Running Head: USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMARY STUDENTS1
Using Thinking Strategies to Increase Comprehension with Primary Students
Amanda Trei
University Of South Dakota
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 2
Abstract
Children who are actively engaging in specific cognitive strategies are likely to understand and
recall more of what they read. Research has shown that these strategies include making
connections to text, asking questions while reading, visualizing, making inferences, determining
importance, and synthesizing. The key to helping children acquire these strategies are the
instructional techniques that teachers use. Explicit instruction in declarative knowledge,
procedural knowledge, and conditional knowledge has shown to be the most effective way for
children to learn to use comprehension strategies on their own. This involves teaching children
what each strategy is, how to use it, and when to use it. Successful instruction includes
modeling and think alouds, and a gradual release of responsibility for decision making and
strategy use to children.
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 3
One of the most important concepts for early readers to understand is that good
readers think and read at the same time. Reading is not simply decoding words on a page, or
the ability to say the words out loud. While many students may be excited when they can read
all of the words on a page, unless they stop and think while they are reading, they are not truly
reading.
Good readers have an inner conversation going on in their head while they are reading.
They are constantly searching for answers to their questions in order to make sense of what
they read. Making connections to characters, events, and issues also helps them to better
understand the text (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). Readers take written word and make it their
own. They construct meaning based on their own knowledge, thoughts, and experiences, and
reading the same thing may have different effects on different readers because of this. Reading
becomes important when readers are interacting with the text they are reading. Readers need
instruction in thinking while they read, being aware of their thinking, and using specific
comprehension strategies.
Mature readers use a variety of processes as they read text, and are able to easily move
between these (Parker, 2007). Evidence shows that explicit teaching of these strategies
improves reading comprehension in children. Palinscar and Brown found that when a group of
students with poor comprehension were provided with specific instruction and practice in the
use of self-regulating comprehension strategies such as generating questions about the text,
predicting, clarifying and summarizing, they made significant gains in the classroom and on
comprehension tests (Parker, 2007). Children who are actively engaging in specific cognitive
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 4
strategies are likely to understand and recall more of what they read. The key to helping
children acquire these strategies are the instructional techniques that teachers use.
Teaching Comprehension Strategies
Most effective instruction of comprehension strategies combines teaching declarative
knowledge, procedural knowledge, and conditional knowledge. Teaching children what the
strategy is is declarative knowledge. Procedural knowledge is teaching them how to use the
strategy. Conditional knowledge is teaching students when a strategy is useful or not
(Dougherty Stahl, 2004). Without all three of these elements, instruction of comprehension
strategies will not be effective.
A gradual release of responsibility is another characteristic of effective strategy
instruction. Teachers begin their instruction using explicit modeling and explanation. They
gradually give students more responsibility through guided practice. Over time, students
become more responsible for making decisions and putting strategies into practice, and use
them during independent practice with feedback from the teacher. Eventually, students are
able to apply the strategies in real reading situations (Dougherty Stahl, 2004). Research has
shown that reading comprehension of students is enhanced by explicit comprehension strategy
instruction.
Making Connections
The term schema theory was used in the 1980s by cognitive psychologists to explain the
effect that our previous experiences, knowledge, emotions, and understanding have on what
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 5
and how we learn (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). This background knowledge is what we bring to
reading. Students who have had a similar experience to that of a character in a book are more
likely to understand the character. When readers have background knowledge about a subject,
they are able to more fully understand new information presented about the subject (Harvey &
Goudvis, 2000). In 1984, Anderson and Pearson found that proficient readers activate schema
before, during, and after reading (Miller, 2002). Good readers make connections from what
they already know to information they are reading (Miller, 2002).
The easiest way for young readers to make connections to text they are reading is to
think of a similar situation in their own lives. These “text-to-self” connections can start as “That
reminds me of…” statements and turn in to deeper understanding of the text. Once students
begin to understand what it means to make connections, they can start to determine if their
connections are meaningful. Especially when just beginning to work on the strategy, students
may make connections that do not help them learn more about the story (Miller, 2002).
Teachers can help students realize that while it may be true that the character in a book has the
same name as their best friend, or that they have a pet bird just like one in an illustration, these
are not meaningful connections. Keeping track of connections students make to text and
reviewing them to determine if they help students learn more about the story is the best way
to get children to distinguish between connections that are meaningful or not and continue to
make those that are (Miller, 2002).
As students become comfortable with thinking about text-to-self connections while they
read and connecting texts to their lives, they can begin to make connections between texts
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 6
(Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). With text-to-text connections, children make comparisons between
characters, story events, or common themes. As children make these connections, the
characters, story events, and themes become impressed in their minds. With young students,
the simplest way to teach this strategy is by comparing similar characters from different texts
(Miller, 2002). This allows students a deeper understanding of characters and their thoughts
and feelings. Another way students can connect texts is by thinking of how a book is similar to
a movie or television show. This kind of text-to-text connection is important to recognize,
especially when many students may have had more experiences with movies or TV than with
literature.
When students are able to make connections between two different texts, this also
helps them develop into making text-to-world connections between the text and issues, events,
and concerns of society and the world (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000).
Questioning
While many young children ask questions about everything in their environment, it is
important to keep up this same curiosity as they learn to read. As Raphael found in 1984,
thoughtful readers ask questions of themselves, the authors, and texts as they read (Miller,
2002). Proficient readers ask questions constantly; before they read, while reading, and when
they finish reading. These questions might be about events in the text, the author, ideas, or
issues (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000).
Readers might ask questions about text to clarify meaning, speculate about text, or
focus on a specific component of the text (Miller, 2002). They might also be asking to enhance
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 7
understanding, find answers, solve problems, or discover new information (Harvey & Goudvis,
2000). Good readers also recognize that every question they have might not be explicitly
answered in the text, and many will be left to the reader’s interpretation (Miller, 2002).
At school, children are constantly expected to answer questions and traditionally do not
get enough opportunities to ask questions of their own. In order to encourage students to
think more deeply while they are reading, teachers can lead them to think of statements that
begin with “I wonder…” When students are wondering about something while they are
reading, they are actively thinking about what they are reading and working to create new
schema and background knowledge as well.
Visualizing
When students can make connections and ask questions about what they are reading,
they can begin to visualize what they are reading. Visualizing is similar to inferring with pictures
instead of words, and works with making connections and questioning to enhance
understanding (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000).
While reading, active readers are constantly painting images of the story in their minds,
or visualizing. According to Keene and Zimmerman, visualizing allows readers to make the
words on a page become real and concrete (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). Especially in younger
students, when they are visualizing, they are more actively engaged in stories. As Miller and
Goudvis found, visualizing can help younger children to live through or live in the stories they
read (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). A study done by Michael Pressley found that when students
were taught the strategy of visualizing, they were able to recall more information about text
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 8
they had read. When compared to a group of students who had not been given instructions to
create mental images of the text as they read, the students who used visualization were able to
answer more questions about the text (Pressley, 1976).
These mental images are equally as important in non-fiction material however.
Constructing mental images can help readers better understand technical descriptions or
definitions (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). Visualizing can also help readers link past experience to
the text, strengthen their relationship to the text, heighten their engagement with the text, and
bring more joy to reading (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000).
Proficient readers create mental images that come from all five senses, thinking about
what a scene might look like, feel like, smell like, sound like, and even what the air might taste
like (Miller, 2002). Creating images in their mind can help readers enhance comprehension by
allowing them to draw conclusions, recall significant details, and recall text after it has been
read (Miller, 2002). As students continue to read, their mental image can change. It might be
influenced by shared images of other readers, new information in the text, and the reader’s
development of new interpretations of the text (Miller, 2002).
In addition to help readers gain deeper levels of comprehension of text, visualization
can help readers create images in their writing and images from their reading are frequently
seen as a part of their writing (Miller, 2002).
When teaching primary students to visualize while they are reading, it is often helpful to
have them draw their mental images of a text. Listening to a text read aloud and stopping
periodically to sketch their mental images allows students to recognize the influence of
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 9
background knowledge on their visualizations as they compare them to their peers. Comparing
their own sketches over the course of a story also helps students to realize the fluidity of their
mental images, and recognizes some of the changes that they undergo during reading. Having
students listen to a picture book without peeking at the illustrations is a great way to get them
to focus on creating their own unique mental images.
Making Inferences
Even primary students can recognize that there is one single right way to imagine a
scene in a text or explicit instructions on how it must be pictured. With visualizing, students
infer what a scene or character might look like from the text. When they have become versed
in this strategy, they can also make inferences about characters, motives, actions, and themes
in a story. According to Susan Hall, when inferring, readers are able to make their own
discoveries without direct a statement by the author (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). Readers have
to put together their own prior knowledge and questions with text clues to draw a conclusion
about the text. Just as in visualizing, there is no explicit information from the author, and
readers are required to draw conclusions on their own. In 1981, Jane Hansen found that when
students were specifically taught strategies for drawing inferences, their overall comprehension
of text improved (Hansen, 1981).
With primary students, a common way to practice making inferences is to have students
determine the meaning of unknown words by using background knowledge and text and
picture clues. Students learn to put together clues such as surrounding text, context,
illustrations, and their own knowledge about parts of the word or parts of speech contained in
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 10
the word to build a definition of a word. Putting these pieces together and having a
conversation with others helps them infer the meaning of new words.
As they read, students can also make predictions about text. Students should activate
background knowledge and make predictions before they even begin to read the text. Then, as
new developments arise in the plot, students are able to change or make new predictions as
they go along. These can be confirmed or contradicted as they continue to read (Miller, 2002).
When teaching primary students to infer by making predictions about reading, it is important to
help them recognize that the act of thinking about the text and making a prediction is helping
to enhance their understanding of the text, whether or not their prediction turns out to be
confirmed. Students should realize that just as in the questioning strategy, it is not necessary to
be “right” every time. When asking questions or visualizing, students are reminded that there
does not need to be one single right answer, right question, or right mental image. Similarly,
when inferring, students should be encourage to take risks, make predictions that seem likely,
and realize that it does not matter if they are “right.”
It is also important for young students to recognize when answers are not explicitly
stated in the text and they might need to infer. Being aware of when they should draw
inferences and how to create their own interpretations of the text will greatly enhance their
comprehension of the text (Miller, 2002). The personal interpretations readers create as they
put together background knowledge and textual clues serve to enrich and deepen readers’
experiences in a text (Miller, 2002). While sometimes the answers are “right there” in the text,
often they are not. Students can draw upon their knowledge of the strategy of inferring to
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 11
draw conclusions about what might have happened, why an event occurred, or what a
character’s feelings are while reading.
Determining Importance
In order to make sense of reading and move toward insight, readers need to be able to
determine important ideas and information in text (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). According to
Harvey, basic understanding of a topic comes from determining what is important from a
combination of interesting details and essential information (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). In order
to determine what is important in a text, students need to be able to use various other
comprehension strategies such as drawing inferences and summarizing information.
Palinscar and Brown found that determining the most important ideas and themes in a
text enhances active readers’ comprehension (Miller, 2002). Depending on our purpose for
reading a particular text, what we determine to be important may change. In order for
students to be able to determine importance while they are reading, they need to recognize
whether they are reading to remember important information, learn new information or build
background knowledge, distinguish the important from the interesting, recognize a theme,
answer a question, or determine the author’s purpose (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). Students
looking to learn new information may find different information important than students
reading to answer a specific question. In the same way, while reading fiction, students reading
to discern the theme of the story might place importance on different elements of the text
when compared to a reader who is trying to determine the author’s purpose. Students should
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 12
be made aware that in many situations, there is more than one idea, more than one piece of
interesting information they should remember (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000).
With the youngest students, instruction on determining importance needs to begin with
the basics: determining whether a text is fiction or nonfiction. Once children can do this, they
can recognize nonfiction text and make predictions about what nonfiction text might be about
as well, or what they might learn when they read a particular text. They also need instruction
on how to notice when they learn something new (Miller, 2002). When reading new
information, students might have an “inner voice” that helps them comment on what they
learn. They can begin to recognize that exclamations they make while reading indicate they are
learning something new, and can then determine the main idea of the new information (Miller,
2002).
With nonfiction, there are many features that can signal the importance of information.
Many nonfiction texts contain different fonts, cue words or phrases, illustrations and
photographs, graphics, text organizers, and different text structures to help point readers in the
direction of the most important information. Children need to be made familiar with these text
elements and conventions from an early age and realize that they serve the purpose of helping
them determine the important information. One way to teach this with primary students is to
explicitly teach nonfiction conventions by using a “Convention Notebook” (Miller, 2002).
Students can focus on a particular convention and look for it in their own reading to help them
become familiar with the convention and the purpose it serves. Some of these students might
find are labels, photographs, captions, comparisons, cutaways, maps, types of print, close-ups,
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 13
tables of contents, indexes, and glossaries (Miller, 2002). Keeping track in Convention
Notebooks can build background knowledge for text features. These can also serve as a
reference for students to use when they are answering research questions by synthesizing
information (Miller, 2002). Looking for conventions can help students locate specific
information. While it is important for students to determine what is important in a text, they
should also remember that sometimes it is important to read for the details, not just the big
idea.
Synthesizing
When readers have mastered the strategies of making connections, questioning,
visualizing, inferring, and determining importance, they can synthesize as they read. When
students become fluent in thinking as they read, they can change their thinking as they
encounter new information. They monitor important concepts, themes, or overall meaning as
they read, and realize that their thinking evolves throughout the process. Retelling what they
have read is one way that primary students can synthesize. Students synthesize as they focus
on telling only the most important information they have learned. Primary students can also
criticize or recommend books they have read for their peers. This allows them to think about
their reading on a deeper level. Good readers synthesize in order to more clearly understand
what they have read (Miller, 2002).
Ann Brown and others found that students who were able to synthesize information
and whose written work evolved through the use of a rough draft produced higher quality
writing than students who only wrote one draft of a piece (Brown, 1983). Each time students
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 14
look at their writing, they might see something different that they need to change or elaborate
in order to convey their message in the best possible way.
As McKenzie found, when synthesizing, students must arrange many pieces of
information until they can see a new pattern emerge (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). A new whole is
created from the smaller pieces being put together. Students should recognize that they are
synthesizing when they stop to collect their thoughts, separate important ideas from details,
summarize information, make generalizations and judgments about their reading, and integrate
new information with their existing knowledge to form a new opinion, idea, or perspective
(Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). With true synthesizing, readers can achieve the ultimate goal of
reading: achieving new insight.
Strategies in the Classroom
In the classroom, teachers are most effective when they model their own use of
strategies. This is most easily done with using picture books and think alouds. Think alouds
show students their thinking process when reading, and are central to comprehension
instruction. Books for think aloud strategy instruction should be chosen purposefully. In order
to have the best explicit modeling for students, there needs to be thoughtful planning. This
involves determining what teachers want students to understand about a strategy and finding
the best places in a text to authentically think aloud. These places should be marked
beforehand and teachers should know what they plan to say and how they will say it. It is most
important to be very clear about the point that is being made. Focusing specifically on one
strategy at a time is a way to ensure this.
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 15
Choosing the right text for a think aloud is extremely important. Teachers need to make
sure their connections, inferences, or questions are authentic. Because of this, teachers should
keep in mind that texts may not affect each person the same way, and should preview any texts
suggested by professionals or colleagues to make sure they are able to use it authentically.
The last piece of effective think alouds is using precise language. Even with primary
students, strategies should be referred to specifically. When teachers share thinking, they
should be concise, and use real language. Keeping the language consistent is extremely
important as well (Miller, 2002). In an elementary building, if teachers in different classrooms
are referring to strategies by different names, this will not have the best effect on students.
Being able to go from grade to grade hearing the same language when it comes to
comprehension strategies helps them build upon previous experiences. Common language
should be decided upon as a school, and all teachers should stick to this language when
teaching comprehension strategies. The same language should be used for all students,
kindergarten through high school.
Anchor texts are also necessary when teaching comprehension strategies. Having an
anchor text with good examples of a specific strategy can help children remember when and
how to use a strategy. Anchor texts can be referred to all year long, throughout all stages of
students’ development as readers. In addition, creating anchor charts as a class can help
students better understand a specific strategy. It is important to include examples and
nonexamples, and this gives children something to refer back to when responsibility for using
strategies is released to them.
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 16
Through explicit instruction of declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge of
comprehension strategies and a gradual release of responsibility to students, research has
shown that even primary students are able to enhance their comprehension when using
strategies independently.
USING THINKING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION WITH PRIMAMRY STUDENTS 17
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Hansesn, Jane. (1981). The effects of inference training and practice on young children’s reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 16(3), 3911-417.
Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension to enhance understanding. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Manning, M. (2002). Visualizing when reading. Teaching Pre K-8, 32(8), 89-90.
Miller, Debbie. (2002). Reading with meaning: Teaching comprehension in the primary grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Parker, M. & Hurry, J. (2007). Teachers’ use of questioning and modeling comprehension skills in primary classrooms. Educational Review, 59(3), 299-314.
Pressley, G. Michael. (1976). Mental imagery helps eight-year-olds remember what they read. Journal of Educational Psychology, 68(3), 355-359.
Stahl, K. A. D. (2004). Proof, practice, and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades. Reading Teacher, 57(7), 598-609.
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