Comprehension Factors: The Reader

Five Factors of Comprehension Comprehension Reader/ Learner Text Task Teacher/ Teaching Context

The Reader The Simple View of Reading  Accurate, fluent word reading  Language comprehension skills  D X LC = Reading Comprehension  Gough, 1996

Decoding  Phonemic awareness  Phonics  Sight word recognition; Word reading fluency  Orthographic knowledge

Language Three Interactive Forms Bloom and Lahey’s Taxonomy of Language Content (semantics ) Form (phonology, morphology, syntax) Use ( pragmatics) In the context of literacy, these components do not operate independently

Levels of Language: Mapping Speech to Print Phonology The language sound system: awareness, reception, memory, manipulation Morphology The smallest meaningful units in language Semantics (Vocabulary) Word meanings Syntax (Sentence Structure) Sentence construction, effects of word ordering on meaning Discourse Language that goes beyond the boundary of a sentence

Levels…… Pragmatics Goals or functions of language; the use of context; rules for converstions Metalinguistics Awareness of the workings and rationale of language; thinking about language and how it works

Levels of Language: Mapping Speech to Print Phonology The language sound system: awareness, reception, memory, manipulation Essential for speech, reading decoding, spelling, second language mastery, vocabulary development Morphology The smallest meaningful units in language Supports decoding/ word recognition, spelling (orthographic units) vocabulary acquisition; understanding of words Semantics Word meanings Critical for building a lexicon of individual words and relational connections; shades of meaning; literal, figurative meanings, similes, metaphors, etc.; word retrieval difficulties impacting fluency, writing Syntax Sentence construction, effects of word ordering on meaning Critical to reading comprehension and written expression

Levels…… Discourse Language that goes beyond the boundary of a sentence The language of the classroom and curriculum; students must integrate form, content, use; the language of the classroom is decontexualized; text structures and paragraphs; interacts with active working memory and requires active processing Pragmatics Rules for conversational speech and discourse Writing for a variety of purposes and audiences; understanding point of view MetalinguisticAwareness To use language to talk about language; think and talk about language An essential component in literacy development; stronger in students who have strong language skills

Warning Signs….  RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE –Difficulty with directions –Slow in responding to questions –Difficulty with concepts, vocabulary –Memory difficulties –Discourse comprehension

Warnings….  EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE –Limited phonetic inventory; more sound errors; atypical errors such as unusual substitutions (d / h); vowel errors –Rarely initiates verbal interactions or activities –Does not respond to questions/ comments –Simple syllable structures –Shorter, less complex syntax –Smaller vocabularies –Relies on gestures –Does not repair communication breakdown –Does not verbally request help –Empty speech with meaningless words (‘thing”) –Difficulty understanding the child’s speech

Background Knowledge  Readers may have inadequate experiences, knowledge base  Students may have difficulty in processing new information more deeply and making significant connections between what is new and what is known  Significant impact on inferencing –A character who has “met his Waterloo”  Rich content information, read-alouds, audiovisual supports, kinesthetic input, engaging discussion

Struggling with Language and Background Knowledge Level 3 with a 5 th grader  Where could this student struggle with comprehension?: –The small brown head of an animal with bright eyes pops out of a hole in the hot dirt of Africa. –It is a meerkat, only one foot long, out to catch some warm sun. –The cute meerkats lay on the sand to soak up the heat from the sun. –They take turns hopping up to sniff the air for danger. –It sleeps cuddled with its large family in a small safe burrow.

Sentence by sentence analysis  1. The small brown head of an animal with bright eyes pops out of a hole in the hot dirt of Africa. –Processing multiple modifiers; vocabulary; distance between the subject and verb; knowledge of Africa to be able to visualize  2. It is a meerkat, only one foot long, out to catch some warm sun. –Knowledge of meerkats; figurative expression  3. The cute meerkats lay on the sand to soak up the heat from the sun. –Processing the verb; figurative expression; multiple phrases; background knowledge of animals warming up  4. They take turns hopping up to sniff the air for danger. –Concept of predators and protecting behavior; background knowledge; taking turns and integration with sentence 3.  5. It sleeps cuddled with its large family in a small safe burrow. –Vocabulary and background knowledge

 Literacy Knowledge –Print concepts, genres, text structure…  Verbal Reasoning –Inference, metaphor, etc.

Memory  Short-term memory: a small amount of information is held passively and reproduced in untransformed fashion ; a telephone number is remembered for the time it takes to dial the number (Swanson, 1993)  Working memory: holding a small amount of material in mind for a short time, while simultaneously carringing out further operations; performing mental math (Swanson, 1993)

Memory Problems  Children and adults with language and literacy difficulties often show considerable difficulty with short-term memory  Deficits in STM/WM will impact any task: –Listening and comprehension –Understanding directions, stories or videos –Remembering strings of phonemes –Remembering strings of letters –Remembering previous information when reading –Remembering ideas when writing

Knowledge and Use of Strategies  Struggling students may lack of a diverse set of tools to support the construction of meaning  They may approach reading passively

Motivation and Engagement

 Comprehension and motivation are interconnected  Intrinsically motivated readers… –are more proficient; use strategies more effectively –are more knowledgeable; more likely to understand new texts –are purposeful and goal-directed –see learning as fun –are willing to work hard; learning is a challenge

Motivation and Engagement  Animoto example  Survey Monkey  Pg. 173  Pick a motivational factor that inspires you; provide an example  Pg  Technology: select one, research, present