What We Know
Reading Comprehension in the Middle and Upper Primary Years
As students transition through the middle and upper primary years, texts become increasingly complex, putting stress on students' comprehension.
Contributions of lower level decoding and processing skills to comprehension increasingly diminish.
Higher level skills, which require use of prior knowledge, the ability to draw inferences and make abstractions become most determining (Chall, 1996; Sweet & Snow, 2003).
Contributions of lower level decoding and processing skills to comprehension increasingly diminish.
Higher level skills, which require use of prior knowledge, the ability to draw inferences and make abstractions become most determining (Chall, 1996; Sweet & Snow, 2003).
"Grade 4 is a crucial year in terms of motivation and success in reading"
(Rennie, 2014)
(Rennie, 2014)
There is a substantial gap between word-level fluent decoding and text-level comprehension.
A decline in comprehension takes root (Sideridis, Morgan & Simos, 2013) (aka Fourth Grade Slump) attributed to the increasing difficulty of text and boredom, and an under focus on oral language development in the early years (Sideridis, Morgan & Simos, 2013). There is an increase in the separation between literacies inside and outside of school. |
"Comprehension achievement in the middle years is a strong predictor of overall academic achievement" (Alvermann, 2002).
At the same time, research indicates an absence of comprehension instruction within the classroom (Sideridis, Morgan & Simos, 2013).
This raises alarm bells for teachers, suggesting comprehension development should begin as early as possible, and that we need to increase our efforts to connect literacies inside and outside of the classroom.
This raises alarm bells for teachers, suggesting comprehension development should begin as early as possible, and that we need to increase our efforts to connect literacies inside and outside of the classroom.
The author of this site claims no ownership over unattributed images contained herein