English Language Arts and Reading.8.5.C

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The student is expected to

make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures;

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.

Provide students with a graphic organizer to keep track of thoughts in order to make and correct or confirm logical predictions. Students should make predictions based on specific text features or characteristic of the genre. Assess whether the students’ predictions are accurate, inaccurate, or possible.

Predictions might stem from these questions:

  • Mystery—How will it be solved?
  • Biography—What will happen in the person’s life?
  • Tall tale—What will be the outlandish combination of fact and fiction?
  • Fable—What is the moral lesson of the fable?
  • Argumentation—What is the claim? Do I think it is valid?

The graphic organizer might include the following:

Prediction #1

Title, cover, title page, first page of text

Prediction

Evidence

Adjustment

Prediction #2

Stopped on page _

Prediction

Evidence

Adjustment

Prediction #2

Stopped on page _

Prediction

Evidence

Adjustment

Further Explanation

This assessment requires students to make predictions based on text features or genre characteristics and provide text evidence to support those predictions. Students should be able to recognize the characteristics that make a genre unique in order to make and correct or confirm predictions. They must understand how to formulate hypotheses about content at different stages of the reading process including using prior knowledge to make predictions and text features to correct or confirm predictions.

Each genre has a variety of characteristics or elements that sets 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, a fictional text usually includes a plot, conflict, characters, setting, theme, narrator, and point of view. By identifying all these components, students increase their skills to understand this type of text. The same logic applies to all genres of reading.
Students should employ skills and strategies such as making and correcting or confirming predictions to take part in the reading process as an active reader. When students guess what is going to happen next and pay attention to certain clues, such as what characters are saying or repeated details, they are able to remember important ideas and benefit from the reading experience. Students should constantly formulate hypotheses about the text content at different stages of the reading process. Students should use their prior knowledge to make predictions about the text. Students may also use text features to refine their predictions. As they begin to read, students 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 cause and its effects. Each type of text structure serves a particular purpose and presents controlling ideas and details in specific ways. The process of recognizing text structures will help students monitor 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 a text. Some examples of text features include boldface type, headings, and subheadings. Text features help readers focus on or better understand important ideas and concepts of the text. When students use text features, they make connections within the text, become familiar with the text's organization, and establish important background knowledge related to the content.

Research

Risko, V. J., Walker-Dalhouse, D., Bridges, E. S., & Wilson, A. (2011). Drawing on text features for reading comprehension and composing. The Reading Teacher, 64(5), 376–378. doi:10.1598/RT.64.5.12

Summary: The authors of this article present text features as a primary factor in reading comprehension and writing. The article also includes a discussion on genres and multimodal and graphic texts, as well as the use of text features and genres to make, correct, and confirm predictions.