Literacy Research Paper: Reading Comprehension

Teaching comprehensive reading in early elementary grades is more effective for providing a foundation for students in depth reflection of reading than in higher elementary grades. By teaching reading, comprehension when students first learn to read will be able to further improve their ability to provide more in depth responses towards their understanding of what they read over time. Students will be able to be more prepared at an early grade to comprehend increasingly difficult amounts of information as they progress with their reading abilities in further grade levels. Reading comprehension includes visualizing the text, assimilating and accommodating the text with previous experiences, picking a focus, analyzing the vocabulary, and developing fluency for their reading.

When teaching reading comprehension beginning in kindergarten and first grade it enables the students to have groundwork for further comprehension development. “State departments of education are now recognizing kindergarten as a critical entry point into the public school,” (Rouse, Fantuzzo, pg 342). If kindergarten is considered a key entry point into public schools, then teaching adequate reading and comprehension skills at this age is also critical for students’ literacy development. “The federal legislation pertaining to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is pressing educators toward evidence-based, culturally appropriate decision making to ensure that all children are reading on grade level. This mandate has heightened the need fro early intervention, and subsequently the need for assessment instruments of high quality with the ability to identify children’s ability levels before third grade,” (Rouse, Fantuzzo, pg 353). Due to the high standards the federal legislation puts on teachers and students, it is imperative to begin the process of teaching literacy development at an early elementary grade level. When teaching reading comprehension to students they are building memory skills, and learning to focus on the content of the stories, they read and hear more efficiently.

Students are more likely to be able to comprehend their reading when they learn to pick a focus for their reading. For example, if students are able to comprehend narrative stories more than expository pieces of writing, then they are more likely to choose to read more narrative stories. At an early age grade, it is important for students to develop strategies for how to get beyond their struggles with reading. It is important that teachers help students learn “distinguish between useful reading strategies and useless behavior in reading, (Eme, Puustinen, Coutelet, pg. 101). When developing reading strategies and improving comprehension abilities it is important for students to develop a personal connection with the text, or process text with previous knowledge. Reading comprehension enables students to learn to assimilate and accommodate new information and adds it to existing knowledge, (Woolfolk, pg. 58). When teaching reading comprehension at an early grade level students to think critically about their stories and become selfish readers. The students learn how to think about the content of the stories and how the schemes relate to them personally. When students learn to learn to comprehend their reading at an early age they are able to distinguishing between important and unimportant information. Students will be able to understand the essentials of stories and focus their thoughts (summarize, bullet, bold their main focus in readings). When students learn to comprehend reading at earlier ages, they will be able to enjoy the process more. Students will be able to interact with the content, and apply it to some other context or setting. In some cases, students should learn to identify a purpose for their reading, so they are more motivated to want to comprehend what they are reading. When students learn to comprehend their reading at earlier ages, it becomes fun, and students are more likely to want to continue to read as a result. When students learn how to comprehend or recall what they read it provides a link to other reading assessments. Students are more likely to participate in class discussion, and ask questions of interest when they are able to comprehend what is being read to them.

During the process of teaching reading comprehension at kindergarten and first grade levels, it is important for students practice reading on their own, to develop their own pace through experience. At a young age, it can be difficult to visualize the readings, make the material personal, or remember enough details to paraphrase key points. Methods to diminish these issues with younger grades are to focus of pictures along with the text to tell the story. It is also important to immediately ask students questions about the content of a sentence after it was read. “Comprehension involves phonological information and verbal short-term memory skilled comprehenders can marshal semantic and syntactic processes even in the face of phonological difficulties,” (Gray, McCutchen, pg 332). Teaching students at a young age to identify things in the texts that they read that trigger their semantic and syntactic processing they are more likely to be able to comprehend the text.

Reading fluency is an essential part of the comprehension process. “The speed with which text is translated into spoken language has been identified as a major component of reading proficiency,” (Hudson, Lane, Pullen, pg. 702). It is important that students at a young age are taught to keep a steady pace when reading out loud or silently. Students as they are learning to comprehend their reading should learn to analyze the sentence syntax, and practice developing fluency reading as a complement to the comprehension process. “Each aspect of fluency has a clear connection to text comprehension. Without accurate word reading, the reader will have no access to the author’s intended meaning, and inaccurate word reading can lead to misinterpretations of the text,” (Hudson, Lane, Pullen, pg. 702). If students spend too much time attempting to decode the word phonemically, then comprehension of the word is likely to not be a main priority. It is important to make sure what students are reading is appropriate for their age level. Reading fluency and accuracy has a direct correlation with reading comprehension. When students are not reading words correctly, they are likely to not understand the author’s “intended message,” (Hudson, Lane, Pullen, pg. 703). Vocabulary also plays a large role in reading comprehension. If students at a young reading age come across a word that they do not know, there is the potential that they skip it a go on. By doing this, students are not learning the word, and have the potential to miss the meaning of the sentence, or passage completely. To remedy this, “reading aloud in small groups and in a interactive way promotes no only oral language comprehension but also vocabulary development (Aarnoutse, Leeuwe, Verhoeven, pg. 270).

The research demonstrates that if students first learn build and develop their reading abilities in kindergarten and first grade, they are building a foundation for comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, and sustainable strategies for reading success. It is important that students develop these skills at early grades. When the federal legislature mandates testing of students at specific age groups, it is important that students are able to meet objectives successfully. It is the teachers’ role to start students on the right track at early elementary grades. Teachers will be able to provide students with successful reading comprehension and fluency skills, and providing methods that scaffold the students’ reading success.

References:

Aarnoutse, C. Leeuwe, J. V., Verhoeven, L. (June 2005). Early literacy from a

longitudinal perspective. Educational Research and Evaluation. Vol. 11(3) 253-275

Eme, E., Puustinen, M. Coutelet, B. (2006). Individual and developmental differences in

reading monitoring: When and how do children evaluate their comprehension. European Journal of Psychology of Education. I.S.P.A. Vol. XXI n”1, 91-115

Fantuzzo, W. J., Rouse, L. H. (2006). Validity of the dynamic indicators for basic early

literacy skills as an indicatory of early literacy for urban kindergarten children. School Psychology Review. Vol. 35(3) pp. 341-355

Gray, A., McCutchen, D. (July/August2006). Young readers’ use of phonological

information: Phonological awareness, memory, and comprehension. Journal of

Learning Disabilities. Vol. 39(4) 325-333

Hudson, F. R., Lane, B.H., Pullen, C. P. (May, 2005). Reading fluency assessment and

instruction: What, why, and how? The Reading Teacher. Vol. 58(8), 702-14

Woolfolk, A. (2004). Educational psychology ninth edition. Pearson Education Inc. p.

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