An Online Reading Comprehension NAT Reviewer for 4th Year High School Students

An Online Reading Comprehension NAT Reviewer for 4th Year High School Students

By: Mr. Roe S. Riofrio

An Introduction

Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a text/message. This understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text/message.^[1][2] Comprehension is a "creative, multifaceted process" dependent upon four language skills: phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.^[3] Proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words quickly and effortlessly.^[4] It is also determined by an individual's cognitive development, which is "the construction of thought processes". Some people learn through education or instruction and others through direct experiences.^[5]

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You may also continue reading, for better understanding.

There are specific traits that determine how successfully an individual will comprehend text, including prior knowledge about the subject, well developed language, and the ability to make inferences. Having the skill to monitor comprehension is a factor: "Why is this important?" and "Do I need to read the entire text?" are examples. Lastly, is the ability to be self-correcting to solve comprehension problems as they arise.^[6]

Reading comprehension levels

Reading comprehension involves two levels of processing, shallow (low-level) processing and deep (high-level) processing. Deep processing involves semantic processing, which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to similar words. Shallow processing involves structural and phonemic recognition, the processing of sentence and word structure and their associated sounds. This theory was first identified by Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart.^[7]

Brain region activation

Comprehension levels can now be observed through the use of a fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging. fMRIs' are used to determine the specific neural pathways of activation across two conditions, narrative-level comprehension and sentence-level comprehension. Images showed that there was less brain region activation during sentence-level comprehension, suggesting a shared reliance with comprehension pathways. The scans also showed an enhanced temporal activation during narrative levels tests indicating this approach activates situation and spatial processing.^[8]

History

Initially most comprehension teaching was based on imparting selected techniques that when taken together would allow students to be strategic readers however in 40 years of testing these methods never seemed to win support in empirical research. One such strategy for improving reading comprehension is the technique called SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review that was introduced by Francis Pleasant Robinson in his 1946 book Effective Study.^[9]

Between 1969 and to about 2000 a number of "strategies" were devised for teaching students to employ self-guided methods for improving reading comprehension. In 1969 Anthony Manzo designed and found empirical support for the ReQuest, or Reciprocal Questioning Procedure, it was the first method to convert emerging theories of social and imitation learning into teaching methods through the use of a talk rotation between students and teacher called cognitive modeling.^{[citation needed]}

Since the turn of the 21st century, comprehension lessons usually consist of students answering teachers' questions, writing responses to questions on their own, or both.^[10] The whole group version of this practice also often included "Round-robin reading", wherein teachers called on individual students to read a portion of the text. In the last quarter of the 20th century, evidence accumulated that the read-test methods were more successful assessing rather than teaching comprehension.^{[citation needed]} Instead of using the prior read-test method, research studies have concluded that there are much more effective ways to teach comprehension. Much work has been done in the area of teaching novice readers a bank of "reading strategies," or tools to interpret and analyze text.^[11]

Instruction in comprehension strategy use often involves the gradual release of responsibility, wherein teachers initially explain and model strategies. Over time, they give students more and more responsibility for using the strategies until they can use them independently. This technique is generally associated with the idea of self-regulation and reflects social cognitive theory, originally conceptualized by Albert Bandura.

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References:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_comprehension#cite_note-9)

·1. Keith Rayner, Barbara Foorman, Charles Perfetti, David Pesetsky, and Mark Seidenberg (November 2001). "How Psychological Science Informs the Teaching of Reading". Psychological Science in the Public Interest 2 (2): 31–74. doi:10.1111/1529-1006.00004.

·  2. Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers (3rd edition), Boston, Pearson. p 203.

·3.  Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers (3rd edition), Boston, Pearson. p 37)

·4.  Adams, Marilyn McCord (1994). Beginning to read: thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-51076-6. OCLC 62108874.

·  5. Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers (3rd edition), Boston, Pearson. pp. 5, 7.

·  6. Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers (3rd edition), Boston, Pearson. pp. 205, 208-209, 211-212.

·7.  Cain, Kate; Oakhill, Jane (2009). "The Behavioral and Biological Foundations of Reading Comprehension". Guilford Press: 143–175.

·  8. Speer, Nicole; Yarkoni, Tal; Zacks, Jeffrey (2008). "Neural substrates of narrative comprehension and memory". Neuroimage 41 (4): 1408–1425. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.03.062.

·9.  Robinson, Francis Pleasant (1978). Effective Study (6th ed.). New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-045521-7.

·  10. Pearson, P. David. "The Roots of Reading Comprehension Instruction". http://www.postgradolinguistica.ucv.cl. Universityof California, Berkeley. Retrieved 15 March 2013.

·  11. Pressley, Michael (2006). Reading instruction that works: the case for balanced teaching. New York: Guilford Press. ISBN 1-59385-229-0. OCLC 61229782

Note from the Author:

Whether you use this reviewer or not as your key to pass the exam, the most important thing you need to do before taking any examinations is to prepare yourself, be healthy and study harder beforehand.  Yes, you can always rely on your schema but as the lines says, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” Thank you very much!

Something about the Author: Mr. Roe S. Riofrio has been teaching at Mandaluyong High School since November 2009. He teaches English to Grade 7 students. He is also currently taking his Masters Degree in Instructional Technology at Rizal Technological University, Mandaluyong. He would also like to thank his Professor in Advance Instructional Techmology, Prof. Jensen dg. Mañebog and his classmates for the support and motivation for him to finish this online reviewer. May God bless us always!

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