L517: Advanced Study of the Teaching of Secondary School Reading

MONITORING COMPREHENSION

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Reading is still very much a mystery. While there are many theories about how we learn to read and what happens when we read, we still cannot get into the "black box" called our brain. So many questions remain unanswered. However, we do know that there are some important parts of the reading process that enable us to monitor reading and understand what we have read. 

Metacognition is "thinking about thinking." It is the awareness of and control we have over our cognitive processes. Metacognition enables readers to monitor their progress, select and switch strategies for learning and remembering, and measure their efforts. 

Strategic readers check up on their comprehension of the text (and the extent to which they are achieving their purpose for reading) constantly while reading. We are constantly monitoring our success. When we recognize that we're having trouble understanding what we're reading, or that we're not achieving our purpose for reading, we take action to try to remedy the situation. We might reread part of the text, try to form a mental image of what we're reading, or draw a chart or a graph to help us sort out the information in the text. (Rereading, visualizing, and making charts and graphs are all examples of metacognitive/cognitive strategies.) 

COGNITIVE VS. METACOGNITIVE 

For good readers, monitoring our comprehension and using reading strategies is usually (but not always!) automatic. We don't even think about it. We just do it. When reading a text that is not too challenging, most of us automatically monitor our comprehension of that text. Likewise, most of us automatically do such things as visualize what we are reading, predict what will happen next or what we'll be reading about next, connect ideas in the text to our background knowledge, compare what we're reading about to our own experiences, etc. When monitoring comprehension and using strategies is automatic (e.g., when we're not aware we're doing it), our efforts are cognitive, but not metacognitive. Also, the strategies we're using are referred to as "cognitive strategies," not "metacognitive strategies."

However, when we are reading a particularly challenging text, or we are having problems comprehending a text, we are more aware of our efforts to monitor our comprehension. Additionally, our strategy use is more controlled--we are consciously thinking about what strategies we might use to help get us on track again. When we are aware of our need to monitor our comprehension as we read a text, and when we purposefully choose  strategies to help us understand that text, our efforts are metacognitive. The strategies we're using are referred to as "metacognitive strategies."

"IN YOUR HEAD" VS. "ON PAPER" STRATEGIES

There are two broad categories of strategies: "in your head" strategies and "on paper" strategies. "In your head" strategies can be either cognitive or metacognitive, depending on whether or not the reader is aware that he or she is using them. "On paper" strategies, on the other hand are always referred to as metacognitive strategies (as opposed to cognitive strategies), because when we take out a pen or pencil in order to engage in a strategy, we are always aware of our strategy use.

STRUGGLING READERS

Readers who are struggling to comprehend a text may be having any number of problems related to strategy use and metacognition, including the following:

Certainly there are secondary school students who have trouble identifying and pronouncing words. But we too often make the assumption that if they can identify and pronounce words then they can and are comprehending what they read. In every class there are students who are failing to comprehend what they are reading. It is the responsibility of all content area teachers to teach students direct strategies to comprehend better. Good readers automatically use a variety of reading strategies. Poor readers do not. And in order to get to the point where they can use strategies automatically, they first need to use them in a more controlled, metacognitive way.

WHAT CAN TEACHERS DO?

When a text is particularly challenging (i.e., introduces a lot of new concepts and/or vocabulary words, is written above grade level according to a readability formula, is not very reader friendly, etc.) or when you are working with students who are having trouble monitoring their comprehension of a text, providing your students with a tool to help them monitor their comprehension while they are reading will greatly improve comprehension. 

Many instructional reading strategies have a comprehension monitoring element built in. For example, study guide questions, embedded questions, KWL (if the L column is completed while reading), and double-entry journals are all activities that students engage in while they are reading. Each of these strategies requires the reader to stop at various points during their reading, think about what they've read, and record ideas.

More activities that allow students to monitor their comprehension of a text:

It is important to keep in mind that if you are going to provide your students with an activity that will allow them to monitor their comprehension of the text, be sure that the activity matches the purpose for reading. For example, if your stated purpose for reading is meant to get students to focus on the main ideas of a text, but your during-reading monitoring activity focuses students on details in the text, students will have difficulty achieving the stated purpose. 

If you have any questions about how to post to Oncourse or what your responsibilities are for posting to Oncourse, please visit the L517 Posting to Oncourse web page.

Task 1: Read the following text: Morphology. As you read, keep in mind that the purpose for reading this text is to learn the definitions of the following words and be able to identify them in words:

1. free root
2. bound root
3. inflectional suffix
4. derivational suffix
5. derivational prefix

To help you monitor your progress, as you read, find the proper description from the list in column B below for the italicized part of each word in column A below.

Click here for the answers to the matching activity.

Read the text for no more than 10 minutes. Keep the purpose for reading in mind. As you read, try to be as aware as you can be of the strategies you are using to complete this reading assignment. After you have completed the matching activity, or after you've read for 10 minutes (whichever comes first), stop and write down as many of the metacognitive strategies you remember using while reading this text. Post these on Oncourse. Also on Oncourse, reflect on how well the strategies you used allowed you to achieve the purpose for reading. Did they work? Were they efficient? What was you original plan or approach for successfully completing this activity given the purpose for reading and the time constraint? Did you stick with your original plan? What would you do differently if you were to read this text again for the purpose of completing the matching activity below? How much background knowledge did you already have on morphology? How do you think the amount of background knowledge you already had on the topic affected your strategy use?

Task 2: The purpose of having you complete the matching activity while you read was to give you the opportunity to monitor your comprehension in light of the purpose for reading. Look back at the purpose for reading. Describe another simple activity that a teacher could design that would allow readers to monitor their comprehension of the text morphology text in light of this purpose you read it for.

Task 1: Read your partner's posting. Look for and comment on what strategies you both used, as well as on what strategies one of you used while the other did not. Comment on whether it seems that the amount of background knowledge you and your partner had on morphology affected your strategy use.

Task 2: Give your partner feedback about his/her monitoring activity. Would it work? Do you have any suggestions?