The Role of Discussion in the Reading Program Ashley S.

Pittman As children progress through elementary school they learn many skills including letter recognition, letter sounds, decoding, and blending to make words which ultimately lead them to reading. While many students quickly become fluent readers, research has found that some students are missing an important component of the learning process; comprehension. Just as I teach the basic building blocks of phonics, I must also teach strategies to increase interaction with the text. Students can be successful in learning the basic skills of literacy if there is an even exchange in the conversations had between students and teachers. According to McIntyre (2007), Researchers have shown successful literacy learning can occur when collaborative exchanges are welcome, when teachers respect the contributions of students and build on them, and when good questions are asked. The purpose of this paper is to explore what the research has found in relation to the use of oral discussions to promote a deeper understanding in reading comprehension. What is comprehension? According to Ketch (2005), comprehension is defined as the connections made between the reader and the material they are interacting with. What does this mean for our students? Many times students focus all of their attention to sound out unfamiliar words and blending letter sounds to produce the correct punctuation and the attention to detail of what is happening in the text is forgotten. When this occurs, the student
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may be observed reading beautifully, but when later asked about specific event they are unable to give a correct response. Research has been completed to explore the types of strategies that need to be taught to improve comprehension for students. Before Reading Strategies Just as a child learns to crawl before they walk, a student must learn to observe the components of a book before they actually read the words. According to McKeown (2007), Considerations of what activities should happen before reading have centered on upgrading background knowledge as a way to support students as they read. Educators teach students how to interact with the text before reading through visual picture walks, predictions, and purposeful questioning to build on prior knowledge. The before reading strategies that have been pursued are purpose for reading and instruction of vocabulary. In the primary grades, teachers often use a picture walk to introduce new vocabulary that will be encountered in the text. Often, questions are asked to retrieve prior knowledge about a specific topic or event. This type of teaching helps the student know, prior to reading, what the text will be about and introduces them to new vocabulary words. Teaching vocabulary can enhance comprehension of text if the kind of instruction provided helps students build meaningful associations to their knowledge base and more than a brief definition is provided (McKeown, 2007). With older elementary students and beyond, readers should develop a purpose for reading prior to starting a new text. The reader needs to have a purpose they want to achieve by reading a given text. The before reading time spent with students is a valuable opportunity to provide scaffolding to encourage purposeful conversations
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about the text. According to McIntyre (2007), enabling authentic talk around text will contribute to meaning making for the learner. Teachers may pose questions they want their students to answer following the reading. These questions allow students to turn their attention on a given task. During Reading Strategies With the amount of digital media that is available today, children are limited to the amount of time they actually have conversing with adults. From a young age, children are placed in front of a television or a video game and allowed to interact with technology with little conversations with others. In many classrooms, students are expected to remain quiet for a larger portion of the day. When this is done, children are provided with limited opportunities to practice thinking skills or show literacy development. Educators can provide learning opportunities that encourage ongoing interactions with text. According to McKeown (2007), students develop a deeper understanding of the text when they have the opportunity to respond to questions during the reading than if they simply read it. The main strategy implemented during the reading process is questioning. There are many types of questions that can be asked depending on the age group, but providing students with the opportunity to give their opinion and insight is crucial. Students need to feel what they think is important and having meaningful discussions during reading is a way to provide this assurance for them. Conversation is a basis for critical thinking. It is the thread that ties together cognitive strategies and provides students with the practice that becomes the foundation for reading, writing, and thinking (Ketch, 2005). The International Reading
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Association suggests that readers be taught the seven cognitive strategies to use during their reading. Activating- "priming the cognitive pump" in order to recall relevant prior knowledge and experiences from long-term memory in order to extract and construct meaning from text. Inferring- bringing together what is spoken (written) in the text, what is unspoken (unwritten) in the text, and what is already known by the reader in order to extract and construct meaning from the text. Monitoring/Clarifying- thinking about how and what one is reading, both during and after the act of reading, for purposes of determining if one is comprehending the text combined with the ability to clarify and fix up any mix-ups. Questioning- engaging in learning dialogues with text (authors), peers, and teachers through self-questioning, question generation, and question answering. Searching/Selecting- searching a variety of sources in order to select appropriate information to answer questions, define words and terms, clarify misunderstandings, solve problems, or gather information. Summarizing- restating the meaning of text in one's own words different words from those used in the original text. Visualizing/Organizing- constructing a mental image or graphic organizer for the purpose of extracting and constructing meaning from the text. Teaching the seven cognitive strategies along with guiding the during reading conversations has been positively correlated with comprehension improvement. According to Shanahan (2010), comprehension is a higher-order skill that requires acquisition and mastery of lowerorder skills such as word-level skills, vocabulary knowledge and oral language skills, and thinking and reasoning.

After Reading Strategies After reading activities involve one or another form of questioning paired with an activity such as peer practice, think-pair-share, discussion, response journals, and interviews. Purposeful discussions typically focus on prompting students to respond to an overall question that arises from the text. These types of discussions, collaborative discussions, foster critical reflective thinking about text ideas. Research has found that discussion around text can promote problem-solving, comprehension, and learning. Discussions that leads to such outcomes features open questions, student control of interpretive authority, more student than teacher talk, and teacher responses that are based on students responses (McKeown, 2007). Discussions during and after reading text can often stray away from the text. Teachers need to pose questions to get students back on track. Conversations about the text are the students opportunity to practice critical thinking and relate the text to their own experience. Discussions can be used by the teacher as evidence for the teacher to assess the student. Shanahan (2010), suggest structuring the discussion to compliment the text, the instructional purpose, and the readers ability and grade level. Ketch (2005) noted the following: Students need opportunities to practice the use of cognitive strategies in order to internalize them and strengthen their comprehension. Students who engage in conversation in the classroom become reflective thinkers. Conversation brings meaning

to life as students seek to contemplate and understand our complex world. Conversation is the connection. (12). Conclusion As teachers, we want to guide our students and give them every opportunity to develop to their fullest potential. In order to accomplish this we can use many strategies to engage our learners. Comprehension involves a students ability to create meaning from what they read. A good reader will use a combination of strategies to successfully read and comprehend. Teachers can teach all strategies of the reading process, not just the basic foundations such as letter recognition, letter sounds, and blending and word recognition. Teachers can also teach the strategies that can be used to aid in comprehension such as predicting, questioning, discussions, and summarizing. Educators can implement reciprocal teaching, where the responsibility of learning is slowly released to the student and the teacher takes on the role of supporter rather than the leader. Shanahan (2010), recommends having the students lead structured small-group discussions as a wrap up activity. Reflection As I reflect on my own practice as a teacher, I realize while I use several of the strategies suggested, I certainly can implement more into my classroom to help my students use oral discussions to aid in comprehension. I want to create more opportunities for students to see themselves as successful readers. It is a necessity that teachers prepare students for the global competition that exist in the 21st century. In
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order to do this, we should give students all the tools necessary to reach their potential. The days when teaching from a reading text book and following up with comprehension check questions at the end of a selection are long gone. We have to assess for understanding along the way and realize that not every student has the same access to authentic discussions outside of the class. We must recognize the value of what we say and do for our students. Providing time for students to reflect, form ideas, and find evidence of their thinking helps them to become reflective, critical thinkers. My goal is to create lesson plans that will incorporate the strategies discussed and model what the reading process should look like. This topic was of interest to me, because of the difficulties I find my own students having with comprehension. In all subject areas, not just literature, I have students that have a hard time comprehending what they are reading. I hope to utilize the strategies discussed in the areas of concern to aid with comprehension and make reading an enjoyment for students of all capability levels.

References Almasi, J.F., & McKeown, M.G. (1996). The nature of engaged reading in classroom discussion of literature. Journal of Literacy Research, 28(1), 107-146. Celani, K., & McIntyre, E., & Rightmyer, E.C. (2006). Knowing the text, knowing the learner: literature discussions with fifth grade struggling readers. Reading Horizons Journal, 47(2). Ketch, A. (2005). Conversation: the comprehension connection. The Reading Teacher, 59(1). McIntyre, E. (2007). Story discussion in the primary grades: balancing authenticity and explicit teaching. The Reading Teacher, 60(7). 610-620. McKeown, M.G., & Beck, I.L., & Blake, R.G.K. (2009). Rethinking reading comprehension instruction: a comparison of instruction for strategies and content approaches. Reading Research Quarterly. 44(3). 218-253. Shanahan, T., Callison, K., Carriere, C., Duke, N. K., Pearson, P. D., Schatschneider, C., & Torgesen, J. (2010). Improving reading comprehension in kindergarten through 3rd grade: A practice guide (NCEE 2010-4038). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation & Regional Assistance. VanDeWeghe, R. (2007). What kinds of classroom discussions promote reading comprehension? English Journal. 96(3). 86-91.

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