Reading Comprehension Instructional Strategies - Secondary Level
Greetings. The following materials are intended to provide an introduction to reading comprehension instructional strategies for secondary level. They were assembled from the World Wide Web, ERIC Database, and a variety of other bibliographic resources. Instructions for acquiring the full text of the ERIC records are presented at the end of this file.
Kyong-Jee Kim
Reference Specialist
Alphabetically arranged listing of bibliographies
Categorically arranged listing of bibliographies
Internet Sites
Facilitating Reading Comprehension of Middle School Students
What Secondary Teachers Can Do To Teach Reading
Effective Practices for Developing Reading Comprehension
Teaching Reading in a Foreign Language
High School Reading Interventions
Citations from the ERIC Database
AN: ED442079
AU: Readence,-John-E.; Moore,-David-W.; Rickelman,-Robert-J.
TI: Prereading Activities for Content Area Reading and Learning. Third Edition.
CS: International Reading Association, Newark, DE.
PY: 2000
AV: Order Department, International Reading Association, 800 Barksdale Road, P.O. Box 8139, Newark, DE 19714-8139 ($15.95). Web site: http://www.reading.org.
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED442079
DE: *Content-Area-Reading; *Learning-Strategies; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Readiness
DE: Adolescents-; Instructional-Effectiveness; Secondary-Education
AB: Research has informed educators about the value of preparing students for reading in the content areas, but how do teachers begin the complicated task of planning effective prereading activities that maximize their students' learning? This book provides practical activities that promote the learning of adolescents in their daily work in content classrooms. This third edition of the book differs from the second edition in two significant ways. First, it contains updated material that reflects the most recent information that has been revealed about prereading activities, and second, it concludes with a new chapter that addresses the nuances of selecting, combining, and using prereading activities across lessons and units. Other chapters offer valuable strategies for asking and answering questions before reading, forecasting passages, understanding vocabulary, graphically representing information, and writing before reading. The wealth of strategies and the expanded reference list offered in the book will help teachers make printed materials in all content areas understandable and interesting to students. (NKA)
AN: ED441229
AU: Gude,-Sonya; Jackson,-Tonya; Shaw,-Arnitria
TI: Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension in Content Areas.
PY: 2000
NT: Master of Arts Action Research Project, Saint Xavier University and SkyLight Professional Development.
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED441229
DE: *Content-Area-Reading; *Instructional-Effectiveness; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Improvement
DE: Action-Research; Classroom-Techniques; Cooperative-Learning; Grade-1; Grade-5; Grade-8; Middle-Schools; Primary-Education; Reading-Strategies
AB: This report describes a program for improving reading comprehension skills in order to heighten understanding of materials covered in class and performance on activities and exams. The targeted population consisted of first-, fifth-, and eighth-grade students in a large, lower- to middle-class community located in central Illinois. The problems in reading comprehension were documented through classroom performance and test scores. Analysis of probable cause data revealed that students lacked the necessary skills to process and understand what they read. Faculty reported that these deficiencies affect everything from following directions to the results on standardized exams. Review of curricula content and instructional strategies revealed that the methods that have been used are inconsistent and have not been planned in a way that emphasizes comprehension. A review of solution strategies (suggested by knowledgeable others) combined with an analysis of the problem setting resulted in the selection of an intervention that focused on the basics of comprehension (such as context clues, summarizing, and clarifying), presented with pre- and post-reading strategies, and cooperative learning. Post intervention data indicated an overall increase in reading comprehension abilities. Appendixes contain survey instruments, data tabulations, story pyramids, and graphic organizers. (Contains 27 references and 12 tables.) (Author/RS)
AN: ED440372
AU: Thompson,-Sara
TI: Effective Content Reading Comprehension and Retention Strategies.
PY: 2000
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED440372
DE: *Content-Area-Reading; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Instruction; *Reading-Strategies
DE: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Learning-Theories; Literacy-; Retention-Psychology
AB: This booklet provides a sampling of strategies that will help students with content literacy. It is based on the idea that reading is about understanding such that the words are transformed into meaningful thoughts within the reader's cognitive frame of reference. The booklet contains various learning theories, and the strategies suggested correlate to these theories. The strategies are divided into three categories: preparation, during reading, and after reading, which correspond with 9 comprehension strategies, 22 organizational strategies, and 6 retention strategies. The booklet concludes that incorporating strategies into instruction will help increase comprehension levels and move students from passive to active learners. (Contains 37 references and 5 appendixes with extensive worksheet examples for the given strategies.) (EF)
AN: EJ601071
AU: Agnew,-Mary-L.
TI: DRAW: A Motivational Reading Comprehension Strategy for Disaffected Readers.
PY: 2000 SO: Journal-of-Adolescent-and-Adult-Literacy; v43 n6 p574-76 Mar 2000
DE: *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Improvement; *Reading-Motivation; *Reading-Strategies
DE: Class-Activities; High-Schools; Higher-Education; Middle-Schools; Reading-Attitudes; Reading-Difficulties
AB: Describes a strategy adaptable to middle school, high school, and college levels that helps to motivate students to want to read and gain information; promotes discussion and fosters students' learning from one another; helps below-grade-level readers understand content; and encourages higher order thinking. (SR)
AN: ED438519
AU: Costa,-Melynda-Blaylock; Skeen,-Janice-C.
TI: Increasing Reading Comprehension in the Middle School.
PY: 1999
NT: Master's Action Research Project, Saint Xavier University and IRI/Skylight.
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED438519
DE: *Instructional-Effectiveness; *Middle-Schools; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Improvement; *Reading-Strategies
DE: Action-Research; Grade-7; Reading-Research
AB: This report describes a program for increasing student reading comprehension. The targeted population consisted of seventh grade students in a growing middle class community located in Illinois. The problem of low reading comprehension was documented through teacher, student, and parent surveys. In addition, reading interest inventories, and teacher-made comprehension assessment materials, were utilized in identifying and documenting this problem. Analysis of the probable cause data revealed that a number of factors related to low reading comprehension. Among the causes are a lack of prior knowledge and background knowledge, and a lack of motivation to read. Another cause of low comprehension in reading could be that students do not utilize proper reading strategies. Furthermore, educators are not being given adequate inservice training on the reading strategies that their students should use to improve their reading comprehension. A review of solution strategies suggested by a group of knowledgeable others combined with an analysis of the targeted site, resulted in the selection of three major categories of intervention: instruction in pre-reading strategies, active reading strategies, and post-reading strategies. Post intervention data indicated an increase in reading comprehension. Appendixes contain survey instruments, data, evaluation measures, and student samples. (Contains 26 references, and 6 tables and 2 figures of data.)(Author/RS)
AN: ED437618
AU: Schoenbach,-Ruth; Greenleaf,-Cynthia; Cziko,-Christine; Hurwitz,-Lori
TI: Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms. The Jossey-Bass Education Series.
PY: 1999
AV: Jossey-Bass Inc, Publishers, 350 Sansome St., San Francisco, CA 94104-1342. Tel: 888-378-2537; Web site: www.josseybass.com.
NT: Published in partnership with WestEd.
PR: Document Not Available from EDRS.
DE: *Content-Area-Reading; *Literacy-; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Improvement; *Reading-Programs; *Reading-Strategies
DE: Class-Activities; Classroom-Techniques; High-Schools; Middle-Schools; Student-Needs
AB: Many middle school and high school students have difficulty reading and understanding academic texts, which limits their ability to meet today's high learning standards. This guidebook addresses this quiet but growing crisis. Aimed at content area teachers in secondary schools, the guidebook describes a successful approach to helping students improve their literacy across all subject areas. The guidebook describes a program in which an entire freshman class in one urban high school increased its average reading scores by more than two years--piloted in San Francisco, the groundbreaking Academic Literacy program proved that it was not too late for teachers and students to work together in boosting literacy, engagement, and achievement. Easy to read and filled with classroom lessons and exercises, the guidebook shows teachers how they can create classroom "reading apprenticeships" to help students build reading comprehension skills and relate what they read to a larger knowledge base. It also discusses the strategies and support systems needed to implement and evaluate reading apprenticeship programs throughout a school. The guidebook can be a companion for educators ready to face the challenge of building reading into their content area teaching. Appendixes contain a curriculum overview of the first unit taught in the Academic Literacy course; and a discussion of evaluation instruments used. (NKA)
AN: EJ585803
AU: Vaughn,-Sharon; Klingner,-Janette-Kettman
TI: Teaching Reading Comprehension through Collaborative Strategic Reading.
PY: 1999 SO: Intervention-in-School-and-Clinic; v34 n5 p284-92 May 1999
DE: *Cooperative-Learning; *Learning-Disabilities; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Difficulties; *Reading-Strategies; *Teacher-Role
DE: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Teaching-Methods
AB: Provides an overview of collaborative strategic reading (CSR) as an approach to enhancing the reading-comprehension skills of students with learning disabilities. Procedures for implementing CSR with collaborative groups and techniques for teaching reading-comprehension skills are provided. The role of the teacher is described and sample teaching vignettes are included. (Author/CR)
AN: EJ585760
AU: Gardill,-M.-Cathleen; Jitendra,-Asha-K.
TI: Advanced Story Map Instruction: Effects on the Reading Comprehension of Students with Learning Disabilities.
PY: 1999 SO: Journal-of-Special-Education; v33 n1 p2-17,28 Spr 1999
DE: *Instructional-Effectiveness; *Learning-Disabilities; *Reading-Comprehension; *Teaching-Methods
DE: Generalization-; Intermediate-Grades; Maintenance-; Middle-Schools; Story-Grammar
AB: This multiple baseline study investigated the effectiveness of direct instruction of an advanced story-map procedure on the reading comprehension performance of six middle school students with learning disabilities (LD). Results indicated an increase in story grammar and basal comprehension performance generalization to a novel passage, and maintenance of strategy effects (two weeks after intervention) by all six students. (Author/DB)
AN: ED432011
AU: DeFoe,-Marguerite-Corbitt
TI: Using Directed Reading Thinking Activity Strategies To Teach Students Reading Comprehension Skills in Middle Grades Language Arts.
PY: 1999
NT: Ed.D. Practicum, Nova Southeastern University.
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC02 Plus Postage. DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED432011
DE: *Instructional-Effectiveness; *Language-Arts; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Improvement; *Reading-Instruction
DE: Cooperative-Learning; Decoding-Reading; Metacognition-; Middle-School-Students; Middle-Schools; Parent-Participation
AB: This practicum was designed to use directed reading thinking activity strategies to teach reading comprehension skills to middle grades language arts students who frequently failed to make passing scores in reading comprehension exercises. The program included three specific strategies. The first strategy was to teach the students higher-order thinking and metacognitive skills by using SRA (Science Research Associates) activities, Directed Reading/Thinking Activities, and Question and Answer Relationship strategies. The second strategy was to teach the students decoding by analogy. The third strategy was to use cooperative learning while working on reading comprehension assignments. The goal and expectations were for all the students to improve reading comprehension so that students would make better grades. An analysis of the data revealed that students did improve their reading comprehension skills, but not significantly. Parent involvement was not what was expected. The lack of interest was due to tight schedules, and their perceived inability to help. Contains 31 references. (Author/RS)
AN: EJ583732
AU: Lebzelter,-Susan; Nowacek,-E.-Jane
TI: Reading Strategies for Secondary Students with Mild Disabilities.
PY: 1999 SO: Intervention-in-School-and-Clinic; v34 n4 p212-19 Mar 1999
DE: *Mild-Disabilities; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Difficulties; *Reading-Improvement; *Reading-Strategies; *Vocabulary-Development
DE: Secondary-Education; Student-Evaluation; Word-Recognition
AB: Describes seven learning strategies designed to promote word recognition, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension in secondary students with mild disabilities. An instructional sequence is provided for each of the strategies, research findings are reported, and a checklist is included that teachers can use to evaluate learning strategies. (Author/CR)
AN: EJ579250
AU: Salembier,-George-B.
TI: SCAN and RUN: A Reading Comprehension Strategy That Works.
PY: 1999 SO: Journal-of-Adolescent-and-Adult-Literacy; v42 n5 p386-94 Feb 1999
DE: *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Improvement; *Reading-Instruction; *Reading-Strategies
DE: Reading-Research; Secondary-Education
AB: Describes an instructional practice called "SCAN and RUN" (intended to promote greater reading comprehension development and success in a wider range of students) that uses a novel system of seven cues for strategies to increase reading comprehension by guiding students' understanding, learning, and recall of content material. Presents encouraging preliminary results of evaluations of the strategies. (SR)
AN: EJ598871
AU: Jitendra,-Asha-K.; Cole,-Christine-L.; Hoppes,-Mary-K.; Wilson,-Barbara
TI: Effects of a Direct Instruction Main Idea Summarization Program and Self-Monitoring on Reading Comprehension of Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities.
PY: 1998 SO: Reading-and-Writing-Quarterly:-Overcoming-Learning-Difficulties; v14 n4 p379-96 Oct-Dec 1998
DE: *Instructional-Effectiveness; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Improvement
DE: Grade-6; Intermediate-Grades; Learning-Disabilities; Middle-Schools; Reading-Difficulties; Self-Evaluation-Individuals
AB: Investigates effects of a direct instruction main idea summarization program and a self-monitoring technique on the reading comprehension of 4 sixth-grade students with learning disabilities. Student performance was assessed after the main idea instruction and self-monitoring training. Finds the program produced increases in identifying and generating main ideas, with even higher levels of performance following self-monitoring instruction. (RS)
AN: EJ575377
AU: Stanfa,-Kathleen; O'Shea,-Dorothy-J.
TI: The Play's the Thing for Reading Comprehension.
PY: 1998 SO: TEACHING-Exceptional-Children; v31 n2 p48-55 Nov-Dec 1998
DE: *Creative-Dramatics; *Disabilities-; *Improvisation-; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Instruction
DE: Elementary-Secondary-Education; Reading-Difficulties
AB: Describes the use of improvisational drama as a tool to develop reading comprehension skills. Discusses planning improvisational drama, implementing improvisational drama, overcoming obstacles and meeting challenges, and evaluating improvisational drama. An insert summarizes what the research says about effective reading instruction. Examples of promoting comprehension skills through dramatic activities are provided. (DB)
AN: EJ574570
AU: Alfassi,-Miriam
TI: Reading for Meaning: The Efficacy of Reciprocal Teaching in Fostering Reading Comprehension in High School Students in Remedial Reading Classes.
PY: 1998 SO: American-Educational-Research-Journal; v35 n2 p309-32 Sum 1998
DE: *High-School-Students; *Instructional-Effectiveness; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reciprocal-Teaching; *Remedial-Instruction
DE: Comparative-Analysis; High-Schools
AB: The effects of strategy instruction (reciprocal teaching methods) on reading comprehension were studied by comparing 53 high school students receiving strategy instruction with 22 who did not. Results indicate that strategy instruction is superior to traditional methods in fostering reading comprehension as measured by experimenter designed tests. (SLD)
AN: ED422562
AU: Wilson,-Margaret-S.
TI: Skills-Based or Whole Language Reading Instruction? A Comparative Study in the Improvement of the Reading Comprehension of High School Students.
PY: 1998
NT: M.A. Thesis, Salem-Teikyo University.
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED422562
DE: *High-School-Students; *Instructional-Effectiveness; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Improvement; *Remedial-Reading; *Whole-Language-Approach
DE: Classroom-Techniques; Comparative-Analysis; Conventional-Instruction; High-Schools; Learning-Strategies; Reading-Research
AB: Practitioners and researchers argue about how reading should be taught, about what students should read, and about how best to organize reading instruction in the classroom. Diverse methods are used to teach reading. These range from isolated skills-based (intensive phonics/basal reading programs) to integrated, whole language approaches that stress language experience, reading, writing, and critical thinking. Since a sobering percentage of American children have difficulty in learning to read, an inquiry was made into how best to reverse this trend in a high school remedial reading classroom. The study's purpose was to compare the teaching of an integrated, whole language approach to remedial reading using the novel to a traditional, skills-based approach. The area of interest was reading comprehension. Subjects were 54 students enrolled in high school remedial reading classes at North Marion High School in north central West Virginia. The measuring device was the Metropolitan Achievement Test. Data were obtained from a control group and an experimental group. Analysis of the data indicated that an experimental group of high school remedial reading students who received whole language instruction using the novel and a control group that received traditional, skills-based instruction scored equally on a standardized reading comprehension test. Since no significant difference was shown in the two methods of reading instruction, the conclusion is that individualization and a balance between whole language and skills-based instruction is most beneficial to high school remedial reading students. (Contains 6 tables of data and 65 references.) (CR)
AN: ED420853
AU: Agnello,-Carol; Jockl,-Peter; Pearson,-Isabel; Velasco,-Daniel
TI: Improving Student Reading Comprehension in the Content Areas through the Use of Visual Organizers.
PY: 1998
NT: M.A. Action Research Project, Saint Xavier University and IRI/Skylight.
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED420853
DE: *Content-Area-Reading; *Instructional-Effectiveness; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Improvement
DE: Action-Research; Intermediate-Grades; Junior-High-Schools; Middle-Schools; Reading-Achievement; Tables-Data; Visual-Aids
AB: This report describes a program for using graphic organizers to enhance reading comprehension in the content areas. The targeted population consisted of middle school students in regular education classes at four different locations in a large metropolitan area. Graphic organizers will aid visually/spatially talented students as well as visually/spatially challenged students and will increase positive attitudes toward reading in the content area. Analysis of probable cause data revealed that students have low reading comprehension in the content area. Recent research states that graphic organizers will benefit all students and students can enhance their weaker intelligences through practice. Additionally the data suggests that teacher made graphic organizers will benefit the students the most. A review of solution strategies suggested by knowledgeable others, combined with an analysis of the problem setting,resulted in the selection of one major category of intervention: the use of four different graphic organizers to enhance reading comprehension in the content areas. Post intervention data indicated an increase in all students' reading comprehension. Those students who were visually/spatially challenged showed the greatest increase in reading comprehension. (Contains 40 references, and nine tables and 13 figures of data. Appendixes contain a multiple intelligence inventory, lesson plans, student interview questions, and a reading style survey.) (Author/RS)
AN: ED420839
AU: Kuzniewski,-Frank; Sanders,-Mike; Smith,-Gail-Sue; Swanson,-Sharon; Urich,-Carol
TI: Using Multiple Intelligences to Increase Reading Comprehension in English and Math.
PY: 1998
NT: M.A. Action Research Project, Saint Xavier University and IRI/Skylight.
PR: EDRS Price MF01/PC08 Plus Postage. DL: http://orders.edrs.com/members/sp.cfm?AN=ED420839
DE: *English-Instruction; *Instructional-Effectiveness; *Mathematics-Instruction; *Multiple-Intelligences; *Reading-Comprehension; *Reading-Improvement
DE: Action-Research; Content-Area-Reading; Cooperative-Learning; High-Schools; Reading-Research; Student-Attitudes
AB: An action research project described a program for expanding multiple intelligences to increase reading comprehension in both English and math. The targeted population consisted of ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade students located in a south suburb of Chicago, Illinois. The problem of reading comprehension was documented through data revealing large number of students unable to meet the demands of the Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP), local assessments, and classroom activities. Probable cause data revealed students living in low economic conditions, high mobility rates, natural attrition, and poor attendance. The data also indicated students' poor social skills and lack of self-discipline. Additionally, the data revealed a lack of teacher training in multiple intelligences and innovative teaching strategies. A review of solution strategies and analysis of the problem setting resulted in the selection of two major categories of intervention: incorporation of multiple intelligence strategies combined with cooperative learning techniques in English and math units, and the implementation of weekly student observation sheets and anecdotal reflections. Post intervention data indicated an increase in student reading comprehension skills in English and math, and an increase in student learning expectations. (Contains 18 references, and five tables and seven figures of data. Appendixes comprise more than half of the paper and contain survey instruments, journal entries, reading strategies, numerous class and learning activities, cooperative lesson plans, and anecdotal reports.) (RS)

Teaching the NovelPractical suggestions for teaching novels to young adults. Teaching The Novel is divided into two sections. The first section contains lessons on individual novels frequently studied at the junior high and senior high school level. The second section provides lesson ideas of a general nature that can be used with additional novels. |
Other Resources (available either for sale or via interlibrary loan)
Title: Reading detective :using higher-order thinking to improve reading comprehension.
Author: Block, Cheryl.
Year: 2001
Publisher: Critical Thinking Books & Software.
Title: Reading stories for comprehension success :senior level.
Author: Hall, Katherine L.
Year: 2000
Publisher: Center for Applied Research in Education.
Title: Ways of reading :advanced reading skills for students of English literature.
Author: Montgomery, Martin.
Year: 2000
Publisher: Routledge.
Title: Reading for meaning :fostering comprehension in the middle grades.
Authors: Taylor, Barbara M.; Graves, Michael F.
Year: 2000
Publisher: International Reading Association : Teachers College Press.
Title: Einstein's secrets :improving comprehension of the science textbook using reading skills.
Author: Pennington, Janice L.
Year: 1999
Publisher: Milwaukee, Wis.
Title: Professional development guide.
Author: Educational Resources Information Center.
Year: 1998
Publisher: [Austin, TX] : [Washington, DC] : Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts, College of Education, University of Texas at Austin : Texas Education Agency, Region XIII Education Service Center ; U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Educational Resources Information Center.
Title: Enhancing reading fluency for secondary students.
Author: Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts
Year: 1998
Publisher: Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts.
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The Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication is an information repository of the Indiana University School of Education.
Dr. Carl B. Smith, Professor 