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.

While reading aloud, prompt students to share the connections they make with the text. Connections should include text to self, text to text, and text to world.

Sentence starters for students can include the following:

  • My connection is . . .
  • This story reminds me of . . .because . . .
  • I had the same feelings as . . .
  • This story is similar to . . .
     

Further Explanation

This SE requires students to make connections with the text they are reading. Students use background knowledge as a starting place for constructing meaning from the text. Students demonstrate comprehension of a text when they recognize these connections and can draw comparisons between them.

Students should make connections between what they are reading and their own relevant experiences, other texts they have read, or things from the real world they are knowledgeable about to build a framework for understanding the text they are reading. Using this background knowledge gives students a starting place for constructing meaning from the text. Students demonstrate comprehension of a text when they recognize these connections and can draw comparisons between them.
a community of people living in a particular country or region and having common traditions, laws, and interests; a distinguishable section or part of a community of people

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. Robertson, J. M. (2004). "The Dog Project": Implications for Instruction. Language and Literacy Spectrum,14(Spring), 84–92. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1059553

Summary: Acknowledging that learning is context-specific and inherently social, the researcher's photo-essay documents a classroom implementation of "The Dog Project," showing this type of reading project fosters students sustained engagement with texts and their motivation to read and write.

3. Barbe-Clevett, T., Hanley, N., & Sullivan, P. (2002). Improving reading comprehension through metacognitive reflection. (Master theses, Saint Xavier University).
Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED471067

Summary: This research reports on a plan for increasing 6th grade students' reflection and comprehension skills. The reflective process was developed through four interrelated activities taught in a specific, scaffolded sequence. Post-intervention data shows an increased in reading skills along with an increased emotional involvement in reading.

4. Taboada, A., & Guthrie, J. T. (2006). Contributions of student questioning and prior knowledge to construction of knowledge from reading information text. Journal of Literacy Research, 38(1), 1–35. Accessed online at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1207/s15548430jlr3801_1

Summary: This study investigated the relationship of student-generated questions and prior knowledge with reading comprehension.  Third- and fourth-grade students posed questions that were related to their prior knowledge and reading comprehension. The results indicated that student questioning accounted for a significant amount of variance in students’ reading comprehension, after accounting for the contribution of prior knowledge.