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ERIC Number: ED450351
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2000-Jun-30
Pages: 39
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Contexts of Comprehension: Information Book Read Alouds and Comprehension Acquisition. CIERA Report.
Smolkin, Laura B.; Donovan, Carol A.
This paper reports on an examination of the strategies that one of the researchers (Donovan), then a first-grade teacher, modeled while reading information books aloud in class. Returning to previously tape-recorded read aloud sessions, the researchers studied student and teacher responses during the reading of six storybooks and six information books, considering whether the different genres prompted different types of participant interactions. The researchers found that interactive information book read alouds may lead children to engage in more meaning-making efforts than storybooks do. The interactive information book read alouds provided context for scaffolding, modeling, and engaging in direct instruction of comprehension; this context also offered opportunities for students to engage interactively in discussion designed to clarify concepts and construct meaning. The paper stresses that developing an interactional stance during reading is critical to promoting comprehension acquisition. Comprehension acquisition, which would preclude actual comprehension instruction, is a subconscious process in which children absorb strategies via modeling by adults. This period would begin in preschool and continue into second grade and could make children more receptive to later formal comprehension instruction. Informational texts are useful choices in these cases because they emphasize construction of concepts. The paper calls for future research to examine the nature of comprehension acquisition and for research in teacher training for both comprehension acquisition and instruction. Contains 120 references. (NKA)
CIERA/University of Michigan, 610 E. University Ave., 1600 SEB, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1259. Web site: http://www.ciera.org.
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, Ann Arbor, MI.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A