These are words seen in the chapter questions, teacher made questions and in the titles or subtitles of the chapter. After reading a portion or section of the book, recite what you have read out loud. By orally summarizing what you just read it helps to cement the content in your memory.

The last technique is to review what you have read again. By writing down key facts from the chapter and reviewing it, you will better understand the information.

Vocabulary
Several theories of vocabulary instruction exist, namely, one focused on intensive instruction of a few high value words, one focused on broad instruction of many useful words, and a third focused on strategies for learning new words.

The idea of focusing intensely on a few words was popularized by Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, and Linda Kucan. They argued that words occur in three "tiers," the lowest (tier 1) being common words such as eat and fish, the top (tier 3) being very content-specific words such as photosynthesis and geopolitical. The tier 2 words were what they considered general academic vocabulary, words with many uses in academic contexts, such as analyze and frequent.[4] Beck et al. suggested that teachers focus on tier 2 words and that they should teach fewer of these words with greater intensity. They suggested that teachers offer multiple examples and develop activities to help students practice these words in increasingly independent ways.[4] The method of focusing of broad instruction on many words was developed by Andrew Biemiller. He argued, contra Beck et al.,[citation needed] that more words would benefit students more, even if the instruction was short and teacher-directed. He suggested that teachers teach a large number of words before reading a book to students, by merely giving short definitions, such as synonyms, and then pointing out the words and their meaning while reading the book to students [5]. The method contrasts with the Beck et al. approach by emphasizing quantity versus quality. There is no evidence to suggest the primacy of either approach.[4] The final vocabulary technique, strategies for learning new words, can be further subdivided into instruction on using context and instruction on using morphemes, or meaningful units within words to learn their meaning. Morphemic instruction has been shown to produce positive outcomes for students reading and vocabulary knowledge, but context has proved unreliable as a strategy and it is no longer considered a useful strategy to teach students. This conclusion does not disqualify the value in "learning" morphemic analysis" - prefixes, suffixes and roots - but rather suggests that it be imparted incidentally and in context. Accordingly, there are methods designed to achieve this, such as Incidental Morpheme Analysis.[6]

Professional development for students and small children

The National Reading Panel noted that comprehension strategy instruction is difficult for many teachers, particularly because they were not taught this way and because it is a very cognitively demanding task. They suggested that professional development can increase teachers' willingness to use reading strategies but admitted that much remains to be done in this area.[citation needed] The directed listening and thinking activity is a technique available to teachers to aid students in learning how to un-read and reading comprehension. It is also difficult for students that are new.

Reading difficult texts

Some texts, like in philosophy, literature or scientific research, may appear more difficult to read because of the prior knowledge they assume; they may assume the tradition from which they come, or assume having

read a text which the author is criticizing or parodizing. Such knowledge is assumed rather than restated, for economic reasons, for saving time and space. Philosopher Jacques Derrida, whose texts are considered difficult even by fellow scholars, explained that "In order to unfold what is implicit in so many discourses, one would have each time to make a pedagogical outlay that is just not reasonable to expect from every book. Here the responsibility has to be shared out, mediated; the reading has to do its work and the work has to make its reader."[7]

Reading comprehension and hyperlinks

Text with embedded hyperlinks makes different demands on the reader than traditional text. This has been a popular subject of recent articles and books by authors such as Nicholas Carr and psychologists such as Maryanne Wolf. Their concerns revolve around the detrimental effect the internet may have on attention and reading comprehension.[8]

Some studies have examined the increased demands of reading hyperlinked text in terms of cognitive load, which may be thought of as the amount of information actively maintained in ones mind (also see working memory).[9] While the research in this area is ongoing, it is clear that too many hyperlinks can impair comprehension. One study, for example, showed that going from about 5 hyperlinks per page to about 11 per page reduced college students understanding (assessed by multiple choice tests) of articles about alternative energy.[10] This can be attributed to the decision-making process (deciding whether to click on it) required by each hyperlink,[9] which may reduce comprehension of surrounding text.

Other studies have pointed out that the way hyperlinks are presented is important. If a short summary of the links content is provided when the mouse pointer hovers over it, then comprehension of the text is improved.[11] Also, providing navigation hints about which links are most relevant improved comprehension.[12] Finally, the background knowledge of the reader can partially determine the effect hyperlinks have on comprehension. In a study of reading comprehension with subjects who were familiar or unfamiliar with art history, texts which were hyperlinked to one another hierarchically were easier for novices to understand than texts which were hyperlinked semantically. In contrast, those already familiar with the topic understood the content equally well with both types of organization. [9] In interpreting these results, it may be useful to note that the studies mentioned were all performed in closed content environments, not on the internet. That is, the texts used only linked to a predetermined set of other texts which was offline. Furthermore, the participants were explicitly instructed to read on a certain topic in a limited amount of time. Reading text on the internet may not have these constraints. Research indicates that we build comprehension through the teaching of comprehension strategies and environments that support an understanding of text. It is important for educators and parents to teach children active strategies and skills to help them become active, purposeful readers. Teaching reading comprehension is an active process of constructing meaning, not skill application. The act of constructing meaning is: Interactive It involves not just the reader, but the text and the context in which reading takes place. Strategic Readers have purposes for their reading and use a variety of strategies as they construct meaning.

 Adaptable Readers change the strategies they use as they read different kinds of text or as they read for different purposes. What Do Good Readers Do? Before reading, good readers tend to set goals for their reading. During reading, good readers read words accurately and quickly, while dealing with meanings of words. Good readers are selective as they read. Good readers use their background knowledge (schema) to create mental images, ask questions, and make inferences. Good readers monitor their comprehension as they read. How Do Poor Readers Differ From Good Readers? Poor readers do not have sufficient awareness to develop, select, and apply strategies that can enhance their comprehension. Poor readers rarely prepare before reading. During reading, poor readers may have difficulty decoding, reading too slowly, and lack fluency. Poor readers often lack sufficient background knowledge and have trouble making connections with text. Some poor readers are unaware of text organization. After readin g, poor readers do not reflect on what they have just read.
Reading Process: Concepts of Print, Comprehension Strategies and Self-Monitoring Strategies Standard Grades 4-7

Ohio Benchmarks Grades 4-7

Grade-Level Indicators Grade 4

Grade-Level Indicators Grade 5

Grade-Level Indicator Grade 6

A. Determine

a purpose for reading and use a range of reading comprehension strategies to better understand text.

1. Establish and adjust purposes for reading including to find out, to understand, to interpret, to enjoy and to solve problems. 6. Select, create and use graphic organizers to interpret textual information.

1. Establish and adjust purposes for reading, including to find out, to understand, to interpret, to enjoy and to solve problems. 6. Select, create and use graphic organizers to interpret textual information.

1. Establish and a purposes for re including to find o understand, interpret, to enjo to solve problems

5. Select, create an graphic organize interpret te information.

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Define Academic Performance

By Melissa J. Bell, eHow Contributor In educational institutions, success is measured by academic performance, or how well a student meets standards set out by local government and the institution itself. As career competition grows ever more fierce in the working world, the importance of students doing well in school has caught the attention of parents, legislators and government education departments alike.

Significance

Although education is not the only road to success in the working world, much effort is made to identify, evaluate, track and encourage the progress of students in schools. Parents care about their child's academic performance because they believe good academic results will provide more career choices and job security. Schools, though invested in fostering good academic habits for the same reason, are also often influenced by concerns about the school's reputation and the possibility of monetary aid from government institutions, which can hinge on the overall academic performance of the school. State and federal departments of education are charged with improving schools, and so devise methods of measuring success in order to create plans for improvement.

History

In the past, academic performance was often measured more by ear than today. Teachers' observations made up the bulk of the assessment, and today's summation, or numerical, method of

determining how well a student is performing is a fairly recent invention. Grading systems came into existence in America in the late Victorian period, and were initially criticized due to high subjectivity. Different teachers valued different aspects of learning more highly than others, and although some standardization was attempted in order to make the system more fair, the problem continued. Today, changes have been made to incorporate differentiation for individual students' abilities, and exploration of alternate methods of measuring performance is ongoing

Function
o

The tracking of academic performance fulfills a number of purposes. Areas of achievement and failure in a student's academic career need to be evaluated in order to foster improvement and make full use of the learning process. Results provide a framework for talking about how students fare in school, and a constant standard to which all students are held. Performance results also allow students to be ranked and sorted on a scale that is numerically obvious, minimizing complaints by holding teachers and schools accountable for the components of each and every grade.

Features
o

Performance in school is evaluated in a number of ways. For regular grading, students demonstrate their knowledge by taking written and oral tests, performing presentations, turning in homework and participating in class activities and discussions. Teachers evaluate in the form of letter or number grades and side notes, to describe how well a student has done. At the state level, students are evaluated by their performance on standardized tests geared toward specific ages and based on a set of achievements students in each age group are expected to meet.

Considerations
o

The subjectivity of academic performance evaluation has lessened in recent years, but it has not been totally eliminated. It may not be possible to fully remove subjectivity from the current evaluation methods, since most are biased toward students that respond best to traditional teaching methods. Standardized testing is best responded to by students that excel in reading, mathematics and test-taking, a skill that is not in itself indicative of academic worth. The tests reward visual learners, and give no chance for kinesthetic or auditory learners to show their abilities. The standardized test fails to recognize students with learning and physical disabilities that do not allow them to complete the test in the same manner or amount of time as other students. Evaluations from classroom teachers, though they give the most detailed information, may still retain bias if individual differentiation and learning styles have not been taken into account.

Theses and Dissertations

Abstracts of thesis and dissertations of Colleges and Universities in Naga City as part of the Raul S. Roco Library Collection

LEARNING STYLE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

AGUIRRE, Lemuel O. Unpublished Master's Thesis, University of Nueva Caceres , City of Naga , 2001. Keywords: Elementary Pupils learning Styles

This study aimed to look into the learning style of Grade IV and VI pupils in San Juan Elementary School , Libmanan, Cam . Sur, S/Y 2000 2001 and its relation to academic performance in three tool subjects. Specific questions put forward were: 1) What are the learning styles of pupils in relation to personal, physical, and physiological elements?; 2) What is the level o fachievement of pupils in English, Science and Mathematics?; 3) Are the learning styles significantly associated with academic achievement?; 4) Are the learning styles of Grades IV and VI pupils significantly different? Learning styles investigated and their significant association with the students' academic performance were: physical elements, personal elements and physiological elements. The study used the descriptiveassociational method to descrive various aspects of learning styles of Grades IV and VI pupils and academic performance was described in terms of percentages using a scale categorized as satisfactory, fair, passed, and failed. A questionnaire was designed as the main tool in gathering needed data. To quantity the learning styles percentage was used and Chi square was also used for the association of the various elements of learning styles with academic performance. Major conclusions of the study were: In the spirit of teamwork, pupils study for self-satisfaction, mostly derived from logical accomplishment of tasks, under the teacher's guidance; most of the pupils learn in a quiet and brightly lighted place at night and for the rest of them lessons are learned by discussing informally with others; and predominantly active learners the style used is the multi-sensory type to achieve better results. Pupils were poor in English; poor in Mathematics and average in Science. Poor academic performance in Mathematics; and fair performance in Science and English are partially associated with pupil's learning style along personal elements with achievement in mathematics as the most significantly associated among the three subjects, followed by Science and English, respectively; light, design and time along physical elements significantly influence the academic achievements of Both the Grade IV and VI pupils; and physiological elements in terms of visual, tactile, and intake were significantly associated with Mathematics performance in Grade IV, while visual and tactile for Grade VI were significantly associated with fair performance in Science and English Respectively. Learning styles of Grade IV and VI pupils differed significantly in terms of structure, responsibility and intake and level of mental age accounted for the significant difference; learning styles physical, personal and physiological elements were proven to be the determinants of academic performance which provided partial answers to the difference in academic performance of Grades IV and VI pupils at San Juan Elementary School.