Teaching reading comprehension to students with learning difficulties

x Preface demands for accountability and pressure to improve academic achievement for all students, including students with learning disabilities, require that teachers be even more knowledgeable and skillful to meet the increasing needs of a range of learners. And as the laws that govern special education increasingly call for instruction to take place in the general education setting, classrooms are becoming more heterogeneous. We view this increased scrutiny of the success of typically underachieving students as an opportunity for teachers to exercise their best teaching, resulting in improved outcomes for all students. In this book we focus on methods for teaching reading comprehension to students with learning disabilities and reading difficulties, with special emphasis on those practices that are supported by research. We provide descriptions of the knowledge base in each of the critical areas related to comprehension and also present specific strategies for teachers to implement with their students. ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK In Chapter 1 we provide an overview of reading comprehension as a domain of learning. This chapter is meant to serve as a backdrop for the assessment and methods chapters that follow. We provide a summary of current research on effective practices for improving reading comprehension for students with learning difficulties and disabilities. We describe how good and poor readers differ in their reading comprehension and the strategies good readers use to facilitate their understanding. We discuss possible reasons students with learning disabilities might struggle with reading comprehension, and we describe the cognitive processes involved in comprehension. In Chapter 2 we review various reading comprehension assessment procedures that teachers can use either diagnostically or for progress monitoring purposes. We describe standardized tests, curriculum-based measurement, informal reading inventories, interviews and questionnaires, observations, retelling, and think-aloud procedures. We emphasize that it is important for those administering different comprehension measures to be aware of just what each test assesses, what can and cannot be learned, and the limitations as well as the strengths of each. The best way to assess reading comprehension is with a combination of different measures. In Chapter 3 we describe ways to enhance vocabulary instruction. Understanding words in all their complexity is an essential part of comprehending text. Many students with learning disabilities have less extensive vocabularies than their peers without disabilities. Numerous factors contribute to differential rates of vocabulary growth. Some students with disabilities suffer from general language deficits that affect their vocabulary learning, and others have problems with memory and/or recall. We describe numerous instructional methods, designed to improve vocabulary learning, which have helped students with learning disabilities and other struggling readers. In Chapter 4 we discuss the importance of understanding text structure and present multiple ways to teach students about different narrative and expository Preface xi text structures. Although students with learning disabilities and other students are often unaware of, or confused by, unfamiliar text structures, explicit instruction can help them recognize various structures and use this knowledge to aid their comprehension. This principle applies to students at different grade levels, from the primary grades through high school. In Chapter 5 we describe specific instructional practices that promote reading comprehension. We organize these comprehension strategies in terms of when they are typically used: before, during, and after reading. Prior to reading, teachers should assist students in activating, building, and using their background knowledge to make connections with the text and predict what they will learn. During reading, students need to know how to monitor their understanding, use fix-up strategies to assist with comprehension, and consider linkages between what they are reading and previous knowledge and experiences. After reading, they should summarize the key ideas they have read and respond to the material in various ways. Finally, in Chapter 6 we discuss multicomponent approaches to strategy instruction, including reciprocal teaching, transactional strategies instruction, and collaborative strategic reading. With each approach students learn to apply different strategies through modeling, explicit instruction, and guided practice, before, during, and after reading. Each approach includes discussions with peers as a central element. These methods have been found to be effective for improving the reading comprehension of students with learning disabilities as well as other students. FEATURES This book includes many features designed to make it readily accessible to educators. In each chapter we provide background information about the research supporting the aspect of reading comprehension under discussion. We also describe how to carry out different instructional approaches and utilize numerous figures, graphs, and tables to illustrate our approaches. In selected chapters we also offer sample lesson plans. Finally, at the beginning of each chapter we list three or four study group questions designed to prompt reflection and dialogue about reading comprehension. This book is designed to help undergraduate and graduate students extend their knowledge of reading instruction related to comprehension as well as to assist practicing teachers in furthering their expertise. USING THIS BOOK AS A STUDY GUIDE We encourage you to use this book as a study guide in your school. Whether you are part of a formal study group or would like to start your own informal group, this book can serve as a valuable tool to guide your pedagogy. Much like the interactive comprehension practices associated with improved outcomes for students, we believe that educators who have opportunities to discuss and implement ideas xii Preface from this book with feedback from their fellow teachers are more likely to try the comprehension practices and maintain their use. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We have many to acknowledge but feel compelled to select just a few. Janette Klingner would like to recognize and express appreciation for the guidance of two experts in reading comprehension: the late Michael Pressley and Annmarie Palincsar. I first met them in 1992 when, as a naive yet eager doctoral student, I approached each of them at an annual meeting of the National Reading Conference and asked if they would be willing to serve as consultants on a student-initiated research grant (for my dissertation). They both graciously agreed and over the years have been very generous with their time, expertise, and wisdom. I have learned much not only about reading comprehension but also about life. For this guidance, I am very grateful. Sharon Vaughn would like to acknowledge the contributions of Isabel Beck and Jean Osborn. Isabel Beck is simply the most insightful and interesting person with whom I have dialogued about reading. She is enormously interested in my research, my thinking, my interpretations. She is also exceedingly generous with what she knows—and she knows a lot. She has not hesitated to “set me straight,” and she has always been right. Jean Osborn and I have worked closely together on professional development materials for the past 9 years. She is vigorous, dedicated, exacting, and sensitive. She wears me out with her precise rejuvenation of tired writing. She knows what teachers need to know and do to assure that all students read well, often, and with enthusiasm. I simply have no words for how much I have learned from her about teaching, learning, and caring for others. I appreciate most that Isabel and Jean are my friends. We all remember students who, despite their inquisitive minds, lack the skills they need to learn from reading and, perhaps even worse, might never have the chance to love to read. Alison Boardman would like to acknowledge these students (and their teachers), who continually encourage her to become a better educator because they simply wouldn’t have it any other way. I would also like to thank my coauthors, Janette Klingner and Sharon Vaughn, whose expertise and longstanding commitment to the field is inspirational. Their feedback and support have been invaluable to me. Contents 1. Overview of Reading Comprehension 1 What Do Good and Poor Readers Do Related to Reading Comprehension? 3 To What Degree Do the Foundational Skills of Phonics, Fluency, and Vocabulary Influence Reading Comprehension? 5 What Is Involved in Reading Comprehension? 8 Conclusion 12 2. Assessing Reading Comprehension 13 Limitations of Traditional Comprehension Assessment Procedures Reading Comprehension Measures 16 Conclusion 41 15 3. Vocabulary Instruction 46 How Does Teaching Vocabulary Facilitate Reading Comprehension? 47 How Can We Assess and Monitor Vocabulary Learning? 48 Assessing Vocabulary 49 What Are the Best Practices for Promoting Vocabulary Acquisition? 56 Conclusion 69 4. Text Structure and Reading Comprehension Text Structure and Students with Learning Disabilities Narrative Story Structure 77 Expository Text Structure 87 Conclusion 96 xiii 76 75 xiv Contents 5. Instructional Practices That Promote Reading Comprehension 101 Instructional Practices in Reading Comprehension for Students with Learning Disabilities 102 Before Reading 103 During and after Reading 107 Conclusion 124 6. Multicomponent Approaches to Strategy Instruction 130 Reciprocal Teaching 131 Transactional Strategies Instruction 136 Collaborative Strategic Reading 139 Conclusion 147 Glossary 151 Appendix: Reading Comprehension Websites 156 References 159 Index 175 CHAPTER 1 Overview of Reading Comprehension STUDY GROUP PROMPTS 1. How do good and poor readers differ when they talk about text they have read? Can you determine from students’ responses to text whether they really understood what they read? 2. If students with learning difficulties/disabilities have trouble with reading comprehension, what are the possible explanations? Are there other factors related to reading comprehension that might need to be considered? 3. Reading comprehension is difficult to determine in students because so much of it occurs “in the head” and isn’t readily observable. What can you do to better determine how well your students understand what they read? How is it that children learn to understand what they read? How do some students get lost in their reading and enter new worlds, build knowledge, and improve vocabulary, whereas others find reading a constant struggle that rarely nets comprehension? As teachers of students with reading difficulties and disabilities, these questions were asked anew each year with each incoming group of students. Few of the students we taught who had learning disabilities also read well and with comprehension. In this chapter we present an overview of reading comprehension and related factors. 1