Effective Reading Comprehension Strategies
Introduction
Reading comprehension is fundamental to ultimate educational success. Yet elementary students struggle with it on a daily basis. In order for students to comprehend their reading materials, it is helpful to explicitly teach comprehension strategies. (Check out this list!) I will be looking at three aspects of human cognition to be of assistance in this task: metacognition, working memory, and activating prior semantic knowledge. As an educator, it is important that I help my students reach as much of their potential as I can. Testing different strategies on my students can help me, but even more importantly, can help my students identify the best ones for each of them.
Reading comprehension is fundamental to ultimate educational success. Yet elementary students struggle with it on a daily basis. In order for students to comprehend their reading materials, it is helpful to explicitly teach comprehension strategies. (Check out this list!) I will be looking at three aspects of human cognition to be of assistance in this task: metacognition, working memory, and activating prior semantic knowledge. As an educator, it is important that I help my students reach as much of their potential as I can. Testing different strategies on my students can help me, but even more importantly, can help my students identify the best ones for each of them.
Literature Review
Working Memory
Working memory is that part of our memory that allows us to remember things long enough to accomplish a particular task or tasks. It is both brief and instantaneous, quickly and easily forgotten once the task is accomplished (Matlin, 2005). This working memory can hold 7 +/- 2 items at a time. If some of these items are chunked, like remembering 17 instead of 1 and 7, the amount of information that can be held in working memory is increased.
Working memory is that part of our memory that allows us to remember things long enough to accomplish a particular task or tasks. It is both brief and instantaneous, quickly and easily forgotten once the task is accomplished (Matlin, 2005). This working memory can hold 7 +/- 2 items at a time. If some of these items are chunked, like remembering 17 instead of 1 and 7, the amount of information that can be held in working memory is increased.
Alan Baddeley has proposed that working memory is a multipart system consisting of four components: 1) The phonological loop stores information based on sounds. 2) The visuospatial sketchpad stores visual and spatial information. 3) The episodic buffer stores information from the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory for a short time during a particular episode in one’s life. 4) The central executive coordinates the other three components, making decisions about necessity, priority, and immediacy, in order to allow people to function efficiently (Baddeley, 2000).
Scores on tasks involving working memory can predict reading achievement. Children with disabilities in reading tend to have low working memory skills, and these skills do not improve over time as they do in typically developing students (Alloway, 2006).
Students with poor comprehension have specific difficulties with complex tasks that require them to store and process verbal information. They are also more likely to recall unnecessary information than good comprehenders (Cain, 2006).
Students with poor comprehension have specific difficulties with complex tasks that require them to store and process verbal information. They are also more likely to recall unnecessary information than good comprehenders (Cain, 2006).
Semantic Memory and Reading Comprehension
Semantic memory is that part of our memory that contains encyclopedic knowledge. One theory of how our semantic memory is designed and how it works is the parallel distributed processing approach. This approach involves a model that has a central idea with attributes and information connected to it through a network. Network connections are stronger for ideas that are closely related, and weaker for ideas that are less closely related. An important aspect of reading comprehension is activating these networks in the brain to help students understand subject matter under study (Matlin, 2005).
Semantic memory is that part of our memory that contains encyclopedic knowledge. One theory of how our semantic memory is designed and how it works is the parallel distributed processing approach. This approach involves a model that has a central idea with attributes and information connected to it through a network. Network connections are stronger for ideas that are closely related, and weaker for ideas that are less closely related. An important aspect of reading comprehension is activating these networks in the brain to help students understand subject matter under study (Matlin, 2005).
Students with greater semantic knowledge learn faster and the burden on working memory is lower, allowing for greater and more effective comprehension of material. Poor comprehenders have less word knowledge and generated fewer responses in semantic categorization tasks. Limited cognitive resources affect speed and efficiency of semantic access, giving rise to lesser capacity of working memory and reducing comprehension of written material. (Nation and Snowling, 1998).
Poor comprehenders have difficulty reading words that require support from semantics, have difficulty with unfamiliar and low-frequency words, are less able to use context to develop meaning of unfamiliar words, and in fact do not even rely on semantic pathways as much as good comprehenders do. Poor reading comprehension also has a deleterious effect on word recognition (Nation and Snowling, 1998).
Prior vocabulary knowledge has a strong positive impact on a student’s ability to make inferences. Students with a larger vocabulary spend less time rereading relevant information necessary to make inferences from written text. They are also more efficient at locating information necessary for providing evidence needed to support an inference and at utilizing working memory effectively in current reading comprehension tasks (Calvo, 2004).
Effective classroom instruction includes four elements. These are: the quality of the instruction itself, teaching at levels appropriate for the students, incentive and motivation on the part of the students, and the right amount of time spent on the task at hand. These elements are multiplicatively related: ineffectiveness in any one of the four elements renders the whole model ineffective. However, improvements in two or more areas provide greater gains than improving only one. (Slavin, 1994)
When students attempt to read new material, whether it be narrative or expository, it is a good idea for them to ask themselves to think about the content of this material. They can take a picture walk through the text, look at headings and chapter titles, and make predictions about various events or words highlighted. Good readers are active in their reading. They ask questions about new words and concepts, make comparisons, and draw on their prior knowledge to assist them in comprehension. (Duke and Pearson, 2002) Developing good reading comprehension is more than just thinking about how to comprehend. Students must also be taught specific skills that are essential to good comprehension. These include phonological skills, knowledge of the structure of the text, fluency, and vocabulary. (Gersten, et al., 2001)
Students taught decoding skills in a more direct and explicit fashion improve faster than students taught in a more implicit fashion. (Foorman & Torgesen, 2001)
Students learn more and better when they have previous knowledge or experience with a topic under study. This helps them activate their neural networks in semantic memory. They make connections to the former nodes and links in their networks. (Matlin, 2005) The more knowledge they gain, the greater their semantic networks will be. The use of graphic organizers can greatly enhance students’ ability to access prior knowledge and bring it to the fore.
Fluency instruction is imperative to good reading comprehension. It takes energy for students to sound out words. If students stumble and are unable to produce a word quickly, they lose momentum and forget what the context of the sentence is. This obviously has a negative effect on comprehension. Fluency must be practiced over time, requiring plenty of both time and practice! Researchers have not found evidence that silent reading has a positive effect on student achievement, but they have found evidence that repeated oral reading positively impacts word recognition, comprehension, and fluency. (Watkins, 2007) Repeated reading is a cost-effective way to help children improve fluency. Materials on hand are more than acceptable to use, especially since any type of text will do.
Questioning techniques on the part of the teacher are also a vital component of teaching students to comprehend text well—what are “wait-time” and “think-time”? Not only do students need time to think of answers, but the questions they are being asked should be higher-level questions—not just yes/no, true/false, or simple detail questions. There is power in “Why?” questions. Asking questions that require elaboration on the part of students helps them to comprehend, teach, and practice new knowledge. (Pressley, 2000) Get more ideas from Will Thalheimer.
Specific comprehension strategies are needed to build skills, but metacognition is important so that students will monitor their own understanding and areas of confusion and frequently evaluate the text with which they are working. (Duke and Pearson, 2002) (Read some effective practices.)
Metacognition
Metacognition, or knowledge about your cognitive processes, is the study of thinking about one’s thinking (Matlin, 2005). (Read about metacognition.) Comprehension monitoring through explicit teaching of metacognitive strategies shows developmental improvements in upper elementary age students. These effects increase steadily between 5th and 8th grade, with girls having better results than boys. Girls appear to be more likely to be willing to monitor and regulate their own learning than boys. “Comprehension monitoring is significantly and consistently related to reading comprehension during higher elementary school” (Kolic-Vehovec, Bajsanski, 2006). Improving students’ thinking and helping them learn to think about their own thinking help students become their own advocate.
Research in the last 20 years has had a strong emphasis on making students more aware of their own thinking processes. This helps them take ownership of their learning and take more responsibility on themselves. The awareness that students gain through explicit instruction in metacognitive strategies tends to help students learn better. Three aspects of metacognition are strategic knowledge, knowledge about cognitive tasks, and self-knowledge (Anderson, Krathwohl, Airasian, Cruikshank, Mayer, Pintrich, Raths, & Wittrock, 2001.).
Strategic knowledge includes knowledge of strategies that help students learn, think, and solve problems. It also includes knowing when to use the strategies appropriately (Anderson, 2001.).
Knowledge about cognitive tasks includes knowledge of different types of cognitive tasks and the demands on a student’s cognitive skills to complete the tasks. This knowledge is dependent on top-down processing, requiring students to pull relevant information out of long-term memory to complete a given task (Anderson, 2001.).
Knowledge about cognitive tasks includes knowledge of different types of cognitive tasks and the demands on a student’s cognitive skills to complete the tasks. This knowledge is dependent on top-down processing, requiring students to pull relevant information out of long-term memory to complete a given task (Anderson, 2001.).
Self-knowledge is knowledge the student has about his or her strengths and weaknesses. One distinction of experts is their ability to know when they do not know something and what they need to do to find the needed information. Students need to learn to be aware of areas in which they are lacking and given the tools necessary so that they know how to locate the missing information (Anderson, 2001.).
Being able to assimilate all three of these types of metacognitive strategies seems to allow for greater transfer of learning across the curriculum. Students are better able to determine when to use or not to use a specific strategy when they have more awareness of their own capabilities (Pintrich, 2002.).
Explicit instruction in metacognitive strategies and techniques is more helpful to students than implicit instruction (Pintrich, 2002; Kolic-Vehovec & Bajsanski, 2006.).
Combining explicit instruction of reading comprehension strategies, building on prior knowledge, and utilizing metacognition should help me determine the most effective strategies for reading comprehension improvement in my classroom.
Combining explicit instruction of reading comprehension strategies, building on prior knowledge, and utilizing metacognition should help me determine the most effective strategies for reading comprehension improvement in my classroom.
Research Question and Hypothesis
What are the most effective strategies for teaching reading comprehension?
In accord with recent research, my hypothesis is that students will have greater comprehension of material after the application of 3 different strategies,
Research Design and Methods
This is an action research project that will involve the 19 students in my own fifth grade class. I will implement three different strategies designed to promote greater comprehension in reading. The results will inform my practice so that together with my students I can optimize their learning and increase their reading comprehension.
This research will take place in the spring semester of this school year. We will spend four weeks on each technique, using both a pretest and a posttest in assessing summarization and repeated reading. I will use journaling and anecdotal records to assess the success of questioning techniques. Data analysis will consist of reading student work as well as my journal and anecdotal records. I also plan to have a colleague come in to observe my classroom and give me constructive feedback about each technique.
I will begin with a learning profile questionnaire. (See Appendix.) The purpose of this is to help the students develop their metacognitive skills. This is not a direct reading comprehension technique but it will form as a base on which to build other skills. They can then use their responses to remind them of the environment in which they best like to learn and to seek out that environment whenever possible. It will also allow me to make changes in my classroom to optimize learning. Sometimes we can dim the lights or turn on music or they can do their work on the floor.
At the end of each of the four weeks, I will ask the students to answer basic questions about the efficacy of that particular method. Did it help? Is it easier for you to perform this skill now? Have you improved?
First four weeks: The focus will be on repeated readings. We will use poetry to practice repeated reading. The goal will be 180 words per minute (WPM) for fifth graders, looking for an accuracy of 10 errors or fewer. The first reading will serve as the pretest for each student. They will chart their progress on individual graphs. At the end of the four weeks, a final will reading will serve as the posttest for each student. Second four weeks: Questioning techniques. I will use a minimum 3-5 second wait-time during questioning to allow students to retrieve and form answers to questions, paying careful attention to asking higher-order thinking questions as much as possible. I will keep anecdotal records about responses from students. At the end of each day I will journal about how the questioning went.
Third four weeks: We will have discussion about summarizing as a metacognitive strategy to help improve reading comprehension. I will give the class a section of Social Studies text to read and summarize. This will serve as a “pretest” of summarization skills. The class will then spend 10-15 minutes every day for four weeks on summarization through direct instruction, peer review, and whole-class discussion. At the end of the four weeks, I will give them the same section of Social Studies text to read and summarize as a “posttest.” I will then compare the two summaries to assess growth.
I will also ask the students to complete a survey at the end of the project, discussing their views about the techniques and which they think helped them the most.
What are the most effective strategies for teaching reading comprehension?
In accord with recent research, my hypothesis is that students will have greater comprehension of material after the application of 3 different strategies,
Research Design and Methods
This is an action research project that will involve the 19 students in my own fifth grade class. I will implement three different strategies designed to promote greater comprehension in reading. The results will inform my practice so that together with my students I can optimize their learning and increase their reading comprehension.
This research will take place in the spring semester of this school year. We will spend four weeks on each technique, using both a pretest and a posttest in assessing summarization and repeated reading. I will use journaling and anecdotal records to assess the success of questioning techniques. Data analysis will consist of reading student work as well as my journal and anecdotal records. I also plan to have a colleague come in to observe my classroom and give me constructive feedback about each technique.
I will begin with a learning profile questionnaire. (See Appendix.) The purpose of this is to help the students develop their metacognitive skills. This is not a direct reading comprehension technique but it will form as a base on which to build other skills. They can then use their responses to remind them of the environment in which they best like to learn and to seek out that environment whenever possible. It will also allow me to make changes in my classroom to optimize learning. Sometimes we can dim the lights or turn on music or they can do their work on the floor.
At the end of each of the four weeks, I will ask the students to answer basic questions about the efficacy of that particular method. Did it help? Is it easier for you to perform this skill now? Have you improved?
First four weeks: The focus will be on repeated readings. We will use poetry to practice repeated reading. The goal will be 180 words per minute (WPM) for fifth graders, looking for an accuracy of 10 errors or fewer. The first reading will serve as the pretest for each student. They will chart their progress on individual graphs. At the end of the four weeks, a final will reading will serve as the posttest for each student. Second four weeks: Questioning techniques. I will use a minimum 3-5 second wait-time during questioning to allow students to retrieve and form answers to questions, paying careful attention to asking higher-order thinking questions as much as possible. I will keep anecdotal records about responses from students. At the end of each day I will journal about how the questioning went.
Third four weeks: We will have discussion about summarizing as a metacognitive strategy to help improve reading comprehension. I will give the class a section of Social Studies text to read and summarize. This will serve as a “pretest” of summarization skills. The class will then spend 10-15 minutes every day for four weeks on summarization through direct instruction, peer review, and whole-class discussion. At the end of the four weeks, I will give them the same section of Social Studies text to read and summarize as a “posttest.” I will then compare the two summaries to assess growth.
I will also ask the students to complete a survey at the end of the project, discussing their views about the techniques and which they think helped them the most.
Expected Results and Discussions
Research shows that direct instruction in reading comprehension improves reading comprehension. Therefore, I expect to see improvement in comprehension overall. I will be interested to see if the order in which I am presenting the techniques will have a cumulative effect.
I expect the repeated readings to be something the class will enjoy. I plan to use
poetry because much of it has great humor, so they do not mind reading it more than once and it has the added benefit of containing rhythms that are easy to follow.
I will have to be careful to watch the clock and to think about my questions carefully in order for the questioning technique to prove effective. I think I will have the most problems with this technique. I have a tendency to get too wrapped up in “getting through the material” instead of focusing on more elaborate responses.
Summarizing is a difficult skill, so I put it last, hoping to improve fluency before tackling summarization.
Educational Implications
Implications of this study, assuming my hypothesis is correct, would be to make other teachers aware of the successes I have found with these three strategies so that they can incorporate any or all of them into their own teaching repertoire.
Limitations/weakness
My class is a very small sample. Any of the three strategies that might work extremely well for my class might not work as well in a larger setting. It will also be difficult to make time for the journaling and anecdotal information as well as other data analysis along with all the other demands of my job. It would also be a good idea for me to be in contact with a professional researcher to use as a resource. The effect of trying to accommodate learning profiles may confound the results as well.
Future Steps
I plan to implement this study this school year and work on some additional strategies in the next school year. It is difficult to change many things at once. The improvements gained here will help me make adjustments to my own practice to help improve reading comprehension in my students.
I plan to implement this study this school year and work on some additional strategies in the next school year. It is difficult to change many things at once. The improvements gained here will help me make adjustments to my own practice to help improve reading comprehension in my students.
Appendix
Learning Profile Questionnaire: How Do You Like to Learn?
1. I study best when it is quiet.
Yes
No
2. I am able to ignore the noise of other people talking while I am working.
3. I like to work at a table or desk.
Yes
No
4. I like to work on the floor.
Yes
No
5. I work hard for myself.
Yes
No
6. I work hard for my parents or teacher.
Yes
No
7. I will work on an assignment until it is completed no matter what.
Yes
No
8. Sometimes I get frustrated with my work and do not finish it.
Yes
No
9. When my teacher gives an assignment, I like to have exact steps on how to complete it.
Yes
No
10. When my teacher gives an assignment, I like to create my own steps on how to complete it.
Yes
No
11. I like to work by myself.
Yes
No
12. I like to work in pairs or in groups.
Yes
No
13. I like to have an unlimited amount of time to work on an assignment.
Yes
No
14. I like to have a certain amount of time to work on an assignment.
Yes
No
15. I like to learn by moving and doing.
Yes
No
16. I like to learn while sitting at my desk.
Yes
No
Reference for questionnaire.
Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms (2nd
ed. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
