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Essay Subject: Examines 3 alternative methods of teaching reading comprehension using textbooks, based on increasing active student participation.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines 3 alternative methods of teaching reading comprehension using textbooks, based on increasing active student participation. Paper Introduction: Texts are used at all levels of education as a method or aid in helping students learn the content of a given course. Indeed, the importance of the textbook to student learning is perhaps no better stated than by Ornstein and Hunkins (1993): ...the textbook has the longest and most obvious influence on the curriculum...traditionally, it has been the most frequently used instructional material...In terms of purchasing, it receives the highest priority...Textbooks can have a strong influence or even dominate the nature and sequence of a course and thus profoundly affect the learning experiences of students...(p. 360). And yet, despite the importance of the text as a learning resource, most teachers do nothing with the text beyond what Vacca and Vacca (1996) have termed "assigning and telling." In Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Some educators have noted this limited usage of such an importantlearning resource and have offered new strategies of teachers to use inorder to move beyond simply assigning text material and talking withstudents about it later. 6. Blanton et. With respect to the foregoing, Cicchetti (199 ) is said to haveidentified six common fix-up strategies students can use to improve theirunderstanding when initially reading text material. The Reading Teacher, March, 486-493. FLIP: A framework for contentarea reading. What makes the summarization technique an effective and efficientstrategy for learning text material is that using and learning the strategyteaches students several important reading and comprehension skills. These were: (1) FLIP,a strategy for evaluating the difficulty of the assigned text passage andallocating a realistic amount of time to learn the material; (2) thestrategy of assigning a particular purpose to each text assignment; and (3)the strategy of having students write concise summaries of the materialthey are assigned to read. the role of purposein reading instruction. Cognitive modeling and reciprocal teaching ofreading and study strategies. These questions are: F = Friendliness: How friendly is the assignment? Kelly, P.R. (199 ). With respect to the foregoing, Blanton, Wood and Moorman (199 )recommend several basic purpose strategies, noting, however, that while theteacher provides students with the purpose associated with a particularpassage of text, a subsidiary learning function here is that students arelearning how to assign their own purposes to reading. Having students read the text assignment for the purpose of eitherconfirming or disconfirming some prediction about what is covered in thetext. This strategy has been discussed by Vacca and Vacca (1996) who statethat to use this technique properly, students need to learn how to writesummaries properly as it is applying summarization skills appropriatelythat will facilitate the comprehension of the text material. What needs to be seen here is that the summarization strategy, ifeffectively applied, should really be a two-phase strategy. (199 ). Schumm, J.S. 2. These are: (1)ignoring an unknown word and continuing on with the reading; (2) thinkingup an example of what is being discussed in the text passage; (3) thinkingup a visual image that illustrates the point being made; (4) reading aheadin order to better connect the points being discussed; (5) re-reading apassage; and (6) using text patterns or key words to further comprehension. (1996). This evaluation ofdifficulty level can then be used as the basis for formulating a realisticnotion of the amount of time to allocate to learning the material covered. Texts are used at all levels of education as a method or aid inhelping students learn the content of a given course. Having students read a text assignment for the purpose ofpleasure. Thus, purpose can be used by teachers to facilitate contentlearning of text material. 5. al (199 ) also recommend that teachers stick to onesingle purpose per text assignment as poor readers will often havedifficulty monitoring their reading when they must simultaneously attend tomultiple purposes. Having students read the text in order to apply a particularreading strategy and understand how the technique works when one isactually reading a book. Cicchetti, G. The six recommendedpurposes for text reading discussed by the authors are: 1. And yet, despite the importance of the text as a learning resource,most teachers do nothing with the text beyond what Vacca and Vacca (1996)have termed "assigning and telling." In other words, teachers tend toassign students' certain chapters and/or sections of the text to read andthen, in the following days, talk about or tell them about the materialcovered in the text assignment. Ornstein, A.C. Curriculum: Foundations,principles and theory (2nd ed.) Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Further, Schumm and Mangrum (1991) report that theirown research has shown that the FLIP strategy both improves testperformance (an indicator of course learning) and assists students inmaking more realistic estimates of the amount of time it will take them tolearn the material covered in the text assignment. & Hunkins, F. Practicing what we teaching inreading education programs. Vacca, R.T. This is the strategy of giving each particular reading assignment apurpose. The firstphase is a pre-reading strategy in which students are given fix-uptechniques to boost their comprehension at their initial reading of thematerial. & Farnan, N. P = Prior Knowledge: How much do I already know of this material? In this regard, the authors note that existing research has wellestablished that both the rate and the depth of comprehension of aparticular reading passage will vary with the purpose given for reading thepassage. Some of the most frequently recommendedstrategies are discussed below. This importance is highlighted given the key role that thetext plays in a given course, a role that often dominates both the natureand the sequence of the course. (1991). These rules are said to be: (1) the inclusion of only pertinentdetails; (2) the condensing of examples, details, actions, or lists; (3)using topic sentences to inform as to what each paragraph in the summary isabout; (4) using key words and phrases to integrate presented information;and (5) polishing the summary until it is a well-organized, natural-sounding piece of writing. The second phase is the summarization strategy designed toincrease and maximize their comprehension levels once they have initiallyread the material. & Vacca, A.L. L = Language: How difficult is the language? 36 ). Journal of Reading, 33, 264-269. Although summaries are an excellent way of facilitating comprehensionof a given text passage, it is important to note that a certain level ofcomprehension must already be occurring before students can even undertakea summarization; in other words, they must have some initial understandingof the material they are reading. Having students read a text assignment for the purpose of applyinginformation obtained in the text, e.g., reading about first aid techniquesand then putting bandages on other students. 4. Another excellent strategy that teachers can use to move beyondassigning and telling has been discussed by Blanton, Wood and Moorman(199 ). Theseskills include the abilities to: discern and analyze text structure;organize ideas in writing; distinguish important from unimportant details;and to put concepts in one's own words. It is further cautioned that care must be taken to makesure that each and every student fully understands the purpose set for anygiven assignment. What should be noted here is that the use of these strategies isimportant if teachers want to make sure that their students are fullyunderstanding (and therefore learning) the course material as presented intheir texts. References Blanton, W.E., Wood, K.D. One strategy that can be used by teachers to move beyond assigningand telling as the only means of text utilization is a strategy developedby Schumm and Mangrum (1991) termed "FLIP."The FLIP strategy, used primarily with middle and secondary level students,consists of a method that students can use to evaluate the level ofdifficult associated with a given text assignment. A third strategy that teachers can use to move beyond simplyassigning a particular section of a text and then talking about thematerial after the assignment is completed is to have students writesummaries of the particular text passages that they have been assigned toread. This point has been addressed by Vaccaand Vacca (1996), who recommend that students be given some simple "fix-up"strategies to help them should they become confused by what they arereading. Once students read the assigned material, it is thenrecommended that the material be discussed relative to the purpose that wasset for it. Having students read the text assignment for the purpose oflearning about the structure of the text itself, e.g. 3. Journal of Reading, 35(2), 12 -124. & Mangrum, C.T. (1993). The term FLIP stands for the questions students must consider inmaking their analysis with each question being rated by students using alikert-type scaling system. Watertown, CT: Cicchetti Associates. Content area reading (5th ed.) NY:HarperCollins.----------------------- 8 its organizationalscheme, its use of headings and subheadings, etc. I = Interest: How interesting is the assignment? Having students read the text assignment for the purpose ofupdating their existing knowledge in the area. & Moorman, G.B. Indeed, theimportance of the textbook to student learning is perhaps no better statedthan by Ornstein and Hunkins (1993): ...the textbook has the longest and most obvious influence on the curriculum...traditionally, it has been the most frequently used instructional material...In terms of purchasing, it receives the highest priority...Textbooks can have a strong influence or even dominate the nature and sequence of a course and thus profoundly affect the learning experiences of students...(p. In summary then, the purpose of this essay was to discuss ways inwhich teachers can expand their usage of textbook resources beyond merelyassigning passages and talking with students about the material covered.Three basic strategies for expansion were reviewed. Although the FLIP strategy has not been extensively tested, researchconducted by Kelly and Farnan (199 ) suggests that, with practice, studentscan grow in awareness of the text-based and reader-based factorsinfluencing their degree of text comprehension; and this awareness allowsthem to take whatever actions are necessary to overcome any factors thatlimit comprehension. (199 ). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.