Quantitative Article Critique

In chapter five, by Cris Tovani, “Why Am I Reading This” explains how educators need to establish a clear reading instructional plan. In order to accomplish understanding students need to concentrate on main ideas from the readings. Tovani explains that it is vital for teachers to model how students should hold their thinking or slow down their reading. Throughout the chapters she gives examples as question strategies, highlighting text, or summarizing key points. As this will benefit students in their reading assignment. Tovani also explains throughout the chapter that teachers should model thinking aloud. This strategy will benefit students on how to negotiate difficult text.

In “Writing to Read”, Graham and Hebert present the results of studies, which where thoroughly analyzed, in order to support the importance of writing instruction towards the development of reading skills. The report, however, was not created with the simple purpose of making an argument. Through the use of meta analysis, it recognizes the most effective approaches in order to aid teachers in developing and applying effective strategies.

In the past, knowing that motivation was one of the primary concerns for teachers when teaching them to read (Veenamn, 1984) but today it deals more with finding a way to interest students in reading (O’Flahavan, Gambrell, Guthrie, Stahl, & Alvermann, 1992), Gambrell, Palmer, Codling, & Mazzoni developed a tool to assess student motivation in reading. The Motivation to Read Profile includes a reading survey and a conversational interview. The survey gathers information on reading motivation as it relates to self-concept as a reader and the value of reading. The interview gathers information on books students find most interesting, favorite authors, and where and how students find books. After administering the survey and interview, teachers

Student survey responses corresponded with the most expressed concerns of teachers. Of the 45 students surveyed (proficient and deficient learners in reading comprehension), all expressed that the vocabulary within a text is difficult and makes it hard to comprehend a reading. Furthermore, 73% of students said that language (the language used in the text and the format of a text) in historical or English readings were confusing. Finally, 86% of students said that most of what they read in class was boring and they found very little interest in the reading.

* Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning about key events, ideas and information in texts that they listen to, view and read by drawing on growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features (ACELY1660), (ACARA, 2012). Learning to read is essentially learning to decode and understand the words/language written in the story and to construct meanings from those words (literacy) (Nicole & Roberts, 1993). The more language the children (and adults) hear and read the more developed their vocabulary will become (Snow, Burns & Griffin, 1998, Nicole & Roberts, 1993, Anderson et al, 1985). Reading fluency is enhanced with an enlarged

Teachers can help improve student reading comprehension by generating questions that get students to think about what the text means, and by

One of the most important foundational skills in the primary grades is learning how to read proficiently. This skill is a key indicator for student’s success for the rest of their educational careers (Wigfield, Guthrie, Perencevich, Taboada, Klauda, Mcrae, & Barbosa, 2008). The teacher researcher believes that the students in her class are not motivated to read paper bound books, and that by implementing an online reading program it will increase her students motivation to complete their nightly reading homework. She also believes that when students complete their nightly reading homework on a regular basis this will help improve the students reading comprehension and fluency scores. It will also have an important impact on the overall academic functioning of students according to (DioGuardi , Theodore, Hughes, Aloiso, Eccles, & Eccles,

Luke, Woods, and Dooley start the article by describing what comprehension is. They identify comprehension as, “a cognitive, but also social and intellectual, phenomenon, and that narrow understandings of comprehension are insufficient for literacy education for diverse and

Students' comprehension of the text will be the dependent variable in this study. Comprehension will be measured using the student responses to the story questions. The questions and answers are coming from Benchmark Literacy. In this study, the students will not be given the opportunity to look back in the text to respond to any questions.

How does the participant construct the meaning of an academic text after participating in the reading support sessions?

The idea that students become more actively engaged when they are taught to use the strategies as a tool, which promotes talking about the text. Further researchers such as McKeon, Beck, and Blake (2009) argued that teaching students text content leads to better results on comprehension than teaching strategies, as content knowledge is more effective and essential than strategic knowledge. Importantly, including transformational strategy in instruction in multiple texts, in addition to further distal measures of the reading comprehension, can pave the way for rigorous assessment of long-term impacts of instruction in the learning

One of the first steps in helping a struggling reader is to be able to reach out and assist the areas where they are lacking. One way a teacher can assist is to help the students discover and set reading goals for themselves. Having a reading goal can help the students have a purpose for reading. Some students may need motivation and a reason to read if the ease of reading isn’t there for them. Having a goal may help these students feel the sense of reading has a purpose. Trying new procedures and having organizational strategies can be beneficial to teachers when helping students achieve their reading goals. Michael Opitz and Michael Ford have found organizational strategies to be successful when implemented in the classroom as part of the reading strategy. According to Michael Opitz and Michael Ford, “when teachers are able to expand the way they think and use Guided Reading it will help the students become more successful at reading.” (Hillman, 2002). The concerns from Opitz and Ford are as follows: 1. Roles and Goals; 2. Assessment and Grouping; 3. Texts; 4. Instruction; and 5. Organization and Management.”

Our group chose to research reading comprehension development and how to teach our young readers how to gain knowledge from text. We have observed our students relying on their background knowledge rather than acquiring meaning from the text. We would like to learn more about the resources that are available to help our students develop comprehension strategies.

Students having hard times in comprehending the thought of the text and what the author implies. It seems to be reading by words but not reading between the lines. It is important to know how comprehension plays an integral part in a manner of thinking and conceptualizing facts and ideas from the

In this information–driven age, preparing students to read a variety of texts with complete understanding should likely be one of our educational system’s highest priorities. Understanding is more than just the ability to produce information on demand (knowledge) or the ability to perform learned routines (skills). “Understanding is the ability to think and act flexibly with what one knows.” (Active Learning Practice for Schools, n. d.) A review of the literature in the area of reading comprehension of elementary-age students shows two principle areas of focus. There is a body of literature that examines the development of proficient vs. struggling comprehenders and another body of literature that compares methodologies for teaching