The Importance Of Semantic Feature Analysis : Book Review

Comprehension is also an important factor when speaking of literacy. Students should be taught the many strategies that will help them with comprehension and word recognition. In my experience in a first grade classroom I used many of these strategies. Within my lessons I included the activation of prior knowledge to construct meaning, the use of context clues in a sentence, pictures clues, predicting, and drawing inferences about ideas or characters in the text. I always made sure that I modeled the strategy for the student before they set of to do it.

All students need direct instruction of vocabulary, but it is especially imperative for ELLs. They need much more exposure to new vocabulary than their native-English-speaking classmates. ELLs need to learn cognates, prefixes, suffixes, and root words to enhance their ability to make sense of new lexicon. Beginning ELLs and more advanced ELL students should actively engage in holistic activities to practice new vocabulary because learning words out of context is difficult for these students. If they memorize the meanings of the words on a list, they will not be able to use the words in their own writing or verbal production until they really understand the meanings. When vocabulary instruction includes explicit, implicit, and strategy instruction, students are repeatedly exposed to the target vocabulary in a variety of contexts which increases their individual vocabulary development and the other resources that help in doing so is the Semantic Mapping primary focus on visual relationships, which is helpful to students from all backgrounds.

Helping Children with Learning Disabilities Understand What They Read is an article by Regina G. Richards. Her article discusses the basic strategies and techniques that can be used for students with learning disabilities. The article states, a key component of comprehension is that the student must be actively

Reading, writing, and speaking is difficult for many people. In honest opinion, these subjects are hard for me. So, imagine the struggles for those students that have a learning disability and those who are learning English. Luckily, I attended a session at the LDA conference that promoted tips and strategies to help students with these subjects. Moreover, how to help both ELL students and students with learning disabilities access these curriculums. Session W32 by Linda Tilton showed me how to help students get organized and become active learners. Not only that, but how to give high interest review strategies to reinforce vocabulary, reading, and writing. As Linda stated, “These are the nuts and bolts to take back and use!” For example, she

If a student has poor reading abilities, that will show through in their writing as well because reading and writing go hand in hand. Without comprehending a reading assignment, how can anyone go on to write a paper on it? Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is a place for faculty to turn to when addressing these specific problems involving writing. Now, WAC is a place that faculty can turn to when addressing reading problems as well because “efforts at improving student reading must begin with a conscious awareness that we ask and expect students to read in particular ways that may not always be familiar to them.” If faculty can guide students to make connections in reading, whether in personal, real world or between other works, they are more likely to better understand the reading.

Students with learning disabilities are a diverse group of individuals, exhibiting difficulties in many different areas. The areas most affected are reading, writing, listening, speaking, reasoning, and math; however, Learning Disabilities are specific to the individual. It is essential for educators to understand all of the possible characteristics that may be seen in children with LD. By knowing what to look for, educators may be able to help provide a meaningful educational experience. The most common types of Learning Disabilities are those that impact reading, writing, and math. According to “Specific Learning Disabilities,” there are five core concepts to consider when defining LD. First, Learning Disabilities are a heterogeneous group; LD comes in all shapes and sizes. Second, LD results in a significant difficulty to listen, speak, read, write, reason, and perform math. Third, Learning Disabilities are unique to the individual. LD is said to start in the central nervous system, and does not disappear over time, but can take on many different stages over a child’s life. Fourth, LD can occur simultaneously with other disabilities; that would not otherwise be classified as a disability. Some examples include ADHD, sensory aversions, or emotional disturbance. Lastly, LD is not caused by external influences. People from different cultural backgrounds may also have a Learning Disability (Kirkland, 2012). As an educator, I need to make sure I understand all of the possible characteristics that may be seen in children with LD. By knowing what to look for, I will be able to help provide a meaningful educational experience for my students with

The class had a work day to make progress on one of their final papers. There were varying degrees ability that I observed. There were students in the classroom who had no problems achieving the goal while others struggled. It seemed that the majority of difficulties stemmed from a specific skill deficit. For example, their assignment was to write a paper about a controversial issue, choose a side, and use scholarly sources. It seemed as though none of the students had real difficulties in forming their opinion on the controversial issue, but when it was time to sift through the sources there arose difficulty for the students. I believe this difficulty stemmed from a reading comprehension skill deficit that I have observed in multiple students during my observation. The students would have no problem reading through the various articles, but it was difficult for them to identify what parts of the article were important to include in their paper. For example, I watched a student intently read through an article for at least 15 minutes, but he still rose his hand for help. Once the teacher had come to his aid to point out areas of the article that were relevant for his paper he had no problem articulating them into his paper. I believe he just had issues with comprehending the material that was presented to him. This appeared to be a common theme within the classroom I observed. It also

Taylor Gensler, Robert Morris University Early Childhood and Special Education Major, relates in her presentation on the “Comprehension Deficit” (2015): “Currently in the U.S. two-thirds of students are unable to read on grade level at the end of fourth grade… 10% of school age children suffer from a comprehension deficit.” Comprehension stands beyond the ability to read a symbol or number, but involves the minds ability to interpret meaning and inference from the data presented, while simultaneously connecting to one’s own knowledge and experiences and applying corrective strategies (i.e. re-reading) when necessary. As the recognition and diagnosis of attention-deficit disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism becomes

The theoretical framework is founded on the pretense that much has been written concerning the problems that many students have with the comprehension of reading materials, especially content texts--science, math, and social studies. Alexander (1988) suggested that these children may be those who have little trouble with their basal readers or trade books, yet are unable to derive meaning from what they read in content area textbooks.

Professor Jacob Neusner states that there exists a social contract between teacher and student, which is that true learning occurs when teachers teach students to teach themselves. In his article “What Does ‘Vocabulary’ Mean?”, Andrew Heinze asks what should professors at educational institutions do to accommodate the needs of students and address the problem with college students not comprehending basic vocabulary, and the impact this has on their performance in school. In order to address this education gap a few things need to be called to action and or either accomplished: attrition rate of teachers, parents of students need to become more involved in their children’s education, the lack of reading comprehension with students needs to

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

Although vocabulary is the sub-skill of a language, it plays a very important role in language learning and teaching. In fact, vocabulary is central to language and is of paramount importance to language learners. On the other hand, words are the building blocks of a language that are used to label objects, actions, and ideas. In other words, people cannot convey the intended meaning without knowing vocabulary. It is widely accepted that vocabulary is a very important part in English language learning because no one can communicate in any meaningful way without vocabulary. As McCarthy (1990) stated, the single, biggest component of any language course is vocabulary. Nation (1990) also affirms that vocabulary can be considered as the most important element in language learning because Learners think that many of their

The failure of students being able to read and comprehend what they are reading is a great concern for most schools. When students enter the fifth grade and are not on grade level, they are already behind their classmates. Teachers are then responsible for remediating the students to get them on grade level. Unfortunately, these same students are unable to keep up with on grade level standards teachers are required to teach, because they lack the skills needed. These students will continue to struggle throughout their education because they will not be able to catch up to their grade level. Many educators have realized there is a gap between fluency and comprehension. Because of this realization, special instruction such as guided reading and remedial teaching has been implemented.

Learning to read is one of the most foundational skills needed for educational success. As children learn to read they develop the ability to decode, interpret, and store information from what they are reading. Reading comprehension allows a child to gain meaning from text and decoding allows a child to process sounds into words. Reading is vital to educational success because it allows a student to learn new information and build upon their prior knowledge. Students who attain reading skills are more likely to achieve academic success while students who have reading difficulties are likely to struggle academically and fall behind their peers. Reading difficulties have been prominent within the US for years. For example, the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress statistics shows that only about 33% of fourth graders are at or above proficient at reading (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2011). Studies show that the cause of reading difficulties is based primarily on genes, environment, and instructional experience (Vellutino, Fletcher, Snowling, Scanlon, 2004). Students with a language learning disorder have difficulty comprehending spoken and written language thus making it difficult to learn new information. Children with reading disabilities are more likely to struggle during elementary school years as students are asked to think about what they read more critically. Speech language pathologists and teachers can help

When data from students who had average accuracy and fluency scores, but lower comprehension scores were compared to data from those with similar accuracy and fluency but average comprehension, the consistent differences were found to be lower oral language and vocabulary skills in the poor comprehenders upon entry into formal schooling. (Nation, Cocksey, Taylor & Bishop) Thousands of dollars each year are spent on intervention, trying to improve the reading of children that show delays. When one reads, the clear goal is comprehension of what is read. Without communication of ideas between the author and reader, decoding texts is pointless. Most intervention programs are focused on phonics and word decoding. Oral language interventions concurrent with vocabulary and comprehension tasks at age eight have been shown to lead to significant improvements in reading comprehension. (Nation, et al., 2010). Reading comprehension is not merely a product of being able to decode words and sentences. How we teach children to process and integrate the ideas found in text can have a large impact on their ability to function in a world of ever expanding knowledge and information.