Picture this.
What do you Mean?
Dr. Constance Ulmer
Appalachian State University
Summer 2008
Order of the Day
 What is Reading Comprehension?
 Reading as literacy ?
 Who are our readers?
 How can we help them as readers?
 Closure
Reading Comprehension
“ We define reading comprehension as the process of
simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning
through interaction and involvement with written
language. We use the words extracting and
constructing to emphasize both the importance and
the insufficiency of the text as a determinant of
reading comprehension” NLA
Comprehension
entails three elements:
 The Reader who is doing the
comprehending
 The text that is to be comprehended
 The activity (context) in which
comprehension is a part
Rand report, Reading for Understanding (2002)
Rosenblatt’s Reader Response &
the Transactional Model
Reader
MEANING
Context
Text
1938,1968,1993
Literacy As Engagement
 I start with the idea that literacy is not merely the
capacity to understand the conceptual content of
writings and utterances but the ability to participate
fully in a set of social and intellectual practices. It is
not passive but active, not imitative but creative, for
it includes participation in the activities it makes
possible. (xiv)
James White
Consider the Reader







Adult learners- ESL Learners
Consider purpose for reading-motivation
Consider purpose of the author
Consider background knowledge-schema)
Consider text structure–levels-genres
Consider context
Consider cueing systems
Questions to Consider
 Who are your students?
 What makes an engaging environment?
 How do I set up that environment?
 What can be learned ?
 What should be learned?
Consider the Type of Reading
 Implicit-Explicit
 Short - Long
 Narrative-Expository
 Vocabulary vs. Conceptual information
Consider Strategies
 Think Alouds
 Pictures
 KWLs Text –self Text-text Text -world
 Quotes- personal narration
 Smart or symbols for discussions
 Alphabetic descriptions
 Continued
Resources
 Alverman, Donna,
 Billmeyer, Rachel
 Buehl, Doug
 Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy
 National Institute for Literacy
 National Literacy Association
 Rosenblatt, Louise
 Vacca and Vacca
 Vaughn and Estes
 White, James