comprehension TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts.

Present a folktale for students to read. Guide students as they preview the text, noting the title and stopping to observe illustrations and text features. Before students read the text, ask them to share their predictions of what the characters might do as well as what the moral of the folktale might be. Give students a stopping point to revisit their predictions. At that point, have students share further predictions they have about the text. Encourage students to finish reading the text and explain whether their initial predictions were correct and whether they changed their predictions while reading. Note students’ ability to make predictions and how they validate or adjust predictions as they read.

Further Explanation

This assessment item requires students to make sense of what they think the author wants to tell the reader. Initially, students use background knowledge and text features to make predictions. Students must be familiar with text features and characteristics of genre and understand what they may reveal about the text. A teacher may wish to assess predictions using a variety of text types.

Each genre has a variety of characteristics, or things that set it apart from other genres. Students should recognize the characteristics that make a genre unique in order to understand its purpose and content. For example, an argumentative text usually presents an assertion or perspective about something. It includes relevant reasons and credible data to support the writer’s argument and acknowledges opposing views. By identifying these components, students increase their skills to understand this type of text. The same logic applies to all genres of reading.
Reading is an active process that involves interaction between the author and the reader. Authors organize ideas and use them to try to convey specific messages. Then, readers attempt to make sense of what they think the author wants to tell them. Thus, readers constantly formulate hypotheses about the content of the text at different stages of the reading process. Initially, the reader uses prior knowledge to make predictions about the text. The reader may also use text features to refine predictions and correct or confirm initial predictions. As readers begin to read the text, they correct or confirm their initial predictions. This is a continuous process.
Text structure refers to how the information in a written text is organized. There are different types of text structure. For example, a text might present a main idea and then details, compare two similar ideas, or develop a plot using chronological problem-solution. Each form of text structure serves a particular purpose and presents central ideas and details in specific ways. The process of recognizing text structures will assist students in monitoring their comprehension of the text.
Text features refer to the components of a story or article that are not part of the main body of text. Some examples of text features are bullets and numbers, graphics, bold words, timelines, and tables. Text features help readers focus on important ideas and concepts. When students use text features, they make connections within the text, become familiar with the text's organization, and access important background knowledge related to the content.

Research

1. Droop, M., Elsäcker, W. V., Voeten, M. J., & Verhoeven, L. (2015). Long-Term Effects of Strategic Reading Instruction in the Intermediate Elementary Grades. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9(1), 77–102. doi:10.1080/19345747.2015.1065528

Summary: The findings of this research suggest that third and fourth grade students should first attain and enhance their knowledge of reading strategies through teacher modeling. Then, they should learn how reading strategies are used and verbalized. After these steps, students can learn to apply this knowledge when reading. The more often a student uses the strategies, the more internalized the strategies become.

2. Kelly, M.J., & Clausen-Grace, N. (2010). Guiding students through expository text with text feature walks: The reading strategy in this article guides students in the reading of text features in order to access prior knowledge, make connections, and set a purpose for reading expository text. The Reading Teacher. 64(3), 191–195. doi: 10.1598/RT.64.3.4

Summary: This article describes how to employ a text feature walk in the classroom and reports on the benefit  from using this technique, including results from a pilot study  in the spring of 2007. Text features include all the components of a story or article that are not the main body of text. The text feature walk is a structure that addresses each of these facets of expository text.