What is the reading process?

  • In the past, reading comprehension was thought of as a “product.”

Assumed that if you could PRODUCE fluency (eg: read out loud without making mistakes) you would automatically be able to comprehend/understand what you were reading.

  • Instruction focused on getting answers to comprehensions questions correct, rather than explaining comprehension skills.
  • Today, we focus on teaching reading comprehension as a process in which reader uses understanding of different skills/stages to achieve an understanding of the whole.
  • Through such methods as Active Reading and specific strategies (identify main idea, support, tone, purpose, etc) we as readers learn how to PREDICT upcoming ideas, ACTIVATE existing knowledge, RELATE old information with new, FORM a main idea and MAKE INFERENCES.

What are the stages of reading?

Reading can be divided into three thinking stages, or, the three thinking stages of reading are:

Before reading: Preview to find out what material is about, what you already know about a topic, and what you need to find out while reading.

During reading: Anticipate upcoming info, visualize and integrate old/new knowledge, assess your own understanding in order to make judgments.

After reading: Recall and react to what you have learned.

STAGE ONE: Previewing

Previewing is a way to assess material, your knowledge of the subject, and goals for reading. You try and connect w/topic and get an overview of the reading before reading material in its entirety.

You may want, with college textbooks in particular, to identify what you will be expected to learn in order to better learn material. Could make use of the following SIGNPOSTS when previewing TEXTBOOKS in particular:

  • Are there learning questions that stimulate your interest in material? Can these questions help you establish learning goals?
  • Title. What does the title tell you abt book, chapter, article’s meaning? Most are trying to communicate an important thought in the text. Try to identify the WHO, WHAT, OR WHY of the title to anticipate content.
  • Introductory material: review the table of contents and preface—many texts have detailed outline that serves as table of contents for each chapter.
  • Subheadings can further define content. Turn subheadings into questions.
  • Italics, Boldface, Numbers all are used to indicate emphasis. May indicate key terms, or order of importance.
  • Visual Aids/Margin notations are used to enhance meaning, emphasize importance, and so on. A picture is worth a thousand words.
  • Concluding summary or review is often at the end of a chapter—the most important ideas are often listed in order to help you recall material and reflect on its importance.

PREVIEWING CAN ALSO HELP TO ACTIVATE SHEMA

Prior knowledge on a subject is a schema. According to reading theory, a schema (schemata) is the skeleton of knowledge in your mind on a particular subject. As you expand knowledge abt. topic, schema grows.

When you preview material, you “activate” schema, or prior knowledge. Logic tells us that what we already know about something (prior knowledge) contributes to new learning about a subject, and makes learning that subject all the easier.

An additional goal then, when previewing, is to recall any thing from your own experience that connects with topic to be read. Recall or “call up” your prior knowledge as though your schema were a “chip” of sorts that holds all previous info. When needed, pull out the memory from this chip and then “store” it when no longer needing it.

Our task as readers to pay attention to what “signals” the written material we read is “signaling” to us. As a reader, your task to pick up on these associations, or prior knowledge, and form a LINK OF UNDERSTANDING with the text.

STAGE TWO: Integrating Knowledge

When you watch someone read, can you tell if that person is a good silent reader? Probably not.

Why? Behaviors of good silent readers are THINKING BEHAVIORS that cannot be observed or learned by watching others.

KNOWING ABOUT KNOWING or METACOGNITION. Good readers work hard to assimilate information, rather than speed through from start to finish. Good readers, if they don’t understand what they are reading, or get confused, go back and reread to resolve confusion. Good readers also understand the processes involved in reading and consciously control them. AWARENESS AND CONTROL OF THE READING PROCESS IS CALLED METACOGNITION, or knowing about knowing.

Do you know when you don’t know? Some students don’t know, or don’t care, when they don’t know. Some readers continue to read EVEN THOUGH they don’t understand what they are reading. Poor readers tend to tolerate such confusion because a.) they either don’t realize it exists or b.) they don’t know what to do about it.

Good readers try to assimilate details into a larger cognitive pattern rather than reading “just for the facts.” Good readers look for relationships, connections, inferences in material and as they are assembling this “larger cognitive pattern” they are MONITERING THEIR OWN COMPREHENSION.

Do you monitor your own comprehension?

Good readers supervise their own comprehension of material, recognize inadequate comprehension and interrupt their reading to seek solutions.

Five thinking strategies used consciously or unconsciously by good readers (these may help to increase metacognition):

  1. Predict: Make educated guesses. Good readers make predictions abt. thoughts, events, outcomes, and conclusions. As you read, your predictions are either confirmed or dented. Simply readjust predications and continue. The predictions help you to become involved with the author’s thinking and thus help you learn.
  2. Picture: Form Images. As you read, allow words and ideas to trigger mental images that relate either directly or indirectly to content. Visualization is highly individual and relate to own experience. The images become like movies in your head, the visualization enhances the message in the text. Images created help to strengthen message.
  3. Relate: Draw comparisons. When you relate existing knowledge to new info, you as reader are embellishing the material and making it part of your framework of ideas. For example, your own observation of taunting at school helps you to relate to message in “Bird Girl.” Related experiences help reader to digest new experience and add it to, or relate it to, something you already know.
  4. Monitor: Check Understanding. Monitor your ongoing comprehension to test understanding of material. Keep an internal summary of information as it is presented and how this relates to overall message. If you notice that information seems confusing or erroneous, stop and seek a solution. MONITOR AND SUPERVISE your own comprehension. REMEMBER: poor readers continue to read even when confused, good readers seek to resolve difficulty. Good readers DEMAND complete understanding and KNOW whether or not it has been achieved.
  5. Correct Gaps in Understanding. Do not accept gaps in your reading comprehension. Stop and resolve the problem so you can CONTINUE to build internal summary. SEEK SOLUTIONS TO CONFUSION. This means, usually, reread a sentence or look back at passage for clarification. If you can’t fills gaps in understanding yourself, seek help of another student or the instructor.

STAGE THREE: Recalling

Recall is your review of what you have read. Recall is self-testing and can be silent, oral, or written recitation. When you recall, take a few minutes to tell yourself what you have learned before closing the book. EG: What I learned from reading “Bird Girl. . .” or the key points of “Becoming a Better Reader” are.. .

Poor readers tend to finish reading, sigh with relief, and close book w/o another thought.

Study strategies emphasize the importance of final recall or review stage. Final recall IMPROVES comprehension and retention.

As you read, maintain a running summary of points read. Then, when reading is completed, review summary for gaps in knowledge. Test your recall, test your understanding.

How to Recall. Can be an internal, organized conversation with self or written reorganization. Perhaps material will influence method, or learning style. The goal is self-testing. Rather than wait for test or professor’s inquiry, ask: “What did I get from this material?”