Comprehension Chapter 7

1. Comprehension Chapter 7 Reader and the written text interact in reading comprehension. The reader alone or the text alone does not produce meaning.

2. Readers use all these forms of background knowledge • 1. Print features (letters, word parts and words) • 2. Facts • 3. Strategies (Rupley & Wilson) • 4. Purpose for reading • These factors decide the attention (focus & maintaining focus) and refining of ideas to get meaning from print. (Tierney and Pearson)

3. Background knowledge includes: • 1. Word recognition, concept of print, understanding of word order and understanding of word meanings. • 2. Content of what is being read • 3. How the text is organized. • (Alexander and Murphy)

4. Schema Theory • How knowledge is presented and how new knowledge is integrated with a network of prior knowledge. (Everyone’s is different) • Reading process doesn’t go from print to overall interpretation of a text in a strictorder. • Explains how we learn, modify, and use information we have gathered from experiences.

5. Schema Theory • Knowledge is organized according to meaning (thesaurus) rather than according to words (dictionary). • Many categories of schemata: places, events, jobs, ideas. • Slots-Attributes of a schema. Details about the chair-legs, back, seat.

7. Schemata are considered abstract • 1. Concepts- ideas • 2. Actions and events-have episodes or sequential order. • Slots are filled differently (Anderson)

8. Much cross referencing happens with schema • These theories are used for artificial intelligence. • Empty slots are always waiting to be filled. • New learning comes when schema is modified or created. • Inference fills many slots.

9. How Schemata influence comprehension • Explains how readers use background knowledge. • Students may not have background for world politics or economics or England in 1200. • Student may have the experience but not the language: The magistrate chastised them for the brouhaha.

10. Schemata Influence on Comprehension • Students may have used schemata but come up with a different idea than the one intended by the author. • Social and cultural factors affect schemata- • Readers from different cultures give different meaning to the same text. • Students had difficulty answering questions about text from a different culture than their own. • When the reader’s culture is mismatched with the culture of the text, meaning is lost.

11. Implications of Schema Theory • Using this knowledge to teach: • Make sure the reading is within the background experience of the child. • Activate the background knowledge before reading. Discuss, map words, give a purpose for reading, give study questions, pre-read questions.

12. Using schema theory to teach • Develop background knowledge for new information: field trips, filmstrips, videos, pictures, guest speakers. Discuss new words, connect known concepts with new ones. Especially important in the content areas of science and social studies. • Think aloud for students to relate new text to familiar ideas. • Monitor student’s progress to see that they are matching new meaning to old ideas.

13. Bridges between new ideas and familiar ideas. • Repeated interactions with content build these bridges. • Hypothesis are used to confirm or reject ideas from the new text. • Comprehension is the synthesis of these hypothesis that builds the meaning.

14. Metacognition • Knowing if you know. • Readers monitor their comprehension and know when it breaks down. • Good readers know how to repair meaning.

15. Teachers should: • Model how to check, monitor, and test hypotheses. • Decoding and comprehension are both important parts of a literacy program. • Teaching strategies, monitoring comprehension and providing opportunities to apply these strategies are major features of teaching literacy.

16. What to teach: • Old research provided a set of skills to teach • This list of skills is not enough. • Dole says these are points should be taught as part of the curriculum of comprehension: • Decide what it important and what isn’t (FILTER) Text structure and organization helps with this skill. (Fine print)

17. Dole (cont.) • Summarizing Information-allows reader to sort through large pieces of text. • This is developmental. Young children can summarize a simple plot, but can’t do sections of a longer story.

18. Dole(cont.) • Drawing Inferences: Learn to fill in the gaps. • Ask questions of the text: Children K-5 are able to ask predictive questions about a story to gain the author’s purpose for the piece.

19. Monitoring Comprehension • Good readers do this unconsciously in order to repair lost meaning. • Metacognition is paying attention to your own understanding and applying fix it strategies when necessary.

20. Questioning Strategies • Teachers must choose the right questions to help students with comprehension. This makes the students pay attention to the important aspects of the text. • Questions help to tie background knowledge to new text. • Pre-reading questions help students to focus their attention on literal meaning of the text.

21. Inferential Questions • Students must fill in their background knowledge to deduce meaning. What do you think will happen next? • Teacher questions usually focus on the knowledge or facts from the text. • Find a turning point in the story and ask, What will happen next? Why do you think so? Check this prediction. Follow up activities help with reflection on the story