Reading And Reasoning: Fostering Comprehension Across .

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IRA–SSENTIALSENG AGINGT HE A D OL E S C EN T L E A RNERBY DOUG L A S FISHE R A N D N A N C Y F RE YdnagnReadi oningReas mprehensionoCgniretstFosxeTelpitluMssorAc1READING AND REASONINGdoi:10.1598/e-ssentials.8026 20132013 International Reading Association

The challenge of readingin the 21st century isn’tin finding information;it’s in figuring out how toconsolidate all this readily availableinformation in ways that facilitateunderstanding (Goldman, 2004).Certainly students’ search habitshave much to do with this: Mostare able to locate a multitude ofresources with a few keystrokes. Butthey remain challenged about howto synthesize disparate information,especially when it is contradictory. Aswell, even though many can distill asingle reading, most can’t effectivelyutilize multiple texts to strengthenarguments.Consider just how difficult it is,even for a strong reader, to turndisparate documents into a coherentset of information. As readers, werely on the author to link conceptswithin a single piece of text (Goldman& Rakestraw, 2000). Authors typicallyuse connectives such as becauseand however, place main ideasat the beginning of a paragraphto enhance comprehension, andprovide transitional phrases such asin summary to signal organizationalshifts.No such devices bridge multipledocuments. A reader must constructmeaning by building organizationalbridges that cross the divide betweentexts. There simply is no one there todo that for him or her. Other factorsthat make reading multiple textsmore difficult include differences inthe writing styles used by differentauthors, competing perspectivesand interpretations, and even thechronology of when the documentswere created.Most of us have experienced thisin our own lives, such as when we tryto distill information about a medicalcondition from an Internet search.Like our students, we are novices inregard to the content, and figuringout how to best treat that stuffynose and sore throat we’re sufferingfrom isn’t helped when reading somuch conflicting advice (starve acold and feed a fever?). Withoutthe ability to evaluate the source ofthe information, identify areas ofcorroboration and disagreement, andmake decisions about what to ignoreand what to pursue, we cannot takeaction. We’re left feeling confusedand no better off than when westarted.The ability to read and writefrom multiple texts has implicationsfor testing and accountability aswell. A looming challenge lies inthe suite of assessments currentlybeing developed by the SmarterBalance Assessment Consortium andthe Partnership for Assessment ofReadiness for College and Careers.Forty-six states belong to one ofthese consortia, which are chargedwith developing measurementsystems aligned with the CommonCore State Standards. The Englishlanguage arts and content literacystandards repeatedly refer to theexpectation that students canmanipulate information across textsand platforms. College and CareerReadiness (CCR) writing anchorstandard 8 illustrates this point:“Gather relevant information frommultiple print and digital sources,assess the credibility and accuracyof each source, and integratethe information while avoidingplagiarism” (NGACBP & CCSSO, 2010,p. 41). Keep in mind that “print anddigital sources” refers not only towritten texts but also video, soundrecordings, charts, diagrams, andphotographs. In this column, wediscuss the unique characteristics ofreading and writing across multipletexts and instructional approachesthat support comprehension.FosteringComprehensionof Multiple TextsLiterary, informational, and persuasivetexts don’t exist in a vacuum. Theywere written by someone for aparticular purpose, at a specifictime, for a designated audience. Tounderstand a text is to know thatthese dimensions matter. Historyeducator Wineburg (1991) refers tothe practice of identifying these assourcing and contextualizing. Sourcinga text requires students to examinethe publication date and the author’s2READING AND REASONINGdoi:10.1598/e-ssentials.8026 2013 International Reading Association

biographical statement, for instance.Texts are then contextualized bylocating the writing within a timeperiod, determining the purpose, andidentifying the audience for whom itwas intended.Notice that we’re not discussingthe simpler forms of readingcomprehension—determining mainideas and such—but rather linkingwhat occurs within the page tothe social, biological, or materialworld. Importantly, we are also notdescribing the serial reading of lots ofdifferent texts without opportunityto figure out how they intersect.Multiple-text comprehension doessomething important to the mind;it links reading to reasoning. Thedocuments model frameworkdescribes comprehension across textsas a series of mental representationsthat move from understanding themsingly to formulating conclusionsdrawn from multiple pieces (Perfetti,Rouet, & Britt, 1999):1. Initially, students focus on thecontent of a single text, movingto sourcing and contextualizingthrough re-reading and textdependent questions designed toprompt discussion.2. They repeat this process with asecond piece of text, includingre-reading and discussion. Nowquestions are used to guide studentthinking about intertext processes.Are the documents in agreementwith one another? How do theydiffer? Does the information fromone corroborate or expand on theinformation of the other?3. Moving forward, students arechallenged to form an integratedmental model in which theymust decide what informationmust be discounted or ignored,what information overlaps and istherefore corroborated, and what isunique but credible.3READING AND REASONING4. These processes are drivenby tasks that require studentsto synthesize informationfrom more than one pieceof text. Often these comein the form of a written ororal assignment. There is agrowing body of evidencethat the quality of the taskquestions can either fosteror inhibit a student’s abilityto write critically in history(Monte-Sano & de la Paz,2012) and to engage inargumentation in science(Chin & Osborne, 2010).GettingStarted:CreatingExperiencesWith MultipleTextsLet’s face it—as secondary educatorswe rarely use multiple pieces of textfor teaching content. Most assignedreading comes from the textbookor anthology and is often “one anddone.” In other words, students rarelyconsult a text once they have read itthrough a single time. This is whatmakes close reading so unfamiliar,because teachers and students don’troutinely linger on a piece. To be sure,some readings are simple enoughthat they don’t warrant such carefulinspection. However, many of thereadings we use in our classroomwould be excellent candidates forthe kind of repeated reading anddiscussion that is driven by textdependent questions (see our IRAE-ssentials columns “Text Complexityand Close Readings” and “TextDependent Questions” for moreinformation). These practices, and thehabits of mind that accompany them,are foundational for understandingmultiple texts.Another barrier is our own familiarinstructional practices. We rarelybring back a previously taught piecein order to compare it to another.In order for students to developthe skills they need to compareinformation and ideas across texts,they must regularly revisit them. Itisn’t always necessary for studentsto be confronted with two or moreunfamiliar readings all at once.Building the comparative skills toprocess concepts will likely mean thatstudents use a known piece of text tounderstand a new reading.U.S. Government teacher SherylSegal did just that a few days afterthe 2012 presidential election. Sheresurrected a familiar piece that her12th-grade students had learnedearlier in the semester, the famous“Four Freedoms” speech delivered byPresident Franklin Delano Rooseveltto the U.S. Congress in 1941. Herstudents had previously learnedthat Roosevelt described four goals:freedom of speech and expression,freedom of worship, freedom fromwant, and freedom from fear. Hispurpose, they had determined,was to rally public support for animpending war by placing pressure ondoi:10.1598/e-ssentials.8026 2013 International Reading Association

the politicians. Even though he wasaddressing Congress, his real audiencewas the American public.Ms. Segal brought back a portionof Roosevelt’s speech for studentsto use to examine the acceptancespeech President Obama gave thenight of the election. Using the text ofthe 2012 speech, they first read anddiscussed the major ideas, noting thatthe goals included congratulating hisopponent, thanking his supporters,and outlining an agenda for nextsteps. Ms. Segal then distributed agraphic organizer with Roosevelt’sfour freedoms listed, as well asanother concept: “ we have beenengaged in change—in a perpetualpeaceful revolution” (Roosevelt, 1941).Students re-read PresidentObama’s speech and annotated thetext when statements made in 2012echoed the ideas put forward byRoosevelt in 1941.They then recordedthese quotes on the graphic organizer(see Figure 1 for one student’snotes). The comparison of the twodocuments illuminated anotherconcept students had not initiallyperceived. “Now I’m thinking aboutthe similarities between thetwo times,” said Simone.“Everyone’s always talkingabout the economyand about internationalterrorism and wars becausethose are in the newsevery day,” she said. “Butit’s really not so differentfrom 1941. People thenwere worried about theGreat Depression and thefact that the economy wasso bad for so long. Andthen there was Hitler andMussolini and Hirohito thatwere doing so many awfulthings in Europe and Asia.Scary, right?” Simone said.“It’s not so different today. Apresident trying to persuadethe people and the Congressthat we need to remember4READING AND REASONINGour founding principles to improve oureconomy and our safety.”Teach ThatKnowledge IsComplexAs noted earlier, the ability tosynthesize information across multipledocuments is not confined to readingcomprehension. A student’s beliefabout knowledge is also critical.Bråten and Strømsø (2010) examinedthe ways in which undergraduatesmade sense from several documentscontaining conflicting information.They found that those studentswho held a simplistic view ofknowledge—that is, one that isrelatively fixed, unchanging, andheld by an outside authority—werepoorer comprehenders of thedocuments. The authors stated that“not surprisingly, students tendingto believe that knowledge consistsof highly interrelated concepts seembetter able to handle documentsexpressing diverse and evencontradictory ideas than studentstending to believe that knowledgeconsists of an accumulation of isolatedfacts” (p. 638).This is an important considerationfor science teachers. Students oftenapproach science documents asbeing fixed and absolute, with littleroom for debate. But debate anddisagreement are at the heart ofscience. Multiple interpretations ofdata are often necessary in order toderive theoretical constructs, andthe ability to engage in speculation,formulate hypotheses, and proposesolutions replicates what scientistsdo (Wellington & Osborne, 2001). Asmembers of the public, we witnessthese debates in such diverse topics asclimate change, gene therapy, nuclearenergy, and deep space exploration.Seventh-grade physical scienceteacher Edward Margate usedmultiple documents to examinethe future of the space explorationprogram in the U.S. Over the courseof two class periods, studentswatched film clips of President JohnF. Kennedy promising in 1961 thatdoi:10.1598/e-ssentials.8026 2013 International Reading Association

FIGURE 1. Student’s analysis of two speechesFreedom of Speechand ExpressionFreedomof WorshipFreedomfrom Want“whether you heldan Obama sign ora Romney sign, youmade your voiceheard”“freedom and dignityfor every humanbeing”“every child hasthe chance to go tocollege”“a tolerant America”“access to the bestteachers and schools”“working late in acampaign office”“with your help andGod’s grace”“we have our ownopinions and beliefs”“we will disagree,sometimes fiercelyabout how to getthere”“as it has for twocenturies, progress willcome in fits and starts”“good jobs and newbusinesses”“God bless you”“God bless theseUnited States”“a nation that isn’tburdened by debt”Freedomfrom Fear“the destructive powerof a warming planet”“a country that’s safeand respected andadmired around theworld”“a nation that isdefended by thestrongest military onEarth and the besttroops”“a generous America”“a compassionateAmerica”“a decade of war isending”“open to the dreamsof an immigrantdaughter who studiesin our schools andpledges to our flag”“our economy isrecovering”“Perpetual Peaceful Revolution”“More than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task ofperfecting our union moves forward.”“We are an American family and we rise or fall together as one nation and one people.”“Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated.”“The painstaking work of building consensus and making difficult compromises needed to move thiscountry forward.”“The role of citizens in our Democracy does not end with your vote it’s about what can be done byus together through the hard and frustrating, but necessary work of self-government.”5READING AND REASONINGdoi:10.1598/e-ssentials.8026 2013 International Reading Association

there would be a man on the moonbefore the decade ended, as well asnewscasts of tragedies including the1967 fire that killed three astronautsand the space shuttle explosions in1986 and 2003. Students also reada newspaper editorial projecting theexpenditures of NASA until 2020,an article detailing the productsand technologies derived from thespace program, and a letter authoredby astronaut Neil Armstrong toPresident Obama in 2010 asking himto reconsider his decision to cancelthe Constellation human spaceflightprogram.“The task was really importantin this case,” said Mr. Margate.“They had to plow through a lot ofinformation and weigh the evidenceto support their opinions.” Hisstudents worked in small groupsto prepare their arguments, usingevidence from texts to support theirclaims. The science teacher providedhis students with a graphic organizerto foster intertextual connections andconstruct mental models through theuse of a discussion web (Alvermann,1991; see Figure 2). “I altered it a bitso that students would always keepboth sides of the argument in mind,”he said. “I wanted them to appreciatethat these are complex issues towrestle with. It’s a chance for themto put their scientific literacy to gooduse.”Teach CausalRelationshipsto PromoteConnectionsAs educators we teach for conceptualconnections all the time. In fact,the ability to perceive relationshipsbetween and among principles,theories, and themes is a markof a learner’s sophistication. Nomatter the content we teach, weensure that our students see theselinks. For instance, we use graphicorganizers and concept maps as visual6READING AND REASONINGrepresentations of these cognitiveconnections. But when confrontedwith locating these links across texts,many students have difficulty withseeing the relationships betweendocuments, treating them as siloshousing discrete information.A study of middle school socialstudies students illustrates this point.During a unit on the Montgomerybus boycott during the Civil RightsMovement, those who were explicitlytaught causal connections betweenevents were better able to locateand recall this information acrossmultiple sources, including primarysource documents, a documentary,and readings from their textbooks(Espin et al., 2007). For example,students in the treatment conditioncompleted compare–contrast graphicorganizers throughout the unitas they encountered each sourcedocument, always returning to onesthey had previously read or viewed.They discussed these comparisonswith their peers in small groups,and when viewing the documentarythe teacher frequently stopped thevideo to ask discussion questions thatinvited comparison to other eventsand people. Notably, the researchersfound that this approach resultedin significantly deeper contentcomprehension for students withlearning disabilities.RequireStudents toSummarizein Order toBuild ContentKnowledgeHandling multiple documents can bequite difficult for students, especiallywhen their prior knowledge isrelatively low. In order to build theircapacity to perceive connectionsbetween and among texts, makesure that they have opportunitiesto summarize the information. Tobe clear, we are not talking aboutsummarizing individual readings butrather having them summarize theinformation they have gained fromreading multiple texts.Using Video and FilmEffectivelyOur IRA E-ssentials column “Using Video and Film in theClassroom” addresses the effective use of film in theclassroom. We have found that disrupting the video byasking discussion questions causes students to think moredeeply about the information and prevents them fromlapsing into a more passive viewing experience. At timeswe ask students to retell a film using the vocabulary of thefilm, using a routine we call Vocabulary Steppingstones. Weprovide pairs of students with 10 or 15 vocabulary wordsthat will be used in the video clip and instruct them to listenfor the words as they occur in the narration. These terms areprinted on slips of paper and placed in an envelope. As thevideo clip plays, the partners move the vocabulary terms onthe desk so that they are arranged in order of occurrence.When the video clip is done, the partners use the orderedvocabulary as steppingstones to retell the content to oneanother.doi:10.1598/e-ssentials.8026 2013 International Reading Association

7YesREADING AND REASONINGdoi:10.1598/e-ssentials.8026 NoBe sure to cite your evidence!AFTER DISCUSSIONAFTER READINGBEFORE READINGCentral Question:Should the NASA Constellation human spaceflight program be funded?Discussion WebFIGURE 2. Discussion web 2013 International Reading Association

For instance, Gil and company(2010) used five scientific readingswith first-year college students andgave the groups one of two tasks: towrite for summarizing or to write forargument. The first group summarizedthe information about climate change(the subject of the readings) while thesecond group stated their personalopinion and required them to usethe texts to justify their position.They were scored according to theWriting MovesWith MultipleDocumentsTeach students the moveswriters use when writingacross documents, whether forthe purposes of summarizinginformation or presenting acogent argument. These writingmoves cluster into two categories:writing for transformation andwriting for integration (Gil et al.,2010):Transformational Writing Moves Paraphrasing content Elaborating using two or moretextual sources Adding information by drawingon one’s own prior knowledge Avoiding misconceptions andfactual errorsIntegration Writing Moves Using all of the text sourcesmade available for the task Increasing the number ofswitches between texts (i.e.,not clustering citations so thateach section contains evidencedrawn from text #2, followed byanother section that only citestext #4, and so on)8READING AND REASONINGnumber of transformations theymade, such as paraphrasing andelaborating. In addition, their writingwas tabulated according to the waysthey integrated the readings, includinghow many texts they cited and thenumber of times they switchedfrom one textual citation to another.Somewhat surprisingly, the studentsin the summary writing conditionperformed better on the number oftransformations and integrations theyutilized.Extend andDeepen ContentKnowledgeThroughArgumentWritingThe researchers who examined theeffects of summary writing andargument writing on multiple documentcomprehension had another question.Could it be that the learner’s level ofprior knowledge influenced how wellthey did? Using a similar approach,they measured each student’s priorknowledge about climate changein order to divide them into lowknowledge or high-

that support comprehension. Fostering Comprehension of Multiple Texts Literary, informational, and persuasive texts don’t exist in a vacuum. They were written by someone for a particular purpose, at a specific time, for a designated audience. To understand a text is to know that these dimensions matter. History educator Wineburg (1991) refers to

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