Think2Read

Step-By-Step Comprehension Reading Skills Instruction

Thinking To Read, Reading To think – Engaging Children Meaningfully in the Reciprocal Reading Process - - Donna Thomson September, 2006 
                             
In an attempt to effectively introduce the reciprocal reading framework that ‘teaches the reading comprehension strategies of predicting, questioning, summarizing and clarifying’ (First Steps, 1999) to Years 5 and 6 of our large Devon primary school in 2001, the Think2Read project discovered that although many of the children in the classes had been assessed as ‘good readers’, they were struggling to engage with any real confidence in the reciprocal guided reading process, as had been reported by many other teachers in classrooms across the country.

Following the analysis of our children’s reading assessment results over a period of two years it was clear that we needed to engage them in smaller, more in-depth reading comprehension instructional steps. We needed to unravel the whole thinking process involved in the complexities of comprehension for them.

With this in mind, we invited them to explore with us:-

• how literal, inferential and evaluative thinking and questioning is central to meaningful understanding of author’s intention;
• how our own feelings and experiences connect with the author’s words and shape our interpretation and reaction to text;
• how imagining (pictures in our head) enables us to make sense of incoming information so that we can more easily summarise what we’ve read.
• how we can make evidence-based predictions from the text in addition to using our prior knowledge and experience of cause and effect.
• how meaning and reasoning (deduction) go hand-in-hand.
• how to identify and apply literal, inferential and evaluative thinking to monitor our own learning progress and reading behaviors to gain greater comprehension and enjoyment of books.

Areas of comprehension that improved as a result of the Think2Read easy step-by-step lessons featured in “Quick Fix for Year Six – Comprehension” Donna Thomson & Ruth Nixey (2006) Scholastic,

• Have greatly improved knowledge of story structure and the different ways of gathering literal, inference and evaluation information from the text (e.g. who, what where, when, why and how information).
• Have a better understanding of how authors intention is presented as clues in the text that provide hidden, inferred and personal meaning for the reader.
• Are more able to make links and connections from own experience with that of incoming new knowledge.
• Make more purposeful use of personal enquiry during reading.
• Have improved interpretation skills due to better knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.
• Have improved skimming and scanning skills in response to questions from the text.

 

Donna Thomson and Ruth Nixey’s research into comprehension has proved that their in-depth step-by-step lessons have provided an effective introduction to the reciprocal reading process, a programme supported by the National Primary Strategy ( Maureen Lewis Report on behalf of the National Literacy Strategy, 2005).

 

It is important to note that ongoing assessment of pupils work which identifies strengths and areas for improvement whether it be formal or informal ,using verbal feedback, children’s own feedback or written feedback, is essential in providing effective teaching focus for comprehension thinking skills instruction. (Further information about Assessment focus and resources will be available on this website from September, 2009).

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Definition of Comprehension Question Types
Think2Read believe that to fully engage in making sense and being able to read the world around us, we need to understand the skills involved in how we make meaning.

We need to be able to identify and apply the three fundamental questioning skills: literal, inference and evaluation, alongside the essential comprehension strategies of summarizing, clarifying and prediction to have full understanding of incoming information whether it is presented to us through pictures, oral or written language. These skills are central to bringing meaning and reasoning to learning to read, and it could be said, are crucial to all meaningful learning.

As students progress through the school system, increasingly the expectation is that they can comprehend the underlying inferences, evaluate the text by extending beyond what is given, reorganize information, infer the meaning of unfamiliar or unknown words from context and react to what has been read.

Definition of Question Types
Five different question types have been used in the T2R Picture Comprehension Assessment to measure student’s depth of thinking and understanding.

Literal, explicit meaning: (Who? What? Where? Right there!) – information given directly on the page that tells the reader who is in the story, what they are doing, where it is happening.

Inference, implied and hidden meaning: (Thinking & searching for clues - providing evidence to support deductions)– information that is implied within the text but not given directly, from which connecting evidence is drawn to support deductions.

Evaluation/evidence–based interpretation from reaction, Personal meaning: (‘The bigger picture’ - what you think from your own experience that explains actions, feelings of others, and links to information & mood within the story).Expressing an opinion based on information given.

Clarification/vocabulary/phrasing: defining of a word, or phrase as it is used in the text. In addition, the student is required to determine the appropriate use of language to accurately and meaningfully describe scenes, events, moods, actions and feelings that are expressed in story when retelling in their own words.  

Prediction: - anticipating cause and effect from implied, hidden and personal meaning within the text.