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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.


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


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


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


(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


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


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


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


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


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


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,


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


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.


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.


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.


References

Bishop, P. A. , Reyes, C., & Pflaum, S. W. (2006). Read smarter, not harder: Global reading comprehension strategies. Reading Teacher, 60(1), 66-69.

Bluestein, N. A. (2002). Comprehension through characterization: Enabling readers to make personal connections with literature. Reading Teacher, 55(5), 431-434.

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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