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.
Darlene, I've been thinking a lot lately about how the living languages are taught quite differently than Latin, and so my comments today are more of an inquisitive nature that offering much critique of your reflection.
ReplyDeleteHow much in German do you utilize expository texts in the target language? Does there tend to be more expository than narrative?
For the first two years of my high school Latin class we read a narrative of a Roman family for the most part--Latin, in fact, doesn't have much of any kind of expository text at all, save perhaps the works of Seneca, a Roman philosopher.
I imagine that expository reading skills are much more essential in German than in Latin, at any rate.
Yes the emphasis is on expository texts. This is what appears on EOCs and National exams. As a result, narrative texts have basically disappeared from the curriculum. But I think students need exposure to both. Not everything they read in life is going to be expository. There are certain topics that narratives are much more effective tools for.
DeleteI think you are completely right Darlene. Reading comprehension is an integral part of learning a second language. Often in world languages, students in the beginning levels are just now learning to comprehend the texts they are given in their primary language, so the work we do with them might be one of their first exposures to it. I know I make my students accountable for reading comprehension on tests, and so far it has been working rather well.
ReplyDeleteYes, it interesting how that they learn this as much from us, or maybe more than their majority language courses. Research has found that the transfer of skills from L2 to L1 in reading fluency and competence are much greater than from L1 to L2. So students who study World Language become even more fluent in reading and achieve great comprehension in reading. This also suggests that World Language teachers in general are teaching skill transfer.
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