1	Critical Literacy and Today’s College Students Defining the Task Ahead Deborah G. Litt, Ph.D. Trinity (Washington) University January 29, 2007
2	Goals for Today Define the problem (Come closer to defining it) Gain some new understandings about the factors involved in comprehending text Provide a technique you can use right away
3	Why do you think students have difficulty understanding the readings we assign? Jot down your ideas on the stickies ONE explanation per stickie Attach to paper in the “BEFORE” column
4	Partner Activity Reading text from another discipline
5	Directions One person reads while the partner observes Reader will read text from another discipline and try to understand it Reader will try to remember what s/he is thinking about while reading
6	Partner Activity cont’d Observer will observe & take notes on what the reader is doing while reading At signal, observer stops reader and asks reader what s/he was doing and thinking to make sense of the text Debrief & collect as much information as possible on reader’s thoughts and actions while trying to make sense of this piece of text
7	Reading/Observing 5 minutes -- read/observe 3 minutes -- reader explains efforts; observer takes notes
8	Switch Roles First reader becomes observer
9	Discuss this experience in your small group How did it feel to read the challenging text? What actions did you take to try to make sense of it? Keep track of what was said (large index card)
10	What we did when reading challenging text Give up Feel like giving up Reread sections Sum up as we go along Link or relate to other things we know or have previously read Use knowledge of parts of words to figure out meanings of unfamiliar words
11	What else we did Skim ahead to get an overview first Asked questions about the text Anticipated what was coming (predictions) Check-in with yourself--Does this make sense? Do I get this?
12	It was work!
13	Discuss What insights did this activity give you into students’ reading college level material? What might be getting in the way for them?
14	Our students may have difficulty because Lack some necessary prior knowledge Lack vocabulary needed to access Not used to such long and complex sentences Whole new ways of thinking, reasoning
15	What about texts in our own fields? We don’t need to try as hard!
16	What we do with text in our fields Make judgments about ideas presented Agree/disgree with ideas presented “Talk back” or have a conversation with the text Get emotionally involved
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18	Reading comprehension Comprehension does not happen automatically Comprehension does not happen just because the reader can pronounce or identify the words It takes EFFORT to comprehend, i.e. construct meaning from text
19	Reading Comprehension cont’d. Difficulty understanding written text does NOT necessarily mean a difficulty with word reading Necessary but NOT sufficient
20	Reading comprehension cont’d. Being good at reading some types of text does not guarantee success with other kinds of texts there are discipline-specific demands
21	Discipline Specific Demands Organization (structure) of texts What is important and how importance is signaled Specialized vocabulary or specialized uses of common words
22	Reading comprehension cont’d. ãWhen you already know something about a topic, it is easier to learn more è ãLack of background knowledge or prior knowledge inhibits comprehension
23	Some students are not doing the things we did to comprehend difficult text
24	Why? Faulty goal for reading Faulty understanding of how reading works Do not know how
25	Faulty Goal Finishing Their goal is to “get through” it, rather than to understand it
26	Vibration machine theory Passive view of reading They think if they read the words, understanding will automatically take place When this doesn’t happen they attribute the failure to a lack of intelligence or reading skill
27	Alternatively Don’t know how to do those things Limited strategies for constructing meaning in an intentional way Know how to do them on some types of text, i.e., stories, but not others-- math, philosophy, economics, biology
28	In addition they may have Insufficient prior knowledge to access the text
29	Or, limited reading stamina Some know how, but it seems like too much effort so they don’t bother Issue of will rather than skill Also electronic distractions
30	Think Aloud Instructional Technique Makes skilled reading visible to students Show them what the conversation inside your sounds like Demonstrates what reading challenging text “looks like”--counters passive approach to text
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36	My strategies for making meaning out difficult text Restated in my own words (frequently) Reread Made links to prior knowledge Intentional effort to recall information learned in the past
37	My strategies cont’d. Drew upon knowledge of word roots Drew upon knowledge of the structure of academic journal articles Made decisions regarding the level of detailed understanding required
38	And all of this is a smoothly integrated (mostly) unconscious process
39	If you try a think aloud Practice first Put yourself in the position of your students “Fake” confusions that track their confusions so you will model what you want them to do Begin with demonstrating only 1 or 2 strategies
40	Revisit: Why do you think students have difficulty understanding the readings we assign? Jot down your ideas on the stickies ONE explanation per stickie Attach to paper in the “AFTER” column
41	The task ahead Determine which factors apply to our students Seek and select strategies that best address those factors
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43	Questions
44	References Nist & Simpson, “College Studying” www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=handbook/index.html Academic Literacy: A Statement of Competencies Expected of Students Entering California's Public Colleges and Universities www.academicsenate.cc.ca.us/Publications/Papers/AcademicLiteracy/main.htm