H860 Reading Difficulties Week 6 Comprehension Difficulties ScienceCartoonsPlus.com

Today’s session 1.Thinking ahead – final projects 2.Reading comprehension presentation 3.Unpacking comprehension 4.Break 5.Repacking comprehension

Final projects Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners in Science Classrooms Math difficulties for children with reading difficulties When “Sound it Out” Is Not Enough: The Role of Scaffolded Prompts to Encourage Fluent and Accurate Word Reading Why bother with motivation: a literature review A “One Size Fits All” Instructional Method? The Efficacy of Reciprocal Teaching to Improve The Comprehension of Struggling Readers What Role does Phonology Play in the Acquisition of Reading Skills for Prelingually Profound Deaf Students? Grassroots Approach to Reading Difficulties: How can we most effectively utilize community volunteers?

Today’s feature presentation…

Break

Di Tri Berres

Why might comprehension be poor? Reading comprehension Processing strategies Short-term memory/ listening comprehension Vocabulary

What do we do about it? Reading comprehension Processing strategies Short-term memory/ listening comprehension Vocabulary

What do we do about it? Reading comprehension Processing strategies Short-term memory/ listening comprehension Vocabulary

What do we do about it? Reading comprehension Processing strategies Short-term memory/ listening comprehension Vocabulary

What do we do about it? Reading comprehension Processing strategies Short-term memory/ listening comprehension Vocabulary

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“hippopotamus” How do you say it? (can you retrieve it or does It remain on the ‘tip of your Tongue’?) How do you read/spell it? How is it different to ‘rhinoceros’ or ‘crocodile’? Is that a word in my language? What does it mean? Depth

WordKnow it well, can explain it, use it Know something about it, can relate it to a situation Have seen or heard the word Do not know the word tyranny surreptitious grapnel purport sensitive dubious

How can vocabulary be problematic? Basic, functional vocabulary Words with important syntactic functions (wh question words, prepositions) Category words Multiple meaning words Comparing, description words Idioms, figures of speech

How much can I rely on context…? Students must read widely enough to encounter a substantial number of unfamiliar words Multiple exposures will be necessary Students need skills to infer meaning from context

How much can I rely on context? Children do learn words from context but studies estimate that of 100 unfamiliar words met in reading, between 5 and 15 will be learnt (Nagy, Herman & Anderson, 1985)

What words to teach? Armbruster and colleagues (2001) Important words = words you need to know to understand the text you’re reading Useful words = high frequency words that will be seen regularly Difficult words = e.g. words with multiple meanings Tier 1 – rarely require instruction in school e.g. baby, happy, clock Tier 2 – high frequency words for mature language users e.g. coincidence, absurd, industrious Tier 3 – low frequency, limited to specific domains e.g. isotope, lathe, peninsula

Find the Tier 2 words Johnny Harrington was a kind master who treated his servants fairly. He was also a successful wool merchant, and his business required that he travel often. In his absence, his servants would tend to the fields and cattle and maintain and upkeep his mansion. They performed their duties happily, for they felt fortunate to have such a benevolent and trusting master. From: Beck, Isabel & McKeown, Linda (2002). “Bringing words to life : robust vocabulary instruction”

Find the Tier 2 words Johnny Harrington was a kind master who treated his servants fairly. He was also a successful wool merchant, and his business required that he travel often. In his absence, his servants would tend to the fields and cattle and maintain and upkeep of his mansion. They performed their duties happily, for they felt fortunate to have such a benevolent and trusting master.

Developing Vocab. in Early Grades 1.Read the story 2.Contextualize the word within the story 3.Have children say the word 4.Provide a student-friendly explanation of the word 5.Present examples of the word used in contexts different from the story context 6.Engage children in activities that get them to interact with the words 7.Say the word again

The cutting edge of vocab. Instruction at HGSE!

Assessments of Vocabulary

Expressive Vocab. measures EVT (Expressive Vocab. Test) - picture naming (retrieval) - breadth WISC vocabulary - definitions, “what does ‘island’ mean?” - breadth and depth

Receptive Vocab. measures PPVT (Peabody Picture Vocab. Test) - choosing picture for tester-spoken item from choice of 4. - breadth CELF word classes - associative relations e.g. shoe – warm – tree - cold - depth (and memory!)

And talking of assessment… General Comprehensive Reading Core I. General Vocabulary II. Syntactic Similarities III. Paragraph Reading IV. Sentence Sequencing Diagnostic Supplements V. Mathematics VI. Social Studies VII. Science VIII. Reading the Directions of Schoolwork TORC-3 Test of Reading Comprehension

Why bother with all this effort? Reading comprehension Processing strategies Short-term memory/ listening comprehension Vocabulary Because facts will: interest you be useful in life help you reach your career goals For enjoyment: connecting to content experiencing new things Non-fiction Narrative Self-efficacy