Knowledge and Comprehension: Helping Students Use What They Know

1990

This final report of a reading instruction study examined teachers' use of research-based practices when teaching reading comp_3hension, as well as the barriers that prevent teachers from using such practices. Six schools in two school districts in a southwestern urban area were selected for intensive-study; 39 teachers of grades 4-6 participated. The report also developed and tested a school-based staff development process designed to change teachers' practices in reading comprehension instruction. Chapters of the study are titled: (1) "Introduction and Rationale"; (2) "Research Methodology and Site"; (3) "Research-Based Teaching of Reading Practices"; (4) "Teachers Reading Comprehension Instructional Practices"; (5) "Teacher Beliefs and the School Context: Factors Affecting Teacners' Use of Research-Based Practices"; (6) "The Staff Development Process and its Effects"; (7) "Implications of the Staff Development Program for Student Lee' ning"; and (8) Conclusions." The report concludes tIlat research shoLLd provide practitioners not just with findings in the form of activities or behaviors that "work," but ways of thinking and empirical premises related to teaching and learning. The report also concludes that opportunities should be created to allow teachers to interact and maintain conversations around standards, theory, and classroom activity. Sixteen pages of references are attached; extensive figures and tables of data are included. The appendixes include a six-page list of syntheses ant reviews of comprehension teaching practices; an outline of reading comprehension practices researched in the literature; evaluation instruments, survey instruments, and interview questions; and detailed case studies of five schools where research was conducted.

Learning and Individual Differences, 2010

Text comprehension plays a fundamental role in the processes of acquisition, sharing, and construction of knowledge. Most definitions share the focus on the interaction between text and reader's prior knowledge. In this paper both direct and indirect effects of prior knowledge on reading comprehension have been analyzed, along with other components. Participants were 149 7-graders. Data showed that comprehension of different texts is predicted by different sets of components. Prior knowledge plays a central role, influencing comprehension both, directly and indirectly through the mediation of inferences.

Online Submission, 2006

One of the greatest challenges of an elementary school teacher is equipping students with comprehension strategies that transfer to all content areas. With stable levels of reading achievement over the last two decades in the United States, it is necessary that further research be conducted on methods of increasing students' comprehension proficiencies. This experimental research study explores the use of an anticipatory reading guide with third grade struggling readers across multiple subject areas. Findings indicate that the experimental treatment group outperformed the control group by a statistically significant rate on both reading and content area measures, indicating that when struggling readers practice and use strategies to explicitly think what will be asked of them after reading the passage they perform at higher levels.

Online Submission, 2013

One of the greatest challenges of an elementary school teacher is equipping students with comprehension strategies that transfer to all content areas. With stable levels of reading achievement over the last two decades in the United States, it is necessary that further research be conducted on methods of increasing students' comprehension proficiencies. This experimental research study explores the use of an anticipatory reading guide with third grade struggling readers across multiple subject areas. Findings indicate that the experimental treatment group outperformed the control group by a statistically significant rate on both reading and content area measures, indicating that when struggling readers practice and use strategies to explicitly think what will be asked of them after reading the passage they perform at higher levels.

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015

The present study was conducted for two purposes:(1) to compare the learners' comprehension ability before and after the implementation of two types of pre-reading activities, guessing reading content from asking pre-reading questions and vocabulary definition, (2) to investigate the learners' attitudes towards the implementation of two pre-reading activities. Research participants consisted of 60 grade-10 students studying at Omol Habibeh high school in Ilam, Iran. A test of reading comprehension ability was administered to assign the subjects into two groups. The two groups were given different pre-reading activity, guessing reading content from asking pre-reading questions and vocabulary definition, respectively. The research instrument consisted of reading comprehension test (used as pre-and post-tests). The experiment using the two pre reading activities were carried out for 5 weeks two sessions a week .The data was analyzed statistically to identify means, standard deviation, and t-value. It was found that after implementation of the 2 pre-reading activities the subjects performed better in the post-test, at significant level of .05. When compared the results of the 2 pre-reading activities, it was found that the group receiving guessing meaning from pre-reading questions performed better that their counterpart who experienced vocabulary definitions, at.05. It was also found that both groups were satisfied with the activity they experienced.

One of the greatest challenges of an elementary school teacher is equipping students with comprehension strategies that transfer to all content areas. With stable levels of reading achievement over the last two decades in the United States, it is necessary that further research be conducted on methods of increasing students' comprehension proficiencies. This experimental research study explores the use of an anticipatory reading guide with third grade struggling readers across multiple subject areas. Findings indicate that the experimental treatment group outperformed the control group by a statistically significant rate on both reading and content area measures, indicating that when struggling readers practice and use strategies to explicitly think what will be asked of them after reading the passage they perform at higher levels.

The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 2014

Because of the Common Core State Standards there is a renewed emphasis on the importance of visual literacies in today's classrooms. Students need prior knowledge before approaching these types of texts. This article describes the results of one 6th-grade language arts class's engagement in pre-reading prior to viewing a theatrical performance. The study examined whether obtaining background knowledge through print can be used effectively to increase the knowledge of drama, visual literacy, and nonprint text. The study utilized an experimental control-group design; t-test results revealed that using pre-reading as a comprehension strategy is more effective than just viewing drama. In addition, factorial ANOVA results showed that the treatment did not signficantly interact with reading ability or gender. Overall, this 6th-grade class's comprehension skills were enhanced with the help of pre-reading. This study indicates that pre-reading is a powerful strategy that can build background knowledge and ultimately increase comprehension of visual literacy for all students, and it and offers insight for a larger study.

Review of Educational Research, 1991

This article is an attempt to integrate findings from research about comprehension processes, comprehension strategies, and teaching strategies in order to inform instructional practice in reading comprehension. The article begins with a discussion of traditional views about reading and how those views have shaped the current comprehension curriculum in American schools. A view of comprehension based on recent models of the reading process is presented next as a basis for reconceptualizing the comprehension curriculum as a set of five effective comprehension strategies. From research on teaching comes a foundation for establishing a new view of instruction, one that focuses on the negotiation of meaning among students and teachers through teachers’ instructional actions. Instructional recommendations, based on the research synthesized in this article, and questions for future research bring the article to a close.