Well.... this is opening a "can of worms".... but we have been doing that for a few weeks now:)
We have visited the Simple View of Reading and the 5 Pillars.. Let's spend a bit of time on the last one, comprehension.( Don't worry, we will come back to all 5 pillars eventually....)
There is some buzz in some educational communities that question the importance of teaching reading skills vs the importance of background knowledge in order to increase comprehension. It is the "current buzz" within this reading pendulum shift.
The article below gives a general explanation along with the schools that are shifting their instruction. It is an interesting article....
Better yet... Listen to the first 21 minutes of this podcast ( the entire postcast is really good) with Dr. Tim Shanahan as he gives his opinion on skills and strategy instruction and where it should be incorporated within our ultimate goal.... for students to understand the text..... ( think more of the timing of teaching the skills vs whether to teach them or not).
Tim Shanahan Shares about Strategies and Knowledge Building/ Podcast- click on the title to access the link
I truly do not know where I stand on this one.... I need to do more research.
What about you?
What do you think about this information?
Should we look at this differently based on the age and academic level of the students we teach?
Share your thoughts below.
Rebecca Minerd
This is a rather interesting article that has research to support its findings, but I also wonder if that is the case, Why is "main idea" still a leading question in our textbooks today. Yes, I agree that background knowledge is very helpful for students when reading and learning new things, because it does stick to their long-term memory and help them to recall information based on life experiences. On the other hand, you have students that don't have any background knowledge and you have to support and remediate many of those students in the classroom. Researchers called reading test "knowledge tests" which was interesting, because they stated that it tested background knowledge. In relation to this article, our school system integrates the social sciences and history with reading and language/vocabulary, so it doesn't appear as one course or subject, which helps students retain information more, because they are hearing it throughout the day in each subject area. I think having a literacy-rich curriculum is wonderful, but I'm still feel like you need to know the basics, you still need to know how to compile information and form a main idea rather you have experience or not. It's just like interviewing for a job, you may have no background knowledge about that job, but you know the basics to get an interview and possibly get hired.
ReplyDeleteI can see how being knowledgeable about a topic could drastically improve my reading comprehension. I know that if I pickup up a article about WW2 vs one on semi-conductors I would be able to understand and comprehend the WW2 article better because I have some background knowledge on the topic. To give me a "cold read" on semi-conductors would be more difficult even if I applied my reading strategies..... I can see why kids gets frustrated with informational passages......
ReplyDeleteThe idea of background knowledge improving reading comprehension makes complete sense, and your example is a good one. I believe this idea can be applied to writing. For example, if a student is instructed to read two different reading passage and then given a choice as to which one to complete a written response on, they are most likely going to choose the one they know more about or can connect to in some way other than through what they read. This deeper understanding of the content will provide them with more ideas, evidence, examples etc. that will naturally result in a richer and higher-level written response.
DeleteMain idea requires a deep understanding of informational text that students may not have because they did not comprehend the text. After we read a passage and answer questions, I always ask which question was the hardest to answer and "What is the main idea of the text?" is almost always their response. Out of curiosity, I checked Hattie's effect size for comprehension questions and did not see main idea listed but did see summarization listed with an effect size of .79. Understanding the difference between main idea and details has merit of course, but is main idea more of a writing strategy than a reading strategy? I am also wondering if spending more time on text structure would help students with comprehension versus main idea and detail? I was also once again fascinated when the podcast (around minute 7) started discussing that companies needed teacher guides and lesson plans to go with the reading books they were publishing so they came up with questions...are we asking the right questions was my immediate thought? Discussion is important but maybe not all questions are a one size fit all.
ReplyDeleteI agree..... I again go back to my comment about semi-conductors.... If asked the main idea I may not be able to answer as clearly as needed because I don't have the background. Text structures would be beneficial.
DeleteI agree, Lisa. We are quick to devalue the impact well developed summarizing skills have. I use to require my students to submit a summary of their books before taking their AR tests - particularly when transitioning to reading and testing on non-fiction and chapter books.
DeleteI definitely agree that background knowledge is important. I know that it is common to “activate” background knowledge on a topic before reading about it, since I have done it and seen it done many times in ELA, science and social studies. In the podcast, Dr. Shanahan talked about studies being done (for six to eight weeks) that show teaching reading skills can be beneficial for students, but he also brings up the question as to whether these skills need to be taught all year long and every year a student is in school. It would make sense to me that younger grades and students may need to learn and practice these skills more often, since they are still developing their reading skills, but older students who have already developed these skills might not need as much time. In regards to background knowledge, I am still wondering what can we do to help students who have no background knowledge on a topic? What is the best way to help them build their background knowledge? In the podcast, Dr. Shanahan also talked about building background knowledge as you read a text. I can see how background knowledge would definitely play a role in boosting comprehension, but still have questions on the right approach to building it and how to balance it with reading comprehension skills that are still being emphasized.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mrs. Minerd and Ms. Moore on this topic. Firstly, background knowledge is key in comprehension and of course, interest!
DeleteIn answer to Ms. Moore's many on-target questions, the key is the use of all reading strategies (pillars, etc.) and differentiation.
I think the biggest problem with reading education over the years is "tossing away" perfectly good programs, concepts, skills, etc. in favor of "new ideas". When it comes to reading all students should be exposed to the "outdated", as well as, the new science based trends not only to determine strengths/weaknesses, but for the exposure and knowledge of different strategies for different applications. I am a strong reader, but I need phonological awareness, knowledge of roots, etc. to read about semi-conductors in order to get ANY meaning out of it! And, I would need to use mnemonic devices in order to pass any test, written or applied.
The beauty is... students who are still working on basic skills can do so while being exposed to more topics and building background knowledge. :)
That "Anonymous" was me. :(
ReplyDeleteThe article and podcast were very interesting. I don't think we can totally ditch "finding the main idea" especially in the primary grades. It is important for the younger students that are just beginning to enter into the world of literacy to become armed with the tools and skills needed to understand what they have heard or read. Dr. Tim Shanahan made an important comment that "asking questions about a text is not one particular skill". Through the asking of questions about what has been read the student develops an understanding of the text. I also found it very interesting that he said prior knowledge can sometimes be detrimental to comprehension. That people who have knowledge of the subject will go into reading thinking "I already know that." and will not absorb the information presented.
ReplyDeleteI found his comment about it having the possibility to be detrimental interesting too! I do see his point but don't think it applies to all
DeleteI found the podcast very interesting and I was surprised about Dr. Tim Shanahan's perspective on background knowledge. He claims that many students can actually have more difficulty with a text that they have background knowledge due to the fact that they think they already know everything so they skim or skip parts of the text. He found students who have strong comprehension skills and a wide vocabulary background can read and comprehend the text just as well as those with the prior knowledge. He talks a lot about not spending time on activating knowledge and just having the students read the text multiple times to gain understanding. Is re-reading a passage enough to close the knowledge gap? I was also intrigued as to his statement about teaching knowledge is something that is lacking in most schools. He said teachers focus too much time on teaching skills and strategies then teaching reading to gain knowledge. I agree with this point and feel it is imperative to combine ELA with Science and Social Studies. Why is it that with all the research supporting the shift in reading instruction that schools still expect us to use strategies such as KWL charts? I am excited to further research background knowledge!
ReplyDeleteThis is where I don't think I agree. I do think that background knowledge is extremely important. I also think his comments were aligned more toward middle school learners.
DeleteThis is a very interesting take on curriculum adjustments. I can't help to think about the students with learning struggles. If explicit instruction is skipped, students who aren't "natural readers" will not pick up these skills without the explicit instruction. Provide explicit instruction on the reading skills and strategies, however, provide meaningful ways of using them. There has to be a healthy blend of these.
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article and listening to the podcast, I do not think that it is a good idea to always drop finding the main idea when students are doing reading activities. Yes, as the article points out, having background knowledge may be helpful for students at times while they are reading. The background knowledge may help students to stay more engaged in the material that they are reading and benefit their understanding of the text because they can relate that material to some information that they already know. However, I also think that students thinking about the main idea of a text or passage that they are reading can also help them with their overall understanding of what they are reading. I do also think that it is important to remind students when they are doing reading assessments that if they are able to go back to the text to look for information or evidence to answer a question that they do that. I was once talking to a student who told me that the reason why he did not do as well on a reading assignment as he usually did was because he already knew about that subject. He told me that rather than answer the multiple choice questions about the passage based on exactly what it said in the passage, he was trying to just use his own background knowledge on the subject to answer the questions. I reminded this student that when he is allowed to go back to the passage to look for evidence that goes along with the answer choice that he picks, he should also look at the passage and not just guess based on facts that he remembers learning at another time. Therefore, I do think that it may be helpful for some students to have background knowledge in content areas when reading texts and taking assessments, but it is also important for students to use phonics and other reading comprehension skills when taking the reading assessments.
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