Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension might be the most important skill teachers teach. Unfortunately, most teachers do not view themselves as reading teachers. Even foreign language teachers, who teach reading skills as an integral part of the curriculum, do not necessarily see themselves as reading teachers. However, teachers of all content areas need to view themselves as reading teachers, or even reading specialists. Each content area has different approach to teaching reading comprehension due to the different text structures represented in the various content areas.

Unfortunately, many teachers do not take the time to teach the skills necessary to reading the specialized texts of their content area. Many teachers simply assign reading passages for homework without really scaffolding student learning. Many teachers leave students alone with their textbooks and rely on the questions at the end of textbook chapters to check for comprehension. This practice alone will not help students learn the material. They need to be presented with pre-reading activities that activate prior knowledge and prepare them to take in new information. They also need to be taught during reading strategies to help them really understand the information they are reading and make sense of the new information. Then they need after-reading activities that stretch them into higher order thinking skills so that they will better retain the information they learned because they are using it in a real and meaningful way. Teachers need an array of pre-, during, and after reading activities that can be adapted to suit the texts they use in their classrooms. Bean, Baldwin, and Readence offer some practical examples in chapter 6 of their book.

To Read or Not to Read... The Textbook

Textbooks, teachers either love them or hate them. Some teachers cling to them like a life preserver while others find them most useful as a doorstop, (mainly to spite the fire-marshal.) While textbooks themselves are not inherently good or bad, determines whether they are beneficial or harmful to student's learning. Textbooks have many faults. They are often rife with errors and cover too much information only ever scratching the surface. However, if one chooses to or is coerced into using a textbook, it can be implemented in way that results in real learning.

 A textbook can be used as an excellent road-map or framework. World language teachers may find textbooks particularly helpful in discovering how to group vocabulary families with grammatical structures into units that make sense and aspects of culture can be discussed using these elements. Also, non-native speakers may not be familiar with all aspects of the culture and a textbook can help fill-in the gaps. 

Teachers should use as many authentic texts as they can work into to the curriculum. Textbooks do not provide authentic language or communication. Texts in language textbooks, whether a mini-dialogue or a culture piece, often sound canned and out of context. Language teachers can use any type of authentic text to teach with: stories, poems, newspapers, magazines, novels,letters, websites, brochures, advertisements, music, interviews, and many more. Choosing texts sets is also an opportunity for teachers to align their instruction more closely to their students' interests. Textbooks should be heavily supplemented to provide real-world opportunities for students to interact with texts.

Because textbooks are meant to be a tool for students and teachers to interact during the learning process, and because of the overwhelming amount of specialized information, students will probably not be capable of navigating the textbook by themselves. Textbooks should be a framework or just one tool in the classroom toolbox. Teachers are supposed to experts in their fields and life-long learners. If this is true then they should be well-prepared and arm themselves with copious amounts of literature in their content area that they can draw on to make activities meaningful and authentic.

Tool Bag: Reading Strategies

Chapter five of Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman’s Subjects that Matter: Every Teacher’s Guide to Content-Area Reading discusses specific tools students can use as reading strategies. In order for students to learn these tools, they must be explicitly taught and modeled by the teacher. Not all strategies are multi –purpose, some are helpful at different times. For example, double entry journals are helpful during reading, but dramatic role-play can be used before or after reading.

This chapter really encourages teachers to diversify their strategies and gives teachers real ways to help students adapt these tools to their own learning needs. Also some strategies might work better in some content areas than others. Teachers should experiment with the different strategies and find a few that seem to work well with the material and will reach a diverse student population. Teachers should then teach and model these strategies to their students. Ideally, students will begin to use these strategies on their own to make sense of the material they are assigned to read. All students can become “smart” readers if they are given the tools to succeed.

Pre-reading activities such as brainstorming, clustering, anticipation guides, reading aloud, dramatic role-play, and probable passage are common strategies used in foreign language classrooms to activate prior knowledge and link knowledge between the native language and target language. Also, students are frequently encouraged to code in their books to help them understand and remember what they read.Word meaning graphic organizers are also popular to help students make the connection between related vocabulary words. Foreign Language teachers also use lots of discussion: whole class, small group, and partner to scaffold students reading comprehension. All of the strategies presented in this chapter could be successfully adapted to the language classroom.

Reflection 2: Teaching Text Structure in the WL Classroom

This week my reflection addresses the article, Teaching Text Structure to Improve Reading Comprehension, by Bakken and Whedon. Educators, particularly World Language teachers must address the disconnect between the way students learn to read and how they need to read to be successful in the classroom and on the job. Language teachers have an advantage to teaching literacy in the classroom because teaching reading comprehension is a natural part of teaching a second language. Learning to read in a foreign language is very similar to learning to read the first time. However, world language teachers at the high school and college level should teach with the thought in mind that they are equipping students to learn new information by reading.

 Language teachers teach concepts such as text structure, how to identify the main idea and supporting details, note-taking, and other study strategies. Language teachers often begin teaching texts at the most basic level such as word attack skills and how to use context clues. Language teachers understand the importance of repetition. Practice makes perfect certainly holds true with teaching text comprehension. Repetition is key for students to master these skills and be able to transfer the skill set to all types of texts, even those texts with unfamiliar formats. There are several different types of text structures teachers can teach students to use to improve reading comprehension. Teachers should teach all of strategies for text comprehension because not all students will learn the same. Some strategies may work better for some types of texts but not as well for others.

In addition to teaching text structure, teachers should evaluate whether or not students truly comprehend the text. The students should always be given an opportunity to either summarize the text in their own words, or practice what they have learned from reading the text. All students need to master this skill set. Reading comprehension of expository texts is one of the most important skills students can take with them when they leave the classroom.

Review of Quizlet.com

Quizlet is a free web tool that can be used to study vocabulary for any subject. Any language teacher can use this tool for students to practice vocabulary and expressions. Students will find it easy to use because it was designed by a middle school French student as a tool to study for vocabulary quizzes.

First, teachers create an account and then find existing information or create new quizzes. Teachers create study sets and organize the materials into classes. Students can then log on to a teacher’s account and access pre-made quizzes in six different modes: flashcard, spell, space race, test, scatter, or learn. Students can track their progress and review what they get wrong in the learn form. The scatter allows students to match the German and English words and their translations. Students race to recognize words before they leave the screen in the space race. This tool is particularly useful because it includes a function that allows students to hear the German words pronounced as they see the words. Quizlet can be used individually or socially. Students can work together on a quiz or engage in friendly competition. Also, the application can be accessed through Facebook. Quizlet even offers a mobile application. This is particularly helpful for students who do not have internet access at home, but do have access on their phone.

Teachers may create up to eight classes in the free version of Quizlet. Many teachers will find the free version of Quizlet will meet the needs of their students. However, if teachers feel they need more accessibility or want to add images from Flickr or from personal collections, they can upgrade to a paid version of Quizlet. The paid version also allows the teacher to add a badge to a website. One very useful addition to the paid version is that teachers can track student use which makes it easier to use Quizlet as an assignment either in the classroom or as homework.