Comprehension Instruction

In response to my overarching question about how schools can best support the reading development of high school students who have not yet reached a sixth grade reading level, this section outlines critical elements for reading comprehension for all readers and particularly for striving readers.

One of the most helpful documents I have found concerning reading comprehension is the checklist below, which teachers can use to analyze their own instruction. This checklist was created by two of the most influential reading researchers in the field, David Pearson and Nell Duke. Their full article on the subject is currently available online.

Duke, N. D., Pearson, P. D., Strachan, S. L., Billman, A. K. (2011). Essential elements of fostering and teaching reading comprehension in S. J. Samuels & A. Farstrup (Eds.). What research has to say about reading instruction, 4th Edition (pp. 51-93). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

The following are included in this section:

• Checklist for Reading Comprehension Instruction

• Cautions About Strategy Instruction

• Professional Development Model for Reading Comprehension Instruction at Secondary Levels

Checklist

As mentioned above, the checklist below comes from the following article: Duke, N., Pearson, D., Strachan, S., & Billman, A. (2011). Essential elements of fostering and teaching reading comprehension. What research has to say about reading instruction, 51-93.

It appears on pages 83-84 of this article available online. (NOTE: As of October 28, 2016, the link is not active. It may be active again, and so the link is here in case it becomes active again.)

Please see page 52 to read the ten essential elements of effective reading instruction.

Please see page 55 to read the description of "what good readers do."

Cautions About Strategy Instruction

While strategy instruction is essential for students to learn to navigate difficult texts, it has come under critique because often the strategies are an end in and of themselves rather than a "vehicle to acquire . . . content knowledge" (Handbook of reading research, Volume IV (2011), p. 366). Ian A.G. Wilkinson and Eun Hye Son, in their chapter, "A Dialogic Turn in Research on Learning and Teaching to Comprehend," in the Handbook of Reading Research, explore the different "waves" of strategy instruction starting with the first wave of single strategy instruction to the second wave of multiple strategy instruction and finally with the third wave of transnational strategy instruction. The transactional strategy instruction is called transactional because it "emphasized transactions between readers and text, transactions among participants (students and teacher), and joint construction of understanding" (p. 363). Their summary captures some of the essential findings about reading research and is a valuable resource for teachers who are considering how to best implement strategy instruction.

David Pearson, in a talk at Oklahoma State in 2014, summarizes some cautions about strategy instruction in this slide:

He also offers his "hope for the future" in terms of strategy instruction in the following slide:

I asked another leader in the field, Cynthia Greenleaf, if she could weigh in on this topic of "strategy instruction gone awry" given her experience as a professional development leader. With permission, I have included her response in an email about this issue. She wrote the following:

One of the huge problems I see in the field right now is that numerous forms of proceduralized 'annotation' are being implemented as "close reading." What in fact happens when teachers assign '3 annotations' or instruct students to use icons (?, !, etc.) instead of student's authentic comments, is that students 'do school' instead of thoughtful reading. That is, they do perfunctory work, do not necessarily read, and get by in class because 'they did the assignment.' It is vital, in my view, to make a distinction between authentic intellectual engagement with text and this sort of 'schoolism,' if we want to change students' relationships to reading and texts. Ruth and I have a chapter (also on our website under Publications) on Engaged Academic Reading that might be of use. I have also conducted several studies (manuscripts are in publication) about the fact that while texts may be present in class, students are not usually reading them, unless teachers are implementing the kind of metacognitive conversational routines at the heart of Reading Apprenticeship.

Greenleaf's comments are helpful for teachers as they consider how to use annotation as an effective tool.

Professional Development Model for Reading Comprehension Instruction at Secondary Levels

The Reading Apprenticeship Model has a strong model for fostering discipline-specific literacy with significant empirical support conducted by independent research organizations. Strategic Literacy Initiative's seminal book Reading for Understanding provides a theoretical framework and a practical guide for interdisciplinary reading instruction. SLI provides many open source documents available for free downloading that can give a window into the type of professional development SLI provides. I have used versions of most of these tools and have found them quite helpful. When I worked in San Francisco Unified School District, I participated in Strategic Literacy Initiative's professional development for a number of years, and what I learned has provided a foundation for my approach to reading instruction that has informed my instruction significantly.

Schoenbach, R., Greenleaf, C., & Murphy, L. (2012). Reading for understanding: How reading apprenticeship improves disciplinary learning in secondary and college classrooms (2nd ed.).

English Learners and reading comprehension: Please see the section about reading comprehension targeted for English Learners in the English Language Learner section of this website.