Reading comprehension

TEXTS COMPRENHENSION

By : valentina Bailon

Why is it important?

Factual text types

Literary texts

Pre-reading activities

Post-reading activities

6 Skills

01

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Reading comprehension

In simpler terms, reading comprehension is the ability to read, understand, process, and recall what was just read.Having reading comprehension skills increases the enjoyment and effectiveness of reading and helps not only academically, but professionally, and in a person's personal life. Todays presentation is how can tecahers help kids to comprehend differents types of texts by using simple activities. Science:Proper reading comprehension will have them read and understand facts about animals, plants, the Solar System, the scientific method, and many more. Math: Children are given word problems a lot in mathematics. Without reading comprehension skills, children will struggle determining what is actually being asked and said.

02

Factual texts

Discussion texts

Purpose: is to explore more than one point of view on a given subject in order to reach an informed opinion, or to make a decision on an issue. Structure: will begin by providing some background information on the issue, before introducing the central area or areas of contention.The text will then begin to explore the various arguments for and against with an examination of the supporting evidence. The conclusion will sum up both sides of the argument, before giving a recommendation based on the writer’s evaluation of those arguments. Main Features: Title is often in the form of a question, Written in the present tense, Generic statements are followed by specific examples, Arguments sometimes supported by diagrams, illustrations etc

Explanatory texts

Purpose: they move beyond providing straightforward descriptions to looking at things like causes and reasons. They move beyond a retelling of what happened, such as in a simple report, to address the why and how of what happened. Structure: open with a general statement that introduces the topic to be explored,The various steps of the process are then explained in a logical order. Main Features: Title reveals what is being explained, may contain diagrams, flowcharts, illustrations etc, written in simple present tense, time connectives used such as first, after, then, next, finally etc. Talks to the reader directly e.g. “You’ll be surprised to learn…”

Instructional texts

Purpose:communicate rules or processes to follow. They are commonly found accompanying games, household appliances, or in recipes etc. Structure: begins with a defined objective or goal, which will often form the title. Usually a list of resources, equipment etc will then be included, followed by a step-by-step description of the process to be followed to achieve the desired outcome. Main Features: Title indicates the process described, Includes resource / equipment list, process described step-by-step using bullet points, numbers etc. Time connectives used to organize writing, Imperatives used.Diagrams / Illustrations used to support or replace text

Persuasion texts

Purpose: is to convince the reader of the merits of adopting a particular viewpoint or taking a specific course of action. Structure: start by summing up the viewpoint to be presented. The body paragraphs then organize, present, and elaborate on this viewpoint. A closing statement then restates and reinforces the original thesis of the text. Main Features: Written in the simple present tense, moves from a general point to specific points, uses logical connectives, employs rhetorical devices, uses facts and evidence to support arguments, addresses reader directly. Employs various methods of psychological persuasion

03

Literary texts

Poetry

Purpose: poetry can be written to serve a wide variety of purposes. For example, poetry can be written to entertain, to inform, to amuse, to share knowledge, pass on culture, to advance culture etc. Poetry comes in many forms and sometimes these forms come with their own specific purposes. Structure: The different types of poetry make use of a variety of different structures.The structure of poetry usually revolves around the use of rhyme schemes, rhythmical patterns, grammatical patterns, and line and stanza length. Main Features: The musicality of language is utilised through the use of rhyme, rhythm, and various literary devices, Language that appeals to the senses is used, imagery is used to paint pictures in the readers’ minds The sounds and meanings of language are played with through the use of literary devices

Narrative

Purpose: is to tell a story. There can be many reasons for storytelling in the first place.Storytelling itself is a means to entertain and inform readers and allows for the writer to express themselves creatively and imaginatively. There are many types of narrative text, including myths, fables, traditional tales, novels, short stories etc. Structure: they all begin by establishing setting and introducing characters. A problem or complication is then introduced which serves as the driving force behind the ensuing events. After the rising action reaches a dramatic high point or climax, a resolution is achieved and the story ends. Main Features: Most often written in the past or present tense, most often uses the third or first person perspective, Characters are often recognisably human in their motivations and actions. Language is used creatively to paint a picture in the reader’s mind, Storytelling may be supplemented by the use of images

Drama

Purpose: is largely to entertain through storytelling. Drama can also be used to provide social commentary, communicate culture, amuse, and inform too. It endeavors to tell a story through enacting it on the stage, usually requiring the use of dialogue as a primary means of moving the story on. Structure: it often follows the same types of plot structures as other narrative forms, along with various conventions particular to this form itself. Drama has written conventions too that make it distinct from prose forms of storytelling, such as its extensive use of dialogue and occasional stage directions, for example. Main Features: Story related largely through the use of dialogue with page showing name of character and the words they speak. Organisational information included such as set descriptions and stage directions Story structures common in narrative texts also used here

04

Pre-reading activities

Find the synonym

"Find..."

As with reading activity 10, give students a reading text and provide them with a list of words in L2. They must find and note down the synonyms they find in the text.

As soon as you give students a reading text, provide them with a list of words in L1 (native language) to find in L2 (language being learnt) in the text. This could be all masculine nouns, all verbs, all adjectives, all words beginning with ‘a’. They could either highlight the words in the text or underline the words.

Gap-Fill Transcript Dictation

Wrong words

The teacher provides students with a copy of the text with a selection of incorrect words. As they listen to the text being read, they must highlight the word they hear that is incorrect. Go through a second time, and this time, the students must write in the correct words. This will give the students an idea of the text before they do any comprehension activities.

Provide students with a copy of the text, with gaps. I suggest three forms, one with verbs missing, the second with nouns missing and the third with adjectives missing. Distribute the sheets so they have people around them who had the same sheet. The students must individually fill in the words as they listen.Once finished, get learners to check they have spelled the words correctly by discussing with their neighbours.

04

Post-reading activities

Re-write text

True or false?

After reading (and depending on the length of the whole text), students must re-write the text in the first, second or third person singular. If the text is long, then advise that they should pick out a certain number of paragraphs.

Once students have read the text through properly, allow them 5 minutes to create a list of true or false statements. These can be given to a peer to answer if time allows.

Summarise text

walking text

Once students have read the text, advise that they must underline the key messages, depending on the size of the text. I recommend advising a maximum number. Students must then combine and re-word these ideas to summarise the whole text in a set number of words.Students must write in the correct words. This will give the students an idea of the text before they do any comprehension activities.

Ensure the text is enlarged and in paragraphs with line numbers. Then, chop them up with numbers, indicating the paragraph number on each and stick them around the room. Give them some pre-printed comprehension questions to answer as they go around. You can support learners who need it with an indication of the paragraph number, correlating to the question, written on their sheet.

Skills for reading comprehension

1: DECODINGKids use this skill to sound out words they’ve heard before but haven’t seen written out. The ability to do that is the foundation for other reading skills.Kids have to be taught how to identify and work with sounds. You can also build phonological awareness at home through activities like word games and reading to your child. 2: FLUENCY Fluency speeds up the rate at which they can read and understand text. It’s also important when kids encounter irregular words, like of and the, which can’t be sounded out. Word recognition can be a big obstacle for struggling readers. Average readers need to see a word four to 14 times before it becomes a “sight word” they automatically recognize.

Skills for reading comprehension

3: VOCABULARYStudents can learn vocabulary through instruction. But they typically learn the meaning of words through everyday experience and also by reading. The more words kids are exposed to, the richer their vocabulary becomes. You can help build your child’s vocabulary by having frequent conversations on a variety of topics. 4: SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION AND COHESION connecting ideas within and between sentences, which is called cohesion. Knowing how ideas link up at the sentence level helps kids get meaning from passages and entire texts. It also leads to something called coherence, or the ability to connect ideas to other ideas in an overall piece of writing. Explicit instruction can teach kids the basics of sentence construction.

Skills for reading comprehension

5: REASONING AND BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGEIt’s important for kids to have background or prior knowledge about the world when they read. They also need to be able to “read between the lines” and pull out meaning even when it’s not literally spelled out. Your child can build knowledge through reading, conversations, movies and TV shows, and art. Life experience and hands-on activities also build knowledge. 6: WORKING MEMORY AND ATTENTION Working memory allows them to hold on to that information and use it to gain meaning and build knowledge from what they’re reading. The ability to self-monitor while reading is also tied to that. Kids need to be able to recognize when they don’t understand something. There are a number of games and everyday activities that can build working memory without kids even knowing it.

GENERATE AND ANSWER QUESTIONS

GRAPHIC AND SEMANTIC ORGANIZERS

SUMMARIZING

Summarizing requires students to determine what is important in what they are reading and to put it into their own words. Instruction in summarizing helps students: Identify or generate main ideas Connect the main or central ideas Eliminate unnecessary information Remember what they read

The Question-Answer Relationship strategy (QAR) encourages students to learn how to answer questions better. Students are asked to indicate whether the information they used to answer questions about the text was textually explicit information textually implicit information,or information entirely from the student's own background knowledge.

Graphic organizers illustrate concepts and relationships between concepts in a text or using diagrams. It can help readers focus on concepts and how they are related to other concepts. Graphic organizers help students read and understand textbooks and picture books.

Resources

- https://www.mathgenie.com/blog/importance-of-reading-comprehension#:~:text=Well%2C%20without%20proper%20comprehension%20skills,to%20understand%20what%20they%20read.&text=Having%20excellent%20reading%20comprehension%20skills,in%20a%20person's%20personal%20life. -https://www.literacyideas.com/different-text-types - https://theidealteacher.com/21-must-use-reading-activities-for-your-language-lessons - https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/reading-issues/6-essential-skills-needed-for-reading-comprehension - https://www.readingrockets.org/article/seven-strategies-teach-students-text-comprehension