Comprehension Instruction, Second Edition Research-Based Best Practices

by Block, Cathy Collins; Parris, Sheri R.; Morrow, Lesley Mandel

• ISBN13: 9781593857004
• ISBN10: 1593857004
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-22
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

This comprehensive professional resource and text is based on cutting-edge research. In each chapter, leading scholars provide an overview of a particular aspect of comprehension, offer best-practice instructional guidelines and policy recommendations, present key research questions still to be answered, and conclude with stimulating questions for individual study or discussion. Coverage includes such timely topics as differentiated instruction, technology and reading comprehension, teaching English language learners, and the implications of current neuroscientific findings.

Author Biography

Cathy Collins Block, PhD, has served on the graduate faculty of Texas Christian University (TCU) since 1977. She presently serves, has served, or was elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association, National Reading Conference, Literacy First, New Zealand AWARD Program, U.S. Department of Education Regional Research Laboratory, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning Laboratory, National Center for Learning Disabilities, IBM Education Board of Advisors, National Center for Learning Disabilities, America Tomorrow, and Nobel Learning Communities. Dr. Block has written more than 250 research articles, books, and chapters concerning comprehension development, vocabulary achievement, exemplary teaching practices, and effects of curricular initiatives on student literacy success. She has taught every grade level, from preschool to graduate school, and served as consultant to hundreds of school districts in the United States and around the world. In 2005, she received the highest award bestowed by TCU to a professor for her outstanding teaching and scholarship across the country: the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Teaching and Scholarship.

 

Sheri R. Parris, MEd, is currently completing her PhD at the University of North Texas while teaching undergraduate reading courses. Her major area of study is reading education, with a minor in neuroscience. As a former middle school teacher, her emphasis is on secondary reading issues. Currently, she serves as Secretary and Vice President of the Gifted and Talented Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association (IRA) and has recently served on the IRA Adolescent Literacy Committee. Ms. Parris was invited to speak at the 2007 IRA conference to present "The Expertise of Adolescent Literacy Teachers," published in April 2007 in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. Additionally, she coauthored two chapters in the 2006 book Collaborative Literacy: Using Gifted Strategies to Enrich Learning for Every Student (by Susan E. Israel, Dorothy A. Sisk, and Cathy Collins Block), which was nominated for the 2007 Ed Fry Book Award of the National Reading Conference.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Theoretical Directions for the Future: What We Have Learned Since the National Reading Panel Report (2000)
Beyond Borders: A Global Perspective on Reading Comprehension	p. 9
Research on Teaching Comprehension: Where We've Been and Where We're Going	p. 19
Dual Coding Theory: Reading Comprehension and Beyond	p. 38
Cognitive Flexibility and Reading Comprehension: Relevance to the Future	p. 50
Metacognition in Comprehension Instruction: What We've Learned Since NRP	p. 65
Constructivist Theory and the Situation Model: Relevance to Future Assessment of Reading Comprehension	p. 80
Neuroscience: What Brain-Based Research Tells Us about Reading Comprehension
Looking at Reading Comprehension through the Lens of Neuroscience	p. 101
Using Neuroscience to Inform Reading Comprehension Instruction	p. 114
How Neuroscience Informs Our Teaching of Elementary Students	p. 127
How Neuroscience Informs Our Teaching of Adolescent Students	p. 142
Improving Comprehension Instruction
Transforming Classroom Instruction to Improve the Comprehension of Fictional Texts	p. 159
Explicit Instruction Can Help Primary Students Learn to Comprehend Expository Text	p. 171
Explanation and Science Text: Overcoming the Comprehension Challenges in Nonfiction Text for Elementary Students	p. 183
Learning to Think Well: Application of Argument Schema Theory to Literacy Instruction	p. 196
Improving Reading Comprehension through Writing	p. 214
New Insights on Motivation in the Literacy Classroom	p. 226
Differentiated Comprehension Instruction
Comprehension Instruction in Action: The Elementary Classroom	p. 241
Comprehension Instruction in Action: The Secondary Classroom	p. 258
Comprehension Instruction in Action: The At-Risk Student	p. 271
Comprehension Instruction for English Learners	p. 294
Technology and Comprehension Instruction: New Directions
Games and Comprehension: The Importance of Specialist Language	p. 309
Research on Instruction and Assessment in the New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension	p. 321
Scaffolding Digital Comprehension	p. 347
Technologically Based Teacher Resources for Designing Comprehension Lessons	p. 362
Conclusion
Summing Up	p. 381
Epilogue: What the Future of Reading Research Could Be	p. 391
Author Index	p. 415
Subject Index	p. 431
Contributors	p. 445
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