Teaching Expository Text Structure to Young At-Risk Learners: Building the Basics of Comprehension Instruction

Expository text is often neglected in the elementary school curriculum even though most of the reading that children do in school is of that type. Most of the research that demonstrates the importance of text structure in reading comprehension and the benefits that accrue from instruction in text structure deals with children at or above the 4th grade. This research literature, reviewed briefly, provides the basis for the work that is described in this article, which involves younger children. First, a study is presented that demonstrates that children are sensitive to text structure, and therefore would benefit from instruction, as early as 2nd grade. Second, a new instructional program is described that focuses intensively on one specific expository structure, compare and contrast. Finally, the results of a study that evaluates the effects of the program are described.

[1]  Karen R. Harris,et al.  Making the Writing Process Work : Strategies for Composition and Self-Regulation , 1999 .

[2]  Margaret G. McKeown,et al.  Revising Social Studies Text from a Text-Processing Perspective: Evidence of Improved Comprehensibility. , 1991 .

[3]  B. Wong.  Activating the Inactive Learner: Use of Questions/Prompts to Enhance Comprehension and Retention of Implied Information in Learning Disabled Children , 1980 .

[4]  John B. Black,et al.  Understanding expository text : a theoretical and practical handbook for analyzing explanatory text , 1986 .

[5]  The Structural Design Features of Large Texts , 1987 .

[6]  Margaret G. McKeown,et al.  The Contribution of Prior Knowledge and Coherent Text to Comprehension , 1992 .

[7]  Esther Geva,et al.  The Reading Crisis: Why Poor Children Fall Behind. , 1993 .

[8]  Elizabeth B. Bernhardt.  Assessing Science Knowledge in an English/Spanish Bilingual Elementary School. , 1995 .

[9]  Charles A. Perfetti,et al.  Text-based Learning and Reasoning: Studies in History , 1995 .

[10]  Nell K. Duke,et al.  3.6 Minutes per Day: The Scarcity of Informational Texts in First Grade. , 2000 .

[11]  Joanna P. Williams.  Improving the comprehension of disabled readers , 1998 .

[12]  Patricia A. Alexander,et al.  Learning From Text: A Multidimensional and Developmental Perspective , 2000 .

[13]  John S. de Cani,et al.  Constructing Macrostructure for Expository Text. , 1984 .

[14]  Richard Beach,et al.  The Effects of Text Structure Instruction on Middle-Grade Students' Comprehension and Production of Expository Text. , 1984 .

[15]  L. Fuchs,et al.  Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies to Students With Learning Disabilities: A Review of Research , 2001 .

[16]  Douglas Fuchs,et al.  Characteristics of Children Who Are Unresponsive to Early Literacy Intervention , 2002 .

[17]  Catherine Curry,et al.  So What's New in the New Basals? a Focus on First Grade , 1994 .

[18]  Bonnie B. Armbruster.  Does Text Structure/Summarization Instruction Facilitate Learning from Expository Text? Technical Report No. 394. , 1986 .

[19]  Joanna P. Williams.  Instruction in Reading Comprehension for Primary-Grade Students , 2005 .

[20]  Nancy L. Stein,et al.  What's in a Story: An Approach to Comprehension and Instruction. Technical Report No. 200. , 1981 .

[21]  B. Meyer,et al.  Effects of structure strategy instruction delivered to fifth-grade children using the Internet with and without the aid of older adult tutors. , 2002 .

[22]  C. L. Hansen.  Story Retelling Used with Average and Learning Disabled Readers as a Measure of Reading Comprehension , 1978 .

[23]  Shirley V. Dickson.  INTEGRATING READING AND WRITING TO TEACH COMPARE-CONTRAST TEXT STRUCTURE: A RESEARCH-BASED METHODOLOGY , 1999 .

[24]  Carol Sue Englert,et al.  Sensitivity to Text Structure in Reading and Writing: A Comparison Between Learning Disabled and Non-Learning Disabled Students , 1987 .

[25]  B. Meyer.  Use of Top-Level Structure in Text: Key for Reading Comprehension of Ninth-Grade Students. , 1980 .

[26]  R. Lomax,et al.  Awareness of four text structures: Effects on recall of expository text. , 1987 .

[27]  Deborah C. Simmons,et al.  Text organization: Research bases. , 1998 .

[28]  R. Woodcock.  Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised , 1987 .

[29]  Bonnie J. F. Meyer,et al.  Effects of Structure Strategy Training and Signaling on Recall of Text. , 2001 .