Explicit teaching of comprehension strategies in the Intermediate Phase

Transcription

1 Explicit teaching of comprehension strategies in the Intermediate Phase Giliomee, S CCEE (Curro Centre for Educational Excellence) sereen.g01@curro.co.za

2 CONTENTS Abstract 3 1. Introduction 4 2. Literature review 4 3. Teaching strategies 5 4. Conclusion 5 References CURRO 2016

3 ABSTRACT Explicit teaching is direct, purposeful teaching of specific knowledge, skills or strategies. In explicit teaching the teacher explains what the knowledge, skill or strategy is, why it is used and when to use it. The teacher also models how to use it and guide and coaches students as they practice it (e.g. in shared reading and in guided reading sessions) and then asks them to demonstrate their learning independently (The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 Language, 2006). According to the Ontario Curriculum (2006), comprehension strategies are a variety of cognitive and systematic techni ques that students use before, during and after listening, reading and viewing to construct meaning from text. The comprehension strategies are: making connections to prior knowledge and experience and to familiar texts; visualizing to clarify or deepen understanding of text; finding important ideas; questioning; summarising information; inferring; analysing and synthesising; skimming text for information or detail; scanning text to determine the purpose of the text or type of material and the adjusting reading speed according to the level of difficulty of the text or the type of reading (The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 Language, 2006). Teaching comprehension strategies explicitly in the Intermediate Phase (Grade 4 to 6) are therefore important to enable students to build and enhance their understanding of a text as they read as well as to be able to think critical about it. With this article the CCEE (Curro Centre for Educational Excellence) want to emphasise the importance of these strategies to play an essential role in equipping learners with the necessary 21st century skills, collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking, which they will require for tertiary studies, choice of job and life. KEYWORDS explicit teaching, comprehension strategies, shared reading, guided reading, 21st century CURRO

4 1. INTRODUCTION According to teaching reading comprehension strategies (Cameron, 2009), comprehension is one of the most challenging issues facing teachers of read ing today. Although many learners are accurate and fluent decoders by the end of the Foundation Phase, this does not always translate into having a good understanding of the text. Reading comprehension is important because without this a learner is not truly reading. One of the most significant findings of research over the past 25 years on reading comprehension indicates that active readers are proficient readers. They actively engage with the text by using a number of strategies to gain meaning. This happens before reading, during reading as well as after reading. Cameron also states that explicit teaching techniques are particularly effective for teaching of reading strategies. Through teaching these strategies individually, we equip learners with a toolbox of strategies that they can activate unconsciously as well as in unison. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Research Based Evidence: PIRLS 2011 The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (2011) was conducted in South Africa by the Centre for Evaluation and Assessment (CEA) at the University of Pretoria. PIRLS (2011) was conducted at Grade 4 level and in 49 countries internationally. This fourth study in a series focused on Reading Literacy. The study stated that internationally 95% of learners have been educated to reach a basic level reading skills. In the PIRLS study of 2006, learners from South Africa achieved the lowest score of 40 countries with approximately 80% learners not having mastered basic reading skills. The National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (2011) states that during the Intermediate Phase learners are expected to further develop their proficiency in reading and viewing a wide range of literary and non-literary texts. The reading policy envisages learners who are able to recognise text types and reflect on its purpose, audience and the context of texts. Through classroom and independent reading learners in the Intermediate Phase learn to become critical and creative thinkers. Comprehension strategy and skill development is crucial for success in reading progression. Teaching only one comprehension strategy can improve learners comprehension (Gill, 2008). Comprehension skill and strategy instruction have not been sufficiently foregrounded in South African curriculum documents, meaning that the fundamental need to deve lop learners higher order thinking and reasoning abilities for learning throughout schooling is not adequately accentuated (Zimmerman, 2010). In South Africa (Sarah Howie, 2012) there was no significant difference in the overall achievement for learners in 2011 compared to Reading in the 21st Century Context In the South African context in Curro Private Schools the 21st century skills are commonly referred to as reading, writing and arithmetic. Added to these the skills of communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity as well as metacognition and motivation are also being developed (CCEE, 2014). Internationally school communities are currently being challenged by the focus in 21st century learning. This demands a shift to digital pedagogies, increasingly enacted in flexible learning spaces and the demand for curricula to be vehicles for developing new skills and competencies. A digital pedagogy is not only about using digital technologies for teaching. It is as much about using digital tools as it is about deciding not to use them, as well as paying attention to the impact of these tools. In the CCEE environment the effective use of tablets are being implemented in classrooms to contribute towards this digital pedagogy. 2.3 The Explicit Teaching of comprehension strategies The CCEE identified through the analising of different resources the lack in the teaching of reading strategies in South Africa. After investigating good practice internationally, the CCEE identified eleven reading strategies for explicit teaching in the Intermediate Phase. The strategies were included in the Curro Addendum to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement for Home Language in the Intermediate Phase (2014). 4 CURRO 2016

5 The eleven strategies are: questioning visualisation making inferences making connections summarising making predictions clarifying self-monitoring skimming scanning synthesising 3. TEACHING STRATEGIES Shared reading is an instructional approach to teaching reading where the respon sibility for reading the text is shared between the teacher and the learners (Davis, 2011). This Sereen Giliomee approach is being implemented during shared reading in Curro Private Schools together with the process of the gradual release of responsibility. During this process the strategies are gradually introduced and modelled until the reader can master them and start applying them independently (Hanekom, 2010). After investigating various resources, the Flixie Reading Series was identified as the best resource to facilitate the explicit teaching of the first seven of the eleven comprehension strategy mentioned above. The Flixie stories have been written by Danie Schreuder and are being used in schools to address two serious crises: an environmental and a literacy crises. Danie Schreuder was a Professor in Environmental Studies at the Stellenbosch University. The Teachers Guide was developed by Annatjie Hanekom, the guru in the field of literacy in South Africa, reading development and the social psycho linguistic method in South Africa. This guide focus on the development of the thinking skills needed for reading comprehension. Suggestions are provided on how they can best be taught. When internalising of a strategy takes place the strategy becomes a skill. To facilitate a more holistic approach the CCEE requires teachers to add another four comprehension strategies during the Intermediate Phase to complete the eleven strategies as mentioned above. Guided reading is an ability-group reading teaching strategy where all the members of the group read the same text under the direction of the teacher and should take place every day. (Department of Basic Education, 2011). Learners now get the opportunity to practice the strategies modelled by using six different text types, e.g. narrative, informational, procedural, exchange, explanatory and persuasive. 4. CONCLUSION In the above literature review an attempt was made to emphasise the importance of the explicit teaching of comprehension strategies. The most important outcome of this review is that the use of reading strategy awareness play a significant role in improving reading comprehension. Learners who receive explicit teaching of comprehension strategies not only read better, but they are also positively affected in reading comprehension. Teachers should make learners aware of the strategies available, why they should implement it and when and how to apply them before, during and after reading. CCEE (CCEE, 2014) will continue doing research and action research in 2015 to monitor the impact of the explicit teaching of comprehension strategies. REFERENCES Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC 21): Cameron, S. (2009). Teaching Reading comprehension strategies. Aucland: Pearson. CCEE. (2014). Addendum to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement, English Home Language, Foundation and Intermediate Phases. Davis, A. (2011). Building comprehension strategies for the primary years. Colorcraft Limited, Hong Kong. Department of Basic Education. (2011). Retrieved from Gill, S. (2008). The Comprehension matrix: a tool for desighning comprehension instruction. The Reading Teacher. Hanekom, A. (2010). Facto and the Flixies Teachers Guide. Ebony Books. Sarah Howie, S. v. (2012). PIRLS 2011: South African Children s Reading Literacy Achievement Report. Centre for Evaluation and Assessment, University of Pretoria. The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 Language. (2006). Retrieved from Ministry of Education: Zimmerman, L. (2010). The influence of schooling conditions and teaching practices on curriculum implementation for Grade 4 reading literacy developement. CURRO

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