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DR-TA is a technique developed by Russell Stauffer (1969).
DR-TA encourages students to make predictions while they are reading. After
reading segments of a text, students stop, confirm or revise previous
predictions, and make new predictions about what they will read next.
Stauffer,
R. G. (1969).
Directing
reading maturity as a cognitive process.
New York: Harper & Row.
DR-TA
serves several purposes:
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Elicits
students’ prior knowledge of the topic of the text.
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Encourages
students to monitor their comprehension while they are reading. |
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Sets a purpose for reading. (Students read to confirm and revise predictions
they are making.) |
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1. |
Choose a text. This strategy works well with both fiction and expository texts. |
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2. |
Activate students’ prior knowledge.
Have students read the title of the text, or tell them the topic of the
text. Ask students to brainstorm a list of ideas that come to mind when
they think about the title or topic. Write those ideas on the board.
When using this strategy
with a piece of fiction, you might have students brainstorm a list of
ideas that they associate with an overriding theme of the story, the
story’s setting, or the author of the story (if the author is someone
with whom your students are familiar). Students will be making predictions
about what they will read about in the text, so it is important that you
activate their prior knowledge on a topic that will allow them to make
predictions about what might be included in the text. |
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3. |
Have
students make predictions about what they will read about in the text. Use
all available clues, including the index, table of contents, pictures,
charts, and tables in the text. Ask students to explain how they came up
with their predictions. (Do not accept “I don’t know” answers.) |
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4. |
Have students read a section of the
text. Either have student volunteers read
aloud, or have students read silently to themselves. If students are
reading to themselves, be sure to indicate where students should stop
reading.
The teacher should
predetermine stopping points. They should be points in the text that lend
themselves to making predictions. In expository texts, good stopping
points are often right after students have read a new heading or
subheading in the text. |
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5. |
Ask
students to confirm or revise prior predictions, and make new predictions. Students should be encouraged to explain what in
the text is causing them to confirm and/or revise prior predictions, and
what is causing them to make the new predictions they are making. |
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6. |
Continue
steps 4 and 5 until students have finished reading. |
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