Students have a stronger start to any reading assignment when they gain some contextualization before reading. As Michael McKenna and Richard Robinson explain in Teaching through Text (2014), teachers can engage students in multiple pre-reading activities. The authors focus on purposes, prior knowledge, organization, and vocabulary. Questions that students and teachers may want to address are: What is the original intention of this text and why is the reading important for the class? What prior and additional knowledge is necessary to understand this text? How does the layout of the text help create meaning? Finally, which specific terms are fundamental to the meaning of the text?

What is the purpose of this text?

Teachers and students may first want to consider the original purpose of the text. Who is the author? Who is the publisher and what is the publication date? Is the text informational? Is it a letter? If students gain some information about the piece’s origins and intentions before they read, they might be better able to predict and judge the facts or opinions they encounter.

Next, teachers can help students understand the class’s purpose for reading. When teachers give students goals prior to reading, the students can direct their concentration towards the most important parts of the text. Maybe the best use of time is to look for answers to specific questions, or maybe the most helpful exercise is to look for examples of a theme.

What prior knowledge is necessary to understand this text?

Before students engage a particular text, teachers should activate students’ prior knowledge. A student’s frame of reference includes experiences inside or outside of school that relate to the upcoming text.

Teachers might also need to provide additional information to students before they read. Some basic facts, a timeline, a class discussion, or photos may help students understand the reading.

How is this text organized?

Students can acquire additional information about a text through a simple, “Organizational Walk-Through” (p. 77). Before they begin to read, students can note the major headings and subheadings to see the big picture of the reading assignment. Some texts, like magazine articles, may include photos or graphs that reveal big ideas.

A text about Ancient Greek art, for example, might communicate information chronologically, beginning with Minoan art. Alternatively, the text might simply list and discuss various subjects evident in Greek architecture, sculpture, and pottery. Students may want to replicate the organization of the text for the organization of their notes.

What vocabulary is necessary to understand this text?

McKenna and Robinson explain that research confirms “…the need to introduce terminology before students read, as a means of removing roadblocks to comprehension” (p. 86). When teachers pre-teach the most significant words from a text, they help students better understand their reading.

The authors argue that teachers must explicitly teach important vocabulary they want students to know. Teachers shouldn’t assume that students naturally come to understand the meaning of academic terminology because context is often insufficient, and students probably won’t encounter the technical terms frequently enough.

Teachers can introduce a reading assignment in many different ways. While the particulars may vary, McKenna and Robinson argue that in order to maximize comprehension, students require preparation before reading tasks.

References

McKenna, M.C, & Robinson, R.D. (2014). Teaching through text: Reading and writing in the content areas. (2nd ed.) Pearson.