As mentioned previously in this series of blogs, context is everything when it comes to reading. When we ask students to read, we need to account for the disciplinary and general knowledge that underpins a text and carefully prepare tasks so that all of our learners can successfully and totally comprehend the information they need to extrapolate.
Before planning activities for lessons, teachers should firstly engage with the text itself, identifying areas of familiarity and challenge. Look for both the disciplinary knowledge that the students need to bring to the text and the general understanding that is fundamental for comprehending the target. The EEF Guidance Report for Improving Secondary Literacy uses the following example from a BBC Bitesize Geography Summary on migration trends: “In 2004, Poland and seven other Eastern European countries joined the E.U. This increased migration into the U.K.” From a disciplinary standpoint, the students would need to understand the economic, social, and political factors affecting migration to fully comprehend and infer as a Geographer from the text. However, more general knowledge about the organisation of the E.U. and how its members enjoy freedom of movement is an essential starting point.
Once an awareness of the required prior knowledge has been established strategies within the class that either retrieve this or develop new contextual awareness that help the students to situate the text can be planned. These can range from quick wins to carefully planned activities:
Pre-reading
- Peer discussions around the topic or reading goal with carefully curated groups, allowing students with weaker prior knowledge to collaborate with more knowledgeable peers to develop contextual understanding. - Using images, heading and subheadings to connect to prior learning and make predictions about the text. - Categorising vocabulary from the text into units of prior learning. - Pre-teaching concepts with provoking videos and discussions that allow students to connect their understanding to the ideas in the text. - Historically, geographically, biographically situating the text (placing it on a timeline, map or introducing relevant details about the author).
Active Reading
- The Contextualiser or Connection Finder – a reciprocal reading role where a student is tasked with finding connections between the text and their knowledge base. - Cloze activities with detailed images that allow students to visualise specific sections of the text to construct a specific situation model. - Pausing and questioning/annotating at areas where specific contextual knowledge is imperative.
Post Reading
- Summarise the text and categorise the knowledge within a schema for long-term memory. - Regularly retrieve information comprehended from the text, specifically in lessons where the knowledge would be relevant. - Use school trips to embed the reading in a specific context (e.g., Geography field trips, History museums, performances). - Set supra-curricula homework or activities that build on the contextual knowledge (e.g., novels with similar contexts, documentaries, newspaper articles, etc.)
References:
Podcast – 32. Reading is Learning: Breaking Down the artificial barrier with Natalie Wexler
Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the Reading Wars: Reading Acquisition From Novice to Expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5 – 51. https://doi.org/10.1177/152910… (Original work published 2018)
BBC Bitesize (2019). Migration Trends. [online] Available at:
https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/g… [Accessed 26 Jun. 2019]. 25. Perfetti, C. and Stafura, J. (2013). Word Knowledge in a Theory of Reading Comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), pp.22 – 37. DOI:10.1080/10888438.2013.827687
