English Language Arts and Reading.5.6.D
The student is expected to
create mental images to deepen understanding;
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.
Demonstrated Proficiency of ELA.5.6.D
Read a story or poem aloud that includes sensory language but does not include any accompanying images. Then have students draw a picture and discuss their illustrations with a partner. Ask students to explain what prompted the illustration and provide evidence from the text to support their response. For example, students might describe the mental images generated by a text about a hot, sweltering jungle alive with the constant chatter of insects. Students should illustrate and discuss the images evoked by the text as well as highlight the words in the text that evoke the mental image.
Further Explanation
This assessment requires students to use their imagination, in conjunction with sensory language or vivid descriptions in the text, to visualize events, people, or places described in the text. Students must then draw a picture of the image they have visualized and identify the words that helped them "see" the image in their mind.
Supporting Information for ELA.5.6.D
Research
1. Boerma, I. E., Mole, S. E., & Jolles, J. (2016). Reading pictures for story comprehension requires mental imagery skills. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1630. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01630
Summary: In this study, researchers examined the influence of mental imagery on the reading comprehension of 150 fifth graders. The study was comprised of two control groups and one experimental group. The two control groups used either the full chapter with words only or with images only. The experimental group read a chapter from a book that alternated text blocks followed by one to two pages of images. The findings revealed that students with higher mental imagery skills outperformed those students with lower mental imagery skills. This suggests that texts and images should be integrated in order to increase students' reading comprehension.
2. De Koning, B. B., & van der Schoot, M. (2013). Becoming part of the story!: Refueling the interest in visualization strategies for reading comprehension. Educational Psychology Review, 25, 261–287.
Summary: This article includes different ways to use visualization to encourage readers to build their own visual representations of text. The authors discuss strategies considered best practices. Multiple visualization strategies are included.
3. Davidson, M., & Berninger, V. (2016). Informative, compare and contrast, and persuasive essay composing of fifth and seventh graders: Not all essay writing is the same. Journal of Psychoeducation, 34(4), 311-–321. doi:10.1177/0734282915604977
Summary: Middle schools students write three genres using background knowledge and graphic illustrations to enhance mental images and oral reading (listening comprehension). The results of the study suggest that students exhibited considerable difference between the genre, writing quality, organizational skills, and length. The study provides an overview of approaches that support students to write in multiple genres. Importance is placed on assessing genres.