Reading Comprehension

the ability to make meaning out of text.

Students must:
• Be able to make personal connections with the text
• Understand meaning of vocabulary used
• Understand text structure
• Understand purpose for reading
Reading Comprehension Skills
Decoding
• Ability to use letter-sound relationships to decipher words
Fluency
• Automaticity, appropriate reading rate
Vocabulary knowledge
• Breadth, and depth, of vocabulary knowledge is important,
i.e., not just the number of words students know, but the
depth of their understanding
Background knowledge
• A conceptual framework, or context, into which students
can fit new ideas
Knowledge of comprehension strategies
Teaching Comprehension to ELLs
Issue: Solution:

Explicit teaching of
Limited vocabulary vocabulary

Different background Preview unfamiliar

knowledge concepts/ideas before
reading. Create connections
to familiar concepts

Lack of effective strategies Teach comprehension

for comprehension strategies through modeling
 Modeling Reading

Model effective reading strategies, such as

re-reading.

This part didn’t make sense.

I think I’ll re-read to see if I get it the second time.
 Teaching Vocabulary
Focus lesson on key words

Teach vocabulary intentionally

• Explicit definitions
• Use cognates when possible
• Use “student-friendly” definitions
• Writing activities
• Classroom discussions

Use context to teach words with multiple meanings

Vocabulary Strategy: Index Cards
Include:
• Cognates
• Synonyms/Antonyms
• Picture
• Other concepts that help them relate to the word

Help students “own” words

• Interacting with the vocabulary helps students
understand that words aren’t just something they need
to study
• By creating their own meaningful definitions, students
are empowered to analyze new English vocabulary, and
draw on their own knowledge as a resource
 Preparing for Reading
Establish goals for reading
• Anticipation guides
• Focus questions
• Making predictions
• “Gist” statements
• These are “golden nugget” statements: concise ideas
about what might happen based on provided information
from the text (such as key vocabulary).
Focus on vocabulary concepts
• Preview key words & other vocabulary
Explore/activate background knowledge
• Provide bridges between new concepts and what
children already know
 Video
Becoming Bilingual: Two Languages at Once

Webster Elementary, Long Beach, CA

 Role of Native Language
“The effects of primary language instruction
are modest, but they are real and reliable.”
— Claude Goldenberg

Strong literacy skills in native language transfer to

second language
• The level of reading skills in native language is an
important predictor of successful second language
reading acquisition
 Transferable Literacy Skills
Understanding symbolic relationships
• Print awareness
• Phonological awareness
• Decoding skills

Comprehension strategies

Concepts
• Cause and effect
• Sequencing
Comprehension Strategies for ELLs
Strategies to use while reading
Questioning
• Ask and answer questions about readings
Summarizing
Using graphic organizers
Monitoring comprehension as students read
Using text characteristics to aid comprehension
• headings, bold type, etc.

Note taking
 Cognates
A word that is closely related to
another word in another language.

Remember
• If students are using cognates it is important to make
the process obvious: highlight the strategy.
• Help students realize that using cognates is a tool for
comprehension.
Using Cognate Word Walls
Word walls are created by the teacher,
and the class, as a way to display
vocabulary that they are using.

• A classroom might have large posters with different

letters of the alphabet at the top.
• The posters have cognates written on them in
alphabetical order.
• Students can add cognates as they discover them and
refer to the lists when they are reading to see if they
can get the meaning that way.
 Making Predictions
Younger children
• Based on pictures

Older children
• Graphs
• Illustrations
 Language Functions
Narrative text
• Vocabulary for description
• Adjectives
• Comparative language

Re-telling
• Vocabulary for order & sequencing
• First, next, afterwards
 Helping ELLs Achieve
Academic Proficiency
Finding important information in text

Labeling

Working with information in alternative ways

• Help make concepts concrete
• Using play dough to create a cell in biology class
enables students to use academic vocabulary during the
process.
 Social vs. Academic Proficiency
Social proficiency Academic proficiency
• Language used in day- • Language used in
to-day interactions textbooks
• Variety of cues facilitate • More abstract
comprehension
• Higher order skills
• Environment,
gestures, facial
expressions, etc.
Strategies for Effective Reading
Relate vocabulary to cognates
Use cues from illustrations
Re-read
• Excellent strategy for building fluency and reading
rate.

Read aloud
• Practice comprehension skills through listening to oral
reading.

Keep reading logs

Language Strategies for Mastering
Academic English
Using description Signal words
• Characteristics • Sequence
• Locations • After, before, finally,
now, then, while, etc.
• Dimensions
• Restatement or synonym
Asking and answering • Also, for example, just
questions as, too, etc.
• What • Contrast and compare
• When • Like, similar to, etc.
• Where • But, unlike, yet, etc.
• Who
• Why
 Facilitating Comprehension
Teacher should preview text for:
• Words highlighted in text book
• Words that ELL’s might have difficulty with
• Definitions provided within text
• Important to point out to ELLs how to find these.

Give ELLs vocabulary needed for asking for help,

or further explanation of text
• “I don’t understand. Can you explain it another way?”
 Video
Becoming Bilingual: Beyond Survival English

Heritage Elementary School, Woodburn, OR

 Strategy: Frontloading
The process of inputting as much
information as possible about a reading
before the students read on their own
in order to increase comprehension.
Examples:
• Highlighting new vocabulary words
• Making direct connections to students’ background
knowledge
• Previewing the pictures to make predictions (no
reading)
• Previewing the text to make predictions
 “Tea Party”
A pre-reading activity to help students anticipate
what is next in a text
• Teachers write down phrases directly from text onto
index cards, repeating them at least twice (you want
multiple cards of same phrases).

• Students each get a card and walk around reading as

many of their classmate’s cards as they can in 5
minutes (or so).

• Students group to discuss the information they’ve

read, and, as a group, write a statement about what
they think the story will be about, based on the
information from the cards.
 Tools for Helping ELLs
Grasp the Full Picture
Graphic Organizers
• A way to visually organize or represent concepts

Examples:
• timelines
• semantic maps
• story maps
• Venn diagrams
• cause-effect charts
 More Tools: Thinking Maps
Help break down reading and concepts into
manageable parts so students interact more
effectively with the text.

• Set up structure in “bubbles” or “double bubbles” or

other configuration that makes it easy for ELL
students to see the relationship between vocabulary
and concepts.
• Allows teachers to do a comprehension check in a
meaningful way and encourage students to support
each other in their learning.
Additional Tool: Sentence Starters
Help students with limited English language skills
“get started” on a response.

Teacher models appropriate academic language

structure by starting a sentence that students will
finish.
• I think the elephant ran away because ___________
• When I read about _____________ it reminded me of
_____________ because ______________
• According to _____________ , _________________
 Scaffolding Information
The process of breaking down a concept into
smaller, manageable parts that can then be
introduced with support from the teacher.

Example of scaffolding for responding to a story:

• For very beginning students the teacher may want
them to “say” what they think while the teacher writes
it down. Then the students copy the dictation.
• Higher level students may be given starter statements
by the teacher and asked to complete them in their
own words, “After Goldilocks went to sleep?.”
• And finally, students who are very proficient are
expected to respond in writing on their own.
The How-to of Explicit Instruction
1. Determine the specific strategy to be taught.
2. Make sure your text facilitates the practice of that
strategy.
3. Use a direct statement to tell your students exactly what
strategy they will be learning.
4. Model the strategy for students out-loud (a think-aloud).
5. Give students multiple ways to practice the strategy.
6. Deconstruct why this strategy is useful. Identify
contexts for using this strategy.
7. Repeat these steps when you change genres but use
the same strategy.
8. Allow students to become independent users of the
strategy.
Continually Monitor Comprehension
Strategy: Think, Pair, Share
• Why do you think … ?
• Pair-up and share what you think with your partner,
talk about differences
• Share with the rest of the group

Don’t ask “yes” or “no” questions

• Make sure students have to elaborate on their answer

Cross-check
 Video
Reading for Meaning: Practicing Good
Strategies

Frank Love Elementary School, Bothell, WA

Engaging Students in Reading
Help students understand that we read for
information
Ask students questions
• Find answers while reading
Have students ask questions
• Make predictions
• Compare predictions to what actually happens in the
story
 Interacting with Text
Struggling readers are often unaware that reading
is an active process and they are engaging with
the author about the text continually.
This interaction happens through predicting,
recognizing causality, questioning, clarifying, and
responding to what is read.

Help students interact with text

• Write notes or reactions to text
Analyze words
• Teach word families
 Strategy: SWBS
Somebody
• Character in the story
Wants
• What’s the issue?
But
• What is the problem?
So
• Resolution
 Story Grammar
Structure of a text:
• Characters
• Settings
• Problem/Issue
• Solution/Outcome

Explicit instruction in story grammar is useful

for ELLs.
 Cultural Differences
Affecting Comprehension
Story grammar
• Varies by culture
• In Western cultures story grammar is linear – cause &
effect
• In Spanish, the subject is often inferred from the verb,
rather than stated explicitly
Background knowledge
• i.e. Family reunion
• Mixed ages
• i.e. Holidays and celebrations
 Tips
Try strategies such as Think, Pair, Share

Get your students to use second language

Check comprehension constantly

Try to link academic information to ELLs personal

lives

Teach comprehension in all content areas.

Thank you
for
watching!