Reading comprehension

an interplay between various types of knowledge.

According to Canale and Swain’s model of communicative competence, listeners and readers draw upon four types of competencies as they attempt to comprehend an oral or written message.

grammatical competence: knowledge of morphology, syntax, vocabulary, and mechanics;

sociolinguistic competence: knowing what is expected socially and culturally by native speakers of the target language;

discourse competence: the ability to use cohesive devices such as pronouns, conjunctions, and transitional phrases to link meaning across sentences, as well as the ability to recognize how coherence is used to maintain the message’s input;

strategic competence: the ability to use a number of guessing strategies to compensate for missing knowledge.

Readers rely upon the types of knowledge described above as they perform a variety of tasks in the comprehension process.

Various methods are used to improve Reading comprehension that include Training the ability to self assess comprehension, actively test comprehension using a set of questions, and by improving metacognition. Practice plays more pivotal part in development and honing the skills of reading comprehension. Self assessment with help of elaborative interrogation and summarizing helps.

Effective reading comprehension is the culmination of mastering vocabulary, phonics, fluency, and reading comprehension skills. Person having good comprehension skills is considered as active reader, with an ability to interact with the words by understanding its complete meaning and the concept behind it. Thus skill of reading comprehension distinguishes an active reader from a passive reader who just read the text without getting its meaning.

Reading comprehension teaching aims at-

1. To let better grasping of the context, sequence and the characters narrated in text.

2. Certain parts of the text can confuse readers. Reading comprehension skills works on this aspect to get the clear idea of the meaning of the text.

3. Helps to create the questionnaire based on the text about its theme or idea. It often helps in better understanding of the said paragraph.

4. It helps to link the event of narration with our previous experiences and predict the next probable event in the course based on the information given in the narration.

Testing

Testing Comprehension reading has always proved a great tool in the assessment of the student’ ability as it provides a feedback on the progress of student. It also enhances the self ability to judge ourselves, provided such tests are carefully designed. The carefully designed comprehension test is a cleverly constructed set of questions targeted at the summery, overall meaning of text including most important meanings of words. The questionnaire can be of different types like open ended question, closed formats or multiple choice questions.

Thus introduced the Informal Reading Inventories (IRI), which is a>

Informal Reading Inventory

An IRI provides a good description of three levels of comprehension reading progress of immense importance.

1. Frustration Level or Inability Level where word decoding accuracy is just below 90% with comprehension accuracy below 70%.

2. Instructional Level or ability supported with guidance where word decoding accuracy is around 90% with comprehension accuracy around 75%.

3. Independent Level where student doesn’t require the assistance anymore having word decoding accuracy is well above 97% with comprehension accuracy below 90%.

Although, initially IRI provided the frame for recording responses to the posed questions, to be analyzed later to find out the strong and gray areas of student, nowadays it also offers many add-ons to get a much elaborative picture of its progress.

Informal Reading-Thinking Inventory (IR-TI)

In addition, in 1995, Manzo and McKenna developed an innovation as Informal Reading-Thinking Inventory, which is aimed at other related areas like thinking development of student besides his word decoding and comprehension accuracy power. It is format which facilitates additional measuring tool of higher cognitive progress and comprehension. It measures the progress on three levels – how good the student in reading lines, reading between lines and reading beyond the lines (recognition, inference and its interpretation and application). The most significant aspect of the IR-TI is the separate judgment it makes of basic comprehension and separately of critical-constructive comprehension.

Informal Reading and Thinking Inventory (IR-TI) provides a set of graded word lists where each list is constructed at a given difficulty of specific grade. These lists are given to the students which mark the first stage in testing to measure his independence level. It is always recommended to give the student the easier step first and then moving gradually to the more difficult ones to boost his confidence. Graded lists are found as quick and effective tool in assessment of student’s levels.

After graded lists, graded passages are given to the student. The student is asked to read the passage aloud, and then answer the questions. While reading, the teacher records any «unexpected response» like omission, substitution, insertion, self correction, repetition and hesitation. Once the student finishes with his reading, the book is kept shut and the related questions will be asked. Scoring is done on the basis of answers given and the accuracy of reading and its fluency.

Efforts are put continuously to enhance this format even more precise and are focused at developing one’s worldview, regarded as the highest stage of comprehension reading.

2. Problems in Reading Comprehension

Proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words quickly and effortlessly. If word recognition is difficult, students use too much of their processing capacity to read individual words, which interferes with their ability to comprehend what is read.

Few would dispute the claim that comprehension is necessary in order for language acquisition to occur. In order to communicate effectively, learners must understand what is being said. To function successfully with a target language, learners depend upon their ability to comprehend the spoken and written word. Empirical studies have identified a positive relationship between listening ability and language acquisition as well as between reading ability and language acquisition.

During the last century comprehension lessons usually comprised students answering teachers' questions, writing responses to questions on their own, or both. The whole group version of this practice also often included «round robin reading,» wherein teachers called on individual students to read a portion of the text (and sometimes following a set order). In the last quarter of the 20th century, evidence accumulated that the read-test methods assessed comprehension more than they taught it. The associated practice of «round robin» reading has also been questioned and eliminated by many educators.

Instead of using the prior read-test method, research studies have concluded that there are much more effective ways to teach comprehension. Much work has been done in the area of teaching novice readers a bank of «reading strategies,» or tools to interpret and analyze text. [2] There is not a definitive set of strategies, but common ones include summarizing what you have read, monitoring your reading to make sure it is still making sense, and analyzing the structure of the text (e.g., the use of headings in science text). Some programs teach students how to self monitor whether they are understanding and provide students with tools for fixing comprehension problems.

Instruction in comprehension strategy use often involves the gradual release of responsibility, wherein teachers initially explain and model strategies. Over time, they give students more and more responsibility for using the strategies until they can use them independently. This technique is generally associated with the idea of self-regulation and reflects social cognitive theory, originally conceptualized by Albert Bandura

Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading. However, there are a number of factors which may interfere with an individual's ability to comprehend text material.

The most common single obstacle to text comprehension is decoding insufficiency. Simply put, if the student cannot decode accurately and automatically, comprehension will be compromised.

– When the student cannot «apprehend» or decode the word, meaning cannot be extracted.

– When the student cannot decode fluently and automatically, reading is slow and laborious and memory for read material is poor.

– When the student cannot decode and is taught to rely on «context cues» or to «guess» at words, comprehension is compromised.

A more subtle interference is an underlying problem with language comprehension or inferential thinking. Those with right-hemispheric or non-verbal learning disorders are typically proficient decoders or «word callers» who have little to no difficulty remembering the specific details of what they have read.

In this second category, the student typically does well in the early grades but begins to struggle academically in the higher grades when the demand for comprehension increases. Such students often begin to experience difficulty with test taking and lecture learning due to underlying deficits in complex comprehension of novel material and inferential thinking.

It is not until late elementary or middle school when the curriculum demands shift and the demand for complex comprehension increases. Students who start out strong but begin to experience learning difficulty in the higher grades should be evaluated for underlying deficits in comprehension.

Physiological vision problems, such as deficits in tracking and scanning, also interfere with comprehension of text. For example, if one were asked to read Gone with the Wind through a straw, the physical energy to perform the task would result in extreme fatigue, diminished attention and poor comprehension. Comprehension problems in this case would not be due to specific learning disability but to a sensory-based (and likely correctable) vision problem.

Lastly, psychological problems can also impair comprehension. Therefore, a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation should be performed whenever a person experiences problems with text comprehension. Only through evaluation can one determine the root cause of difficulty and design appropriate intervention strategies.

Developing reading comprehension activities involves more than identifying a text that is «at the right level,» writing a set of comprehension questions for students to answer after reading, handing out the assignment and sending students away to do it. A fully-developed reading activity supports students as readers through prereading, while-reading, and post-reading activities.

As you design reading tasks, keep in mind that complete recall of all the information in a text is an unrealistic expectation even for native speakers. Reading activities that are meant to increase communicative competence should be success oriented and build up students' confidence in their reading ability.

Construct the reading activity around a purpose that has significance for the students

Make sure students understand what the purpose for reading is: to get the main idea, obtain specific information, understand most or all of the message, enjoy a story, or decide whether or not to read more. Recognizing the purpose for reading will help students select appropriate reading strategies.

Define the activity's instructional goal and the appropriate type of response

In addition to the main purpose for reading, an activity can also have one or more instructional purposes, such as practicing or reviewing specific grammatical constructions, introducing new vocabulary, or familiarizing students with the typical structure of a certain type of text.

Check the level of difficulty of the text

The factors listed below can help you judge the relative ease or difficulty of a reading text for a particular purpose and a particular group of students.

• How is the information organized? Does the story line, narrative, or instruction conform to familiar expectations? Texts in which the events are presented in natural chronological order, which have an informative title, and which present the information following an obvious organization (main ideas first, details and examples second) are easier to follow.

• How familiar are the students with the topic? Remember that misapplication of background knowledge due to cultural differences can create major comprehension difficulties.

• Does the text contain redundancy? At the lower levels of proficiency, listeners may find short, simple messages easier to process, but students with higher proficiency benefit from the natural redundancy of authentic language.

• Does the text offer visual support to aid in reading comprehension? Visual aids such as photographs, maps, and diagrams help students preview the content of the text, guess the meanings of unknown words, and check comprehension while reading.

Remember that the level of difficulty of a text is not the same as the level of difficulty of a reading task. Students who lack the vocabulary to identify all of the items on a menu can still determine whether the restaurant serves steak and whether they can afford to order one.

Use pre-reading activities to prepare students for reading

The activities you use during pre-reading may serve as preparation in several ways. During pre-reading you may:

• Assess students' background knowledge of the topic and linguistic content of the text

• Give students the background knowledge necessary for comprehension of the text, or activate the existing knowledge that the students possess

• Clarify any cultural information which may be necessary to comprehend the passage

• Make students aware of the type of text they will be reading and the purpose(s) for reading

• Provide opportunities for group or collaborative work and for>

Sample pre-reading activities:

• Using the title, subtitles, and divisions within the text to predict content and organization or sequence of information

• Looking at pictures, maps, diagrams, or graphs and their captions

• Talking about the author's background, writing style, and usual topics

• Skimming to find the theme or main idea and eliciting related prior knowledge

• Reviewing vocabulary or grammatical structures

• Reading over the comprehension questions to focus attention on finding that information while reading

• Constructing semantic webs (a graphic arrangement of concepts or words showing how they are related)

• Doing guided practice with guessing meaning from context or checking comprehension while reading

Pre-reading activities are most important at lower levels of language proficiency and at earlier stages of reading instruction. As students become more proficient at using reading strategies, you will be able to reduce the amount of guided pre-reading and allow students to do these activities themselves.

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