by Melvin Palmer

Created on: November 27, 2009

With the diversity of students entering the elementary and secondary classrooms, the task of comprehending literature is becoming more of a challenge to teachers. Students with unique or no experiences present a problem because they don't have the information and the accompanying vocabulary to understand written text.

Whatever the reading assignment is the student needs to have the experiential background to understand it. As an example say the selected reading takes place in Hawaii, in 1958 and the main character is a descendent of the original inhabitants of the island. A few of you students have been to Hawaii. The vast majority has never been there.

A teacher ideally would be intimately familiar with the content of the reading assignment. Armed with that knowledge a two-page article, developed by the instructor, gives the student a brief history of the islands and how they became a state of America. These two pages are packed with the history and political views of the islands.

If the above hasn't been developed then a class discussion about the same topic may facilitate giving students the background information. The student is more prepared to tackle the task of reading the selection.

Understanding vocabulary specific to that text greatly enhances comprehension. I would develop a vocabulary list that would reflect those words specific to the text. In addition words that I predict would be unfamiliar to students are included.

With this list class activities would center on understanding the meaning. Students would look up the meaning, practice reading and talk about the meaning of these words.

I would model how to use a specific word in a sentence. I would then require a student to use it in a sentence.

A great vocabulary-building tool is teaching the meaning to students in a direct way. This method is one of the quickest ways to learn a chunk of words. Here is an example of how to instruct effectively.

'Igloo is a dome shaped Eskimo house made of snow.' Every body tell me what an Igloo is. The entire class says, ' A domed shaped Eskimo house made of snow'. I may repeat this three times, depending on the class response. If the response is weak, I repeat. Utilizing this method I have reduced the meaning to as few words as possible. Further more I have included the entire class in the instruction.

Comprehension of text depends on the vocabulary and experience of students. With our diversity of experiences and sometimes the lack of, providing background information and vocabulary work will greatly increase student understanding of selections they are required to read.

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