1 the role of the text in comprehension reader task/ac tivity sociocultural context text teacher/te...

1

The Role of the Text in Comprehension

Reader

Task/Activity

Sociocultural

Context

Text

Teacher/Teaching

Comprehension

2

Goals for Understanding:

• How to determine text difficulty/readability level

• How text features support (or do not support) readers in constructing a coherent mental representation of a text

• How to analyze a text (and its language) for its resource and challenges

• (Later: How to use text analysis to set learning goals for a discussion about the text)

What makes a text difficult?

• Cornett: Interest level (personal); Accessibility (emotional & cognitive); Readability (text difficulty);

• Reading level (the reader)– Independent (95-99% accuracy; 90% comp)– Instructional (90-95% accuracy; 80% comp)– Frustrational (<90% accuracy; < 70% comp)– Listening (comprehend 80% key concepts)

3

Leveled Books in Schools

4

• What have you noticed about how levels of text difficulty are communicated in schools/classrooms?

• Any problems with this “leveling” system?

Our class list

Adapted from Kucan & Palincsar IES 2009-2010

5

Fry Readability Formula


6

7

Five Factors That Influence Comprehension

Reader

Task/Activity

Sociocultural

Context

Text

Teacher/Teaching

Comprehension

Fry Readability Formula = # of sentences and # of syllables

8

Which of the FIVE factors of comprehension?

ONE: TEXT

Lexile Levels: Key Insights? Questions?

9See handout on the wiki: What does the Lexile Measure Mean?

http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/lexile-video/

Lexile Level = sentence length and word frequency

10TWO: TEXT & READER

Which of the FIVE factors of

comprehension?

http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/lexile-video/

11

Standard #10: Text Complexity

Common Core Standards

Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently


13

Text Analysis

• What features of text cause difficulty or challenge readers?

• What features of text support readers in comprehending text ideas?

STOP & JOT


14

Key Text Features that Influence Comprehension

• Genre

• Text organization (e.g., chronology, cause/effect, compare/contrast)

• Graphics and typographic features

• Transitions (e.g., between paragraphs)

• Connectives

• Referents

• Cohesion


15

Ways of thinking about text features and text difficulty we have investigated

• Readability measures:– Text difficulty is judged by vocabulary

(how long the words are/how many syllables) and the length of sentences

• Readability measures assume that:– Longer sentences are more difficult to process– Bigger/longer words, or words that appear less

frequently are less familiar to readers

• We discovered some problems with readability measures. Many other features besides vocabulary and sentence length influence how a reader constructs meaning from text


16

What are the other features influence how a reader constructs meaning?

• We already thought of some features, like– Text Structure (narrative, expository, hybrid,

genre)– Text organization (chronology, cause/effect)– Graphics– Typographical features (type face, bold,

italics, etc.)


17

Let’s Look at these Text Features More Closely

Why/How do these text features support and/or complicate

comprehension?


18

Text Structure: GenreUnderstanding the genre of a text (e.g., folk tale, nonfiction,

historical fiction, mystery or biography) allows readers to have certain expectations about the content and organization of the text. (Helps set purpose; monitor)


19

Hybrid texts include more than one genre

Story on one side, biography on the other

Narrative story of Mrs. Frizzle and her class (problem, events…) intertwined with scientific explanation of phenomenon

20

Text organization: Chronology

• Well-organized accounts of events can help readers understand the order in which events took place.

• The tense of verbs (past, present, and future) can help readers keep track of the sequence of events.

• Words like first, next, then, finally, after help the reader keep track of sequence/time.

• BUT, authors may use other devices such as “flash-forward” or “flash-back.”

Author’s Craft?Pictures of Hollis Woods

Does organization support or complicate comprehension?


21

Text Organization:Cause and Effect

• In well-organized accounts of events related by cause and effect, authors connect the cause and effect by using words and phrases like as a result, because, and therefore.

• The distance between the information provided about the cause-and-effect relationship also contributes to text difficulty.


22

Graphics

• Graphics, such as photos, tables, charts, maps, and illustrations, can support readers to build coherent mental representations

• BUT, graphics can also interfere with that process • How do we know if graphics are helpful?

– Location (where are they placed?)– Relationship between the graphic and the text

(location, and how explicitly they are connected)– Clarity


23

Typographic features

• Typographic features and the layout of text also influence the ease of reading.

• Typographic features include:

– boldface, italics, size of type

– headings and subheadings

Let’s Look at Some Other Text Features that Influence Text

Difficulty


24


25

Transitions

• Well-constructed texts support readers by providing transitions between paragraphs.

• One kind of transition lets the reader know that the topic of the same paragraph is still being considered.

For example, if a paragraph is about photosynthesis, the following paragraph may begin with a sentence like this:

There is more that scientists know about photosynthesis.Such a sentence cues readers that they will be reading

more about this topic.


26

Transitions, Continued

• Authors often choose to repeat the key word to support the transition to a new paragraph about the same topic.

• Transitions can also signal that a new topic is going to be introduced.

For example, a sentence like the following indicates that the author is moving from the topic of year-round schools to the topic of school size:

Although year-round schools have received a lot of attention in predicting student success, others think that school size is the more important factor in predicting school success.


27

Text Organization: Connectives

• Authors signal how ideas are connected by using words known as “connectives” (e.g., because, so, either-or, however, therefore, despite).

• Sometimes authors don’t provide these connectives, and readers have to do the work of building connections.

For example:

Many citizens were outraged. When the polls were scheduled to close, some voters who were still in line to vote had been turned away. The local election board called for an investigation.


28


29

Referents

• Referents are words that refer to the same person, thing, place, or idea; for example, he, they, it, who,which, here.

• Pronouns are common referents

• Sometimes authors use phrases to refer to the same person. For example, in a text about Roberto Clemente, Roberto is referred to as “the young man,” “the right fielder,” and “the young Puerto Rican.”

Language• Figurative language such as

– Metaphor– Simile– Personification

• Figurative language is most often found in literary or fiction text (narrative)

• Colloquialisms/vernacular dialect (again, found in narrative)– I wasn’t born yesterday; grinder; coke; fixin’ to make

groceries


30


31

The role of cohesion in thinking about text features and text difficulty

• Cohesion is the “linguistic glue” that links events and concepts together in a text

• A whole text can be cohesive, but there is also cohesion between sentences, groups of sentences, paragraphs, and chapters

• Cohesive texts support readers in building coherent mental representations of a text

• Less cohesive texts require readers to infer more information to build coherent mental representations


32

Constructing a coherent mental representation

Cohesive Text• Text ideas are well

connected

• Readers understand how text ideas relate to one another

Non-Cohesive Text• Connections among text

ideas are not clear

• Readers must make inferences to connect text ideas

Quickwrite

• What are at least five text features that influence text difficulty?

• One feature that’s potentially helpful?• One feature that’s potentially challenging?


33


34

Applying These Ideas… (Resources? Challenges?)

• Genre

• Text organization (e.g., chronology, cause/effect, compare/contrast)

• Graphics and typographic features

• Transitions (e.g., between paragraphs)

• Connectives

• Referents

• Cohesion

Applying these ideas…

• Helpful? • Not helpful – challenges?


35

How do you use this information about text difficulty to plan your instruction?

• Main Idea:

• Big Idea:

• Introduce: What would you do BEFORE reading?


36

Lion King

37

Text (and Language) Features That Influence Difficulty

• Lion King• Puff the Magic Dragon• Eleven

• What’s the main idea (your key insights) about the role of language for influencing comprehension?

• Talk in your group to generate two key ideas

38

Language Features

• Decontextualized Language – written language is harder to read when we only have words– No help from pictures, mood, color, gestures, sounds of

voice, music, etc. – When we add contextualization, is it helpful? Could it

ever make comprehension more challenging?

• Metaphoric Language – language that uses the literary device of metaphor to transfer meaning of one word to another word


39

Determining Main Ideas and Big Ideas

• Consider: • Is it easier to determine main ideas from

narrative text or informational text? Why?

• Is it easier to determine big ideas from narrative text or informational text? Why?

40

Reviewing MTH Book Activity 2• Activities go all together to help students learn about the

topic (Big Idea or several main ideas)• Hybrid text: Combine what two genres? • Main idea (plot events); Big Idea (any content?)• Unit Map:

– Where get ideas? (from “facts” in Part 1) – Learning outcomes not always clear… state as questions or

goals to help focus your instruction • “Compare differences between common English then & now”• “Create postcard from a soldier’s perspective in civil war” • “What animals do Indian cultures worship? ”

• It’s vs. Its (no apostrophe unless two words

41

Homework

42

Comprehension is dependent upon the interaction of reader factors and text factors

• Reader Factors– Background

knowledge– Vocabulary– Fluency– Comprehension

Strategies– Comprehension Skills– Motivation

• Text Factors– Genres– Text Structures– Text Features

43

1 the role of the text in comprehension reader task/ac tivity sociocultural context text teacher/te...

Documents