How to Increase Your Reader’s Comprehension
Question: I am the English speaking grandparent of a bilingual second grader who is a fluent speaker in both languages, and who can read very well orally in English, but cannot answer questions or tell me very much about what she has read. Her mom’s second language is English; so I have been asked to work with her. I am happy to do this, however I really don’t know where to begin. Can you help me?
Thank you,
Cassie G.
Answer: Thank you for your great question, Cassie! I will be happy to give you some background information and share some suggestions you could use to help your granddaughter.
Several elements are necessary for a child to become a good reader. She must have many experiences, a basic understanding of the world, a good vocabulary, some experience with language structure, and be thinking purposefully and actively as she reads. It sounds like your grandchild can say the words in the text well enough, but cannot tell you what she has read. Teachers would question whether she is really reading.
A good reader who is thinking actively as she reads but who is having difficulty with understanding a text will have reading strategies that she can use to make sense of it, and to solve the problems as she encounters them. Your granddaughter may need some help in this area.
One concept that improves comprehension is the understanding that words and even sentences may have more than one meaning. The reader must be able to adapt her thinking to recognize which meaning might be the most appropriate in the passage.
A reading teacher would work with her students to train them to consider alternate meanings in a sentence that is ambiguous and to reread it with that in mind. As they reread the sentence they would consider the context and think about alternative possibilities, even playing with the language.
Homonyms, words that have more than one meaning, can cause problems for a young reader. Another stumbling block can be structural ambiguities with syntax. For example, a sentence like “The boy talked about the problem with his big sister “could either mean that he discussed a problem with his big sister, or that he had a problem with his big sister that he told someone about.
Background knowledge and context of the sentence are needed to determine which one of two very different meanings is the one intended. The ability to discern structural ambiguities develops in second grade for many readers. Their success in this area will usually determine their success as readers in third grade.
As the student learns how to choose the correct meaning in an ambiguous text, you will see her ability to read with comprehension increase significantly. In one study it was determined that time spent practicing identifying and defining homonyms, recognizing and defining ambiguous statements in sentences, and reading and writing riddles will increase children’s comprehension monitoring and their reading comprehension.
In one study the children not only benefitted from these exercises, they eagerly participated with evident enjoyment and enthusiasm. These lessons included practice identifying and defining homonyms, identifying and defining different types of ambiguous sentences, reading and writing lexical (word riddles) and structural riddles, by reading Peggy Parish’s Amelia Bedelia series and using these as models to write their own original stories.
Another group read Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel which was at the same reading level, and learned to identify and explain the homonyms and the ambiguous sentences. They also made progress in their reading comprehension.
Reading and writing riddles seems to be the most fun for children. Beginning in first and second grades children start to have a natural love of word play and riddles. Riddles have great educational benefit and potential among students with widely varying reading abilities.
According to school librarians, riddle and joke books are the most circulated books with students at this age. The humor in these books not only improves the learning environment but gives children the desire to read, and helps them develop critical thinking skills and vocabulary as well as language development skills.
I recommend that you go to the children’s section of your public library, or talk with your grandchild’s teacher and/or her school librarian to get additional titles of appropriate books for her. Armed with this information and the books that she will benefit from and enjoy, you will be able to see her increase her skills in vocabulary, homonyms and comprehension as well as building many wonderful memories of reading, discussing and writing with Grandma Cassie. Seize the day!
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