Teaching Reading (English)

Recommendations for Teaching Reading
Students often benefit from the explicit instruction of new vocabulary. Vocabulary knowledge can be reinforced implicitly by integrating the new words into activities and future texts.
Reading comprehension can also be improved by explicitly preparing students for reading activities. An example of explicit instruction prior to a reading assignment is to explicitly describe a particular type of plot device that is used in a passage before the students encounter the device in the reading. Guided readings and summaries help prepare a student to comprehend an assigned passage.
Peer discussions are also known to help improve reading comprehension, as students can help each other develop decoding skills through discussions about the meaning and interpretation of texts.
Reading comprehension is often affected by students' motivation to read the passage. Teachers should employ motivational strategies, such as frequent assessments or rewards, to keep students engaged when reading.

Guiding the Literacy Instruction of Students
Throughout the school day, educators should give students explicit instruction and supportive practice in using strategies that have been proven to effectively improve reading comprehension.

1. Educators should use a higher quantity and quality of continued, open discussions about the content that students are reading.
2. Educators should sustain high standards for students. Students should be expected to be able to answer questions about the text that they read, the vocabulary that they learn, and any applications of the text.
3. Educators should work to enhance the degree to which students are motivated to read and are engaged with reading.
4. Educators should teach students content knowledge that is essential to their mastery of concepts that are critical to their understanding and success.

Literacy Instruction Strategies to Use Before and During Reading
Instructional activities initiated before students read have a number of purposes:

1. To activate the prior knowledge of the students
2. To generate questions they may want to ask about the subject and reading before they read
3. To discuss the vocabulary words they will encounter in the text when they read it
4. To encourage students to make predictions about what they will be reading
5. To help students to identify a purpose for their reading
6. Activities initiated during reading include the following purposes:
7. To engage students with the text
8. To help students to self-monitor their own reading comprehension
9. To teach students how to summarize the text
10. To help them integrate new information from the text with their existing knowledge
11. To help them make and verify predictions about the text
12. To enable them to create graphic organizers to aid comprehension
13. To facilitate their use of mental imagery related to the text

Instructional Activities Used After Students Have Read Assigned Text
After students read some text, teachers will initiate various instructional activities to support and evaluate their reading comprehension. Some of the purposes of instructional activities conducted after reading text include the following:

1. To have students reflect on the content of the lesson
2. To identify where they found this content in the text they read
3. To have students consider and study questions the teacher provided to guide their reading and have them give answers to those questions based on what they read and their own prior knowledge
4. To have students evaluate the accuracy of predictions they previously made about the text during instructional activities conducted before and during reading
5. To have students engage in discussion of the text to express, share, and compare their responses to the text
6. To have students summarize or retell the narrative, events, or information they read in the text using their own words, demonstrating comprehension and application.

Instructing Students to Apply Cognitive Strategies
Teachers can follow several steps to teach students how to apply the same cognitive strategies that excellent readers routinely employ to comprehend the text that they read. First, the teacher should give the students
direct instruction in each cognitive strategy—e.g., inferring, questioning, summarizing, etc.

This direct instruction should include the following:

1. The teacher should give the students a definition of the strategy, and explain it.
2. The teacher should explain what purpose is served by the strategy during the act of reading.
3. The teacher should also identify the most important characteristics of the strategy.

Then the teacher should give the students concrete examples of the strategy and non-examples (i.e., examples of actions that do not use the strategy).
Following direct instruction, the teacher should use think-alouds to model the use of the cognitive strategy for students.
Then the teacher should give the students guided practice in applying the strategy.

'Mindless Reading' Versus Highly Effective Reading
Many students who struggle with reading mistakenly are simply 'zoning out' while moving their eyes across the page. This is known as
'Mindless Reading.' In contrast, effective readers apply cognitive strategies to keep engaged and process the text they read. One strategy that can be employed to help prevent mindless reading is group reading, either aloud or silently. The key to enforcing engagement is to use frequent recaps or comprehension checks. Teachers should encourage discussion between small groups of students reading a passage and should ask challenging and rigorous questions that require paying close attention to the story. Asking students to apply themes or questions about the text to their own life is a good way to keep students engaged, as well.

Readability
Before assigning texts, teachers should evaluate the text's level of readability so they can best set their students up for success. Readability refers to a how easily an individual can read a passage. There are several different methods and formulas for evaluating a text's readability. These can be aligned to students' reading levels and inform teachers, parents, and students of which books and materials are the best fit for a student's reading skills. Readability can be determined using factors such as the number of words, syllables per word, and difficult or uncommon words in a passage. Below are a few common algorithms used to determine readability.

Flesch Reading Ease and Gunning Fog Scale Level
The Flesch Reading Ease and Gunning Fog Scale Level methods primarily use syllable count and the length of the sentences in a passage to determine readability. The Flesch Reading Ease method is measured on a 100-point scale, with different ranges of scores corresponding to a certain level of education. The Flesch-Kincade Grade Level method converts this score to a grade level, suggesting that a typical student of that grade level can read the passage. The Gunning Fog Scale Level method gives a text a score that corresponds to a category of difficulty. Texts that receive a score in the zero to five range are considered readable, scores that range from five to 10 are hard, scores that range from 10 and 15 are difficult, and scores that range from 15 to 20 are very difficult.

Dale-Chall Score
The Dale-Chall Score evaluates text based on whether or not the words within it are common or not. This method starts with a set list of words that are considered easy. Scores are given based on the number of words in passage that are not on that list. These scores range from zero to 9.9. Scores equal to or below 4.9 suggest that the passage can be easily read by a typical fourth-grader, while scores exceeding 9.0 suggest that a reader would need to be at a college level to easily read the passage.

Fry Readability Grade Level
The Fry Readability Grade Level analyzes a passage based on the number of syllables and sentences per 100 words. These values are documented on a graph, using the two factors as axes. The readability and appropriate grade level of a text are determined by which portions of the graph the text falls under based on its 100-word sample. This method is often completed using multiple 100-word samples for higher accuracy.

Reading Comprehension Strategies for Informational Texts

Paired Reading Strategy to Identify Main Ideas and Details
Students can support one another's comprehension of informational text by working in pairs. Each student silently reads a portion of text. One summarizes the text's main point, and then the other must agree or disagree and explain why until they reach an agreement. Then each person takes a turn at identifying details in the text portion that support the main idea that they have identified. Finally, they repeat each step with their roles reversed. Each pair of students can keep track of the central ideas and supporting details by taking notes in two columns: one for main ideas and the other for the details that support those main ideas.

Text Coding
Text coding or text monitoring is recommended as an active reading strategy to support student comprehension of informational texts. As they read, students make text code notations on Post-it Notes or in the margins of the text. Teachers should model text coding for students one or two codes at a time until they have demonstrated all eight codes: A check mark means 'I know this.' An 'X' means 'This is not what I expected.' An asterisk (*) means 'This is important.' A question mark means 'I have a question about this.' Two question marks mean 'I am really confused about this.' An exclamation point means 'I am surprised at this.' An 'L' means 'I have learned something new from this.' And RR means 'I need to reread this part.'

Connections and Distinctions Among Elements in Text
Students should be able to analyze how an informational text makes connections and distinctions among ideas, events, or individuals, such as by comparing or contrasting them, making analogies between them, or dividing them into categories to show similarities and differences. For example, teachers can help eighth-graders analyze how to divide animals into categories of carnivores, which eat only meat; herbivores, which eat only plants; and omnivores, which eat both meat and plants. Teachers and students can identify the author's comparisons and contrasts of groups. Teachers can help students analyze these processes by supplying sentence frames. For example, 'A ______ is a ______, so ______' and 'A ______ is a ______ which means ______.' The students fill these empty spaces in, creating sentences such as, 'A frog is a carnivore, so it eats only meat,' and 'A rabbit is an herbivore, which means it eats only plants.'

Denotative and Connotative Meaning
Similar to literal and figurative language, denotation is the literal meaning, or dictionary definition, of a word whereas connotation is the feelings or thoughts associated with a word that are not included in its literal definition. For example, 'politician' and 'statesman' have the same denotation, but in context, 'politician' may have a negative connotation while 'statesman' may have a positive connotation. Teachers can help students understand positive or negative connotations of words depending on their sentence contexts. For example, the word 'challenge' has a positive connotation in this sentence:
'Although I finished last, I still accomplished the challenge of running the race.' Teachers can give students a multiple-choice game wherein they choose whether 'challenge' here means (A) easy, (B) hard, (C) fun, or (D) taking work to overcome. The word 'difficult' has a negative connotation in this sentence:
'I finished last in the race because it was difficult.' Students choose whether 'difficult' here means (A) easy, (B) hard, (C) fun, or (D) lengthy. Positive and negative connotations for the same word can also be taught. Consider the following sentence: 'When the teacher asked Johnny why he was in the restroom so long, he gave a smart answer.' In this context, 'smart' means disrespectful and carries a negative connotation. But in the sentence, 'Johnny was smart to return to class from the restroom right away,' the same word means wise and carries a positive connotation.

Promoting Student Interest in Reading
When instructing students in the study of literature, it is important to encourage students' interest in literature. This can help students engage in the literature more deeply and better appreciate what they learn about it. Educators can promote students' interest in literature by allowing students to choose what they read. Letting students individually choose or vote on reading materials gives them an opportunity to make choices and gain a sense of responsibility over their education. Students may also gain interest in literature from participating in peer discussions. Giving students the opportunity to share their observations and ideas with each other, and potentially build upon each other's thoughts, also contributes to a sense of responsibility over their learning and education. Students should also be encouraged to appreciate the value of the literature they are reading. If students can relate literature to themselves, the world, history, or other topics and concepts that interest them, they may be better enabled to see the value of what they are reading and its ability to have an impact. Emphasizing text-to-self, text-to-world, and text-to-text relationships equips students to make their own connections with literature, which promotes their interest in

Assignments to Promote Student Interest
Observing relationships between literature and reality can also allow students to see similarities between their observations, their peer's experiences, and various pieces of literature. Many of these similarities are relevant to common human experiences, including emotions, psychology, various relationships, and the stages and progression of life. Once students learn to observe these similarities and themes within literature, they are better equipped to analyze and interpret the function of these elements in a particular work. One way to foster a student's analysis and interest in the work's purpose is to create assignments relevant to the message, plot, or moral of the literature they are studying. These may include analysis essays, student-taught lessons, or interpretive illustrations of concepts or messages.
This analysis may be aided by identifying rhetorical and figurative devices in the same work and connecting the use of these devices to the present themes. The application of literary theories and criticism can also reveal the function or relevance of these themes and show a text's treatment of the human experience.

Text Connections and Student Interest
Text-to-self and text-to-world connections also encourage students to understand the personal and societal relevance of a particular work. Students can be encouraged to make text-to-self connections when they can relate the text to their personal lives. This can be facilitated by teaching texts that feature protagonists that are close in age to the students in the class or texts that take place in a familiar region. By teaching or assigning texts that align to current events, teachers can promote students' interest in literature's timeless applicability to world, national, and local events and developments. Alternatively, when teaching texts that do not have characters or events that bear strong resemblance to the students or current events, teachers can still ask students to identify smaller similarities between their lives and the text.

Literature and Student Interest
While students may not choose to read classic British or American literature for leisure, their opinions on assigned readings can inform what they do choose to read on their own. Commonly assigned novels and short stories fall into genres that are still popular today. Students can determine which works they enjoy, consider what genre that work may belong to, and choose their leisurely reading accordingly. For example, 1984 by George Orwell takes place in a dystopian society. This is a common theme in young-adult fiction, so students who enjoyed 1984 may look for novels with similar settings. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is an example of early science fiction, so students who like Frankenstein can be encouraged to read other science-fiction novels. These similarities may also be used to pique students' interest in assigned readings by highlighting the similarities between classic literature and contemporary fiction.

Technology and Reading
Students today have considerable access and exposure to technology. Students often use technology for entertainment and social interaction, but technology can also be used and enjoyed in education.
Technology can be used to increase students' engagement and interest in literature and to promote their comprehension of the material. Different types of technology can appeal to different students and their learning styles. Games and activities related to literature and lessons make the material interactive and give students an opportunity to see the material applied and presented in an alternative way. Projects and assignments that require students to use technology give students an opportunity to create a unique product and reflect what they valued most about the literature. Technology also allows students to interact with each other and the material outside of class, encouraging their engagement by enabling them to collaborate and make their own connections.
Technology can also promote students' comprehension by presenting literature in various mediums. Many e-books and digital texts integrate tools that allow users to look up definitions, pronunciations, and other information while they are reading without distracting from the text.
This promotes comprehension by providing helpful resources that support the reader's comprehension of the text. Audiobooks can also aid in reading comprehension. Some students are more receptive of information they hear, rather than information they read. Students who read a text and listen to a narration of that text simultaneously may be able to focus on the text more deeply and comprehend the information better.

Incorporating Young Adult Literature in the Classroom
Young-adult literature includes a variety of genres and themes. One prominent trend in young-adult literature is plots that take place in dystopian societies in the future. These novels compare to commonly taught novels, such as 1984 by George Orwell, and offer a commentary on the time at which they were written. Many young-adult novels also compare to books like Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, which features a young boy growing into adulthood and navigating society and his relationship with others.
This is also a common element in several young-adult novels. Many modern young-adult novels also include topics that are valuable for consideration, but are not thoroughly discussed in older works, or are presented in a way that is no longer accurate or accepted. However, young-adult literature is prone to change frequently, as it includes works from a variety of genres and is subject to the trends in the society from which it emerges. The complete body of young-adult literature is very diverse. Some popular examples of young-adult novels include Lois Lowry's The Giver (1993), Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (2008), and Brandon Sanderson's The Rithmatist (2013).
While these books are often written for teenage readers, the subjects they cover and their popularity give them the potential to be effective educational resources.

Personal Response to the Text

As students read texts, the teacher can promote their connection with the text by guiding their responses. This can include encouraging connections such as text-to-text, text-to-world, or text-to-self.
Students can make these connections verbally, in activities like group discussions or oral reports, or in their writing. These activities can be used with any type of text, and may help students connect readings to other subjects or areas of the curriculum. Though they may not do it consciously, students are already making connections as they read. Consciously thinking about these connections and communicating them to others may help students comprehend their reading and increase their interest in the material. Text-to-self connections are particularly effective for helping students form meaning from the text.
Each student has unique experiences that may help them relate to different parts of the text or even alter the meaning they derive from the text.

Promoting Respect for Other Cultures through Assigned Reading
Teachers can also promote respect for other cultures and their differences through assigned readings. Literature has been shaped by literary movements from cultures all over the world, providing a diverse volume of world literature. Even within American literature, there is a variety of authors whose works can meet other educational criteria and introduce students to different cultures and ways of thinking within their own country. Having students read these works will inform them of different perspectives on historical periods and events, allowing them to see the experiences and talents of people unlike themselves. Assigning students readings from a variety of world literature, including British literature, will help them understand and respect international diversity. To help students understand and respect national diversity, it is helpful to assign works from literary periods that are sometimes overlooked, such as Native American literature, the Harlem Renaissance, the Dark Romantics, and the Lost Generation. Authors who have given overlooked groups a voice through their writings include Maya Angelou, Mark Twain, Martin Luther King Jr., William Carlos Williams, John Steinbeck, and Amy Tan. Incorporating diverse contemporary literature can also help students respect their peers and community members.