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Journal Information College Composition and Communication publishes research and scholarship in rhetoric and composition studies that supports college teachers in reflecting on and improving their practices in teaching writing and that reflects the most current scholarship and theory in the field. The field of composition studies draws on research and theories from a broad range of humanistic disciplines—English studies, rhetoric, cultural studies, LGBT studies, gender studies, critical theory, education, technology studies, race studies, communication, philosophy of language, anthropology, sociology, and others—and from within composition and rhetoric studies, where a number of subfields have also developed, such as technical communication, computers and composition, writing across the curriculum, research practices, and the history of these fields. Publisher Information The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), a not-for-profit professional association of educators, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. Since 1911, NCTE has provided a forum for the profession, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional growth throughout their careers, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the teaching of English. For more information, please visit www.ncte.org. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. Supporting students to get their knowledge ready for learning is an important stage in reading comprehension and links closely to the Victorian Curriculum (VCELY412, VCELY443). On this page
Activating prior knowledge (speaking and listening, writing)Munro’s (2002) high reliability literacy teaching strategies shed light on the differences between students’ existing knowledge and the new knowledge they are expected to internalise when reading. This difference between existing and new knowledge is the source of many difficulties students face when reading. Two activities that enable students to activate their prior knowledge before reading include:
The examples below support reading Jasper Jones (Silvey, 2009) in a Year 9 or 10 class.
Thinking with promptsStudents are provided with visual, written or verbal prompts about an upcoming text. These prompts might be a collection of images or visual representations of the larger themes in the text. In the case of Jasper Jones, the following visual prompt is an image that speaks to the theme of ‘scapegoating’.  Questions are used to encourage students to make connections between their existing knowledge and the knowledge that will be explored in the text. Questions that could be used include:
While the teacher can lead the class in a discussion of these questions, students' responses could be collated in a digital collaborative space and then referred to as the text study progresses. Word clouds and brainstormsWord clouds and brainstorms are an easy but effective way for teachers to quickly establish what learners may know about a particular topic. There are many online resources available that allow students to interactively create word clouds (see example below), or to collaboratively respond, record and revise question prompts before, during and after reading. To initiate a word cloud:
The activity can be altered so that students are organised into groups with each group focusing on a different aspect of the text that is to be read. Alternatively, groups of students could write responses on butcher’s paper or digital whiteboards and then rotate around the room, reviewing and adding to the notes written by the other groups. Image created with www.wordart.com Annotating text (reading and viewing, writing)English teachers often use annotations as a way to support students with their comprehension and to develop a closer reading of texts. One way to do this is to guide them to identify the key words, quotes, sections or passages within the text, and makes notes as they go. The annotations form two functions, to help with understanding and to be a reference point for revision at a later stage of learning. When students learn to annotate text, for example, by underlining key words or writing the main idea in the margin, which students can be guided to do on both electronic and paper texts, they should be provided the opportunity to talk to each other about the text using their annotations. This will help them to:
Putting into words both interpretations and thought processes adds to students’ awareness of the strategies they are using and the characteristics of texts. A teaching model of how to annotate a text is an important step in building students’ independence with their own reading and note-taking. A set of step-by-step instructions about how to approach annotations is also crucial. Annotations:
Curriculum links for the above example: VCELT461, VCELT465, VCELY466, VCELY467. Literacy in Practice Video: English - Think-Alouds and Annotating TextsThe following video demonstrates how to use modelled reading with think-alouds and how to model annotations in a Year 7 English class. This was a double lesson of English with team teaching. After reading the text and modelling text annotations, the learning focussed on the difference between formal and informal language. The teachers use text messages as an example of informal communication.
Teaching notes offer more details about this English lesson that included the learning intentions, rationale, Victorian Curriculum links, the literate demands and assessment, and the learning and teaching stages in this video segment. Concept mapping (reading and viewing, writing)In concept mapping, students learn to identify important relationships that capture text structure and to represent these in a diagram (Armbruster & Anderson, 1980). Mapping requires students to engage with meanings in text, to search for particular textual and linguistic features, and to transform these features into a diagram representation. The result is a student-produced diagram that uses symbols to capture interconnected textual features. Armbruster and Anderson (1980) describe mapping as a technique which can be varied to suit the reader’s purpose. Students learn to search for key words or other linguistic or textual features and to make connections between these. Students are then introduced to symbols, which are used to map relationships between different features of the text. Fisher, Frey and Hattie (2016) suggest that concept mapping is most effective when it is used as a tool for students to show their thinking and to organise what they know. In other words, a concept map should not be considered an end-product; rather, it is an intermediate step that students can use to complete another task (Fisher, Frey & Hattie 2016, p. 80). The following concept map was produced by a Year 10 student to unpack the relationships between themes and characters in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (VCELY467, VCELY468, VCELY469). Teachers can provide further scaffolded instructions to support students to elaborate on themes and identify key textual events and quotes to support later essay writing. Example instructions below. For each:
Close reading (reading and viewing, speaking and listening)Close reading is a method of engaging with literary texts. Snow and Connor (2016) define close reading as “an approach to teaching comprehension that insists students extract meaning from text by examining carefully how language is used in the passage itself” (p. 1). Close reading supports students to explore the ways that ideas and viewpoints in literary texts come from different historical, social and cultural contexts. It also supports students to think about how these contexts may reflect or challenge the values of individuals and groups. The main intention of close reading is to engage students in the reading of complex texts. Fisher, Frey and Hattie (2016, p. 89) outline four elements to support close reading:
Wheeler's (n.d.) six-approach to close readingWheeler (n.d.) offers a six-stage approach to close reading. This approach is modelled using Shaun Tan’s ‘The Water Buffalo’ from Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008), to show how repeated readings can be used to support Year 8 or 9 students to read the text in a structured, specific and sustained manner (VCELT403, VCELT438, VCELT439). First impressions
Vocabulary and diction
Discerning patterns
Point of view and characterisation
Symbolism
Lenses
The six-stages don’t need to be in order. Furthermore, you may wish to include other activities to complement the six-stage approach. What is important is that students are supported with multiple readings, each of which adds to the previous, with the end goal of a more complex understanding of the text. Literacy in Practice
Video: English - Comparative AnalysisThe teacher in this video is engaging Level 10 English students in a comparative analysis of three texts in a close reading task. This video was recorded in a double lesson in preparation for a comparative essay task. The lesson begins with students reading independently, then moving into small groups to compare the texts and find evidence showing how
individuals in these texts were trapped by social norms. Teaching notes offer more details about this English lesson that included the learning intentions, rationale, Victorian Curriculum links, the literate demands and assessment, and the learning and teaching stages in
this video segment. Sample text used in video for comparative analysis in a small group activity. Decoding visual images (reading and viewing, speaking and listening)Teaching students the metalanguage to speak and write about visual images is fundamental for them to be able to read, interpret and analyse visual texts. According to Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996), visual images are read as ‘texts’ and contain a ‘grammar’, that is, a set of socially constructed resources to make meaning. Metalanguage for visual analysisFor example, an advertisement billboard containing a static visual image with foreground and background, accompanied by printed language, in the form of a tagline and company name, contains a structure which guides how the advertisement is designed to be read by an audience. In the digital world where students are increasingly exposed to a variety of multimodal and interactive texts, students require the language to be able to decode images as well as to make meaning from them. Some of this language may be appropriated from the study of literary texts, however, new terms will also need to be introduced into the classroom which recognise the unique communicative capabilities of these texts. See the table on Metalanguage for Visual Analysis below. Metalanguage for Visual Analysis
Guided questions to discuss imagesAn effective way for teachers to introduce visual images to students is through the discussion of a still image. The teacher deconstructs the text with students, introducing and modeling the use of appropriate metalanguage. The deconstructed image may come from a class print text or may be a still from a film or moving image. Analysis of an imageSample student responses to questions about the image.
Using see, think, wonder, like to read a visual imageStudents are provided with a photograph, illustration or artwork to view. Teachers ask students to record their initial reactions to the image through questions such as:
Initial student reactions
These visual literacy strategies support curriculum objectives, in particular, VCELT407, VCELY411, VCELT418) Flow-charting (reading and viewing, writing)Flow-charting is a tool for displaying the relationships between the features of a text. The flow-charting technique developed by Esther Geva (1984) requires a reader to use a nodes-relations system to represent content and ideas. Nodes are points in a diagram or network that branch out to other nodes and demonstrate relationships. Flow-charting can be used to demonstrate connections between the ideas or themes in texts, the literary features which help realise these themes, and the structures that hold texts together. Depending on the focus of the flow-charting activity, it can be used to support student learning in relation to the following sub-strands of the Victorian Curriculum 7–10: English:
Flow-chart in practiceFor example, a teacher might use the following instructions to support students to produce flow-charts when analysing a literary text:
The following flow-chart captures the ideas in the prologue to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, as well as the textual knowledge that contributes to the formation of these ideas (VCELA473, VCELY467, VCELY469). Guided questions (reading and viewing, writing)Guided or guiding questions are questions provided to students, either in writing or spoken verbally, while they are working on a task. Asking guided questions allows students to move to higher levels of thinking by providing more open-ended support that calls students' attention to key details without being prescriptive. This activity is part of Questioning (HITS Strategy 7). Guided questions to support teachersTeachers can use guided questions to support students’ comprehension of texts (VCELY378, VCELT438). This example provides questions that could be used when reading fiction and non-fiction texts. They can also be adapted for a set text. This activity could be used for individual responses to a text or as a group activity lucky dip.
Worksheet example of Guided QuestionsWorksheet example of Guided Questions
Initial field building (reading and viewing, speaking and listening)Initial field building involves finding out what students know about a topic and then working with them to develop shared understandings which will inform their selection of certain subject matter to include in their writing (Derewianka, n.d.). In short, the purpose is to develop subject matter that will be the focus of student writing. The more students know about the topic, and the more language they use to express this knowledge, the better prepared they will be for writing with purpose and precision. Building the field should be a social activity which include opportunities for conversations. While talk will often focus on information found in written and multimodal texts, it is important that the emphasis is on students’ spoken language. See building the field or context for a range of common tasks. The student work samples below demonstrate how two of these tasks can be used to build the field for Year 10 students studying Claire G. Coleman’s Terra Nullius (2017). Research task about the Aboriginal Protection Board, a key aspect of understanding the text (VCELY466, VCELY469). Building vocabulary through the study of Latin root words within the title, ‘Terra Nullius’ (VCELA475) Importantly, building the field is not a one-off stage or strategy. Rather, teachers should continue to support students to develop their understanding of a topic, including their vocabulary, as they progress through various stages of writing. Literal, inferential and evaluative questions (reading and viewing)Reading comprehension is required across three levels
Literal comprehension occurs when the reader understands information that is explicitly stated within the text. Inferential comprehension involves the ability to process information so as to understand the underlying meaning of the text (VCELY469). This is sometimes called ‘reading between the lines’. Evaluative comprehension occurs when readers judge the content of a text by comparing it with:
Teachers can use questioning which targets all levels of reading comprehension using literal, inferential, evaluative (L.I.E.) questions. The following L.I.E. questions could be used to support Year 8 students’ understanding of the below cartoon, and demonstrates how a teacher might move a student from surface level to deep level understanding (VCELY411, VCELY412). Literal
Inferential
Evaluative
Predicting (reading and viewing, speaking and listening)Good readers make predictions about what is coming up based on available information, whether in the text or their own experiences (both lived and textual). These predictions change as the reader progresses through a text and new information becomes available. Teachers can enhance reading comprehension by providing opportunities for students to make predictions prior to, and during reading (VCELY412, VCELY443). The benefits of predictive activity are well-established (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983), and highlight the importance of drawing connections between: prior knowledge, predictions and reading content. Predicting with classroom discussionsIn Parkin & Harper’s (2019) work on teaching literacy through literature, classroom discussion is used to assist students to make predications as they read. Teachers support students in identifying clues in the text. The teacher has students role-play the author as they describe these ‘clues’ for prediction that the author has left. The example below demonstrates how this activity could be used in a Year 7 class reading one of Paul Jennings short stories, “Nails”, from Unbearable (1990). Teacher: Who would like to be Paul Jennings today? Come on down Paul Jennings, and tell us about the foreshadowing in your story. Student: Well, I’ve put in lots of foreshadowing in the story to give you clues about how the story ends. Teacher: So Paul, could you perhaps explain to the audience what foreshadowing is exactly, because I think some of them aren’t sure. Student: Foreshadowing is little clues that I put in the story. Like when you’re hiding and other people can only see the shadow. You know someone is there, but you can’t exactly see them. Teacher: Ah yes, thanks. Does that help, audience? Keep going, Paul. What clues did you give? Student: So I wanted the reader to know that the end of the story was going to be about water. So when Lehman looks at his mother’s photo, she’s got a gold clip with pearls in, because pearls come from the sea. (Parkin & Harper, 2019, p.51) This activity guides students in making informed predictions about the plot, but also supports their understanding of the author’s writing skill by identifying the author’s purpose achieved (in this example, leaving clues to foreshadow a plot twist). This activity also models how to locate textual evidence and make inferences from clues. Predicting with guided writingAnother way for students to engage in prediction is adapted from Hansen (1981). The teacher can ask students to:
Predicting with guided questionsAnother way to engage in predicting work with students is to expose them to preparatory aspects of a text and to use questioning to anticipate other parts of the text. For example, students who are about to study a new novel might be asked by their teacher to make predictions after the teacher has:
Similar questions can be asked for any text. For example, when introducing the poem ‘Son of Mine’ by Oodgeroo Noonucal to a Year 9 class, a teacher might activate student prior knowledge and prediction by asking the following questions:
Web-based brainstorming apps, such as Answer Garden and Padlet, can be set up to enable students to track their predictions, and the evidence they collect both before and during reading. Curriculum links for the above example: VCELA432, VCELT435, VCELT436, VCELT440. Schematising (reading and viewing, writing)A Schema is a cognitive or mental framework that we can construct in our mind to interpret or re-represent aspects of our world, including features of texts. Visualisation can also take place without the need for the reader to produce any text. Students can be encouraged during both teacher read-aloud and silent or paired reading to pause at specific points in the text to imagine what has been read. This could require students to visualise a process, and then verbalise or draw their mental image. Or, students could be encouraged to use mental imagery to add visual characteristics to a scene or feature of a print text, improving their comprehension (VCELY411, VCELY443). After reading aloud to Year 8 students the prologue to Glenda Millard’s A Small Free Kiss in the Dark (2009), the teacher might ask students to close their eyes and picture:
Using model texts to teach genre (reading and viewing, writing)Before students are asked to produce a particular text, it is vital that they learn about the features of that genre (Derewianka, n.d.). This marks a shift away from the content of the writing, to the form, or craft, of writing. Sometimes called ‘modelling’, explicit learning about genre provides students with knowledge about the linguistic and structural features of the text. This can include explicit teaching about the stages of a comparative essay, persuasive text, or specific forms of text response. Each genre unfolds in particular stages and contains distinctive patterns. Learning about the genre allows students to identify the characteristic stages a genre contains in achieving its purpose (Derewianka, 1990). For a range of strategies that teachers can perform with students when working with model texts
for the purpose of learning the genre, see building the field or context. Below are two student samples that show how text marking and deconstruction can be employed in the English classroom. Literacy in Practice Video: English - Using Worked ExamplesIn this video, the teacher uses a model text
‘The Simple Gift’ to support a class of year 8 students in developing the skills they need to write a comparative paragraph. This teacher offers effective strategies to engage students in the process of deconstructing and co-constructing text that includes developing a metalanguage for students to talk meaningfully about the structure of the comparative text (e.g., comparative words, text connectives and conjunctions). Read the in-depth notes for this video. Text markingAnnotating a text as a class can be a useful strategy to highlight different stages of the text, their purposes, and key features of the genre. ‘Text marking’ (Parkin & Harper, 2019) can be done collaboratively using a physical interactive whiteboard, or through interactive whiteboard web-based software through which all students can collaborate. Year 9 model text response that has been marked up during a teacher-led discussion (VCELY449, VCELY450, VCELY451). Image created using online software. Group annotation can also be used to find or highlight key words, phrases or sentences which assist students’ understanding of the text, and looking for patterns across texts. SequencingDeconstructing and reconstructing the text can be useful to:
As with text marking, teachers can jointly deconstruct a text with students and explicitly teach textual features. As students become more familiar with genre features, they can move towards independent deconstruction and reconstruction. It can often take repeated encounters with model texts for learners to internalise their features. Students should be provided opportunities to encounter and revisit genre features on multiple occasions so that understanding is reinforced (HITS Strategy 6: Multiple exposures). The following worked example is from a Year 7 class and uses the online article, ‘Black Saturday bushfires’, published by the National Museum of Australia (VCELA380). Teachers could adapt this activity to support learning related to text structure and organisation at any level from 7 to 10. For this strategy:
View full size image "Composite Graphics". Additional tasks using model texts are:
ReferencesArmbruster, B. B., Anderson, T. H. (1980). The effect of mapping on the free recall of expository text (Tech. Rep. No. 160). Champaign: University of Illinois Press. Derewianka, B. (n.d). A teaching and learning cycle. Derewianka, B. (1990). Exploring how texts work. Newtown: Primary English Teaching Association. Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hattie, J. (2016). Visible learning for literacy, grades K-12: Implementing the practices that work best to accelerate student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Geva, E. (1983). Facilitating reading comprehension through flowcharting. Reading Research Quarterly, 18(4), 384–405. Hansen, J. (1981). The effects of inference training and practice on young children's reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, 391–417. Kress, G., & van Leuween, T. (1996) Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge. Munro, J. (2002). High Reliability Literacy Teaching Procedures: A means of fostering literacy learning across the curriculum. Idiom, 38(1), 23–31. Parkin, B., & Harper, H. (2019). Teaching with intent 2: a literature-based literacy teaching and learning. Marrickville: Primary English Teaching Association Australia. Snow, C., & O'connor, C. (2016). Close reading and far-reaching classroom discussion: Fostering a vital connection. Journal of Education, 196(1), 1-8. Wheeler, K. (n.d). Close reading of a literary passage. What type of writing refers to the connection of your ideas both at the sentence level and at the paragraph *?Coherence in writing is the logical bridge between words, sentences, and paragraphs. Coherent writing uses devices to connect ideas within each sentence and paragraph.
Which property of a well written text refers to the connection of ideas and connection between sentence and paragraphs?Cohesion refers to the logical flow and connection in a written text and is achieved through the use of devices to link sentences together so that there is a logical flow between ideas from one sentence to the next.
What characteristic of a text focuses on how the ideas are being connected in a certain phrase or sentence?A transition can be a word, phrase, or sentence—in longer works, they can even be a whole paragraph. The goal of a transition is to clarify for your readers exactly how your ideas are connected. Transitions refer to both the preceding and ensuing sentence, paragraph, or section of a written work.
Which of the following properties refers to the connection of ideas sentences and paragraphs?Sentences should logically fit together in writing, connecting one idea to the next. This is referred to as cohesion.
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Is a characteristic of a text that refers to the connection of ideas at the paragraph level?
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