Brief Talk of Comprehension Strategies

来源:基础教育参考 作者:刘星雨

 

西南大学外国语大学 刘星雨
Reading, especially intensive reading, “can be a means of increasing learners’ knowledge of language features and their control of reading strategies.” (Nation, 2009) Intensive reading not only focuses on comprehension of a particular text but also focuses on language features and reading strategies.
Comprehension strategy is a good way for better understanding and can be easily relate to communicative activities such as work in group and complete a task.
There are several comprehension strategies according to the handout. (Fiyourzat) First strategy is making connections. First, teacher taps into prior knowledge to activate students’ interest and prepare them for the new knowledge. Teacher sometimes pre-teaches the vocabulary that might be of difficulty for students to understand the new material. Then, teacher teaches students how to connect the text and material with themselves, with other texts and with the world. For me, I would like to design group work, share what you think, how you feel with your group members or with the whole class. Students are able to practice their oral ability while having a better understanding of the reading. “Good readers connect what they know with what they are reading” all the time (Fiyourzat) Only in this way can students internalize newly-learned knowledge to their own system and make use of it.
Next is the strategy of asking questions. “Good readers ask themselves question while they read.” (Fiyourzat) Sometimes this process is so subtle that we cannot even recognize it. But the result of it is obvious. Readers who keep asking themselves have a better understanding of the passage as well as deeper and further thoughts about the passage. For students, it might be hard at the beginning. Teachers can provide questions for them as a reference, which is called reading with a question. They read for the answer and keep thinking if it is the right answer. After practicing for several times, teachers can ask students to come up with their own questions, for example, what is the theme of the story? What is the most important part? It gradually forms into a habit, to read with questions and find the answers throughout the material or own experience.
The strategy I like best is visualizing. It is the strategy I use often to comprehend a novel when I am a reader. It means to form a picture or an image in mind while reading the corresponding passage. For example, the first chapter of Jane Eyre is a good reading material to form a picture. While reading, think about the atmosphere in the scene, the position of every room and every person. Imagine if you are in that room, how would you feel, what would you hear. That is the way teacher can lead students to command the strategy. Teacher choose an appropriate reading material, ask students to read, then let them draw a picture of what they see and feel, and do an oral presentation or retell according to what they drew. Same with the asking questions strategy, once students form a habit of using the strategy, their reading will be quick and the understanding will be better.
There are other strategies such as inferring, predicting, and drawing conclusions, summarizing and synthesizing. Using these strategies appropriately and combine them with communicative activities will be effective and interesting.
Reference
Fiyourza,tReza. Reading Comprehension: The Strtegies.
NationS.P.I. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing. New York: Routledge.