Comprehension: The Final Component of Literacy

Comprehension

 

Comprehension:  involves constructing meaning that is reasonable and accurate by connecting what has been read to what the reader already knows and thinking about all of this information until it is understood.  Comprehension is the final goal of reading instruction. 

Good Comprehenders:

·         Use a range of comprehension strategies to deepen and enrich their understanding of what they are reading.

·         Are aware of their own thinking processes, and make conscious decisions to use different comprehension strategies as they read, especially when they detect problems in understanding what they are reading

·         Attribute successful comprehension to effort more than ability.

 

What ALL proficient readers have in common is the use of comprehension strategies to help them understand more of what they are reading.

What are Comprehension Strategies?

·         Comprehension monitoring

·         Cooperative learning

·         Using graphic and semantic organizers including story maps

·         Answering questions about what has been read

·         Creating own questions about what has been read

·         Using prior knowledge to connect what they read to what they already know (text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world connections)

·         Summarizing what they have read

 

Using prior knowledge is very important when comprehending a text.  Stronger comprehenders use their background knowledge to identify or make connections amog ideas in what they are reading.  Readers who lack background knowledge on a specific topic may have greater difficulty answering questions that require inference, and they are usually less able to recall factual information from what they have read.  In order to help the child activate background knowledge, it is important to provide structured class or small-group discussions of the topic of the text before engaging in reading the text. 

 

This is a PowerPoint I created to emphasize the importance of asking questions in demonstrating comprehension.

Asking Questions PowerPoint

This is another PowerPoint I created to explain what DR-TA (Directed Reading/Thinking Aloud)  is and how it can help students comprehend as well as check for comprehension throughout reading.

DR-TA PowerPoint

 

Some Semantic and Graphic Organizers that Can Help Students with Comprehension(Printable):

Main Ideas/ Details (Frog)

Story Line

Story MapHamburger Graphic Organizer