Teaching Approaches
Studies focusing on comprehension indicate that although assessment of comprehension is common in the classroom, strategy instruction to teach comprehension skills to students is not (Stricklin, 2010). Two teaching approaches which I employ when teaching are:
The Reciprocal Teaching Approach:
Reciprocal teaching involves a gradual release of responsibility from teacher to student for carrying out each part of the routine. Eventually the student will become confident in their own ability to use the strategy in question, resulting in little or no teacher support (A. Farstrup 2002)
Students Achieving Independent Learning (S.A.I.L) Approach:
This is a recommended way to teach comprehension strategies such as predicting, visualizing, generating and answering questions, making associations and clarifying (A. Farstrup 2002). When using the SAIL approach, the emphasis is on helping the students to learn when to use which comprehension strategies. The SAIL approach is an excellent way to allow students to feel a sense of direction in their own learning, as there is no predetermined sequence of strategies, rather the strategy use depends on the situation and the individual, there is no wrong or right answer.
The Reciprocal Teaching Approach:
Reciprocal teaching involves a gradual release of responsibility from teacher to student for carrying out each part of the routine. Eventually the student will become confident in their own ability to use the strategy in question, resulting in little or no teacher support (A. Farstrup 2002)
Students Achieving Independent Learning (S.A.I.L) Approach:
This is a recommended way to teach comprehension strategies such as predicting, visualizing, generating and answering questions, making associations and clarifying (A. Farstrup 2002). When using the SAIL approach, the emphasis is on helping the students to learn when to use which comprehension strategies. The SAIL approach is an excellent way to allow students to feel a sense of direction in their own learning, as there is no predetermined sequence of strategies, rather the strategy use depends on the situation and the individual, there is no wrong or right answer.
Assessment
There are many environmental and personal factors that contribute to reading success. Reading comprehension is a complex interaction of language, sensory perception, memory, and motivational aspects (Wooley, 2008). For teachers to gain an accurate understanding of how a student is progressing with their reading comprehension, a multifaceted approach of assessment and flexible interventions need to be in place in order for the teacher to cater for individual learning needs. To conduct this multifaceted approach to assessment, the teacher must continuously use a variety of formal and informal assessment tools at different phases within a consistent framework to address the literacy roles of students by engaging them in a variety of different literacy tasks and contexts (Wooley, 2008).
Examples of assessment tools:
Examples of assessment tools:
- Outcomes based assessment
- Authentic assessment
- Checklists
- Running records
- Diagnostic assessment
- Portfolios
- Written tests
- Standardised tests
- Read and retell
- The cloze procedure
- Informal discussions