Shelina Hassanali

EDPS 658
June 18
th
, 2013
What is reading comprehension?
Importance
Critical skills required
General recommendations for all students
Evidence-based strategies
Specific strategy: QAR
Specific program: Visualizing & Verbalizing
Specific interventions
Apps to complement interventions
Simply put, the ability of the child to
understand/make sense of what they are
reading
Extracting and/or constructing meaning from
written material

Reading comprehension is the construction
of the meaning of a written text through a
reciprocal interchange of ideas between the
reader and the message in a particular text.
(Harris & Hodges, 1995)
Academics
Textbooks, worksheets, tests, notes, novels, etc
Affects ability to absorb information
Social interaction
Impacts participation in group work, following
instructions
Ability to learn independently
Enjoyment of reading
Without comprehension, reading becomes a
chore
Professional/Employment
Suggested that today, kids are required to
have more advanced comprehension skills
than any other generation
Exposed to a flood of written information
(websites, apps, texts, emails)
Word-level skills
Vocabulary knowledge
Broad conceptual knowledge
Use of strategies
Thinking & reasoning skills
Motivation
Bare basics of reading
Letter recognition
Phonemic awareness
Accurate & fluent decoding
Sight words

Why are these skills important?
Cognitive resources are consumed by laborious
efforts at decoding, leaving minimal resources
for comprehension
Automaticity frees up cognitive resources
Having a large repertoire of vocabulary
improves comprehension
Why is this important?
Students know what individual words mean
Easier to create links between words and
concepts when we know what they mean
individually
General knowledge which the student brings
to the text
Can be drawn from academic subjects (i.e.
social, science) and real-life experiences,
memories, etc
Why is this important?
Large knowledge base helps students to identify
with and link concepts in the text
Leads to those oh yeah!, Ive seen that! or I
know how that feels moments
Increases emotional links to texts
Bank of cognitive strategies to aid
comprehension
Understanding the common structure of
certain texts
Why is this important?
Knowledge of text structure aids in quickly
finding/identifying key information
The student must have the metacognitive ability
to realize when they are not comprehending
something, and a bank of strategies from which
to choose
Thoughtful analysis of content
Considering motivations of characters in
narrative text, links to real life, exploring
the whys
Why is this important?
Allows students to engage in critical thinking
about what they are reading
Improves inference-making ability, therefore
improving comprehension
Genuine interest in reading
Engagement in the task
Willingness to read for the sake of gaining
knowledge and/or for enjoyment
Why is this important?
Comprehension requires active mental effort
Students are more likely to intentionally apply
strategies if they are motivated
If motivation is low, reading becomes a chore
Kirby, n.d.
While students with LD may struggle due to
decoding/fluency issues, this is not always
the case
May also
have difficulty attending to meaning, relating to
prior knowledge, making inferences, and
identifying main ideas
lack metacognitive skills or fail to use strategies
lack ability to coordinate all of the processes
required for comprehension


Explicit teaching of strategies is KEY for these students!
The recommendations on the next slide came
from a best practice guide for improving
reading comprehension (U.S. Department of
Education, 2010)

Based on a sample of 812 studies from 1989-
2009, of which 27 studies met the
researchers criteria for strong evidence base
1. Teach students how to use reading
comprehension strategies
2. Teach students to identify and use the
texts organizational structure to aid
comprehension
3. Guide students through focused, high
quality discussion re: meaning of text
4. Select texts purposefully
5. Establish an engaging and motivating
context
Many strategies available to improve reading
comprehension
Common factor is that all of these increase
level of engagement with the text
Strategies range from simple to more
complex and can be used in combination as
seen fit for each individual student
Teach decoding/fluency skills
Increase vocabulary
Activation of prior knowledge
Predicting outcomes of texts
Questioning
Visualization
Inference-making
Re-telling
Paraphrase
Mark text
Visual representation (graphic organizers)
Various specific interventions used before,
during, and after reading
Strategy Description Activities
Activate Prior
Knowledge/Predict
Think about what you
already know about
the topic,
hypothesize
Ask students to link
one main idea to
their own life;
predict what may
happen; explain
prediction
Questioning Students
develop/attempt to
answer questions
Index cards with 5
Ws; students to
ask/answer in small
groups
Visualizing Develop mental
picture of whats in
text
Have students close
their eyes & imagine;
request high detail
Draw Inferences Generate info that is
important to
understanding text
Identify key words,
i.e. clown & acrobats
inference = circus
Summarize/Re-tell Briefly re-tell Repeat in own words
Strategy Description Activities
Mark Text Underline key
concepts, circle
unfamiliar words, use
stickies to flag
passages which are
unclear
Have students mark
text during silent and
group reading, when
possible; base
questions directly on
this information
Visual Representation Helps to organize &
chunk information
Use graphic
organizers to visually
represent characters,
settings, problems,
themes, etc. For
younger children,
picture sequence
cards.
Evidence-based strategy for questioning
Helps students understand that the answer to
a comprehension question is directly related
to the type of question asked
Assists students to decide whether answers
to certain types of comprehension questions
can be found In the book or In my head
Two types of questions and their subtypes:










Lots of evidence to show that QAR training
improves comprehension
In a recent study, teachers implemented QAR
training for four weeks in four classrooms
(n=69) every day
Pre/post comprehension test showed
significant improvement in reading
comprehension
Implications: only used for four weeks,
longer term use may yield even better results
Developers of this program suggest that the
root cause of poor comprehension is
weakness in concept imagery
Students unable to create an imaged, whole
picture
Can process parts,
but struggle to connect parts
to a whole
Program: Visualizing & Verbalizing for
Language Comprehension and Thinking (V/V)
Helps to develop sensory-cognitive function of
concept imagery
Starts by using pictures and having students
describe them in detail; moves at childs pace
towards detailed imagery of written text
Well-researched, proven effective in 1:1 or small
group therapeutic settings, good results for
school-based programs too
Proven effective also for students with ADHD,
ASD, LD, and other diagnoses
Strategy Before During After
Anticipation Guide X
Concept Sort X
Concept Map X
Exit Slips X
First Lines X
Jigsaw X
Paragraph Shrinking X X
Question the Author X
Reciprocal Teaching X
Story Maps X X
Think Alouds X
Details at: www.readingrockets.org
Online dictionaries
Allow students to record teacher-read stories
Use online video sites (i.e. Youtube) to build
background knowledge & curiosity prior to
reading
Multitude of online games to practice
comprehension
APPS!
Aesops Quest
$0.99
Grades 2-6
Reading for detail; must remember elements of story to go to
next level

MiniMod Reading for Details
$3.99
Grades 2-6
5 Ws: who, what, when, where, why
Must remember details of story to get chips for gameboard
Can play against a friend

The Opposites
$2.99
Grades 3-12
Vocabulary, antonyms, words in context
Opposite Ocean
Free
Grades 2-6
Antonyms
Popplet
$4.99
Grades 3-12
Create graphic organizers
Same Meaning Magic
$0.99
Grades 2-6
Earn jewels by choosing the best synonym

Speech with Milo: Sequencing
$2.99
Grades PK-4
Slide picture cards into correct order
Rainbow Sentences
$7.99
Grades K-5
The 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why) in
each sentence are colour coded, focus on
sentence fluency and elements

Reading comprehension is a complex, multi-
faceted area of study
It involves and is affected by all of the
building blocks of reading
There are many evidence-based
interventions for reading comprehension
Interventions should be carefully selected
and monitored for each child; may require
trial-and-error be creative!
Reading comprehension CAN be improved
with targeted interventions & consistency!
Bursuck, B. & Blanks, B. (2010). Evidence Based Early Reading Practices Within a Response to Intervention
System. Psychology in the Schools, 47(5).

Duke, N.K. & Pearson, P.D. (2001). Reading Comprehension: Strategies That Work. Retrieved from
http://www.hand2mind.com/pdf/miriam/grades_1_2.pdf

Gersten, R., Fuchs, L.S., Williams, J.P., & Baker, S. (2011). Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies to
Students with Learning Disabilities: A Review of Research. Review of Educational Research, 71(2), pp. 279-320.

Joseph, L.M. (n.d.) Best Practices on Interventions for Students with Learning Problems. Best Practices in
School Psychology, 72(4), pp. 1163-1180.

Kinniburgh, L.H. & Prew. S.S. (2010). Question Answer Relationships (QAR) in the Primary Grades: Laying the
Foundation for Reading Comprehension. International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education, 2(1), pp.
31-44.

Kirby, J.R. (n.d.) What Have We Learned About Reading Comprehension? Retrieved from
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/research/kirby.pdf

Mason, L.H. & Hagman, J.L. (2012). Highlights in Reading Comprehension Intervention Research for Students
with Learning Disabilities. Learning About Learning Disabilities, 91.

Reading Rockets Website www.readingrockets.org

Shanahan, T., Callison, K., Carriere, C., Duke, N. K., Pearson, P. D., Schatschneider, C., &
Torgesen, J. (2010). Improving reading comprehension in kindergarten through 3rd grade:
A practice guide (NCEE 2010-4038). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional
Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from
whatworks.ed.gov/publications/practiceguides