MTB_MLE Lesson 6 - TEACHING STRATEGIES IN MTB-

MLE
PROGRAM
( Teaching Comprehension)

I . Competencies
1 . Cite the specific teaching functions that encourage the
development of language arts and literacy.
2. Discuss major approaches in teaching comprehension
3. Familiarize and distinguish the varied opportunities learners go
through and experience for meaning construction and skill
application.
4. Demonstrate an approach appropriate for the instructional
objectives
set.
5. Explain reading fluency.
6. Plan activities for fluency development of young learners.

II. Notes
Comprehension according to Durkin, is the essence of
reading, without which there is no reading done at all. This goes
to show that it is the heart and goal of reading instruction. Teachers
have to understand it not only as a product of reading, but also as the
process of learning from reading as learners find enjoyment in the
learning experiences provided by teachers.
Teachers play a very crucial role in the language development of
young children. The specific teaching functions that encourage the
development of language arts and literacy are listed below:
1. The teacher serves as a model of everyday language use.
What is communicated and how it is communicated are
important.
2. The teacher is a provider of experiences. Many of these
events are planned; others happen in normal course of
activities.

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 3. The teacher is an interactor, sharing experiences with the
children and encouraging conversation.

Constructivist, Learner- Centered Activities

1. Sharing experience

Let the learners talk about their own experiences and share
something about people , place, events, occasions and other
topics that interest them and matter to them.
2. Discussing experiences
Give them time to answer some questions or clarifications
from you or from the classmates. Lead them to share their
feelings and thoughts about their experiences.
3. Listening to stories
Teach them to be quiet and respect others who also have
something to share. Remind them that class time is given
not only for speaking but also for listening.
4. Telling stories
Allow them to imagine a story and tell it to the class. This
story may not necessarily be true, yet they are allowed to
create something out of their imagination. You may begin by
telling your own made-up story, or share a fable. Legend or
myth.
5. Dictating words , sentences and stories.
Tell them to say a word, think of a sentence, or tell a story.
Write it on the board as they share it to clas, pointing at the
words as you say them aloud.
6. Writing independently
Allot time and place where children hold a pencil, marker, or
colored pens and crayons so that they can write down on a
sheet of paper or on the board the idea or story that they
have
in mind.
7. Writing individual books

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 Instruct them to fold a paper into 3 columns. On each
column, teach them to draw a picture or write words that tell
their favorite stories.

8. Conceptualizing relationships between speaking, writing, and

reading.
Explain alphabetic principle to children by saying a
sentence, writing it down, and reading it aloud, showing how
speaking is related to reading and writing.
9. Expanding vocabulary
Introduce learners to new words in pragmatic ways as they
encounter or experience them in real-life situations. Or as
they hear them in your interactions with them or with the
stories you share.
10.Reading a variety of symbols
Use environmental prints common in their contexts, e.g.
signage, labels, pictures, symbols.
11.Developing awareness of common vocabulary
Hold adult-like conversations that give children several
exposures to words they often hear at home. In school and in
public places.
12.Improving writing style and form
Introduce them to the conventions in writing, repeatedly
teaching them about letters, spaces, lines and punctuation
marks.
13.Studying words
Explain them word parts (roots, affixes) syllables. Antonyms,
synonyms, homonyms, and topics that make them realize
how words are formed and what they mean as used in
context.
14. Reading whole stories and form
Finish a story and make them feel how a story starts and
ends.
15.Using variety of resources

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 Choose books, magazines, newspapers, maps, globes and
other references that are used and found around them.
16. Comprehending what is read
Ask them questions or make them retell stories. Act out with
them a portion of the story, or lat them draw what they
understand.
17.Summarizing

Show them how to give a “short version “ of the story, or to

cut it short by telling only the important parts.
18.Organizing ideas and information
Teach them to label or categorize information that should be
grouped together. Make them classify people, things,
events, feelings or sequence events from a story.
19.Integrating and assimilating ideas
Connect the story or its theme to their lives. Point out how a
story could be a part of their lives, or how it could be similar
to their own experiences.
20.Reading critically
Make them think beyond what the story directly says. Ask
for their
opinions or share their feelings. Encourage them to ask
questions.

Literature-based approach (LBA)

LBA is derived from the use of children’s literature as the
medium from which reading and literacy instruction are given,
beginning in shared reading big books containing traditional easy
stories which the teacher reads aloud, with the children following as
the teacher points at the word being read. This is an instruction that
exposes young learners to original narrative and expository works used
to support children’s literacy development by planning and supporting
authentic learning experiences. This approach supports integrated as
opposed to segregated skills. As a result, its associated activities
usually target in one lesson all the skills involved in reading, writing,
listening and speaking(Aider-Hauck, 1993).
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 The teachers’ roles as model, provider of experiences, and
interactor are at work in LBA during the prereading, actual reading,
and post reading phases of the lesson. Through planning the thematic
organization and choosing appropriate stories around it, teachers
become provider of learning experiences; when they conduct read
aloud and shared writing activities, teachers act as coach and model of
grammar, usage, and spelling. By taking part in shared reading,
literature discussion circles, and reader response activities, they serve
as interactors. All these provide a

positive learning environment that encourages appreciation of

literature and comprehension of its meaning.
McWilliams (1993) uses the five components of story in the
choice of literature : time and setting; characters with personality ; a
major problem; attempts to solve the problem; and has a quick
resolution and ending.
After selecting the appropriate literary piece, teachers need to
prepare for the reading aloud in the classroom. It is a strategy of
communicating the author’s message to others through expressive
fluent oral reading. Learners crave for reading aloud sessions at home
and in the classroom especially when the story is of average length
and with interesting plots and characters.

Reading Aloud
Spend time reading a story to yourself several times so you can
hear your own voice and adjust it to express the meaning of the story.
Then consider the following points in doing the read aloud.
1. Read aloud with expression using the correct intonation.
PITCH
STRESS INTONATION
JUNCTURE
2. Observe punctuation marks so children can discriminate
meanings based on their use in the selection.
3. Read aloud with fluency. Model fluent reading by having
appropriate speed, accurate expression, and prosody. Mark
the phrases with bar lines to mean short or long pauses, and
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 practice repeated reading to feel what the story wants to
reveal.
4. Change voices to represent the different characters in the
story.
5. Involve children in the read aloud by asking questions,
making them act out some parts, and repeating alliterative
lines and dialogue.
6. Allow them to ask their own questions too or give their
comment.

Strategies in Teaching Fluency

Fluency is reading with speed, accuracy and proper

intonation. (National Reading panel, 2000), Harris and Hodges
(1985) describe it as expressing oneself smoothly, easily, and
readily, having freedom from word identification problems. Hence, a
fluent reader can read at rapid rate, automatically recognize word,
and phrase correctly. Some learners fail to read fluently because
they lack exposure and practice time in reading. Consequently, they
experience frustration, and never understand the true reason for
reading. Perfitti (1985) suggests that slow word reading interferes
with automaticity, and thus impairs reading comprehension.
Ford (2002) explains fluency as the ability to read words
accurately and automatically with expression. Because fluent
readers do not have to slow down in order to concentrate on
decoding the individual words in a text, they can focus their
attention on the text’s meaning. Automaticity means decoding is so
automatic that readers can recognize words immediately upon
seeing them, not struggling anymore when pronouncing them.
Instant, automatic reading of words leads to fluency that allows
readers to focus their attention on comprehension rather than
decoding. Fluency problems make comprehension difficult – it is
hard to pay attention to meaning when reading is slow and labored.
Decoding should be automatic to achieve fluency. Some children’s
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 oral reading is so wobbly and slow that, by the time they reach the
end of the sentence, they have forgotten the beginning. They are so
burdened by the decoding task that they can not think about the
meaning of the words they are reading.
Why is fluency important?
Fluency is an essential element that bridges the gap between
word recognition and comprehension. It represents freedom from
word identification problems that might hinder comprehension. The
fluency components are: speed, accuracy, and proper intonation.

The first component, speed is commonly thought of as rate,

although the are different . In this chapter, the term rate is used to
mean the number of words read per minute (wpm) or number of
correct words per minute (cwpm). The appropriate rate for each
grade level shown below serves as standards for assessing the wpm
of learners.

Grade Level Rate (wpm/ cwpm)

1 50 – 60
2 80 – 90
3 110 – 120
4 140 – 150
5 170 - 180
6 200 - 210

To determine a learner’s reading rate, follow these steps:

1. Choose a conducive place where the child will not be
distracted when asked to read aloud.
2. Select a grade-appropriate short selection that will be read
by the child orally.
3. Make the child feel comfortable. Establish rapport with the
child.
4. Inform the child what you want him/ her to do. Give clear
instructions.

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 5. Give the selection to the child. Make sure that you also have
your copy of the text so you can write down your
observations or make some notations.
6. Tell the child to start reading. After a minute, tell the child to
stop and encircle the last word read.
7. Count the number of words read.
8. Determine the child’s rate as you compare it with the
standard given.

Reading rate is the first fluency component. Next to this is

accuracy, which refers to the child’s close reading of what is written
in the text, without error or mistake.

This means that children have to read what they actually see in print
and not deviating or straying away from it. This must teach them to
pay close attention to what is actually visibly included in the text.
Another component is proper intonation. Which is part of
prosody,
A term that is frequently heard in discussions of fluency. It refers to
the appropriate use of intonation and phrasing in reading. Prosodic
reading involves paying attention to punctuation signs like commas
and periods, assigning appropriate stress to individual words within
a sentence, and raising or lowering voice intonation to match the
meaning of the text (e.g., raising the voice at the end of a question).
Paying attention to the elements of prosody allows teachers to
quantify and measure what we refer to as “reading with expression”
(Ford, 2012). This component requires that children engage in
phrase, sentence, and short paragraph reading expressing their
understanding of such by the manner that they utter or say them.
Teachers often use rubrics to assess whether children are
reading with appropriate pitch variation, intonation, phrasing, and
expression. One such rubric is the Oral Reading Fluency Scale
created for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
To use this rubric, simply have a child read a short passage of text,
and assign a score of
1 – 4 based on the description given in the scale.

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 How can children be taught fluency?
Vaughn and Thompson (2004) cited 5 reading and rereading
exercises to improve fluency of children in kindergarten up to 3 rd
Grade. These are:
1. Reading with a model
2. Choral reading
3. Tape-recorded Readings
4. Reader’s Theater / Reading Performances
5. Partner Reading

The summary of activities includes (1) providing an explicit

model of fluent reading. This model could be the teacher, a well-
trained adult,

another student, or even cassette. (2) Giving children multiple

opportunities to read the same text. They need many opportunities
to read the same text over and over again. Teacher, trained adults
or learners should provide corrective feedback. Two research
studies suggest that students who reread the passages at least
twice outperform those who read the passage only once in both
fluency and storytelling ability. (3) Establishing performance
criteria for the speed and accuracy of reading text. Teacher should
establish baselines for the number of words children children read
correctly per minute in a specified text level, as well as
systematically monitor fluency progress.
Another way to improve fluency is by matching its
characteristics with intervention content to help struggling readers.
Fluency can be a serious problem for many struggling readers.
There is a strong research and theoretical base that indicates that
fluency is absolutely necessary for comprehension. If a reader has
not developed fluency, the process of decoding words pulls
attention away from constructing meaning. Teachers should
carefully diagnose student’s fluency needs and match them with
research-based approaches to improving fluency, where students
read with increasing ease and understanding.

III. Exercises
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 A1: Supply the correct word to complete each sentence.
_______ 1. _ X _ refers to the child’s close reading of what is written
in the
text, without error or mistake.
_______2. When readers can recognize words immediately upon
seeing
them, not struggling anymore with decoding problems,
then
they have already achieved _ X _.
_______ 3 . Expressing oneself smoothly, easily, and readily with no
word
identification problems is _ X _.
_______ 4. In _ X _ of the Constructivist, Learner-Centered activities,
the
teacher show the learners how to give a short version of
the
story , or to cut it short by telling only the important
parts.

_______ 5. In Literature-based approach, the teacher’s role as a/ an _

X_
Is shown by taking part in shared reading, literature
discussion
circles, and reader response activities.
________ 6. In the LBA, after selecting the appropriate literary piece,
teachers need to prepare for the _ X _ in the classroom.
________ 7. One rubric to assess whether children are reading with
appropriate pitch variation, intonation, phrasing and
expression
is the _ X _.
________ 8. _ X _ is the first component in fluency.
________ 9. The appropriate use of intonation and phrasing in reading
is
called _ X _.
_________10. The reading rate of grade 4 learners is _ X _.

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A2: Answer as indicated.
1. List 5 learning opportunities which are constructivist, learner-
centered activities . Briefly explain each.
2. Distinguish the roles played by teachers in the language
development of young children using the Literature-based
approach (LBA).
3. Research indicates that children who have reading difficulties
have significant problems with fluency. Give your insights.

REFERENCES:
Alcudia, F., Bilbao, P. et. al. 2016. Mother Tongue: for Teaching
and Learning. LORIMAR Publishing Inc
Giron, P., Aguirre, R. 2016. Teaching and Learning Languages
and Multiliteracies: Responding to the MTB-MLE Challenge. LORIMAR
Publishing Inc.

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