READING COMPREHENSION
                                                                                            
RESEARCH FINDING:  

Children  get more out of a reading assignment when  the  teacher 
precedes  the  lesson with background information and follows  it 
with discussion.

COMMENT:  

Young readers, and poor readers of every age, do not consistently 
see  connections  between what they read and  what  they  already 
know.   When  they  are  given background information  about  the 
principal  ideas  or characters in a story before they  read  it, 
they are less apt to become sidetracked or confused and are  more 
likely  to understand the story fully.   Afterwards,  a question-
and-answer discussion session clarifies,  reinforces, and extends 
their understanding.     

Good  teachers begin the day's reading lesson by preparing  chil-
dren  for  the story to be read--introducing the  new  words  and 
concepts  they will encounter.   Many teachers develop their  own 
introductions or adapt those offered in teachers' manuals.

Such  preparation is like a road map:   children need it  because 
they  may meet new ideas in the story and because they need to be 
alerted  to look for certain special details.   Children who  are 
well prepared remember a story's ideas better than those who  are 
not.

In  the  discussion after the reading lesson,  good teachers  ask 
questions  that  probe the major elements of  the  story's  plot, 
characters,  theme,  or moral.   ("Why did Pinocchio's nose grow?  
Why did he lie?   What did his father think about his lying?  Did 
their  feelings for each other change?")  Such questions  achieve 
two  purposes:   they check students' understanding of what  they 
have just read, and they highlight the kind of meanings and ideas 
students  should  look for in future reading  selections.   These 
questions  also lay the groundwork for later appreciation of  the 
elements of literature such as theme and style.  
When  children take part in a thought-provoking discussion  of  a 
story,  they  understand more clearly that the purpose of reading 
is to get information and insight,  not just to decode the  words 
on a page. 
   

Beck,  I. L., McCaslin, E. S., and McKeown, M. G. (l98l).  "Basal 
Readers' Purpose for Story Reading:   Smoothly Paving the Road or 
Setting  Up a Detour?"  The Elementary School Journal,  Vol.  8l, 
No. 3, pp. l56-l6l.

Durkin,  D.  (l983).   Is  There a Match Between What  Elementary 
Teachers  Do and What Basal Reader Manuals  Recommend?    Urbana, 
IL:   University  of Illinois,  Center for the Study of  Reading.  
Reading Ed. Rep. No. 44.  ERIC Document No. ED 235470.

Hansen,  J. (l98l).  "The Effects of Inference Training and Prac-
tice  on  Young Children's Reading Comprehension."   Reading  Re-
search Quarterly, Vol. l6, No. 3, pp. 39l-4l7.

Mason,  J.  (l983).   "An  Examination of Reading Instruction  in 
Third and Fourth Grades."  The Reading Teacher,  Vol.  36, No. 9, 
pp. 906-9l3.

Mason,  J., and Osborn, J. (l983).  When Do Children Begin "Read-
ing to Learn?":   A Survey of Classroom Reading Instruction Prac-
tices in Grades Two Through Five.   Urbana,  IL:   University  of 
Illinois,  Center for the Study of Reading.   Tech. Rep. No. 26l.  
ERIC Document No. ED 220805.