One of the most important skills necessary for student success in the elementary years is the ability to make meaning from fiction and non-fiction text. Reading comprehension is taught in the primary classrooms systematically, beginning with phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary and sight word development, with the goal of fluent reading. Our school goal this year has been to improve reading comprehension for all our students, from Kindergarten to Grade 7, as this will impact their ability to be successful in all the content areas. Comprehending what students read is as important when reading a Math textbook as it is when reading a Science textbook or a story. The question therefore is “What are the most effective strategies to improve comprehension in the elementary classroom?”
After reading Salinger’s (2003) article, I felt that I did not learn anything new and that I was cheated from gaining any new strategies to use with my students. Salinger (2003) begins by defining five basic components of reading acquisition: “phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension.” Salinger (2003) feels that these components are taught in the primary classrooms but that many students reach Grade 4 without being ready to “read to learn” because they are not able to successfully use the strategies they were taught to be successful readers. He suggests that these students need to be taught different instructional strategies than the ones they were taught to date as these strategies did not work for them. I agree with the point that Salinger (2003) makes here, if the students have not been successful after four years of learning, then some new strategies are in order. Salinger (2003) continues to say that teachers in the intermediate grades do not teach reading strategies but leave the students to ‘figure out” how comprehension strategies work on their own. I disagree with this assumption. As an intermediate teacher I am continuously focused on developing varied strategies to continue to develop student comprehension skills in the various strands. Salinger (2003) recommends that teachers teach older students to pay attention to larger units of sound, smaller than words, use root words to create new words, help students to pay attention to small differences in vowels or consonant patterns, use challenging vocabulary in the classroom and help their students “build their vocabularies in meaningful, productive ways”(p. 82). It would be difficult to believe that teachers are not using these basic strategies daily in their classrooms to develop their students’ reading comprehension.
Santoro, Chard, Howard and Barker’s (2008) article discusses the use of read-alouds in a primary classroom to improve student vocabulary and comprehension. As time is a precious commodity in our classrooms today, the question is how to include a comprehensive reading program and still have time to include the other necessary subjects and have time to teach them well? Santoro et al. (2008) describes a plan to use Science and Social Studies as the basis to teach reading comprehension. Using this plan of action they focused on three areas which research has shown would improve student comprehension. First, teachers are encouraged to teach their students about text structures which would help students understand whether a book is an information book or a story. Secondly, teachers could use text-focused discussions as part of class read-alouds to increase vocabulary and student comprehension. Finally, vocabulary development, either through read-alouds or direct instruction, is taught to improve comprehension. The researchers found that students receiving this instruction were more successful at understanding what they read, retelling and being more aware of their thinking while reading than those students who were not part of the study. I found this article very exciting as it expanded the strategies used to improve comprehension all the while keeping focus on the time constraints we all face daily. Santoro et al. (2008) included a well-organized scope and sequence of the read-aloud units as a guide for teachers to use to plan their own lessons. I found this article engaging and it made me think about how to incorporate the strategies discussed in the intermediate classroom. Using the read-aloud strategies is a logical extension of the reading activities that occur in many intermediate classrooms in the content areas. Knowing that research shows these read-aloud strategies have improved comprehension in students is another reason to embrace them. I believe the read-aloud strategy is the best way to improve student comprehension, as this is a realistic approach to increasing student comprehension, given the time constrains and the reported success enjoyed in the study.
The question to consider would be how to include a novel study component as part of my Language Arts program if I am using a large part of class time working on the Science and Social Studies content areas?
Annotated Bibliography
Salinger, T. (2003). Helping Older, Struggling Readers. Preventing School Failure, 47 (2), 79-85. Retrieved June 24, 2008, from EBSCO Host Research Database.
This article was about using strategies to improve comprehension of older elementary struggling readers.
Santoro, L.E., Chard, D.J., Howard, L., Baker, S.K. (2008). Making the Very Most of Classroom Read-Alouds to Promote Comprehension and Vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 6/(5), 396-408. Retrieved June 24, 2008, from EBSCO Host Research Database.
This article was about using read-alouds as a way to improve vocabulary and comprehension in the primary classroom.
