DEFINITION
Reading comprehension is defined
as the level of understanding of a text/message. This understanding comes from
the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger
knowledge outside the text/message.Comprehension is a "creative,
multifaceted process" dependent upon four language skills: phonology,
syntax,
semantics,
and pragmatics.
Proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words quickly and
effortlessly. It is also determined by an
individual's cognitive development, which is "the construction of thought
processes". Some people learn through education or instruction and others
through direct experiences.
There are specific traits that
determine how successful an individual will comprehend text, including prior
knowledge about the subject, well developed language, and the ability to make
inferences. Having the skill to monitor comprehension is a factor: "Why is
this important?" and "Do I need to read the entire text?" are
examples. Lastly, is the ability to be self-correcting to solve comprehension
problems as they arise.
Reading strategies
Reciprocal teaching
In the 1980s Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar and Ann L. Brown developed a
technique called reciprocal teaching that taught students to
predict, summarize, clarify, and ask questions for sections of a text. The use
of strategies like summarizing after each paragraph have come to be seen as
effective strategies for building students' comprehension. The idea is that
students will develop stronger reading comprehension skills on their own if the
teacher gives them explicit mental tools for unpacking text.
Instructional conversations
"Instructional conversations", or comprehension through
discussion, create higher-level thinking opportunities for students by
promoting critical and aesthetic
thinking about the text. According to Vivian Thayer,
class discussions help students to generate ideas and new questions.
(Goldenberg, p. 317) Dr.
Neil Postman has said, "All our knowledge results from questions, which is
another way of saying that question-asking is our most important intellectual tool"
(Response to Intervention). There are several types of questions that a teacher
should focus on: remembering; testing understanding; application or solving;
invite synthesis or creating; and evaluation and judging. Teachers should model
these types of questions through "think-alouds" before, during, and
after reading a text.
When a student can relate a passage to an experience, another book, or
other facts about the world, they are "making a connection." Making
connections help students understand the author's purpose and fiction or
non-fiction story.
Text factors
There are factors, that once discerned, make it easier for the reader to
understand the written text. One is the genre, like folktales,
historical fiction, biographies
or poetry.
Each genre has its own characteristics for text structure, that once understood
help the reader comprehend it. A story is composed of a plot, characters,
setting, point of view, and theme. Informational books provide real world
knowledge for students and have unique features such as: headings, maps,
vocabulary, and an index. Poems are written in different forms and the most
commonly used are: rhymed verse, haikus, free verse, and narratives. Poetry
uses devices such as: alliteration, repetition, rhyme, metaphors, and similes.
"When children are familiar with genres, organizational patterns, and text
features in books they're reading, they're better able to create those text
factors in their own writing."
Visualization
Visualization is a "mental image" created in a person's mind
while reading text, which "brings words to life" and helps improve
reading comprehension. Asking sensory questions will help students become
better visualizers.
Multiple reading strategies
There are a wide range of reading strategies suggested by reading programs
and educators. The National Reading Panel identified positive
effects only for a subset, particularly summarizing, asking questions,
answering questions, comprehension monitoring, graphic organizers, and
cooperative learning. The Panel also emphasized that a combination of
strategies, as used in Reciprocal Teaching, can be effective. The use of effective comprehension strategies that
provide specific instructions for developing and retaining comprehension
skills, with intermittent feedback, has been found to improve reading
comprehension across all ages, specifically those affected by mental
disabilities.
Reading different types of texts requires the use of different reading
strategies and approaches. Making reading an active, observable process can be
very beneficial to struggling readers. A good reader interacts with the text in
order to develop an understanding of the information before them. Some good
reader strategies are predicting, connecting, inferring, summarizing, analyzing
and critiquing. There are many resources and activities educators and
instructors of reading can use to help with reading strategies in specific
content areas and disciplines. Some examples are graphic organizers, talking to
the text, anticipation guides, double entry journals, interactive reading and
note taking guides, chunking, and summarizing.
The use of effective comprehension strategies is highly important when
learning to improve reading comprehension. These strategies provide specific
instructions for developing and retaining comprehension skills. Implementing
the following instructions with intermittent feedback has been found to improve
reading comprehension across all ages, specifically those affected by mental
disabilities.
Assessment
There are informal and formal assessments to monitor an individuals
comprehension ability and use of comprehension strategies. Informal
assessments are generally through observation and the use of tools, like story boards,
word sorts,
interactive writing, and shared
reading. Formal assessments are district or state assessments that
evaluates all students on important skills and concepts. Two examples are the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test
(FCAT) and Accelerated Reader programs.
Practice Passage
1. In 1877, to celebrate the
centennial anniversary of America’s independence from England, the French
government presented the United States with a colossal statue that has come to
be one of the most beloved symbols of America. The gift was presented in honor
of the alliance between France and America during the Revolutionary War. The
formal name of the figure is Liberty
Enlightening the World, but it is almost universally known as the Statue of
Liberty.
2. Since the French government
donated the money for the project, French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi
and engineer Gustav Eiffel were put in charge of the design. The massive
structure was assembled in Paris, where it was put on exhibition before being
dismantled, then shipped to New York and finally reassembled on Bedloe Island,
which was later renamed Liberty Island.
3. The statue is made of thin copper
sheets, each just a tenth of an inch thick. They are riveted to an iron
framework, which forms the shape of the statue. The statue itself is 151 feet
tall, but it stands on top of a large pedestal made of concrete and granite,
which was designed by American architect Richard Morris Hunt. The total height
of the statue and the pedestal is 305 feet, making it a spectacular sight on
the New York City skyline, visible from miles away. The statue holds a torch in
one hand, which is meant to symbolize liberty. In the other hand, the figure
clutches a book, upon which the date of America’s declaration of independence,
July 4, 1776, is marked.
4. Due to the difficulty and expense
of working on an isolated island, construction took nearly a decade. After the
statue was completed in 1886, President Grover Cleveland came to New York to
preside over the dedication ceremony. After the unveiling, the Statue of
Liberty became a beacon of freedom for both newly arriving immigrants and
longtime city dwellers. But after decades of exposure to pollution and harsh
ocean air, time had taken its toll on Lady Liberty, as the statue is sometimes
called. A full century after the dedication, a restoration effort was launched
to repair damage from age and the elements. Funded by both the French and
American governments, the renovation of the statue required enclosing it in a
scaffold while workers renovated the copper sheeting and replaced the glass
torch with a gold one. The newly restored monument was unveiled a few years
later, as vibrant and inspiring as ever.
Practice
Questions
Time: 14 minutes
1. Which
two countries formed an alliance during the Revolutionary War?
a. France
and Britain
b. Britain
and the United States
c. France
and the United States
d. Britain
and New York
2. Why
were French artists responsible for designing the monument?
a. because
the French are the best artists
b. because
the French were funding the project
c. because
America did not want the monument
d. because
France owed money to the American government
3. Where
was the statue first assembled?
a. Bedloe
Island
b. Liberty
Island
c. New
York
d. Paris
4. Click
on the paragraph that explains how the Statue of Liberty suffered damage.
a. Paragraph
1
b. Paragraph
2
c. Paragraph
3
d. Paragraph
4
5. It
can be inferred that the restoration process began in
a. 1776
b. 1876
c. 1886
d. 1986
Answer
Key For Reading Comprehension
1. C
2. B
3. D
4. D
5. D
PRACTICE PASSAGE
The
Alaska pipeline starts at the frozen edge of the Arctic Ocean.
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It
stretches southward across the largest and northernmost state in
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the
United States, ending at a remote ice-free seaport village nearly
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Line
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800
miles from where it begins. It is massive in size and extremely
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(5)
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complicated
to operate.
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The
steel pipe crosses windswept plains and endless miles of
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delicate
tundra that tops the frozen ground. It weaves through
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crooked
canyons, climbs sheer mountains, plunges over rocky
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crags,
makes its way through thick forests, and passes over or
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(10)
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under
hundreds of rivers and streams. The pipe is 4 feet in diameter,
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and up
to 2 million barrels (or 84 million gallons) of crude oil can
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be
pumped through it daily.
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Resting
on H-shaped steel racks called "bents," long sections of
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the
pipeline follow a zigzag course high above the frozen earth.
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(15)
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Other
long sections drop out of sight beneath spongy or rocky
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ground
and return to the surface later on. The pattern of the
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pipeline's
up-and-down route is determined by the often harsh
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demands
of the arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous lay of the
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land,
and the varied compositions of soil, rock, or permafrost
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(20)
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(permanently
frozen ground). A little more than half of the pipeline
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is
elevated above the ground. The remainder is buried anywhere
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from 3
to 12 feet, depending largely upon the type of terrain and
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the
properties of the soil.
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|
One of
the largest in the world, the pipeline cost approximately
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(25)
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$8
billion and is by far the biggest and most expensive construction
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project
ever undertaken by private industry. In fact, no single
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business
could raise that much money, so 8 major oil companies
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formed
a consortium in order to share the costs. Each company
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controlled
oil rights to particular shares of land in the oil fields and
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(30)
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paid
into the pipeline-construction fund according to the size of its
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holdings.
Today, despite enormous problems of climate, supply
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shortages,
equipment breakdowns, labor disagreements, treacherous
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terrain,
a certain amount of mismanagement, and even theft, the
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Alaska
pipeline has been completed and is operating.
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PRACTICE QUESTIONS
- The passage primarily discusses the pipeline's
a. operating
costs
- employees
- consumers
- construction
- The word "it" in line 4 refers to
- pipeline
- ocean
- state
- village
- According to the passage, 84 million gallons of oil can travel through the pipeline each
- day
- week
- month
- year
- The phrase "Resting on" in line 13 is closest in meaning to
- Consisting of
- Supported by
- Passing under
- Protected with
- The author mentions all of the following as important in determining the pipeline's route EXCEPT the
- climate
- lay of the land itself
- local vegetation
- kind of soil and rock
Answer
Key For Reading Comprehension
1.
D
2. A
3. A
4. B
5.
C
Source:
Name : Rifa ‘atul
Makhmuda
NPM : 29211006
Class : 3EB24
