Cooper, Eric J., Ed. Reading, Thinking
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 263 538 CS 008 217 AUTHOR Harris, Theodore L., Ed.; Cooper, Eric J., Ed. TITLE Reading, Thinking, and Concept Development: Strategies for the Classroom. INSTITUTION College Entrance Examination Board, New York, N.Y. REPORT NO ISBN-0-87447-219-9 PUB DATE 85 NOTE 284p. AVAILABLE FROMColllge Board Publications, Box 886, New York, NY 10101 ($19.95). PUB TYPE Books (010) -- Guides - Classroom Use Guides (For Teachers) (052) -- Viewpoints (120) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Advance Organizers; Cognitive Processes; *Concept Formation; Content Area Reading; Elementary Secondary Education; Prediction; Readability Formulas; *Reader Text Relationship; *Reading Comprehension; *Reading Instruction; Reading Material Selection; *Reading Processes; Reading Research; *Reading Strategies; Teaching Methods; Textbook Evaluation; Writing Skills IDENTIFIERS Anaphora ABSTRACT Intended to help teachers both improve students' text comprehension and better understand the teaching - learning process involved, this book focuses on comprehension and concept development as the central core of an effective educational program. The book's five sections deal with teaching explicit comprehension skills, precomprehension and postcomprehension strategies, interactive comprehension strategies, integrative comprehension strateyies, and readability and the future of the textbook. The titles of the 15 essays and their authors are as follows: (1) "'Teaching' Comprehension," by P. David Pearson and Margie Leys;(2) "How to Teach Readers to Find the Main Idea," by Joanna P. Williams; (3) "Developing Comprehension of Anaphoric Relationships," by Dale D. Johnson; (4) "Knowledge and Comprehension- Helping Students Use What They Know," by Judith A. Langer and Victoria Purcell-Gates; (5) "The Advance Organizer: Its Nature and Use," by Robert W. Jerrolds; (6) "Anticipation and Prediction in Reading Comprehension," by Joan Nelson-Herber; (7) "Response Instruction," by Beau Fly Jones; (8) "Using Classroom Dialogues and Guided Practice to Teach Comprehension Strategies," by Scott G. Paris; (9) "Reciprocal Teaching: Activities to Promote Reading with Your Mind," by Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar and Ann L. Brown; (10) "Using Children's Concept of Story to Improve Reading and Writing," by Dorothy S. Strickland and Joan T. Feeley; (11) "Integration of Content and Skills Instruction," by Olive S. Niles; (12) "Levels of Comprehension: An Instructional Strategy for Guiding Students' Reading," by Harold L. Herber; (13) "Thinking About Reading," by Susan Sardy; (14) "Matching Reading Materials to Readers: The Role of Readability Estimates in Conjunction with Other Information about Comprehensibility," by George Klare; and (15) "Textbook Adoptions: A Process for Change," by Jean : ,.born and Marcy Stein. (HTH) ' U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION s-\--- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION "PERMISSION .0 REPRODUCE THIS it.;CENTER 1E100 MATERIAL IN MICROFIChE ONLY dntument has boon nip,oduced as HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Xe(en/ed horn the t....tSc.rt cofgernzat.on onjnatna ,I CEEB Moo! chins have been made to nnpfova NeO,CodAbon Chatdy PO.nts otoen, 64 Opo-AnISstatedkeb,ns docu meet do not nec essa m vetent ott.;4aINIE TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Pcstor, ko MA,' INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." College Entrance Examination Board New York, 1985 Acknowledgments Thiv volume would not have been possible without the support of SO,- era! indiv iduals. Foremost, we wish to thank Stephen Ivens for his vi- sion, guidance, and direction throughout the various stages of this project. We also wish to thank Sandra IvIatGowan for her enthusiasie support during the editing of the document, and thanks to all the au- thors for their excellent contributions and patience over the two years it took to bring this volume to publication. Authors arc encouraged to express freely their professional judgment. Therefore, points of view or opinions stated in this book du nut neces- sarily represent official College Board position or policy. Editorial inquiries concerning this book should be addressed to. Edito- rial Office, The College Board, 888 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10106. Copies of this book may be ordered from College Board Publications, Box 886, New York, New York 10101. The price is $19.95. Copyright 1985 by College Entrance Examination Board. All rights reserved. The College Board, Degrees of Reading Power, DRP, and the acorn logo arc registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examina- tion Board. ISBN: 0-87447-219-9 Printed in the United Scams of America. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Foreword vii Palace ix bibi,dUCtion xi PART IEXPLICIT COMPREHENSION SKILLS TEACHING 1 "Teaching" Comprehension 3 P. David Pearson and Margie Lys How to Teach Readers to Find the Main Idea 21 Joanna P. Williams Dev'eloping Comprehension of Anaphoric Relationships 33 Dale D. Johnson PART IIPRECOMPREHENSION AND POSTCOMPRF.HENSION STRATEGIES 51 Knowledge and Comprehension: Helping Students Use What They Know 53 Judith A. Langer and Victoria Purcell-Gates The Advance Organizer: Its Nature and Use 71 Robert W Jerrolds Anticipation and Prediction in Reading Comprehension 89 Joan Nelson-Herber Response Instruction 105 Beau Fly Jones PART IIIINTERACTIVE COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES 131 Using Classroom Dialogues and Guided Practice to Teach Comprehension Strategies 133 Scott G. Paris 4 Reciprocal Teaching: Activities to Promote "Reading with Your Mind" 147 Annemarie Sullivan Palinoar and Ann L. Brown PART IV INTEGRATIVE COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES 161 Using Children's Concept of Story to Improve Reading and Writing 163 Dorothy S. Strickland and Joan T. Feeley Integration of Content and Skills Instruction 177 Olive S. Niles Levels of Comprehension: An Instructional Strategy for Guiding Students' Reading 195 Harold L. Herber Thinking About Reading 213 Susan Sardv PART V READABILITY AND THE FUTURE OF THE TEXTBOOK 231 Matching Reading Materials to Readers: The Role of Readability Estimates in Conjunction with Other Information about Comprehensibility 233 George Klare Textbook Adoptions: A Process for Change 257 Jean Osborn and Marcy Stein /nib, 273 5 Foreword In 19" the Cu lkgc Board joined a research effort, begun by the Board of Regents of the State University of New York, the New York State Education Department, and Touchstone Applied Science Associates,to develop a new technolug) for the assessment ofcumprehension. Funded by the Carnegie Corporation, the project resulted in the Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) program. Its goal,as designed New York State and the collaborating institutions, is aimedat improving reading comprehension instructiona goal that we believe can best be achieved tnrough the integration of comprehensionassessment and instruction. To support this integration, the College Board createda staff develop- ment component for the Degrees of Reading Power program to com- plement its efforrs in comprehensionassessment. This new component drew on the expertise of many tithe leading authoritiesin the field of reading research to determine how comprehension instructioncan best be achieved in the classroom. The staff development component started as a series of workshops for administrators and teachers in school systems that had adopted the De- grees of Reading Powcr tests. These workshops were designed to help schools develop a coherent curriculum and provide sound comprehen- sion instruction. While we are pleased that the workshops have been well received, our success has createda demand that simply cannot be met Leading authorities in reading are, by definition, limited in num- ber, as are school resources to cover thecosts of a series of staff develop- ment workshops. Therefore, we are pleased that the consultants woo have played such a major role in helpingus were willing to contribute articles to this volume. The expertise the authors bringto the task is unquestioned, their concern fur students genuine, their faithin schools and teachers unwavering. The articles that follow focus on comprehension andconcept devel- opment, which we believe should be the central core ofan effective edu- cational program. Comprehension an be taught and itan be assessed. If this collection assists educators in their thinking about comprehen- sion instruction, and provides the classroom, teacher with practical strategies for students faced with comprehendingtext at a particular level of difficulty, then our objectives for publishing it will have been realized. Stephen H. Ivens The College Board 6 Preface The intent of this volume is to equip teachers witha repertoire of skills and strategies for improvingtext comprehension, and thus help them better understand the teaching-learningprocesses involved. Informa- tion about the how and why of comprehension presentlyis scattered and not readily available in a comprehensive, practicalway. The authors of these articles seek to fill this void by endeavoringto explain not only how comprehension processesmay be fostered, but why the procedures work in terms of current comprehension theory. The proposed instructional strategiesare meant to be used selectively to complement, not to replace, the broad array of comprehension skills and abilities that the experienced teacher alreadypossesses. These strat- egies are prescriptive, outlining specificways of processing text to achieve certain comprehension and cognitive goals. Theyrepresent al- ternatives that the teacher may tap to help students gainconfidence and proficiency in