Tutor Ready Reading - Comprehension

One of the four main components of reading is comprehension. Understanding what we read is the purpose of reading anything. It’s critical that we explicitly teach learners at all reading levels a variety of specific comprehension strategies, one at a time, that they can use while they read.

 

Reading Comprehension: Read Me First

This is an image of a blonde woman and a dark-haired man sitting at a table looking at papers together Research tells us that explicitly teaching and practicing reading comprehension strategies results in improved comprehension. Teaching adult learners other skills like vocabulary, decoding words and reading with speed, accuracy, phrasing, and expression is also critical to the ultimate goal of comprehension. When these other skills are stronger, a learner can pay more attention to the meaning of a text.

In general, when selecting reading materials to use when focusing on reading comprehension, it’s important to include adult-oriented materials and consider the readability of the text and your learner’s background knowledge. The material should be easy enough that your learner doesn’t struggle with the meaning of words or breaking down words and putting phrases together. It can be a good idea to read the text aloud to your learner or use recorded readings when practicing comprehension. This allows you to focus on comprehension itself and sidestep other aspects or reading that can be challenging like vocabulary, fluency, decoding, etc.
 
This is an image of a man and a woman sitting at a table playing a phonics bingo game
Making meaning of texts requires active, strategic thinking. As a good reader, you have many automatic cognitive processes taking place in your mind while you read. As a tutor, the challenge is to learn specific reading comprehension strategies you can teach explicitly, one at a time, to your learner to help him become aware of his own cognitive processes during reading. The goal is for your learner to master and internalize more and more reading comprehension tools to select from and use in a variety of reading contexts. You want your learner to become his own best tutor over time!
 

Comprehension Tutoring Tips

This is an image of two men sitting and looking at a book When you're working with your learner on reading comprehension, keep these important tips in mind:
  • No matter what your learner’s reading level is, be sure to teach him comprehension strategies.

  • Teach your learner how and when to use several comprehension strategies that he can apply in his daily life.

  • Teach the strategies explicitly, explaining what to do, and how and when to use them.

  • Teach the strategies one at a time and give your learner plenty of opportunities to practice them when you can provide support to make sure he can use them appropriately and independently.

 
This is an image of an older man and a younger man sitting in a library and looking at a book

  • Model the strategies for your learner by thinking aloud as you read.

  • Use the strategies with listening, as well as reading, comprehension activities, especially if your learner is a weak reader. You can read texts aloud or use recorded readings.

  • Think about each text’s reading level and your learner’s background knowledge when you choose texts to teach comprehension strategies.

  • Because your learner needs good decoding, fluency, and vocabulary skills in order to have good comprehension, be sure to teach and practice these skills during your reading lessons.
 

What are some pre-reading strategies I can teach my learner to improve his reading comprehension?

Strong readers know how to gain an overview of a text before they begin reading by scanning any titles, headlines, pictures, graphics and summaries. Click [41175][here] to learn more about scanning. They use all these items strategically to activate what they already know about the topic, and to pose questions and make predictions about what they might expect to find in the text. Strong readers will read the condensed information that charts, diagrams, maps and other graphics provide, and will also think about what the information they find in captions or summaries might bring to bear upon the upcoming text. Their eyes take in the headings of sections of a text and use them as mental guideposts as they read.
 
All these activities take place quickly and automatically in the mind of an effective reader. In teaching a struggling reader how to improve his reading comprehension, it can be a challenge for a good reader to make explicit these very thought processes that come easily and automatically.
Try following these steps to introduce your student to different pre-reading strategies:
 
  • Teach one strategy at a time.
  • Model exactly how, when and why to use the strategy.
  • Practice the strategy with your learner over the course of many meetings.
  • Review the strategy often.
This is an image of an open book

Over time, using the strategy will become more automatic for your learner as he reads independently.
 
Pre-reading strategies are critical to making meaning of any text you might encounter, be it a poem, a recipe, a short story or a classified ad. Both paper and digital newspaper articles and newsletters lend themselves well to teaching pre-reading strategies. They often utilize the whole gambit of pre-reading structures: pictures, headlines, graphics, summaries and headings. 
 
If your learner would like to read a newspaper, you can find one published specifically for adult literacy learners. You could also use a mainstream newspaper. If the newspaper frustrates your learner because the level of decoding, vocabulary and fluency make it too difficult, that’s okay, too. Simply read the text aloud to your learner so he can focus on the pre-reading strategy you are practicing together. You can also just analyze and discuss the pictures, headlines, graphics, summaries and headings themselves without actually reading the article. This will help your student know that he can learn a lot of good information about the content of a text just by using this pre-reading strategy. If the article really interests your learner, you can practice reading it in different ways in a different part of your lesson, after you focus on using pre-reading strategies.
This is an image of newspapers

The key is to teach your learner explicitly when, how and why to use a textual convention, such as a headline or picture or title, as a clue to what a text will be about. After you model a strategy, your learner needs to practice it a lot over time to become comfortable using the strategy and to begin to use it automatically when reading independently. Remember to review the strategies you teach often. The goal is to help your learner understand and gradually internalize the pre-reading strategies you’re working on rather than focusing on the meaning of any particular text you’re reading.
 
DEMONSTRATION VIDEO 

Titles, Headings, Graphics, Pictures and Summaries - Part 1: Introduction



Watch a tutor introduce a student to the pre-reading strategy of using titles, headlines, graphics, pictures and summaries to improve reading comprehension (Part 1 of 2 parts).

Titles, Headings, Graphics, Pictures and Summaries - Part 1: Practicing the Strategy



They practice the pre-reading strategy of using titles, headlines, graphics, pictures and summaries to improve reading comprehension (Part 2 of 2 parts).
 

How can I help my learner improve his reading comprehension by getting the general gist of the content of a text before he reads it?

Comprehending a text requires active, strategic thinking. In order to make meaning, strong readers are able to sift through and draw from a wide variety of strategies to use before, during and after reading. Before jumping into the main body of a text, a strong reader gets the general idea of what he’s about to read by skimming the text. This pre-reading strategy helps frame the context of what he is about to read and boosts comprehension.
 
This image is a stack of books
 ............... Good readers skim texts automatically, without having to think about it. As a tutor, you need to teach your learner explicitly how, when and why to skim a text. Your learner will have to learn to train his eyes to run over the text to glean key words and phrases. You can model and practice skimming titles, subtitles and headings, looking at illustrations and reading the first and last sentence of each paragraph. All these skimming activities provide avenues into thinking and talking about the text’s meaning.
 
Most texts lend themselves to skimming to some degree. Flipping through a magazine is skimming, and it’s common to skim other texts like newspapers, magazines articles, textbooks, and instructions. Imagine what it would be like not to skim a newspaper! You would read every single article on every single page from the upper left side to the lower right. That wouldn’t work. Skimming allows a reader to evaluate a text and decide if he wants to continue reading for further information or to stop and move on to a different text because understanding just the general idea of the topic is sufficient for his purpose of reading.
 
Model for your learner exactly how to skim a text, practice this pre-reading strategy with your learner over the course of many meetings, and review it often. Over time, skimming a text before reading it will become more automatic for your learner as he reads independently.
 
The goal is to help your learner understand and gradually internalize the reading strategies you’re working on rather than focusing on the meaning of any particular text you’re reading. 
This image is a stack of magazines

 
DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS
 
Watch a tutor and student practice the pre-reading strategy of skimming to get the main idea of a magazine and improve reading comprehension (Part 1 of 6 parts).

Skimming - Part 1: Introducing the Strategy of Skimming

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They practice the pre-reading strategy of skimming to read and get key points from a note in order to make scheduling decisions and improve reading comprehension (Part 2 of 6 parts).

Skimming - Part 2: While Reading


They practice the pre-reading strategy of skimming to read recipes and get key points from a cookbook in order to plan for a potluck and to improve reading comprehension (Part 3 of 6 parts).

Skimming - Part 3: Practicing Skimming for Planning


The tutor introduces the student to a five-step strategy for skimming to improve reading comprehension (Part 4 of 6 parts).

Skimming - Part 4: Introducing a Five Step Strategy

The tutor and student practice a five-part pre-reading strategy for skimming to improve reading comprehension (Part 5 of 6 parts).

Skimming - Part 5: Practicing a Five Step Skimming Strategy

They use a five-part pre-reading strategy for skimming to improve reading comprehension (Part 6 of 6 parts).

Skimming - Part 6: Using a Five Step Skimming Strategy

Click on the Resource below to see a five-step strategy to use to teach your learner how to skim.
 

How can I teach my learner how to find specific, important pieces of information in a text in order to improve his reading comprehension?

Without even thinking about it, strong readers strategically and automatically sift through and select from a wide variety of comprehension strategies to use before, during and after reading. Before they begin, they set a purpose for reading. Think about how entirely different it is to approach reading a mystery novel in the bathtub versus a train schedule on your way to a job interview. Each requires different procedural strategies, given the purpose and the context of reading. Scanning is a pre-reading strategy you would use to read a train schedule or other texts that contain discrete pieces of information you want to extract.
Good readers scan certain kinds of text all the time, usually without even knowing they’re doing it. They automatically know how to move their eyes over a text to pick up specific pieces of information. Scanning allows a reader to find useful information in texts like recipes, a dictionary, a phone book, bus schedules, a weather report, computer listings, forms and classified ads. Scanning is also a tool for tutoring pairs to use to identify and study unknown vocabulary words in a text.
 
The strategy of scanning can easily be confused with the strategy of skimming. For more information about skimming, a pre-reading strategy used to get the gist of the content of a text, visit the Step called: [41174][How can I help my learner improve his reading comprehension by getting the general gist of the content of a text before he reads it?]
This image is a recipe card with a spoon
 
Strong readers employ pre-reading strategies, such as scanning, as a way to increase their understanding of a text and make reading more efficient. Depending on the text and the reader’s purpose for reading it, scanning may be sufficient, making reading the entire text unnecessary. This is the case with a train schedule or dictionary.
In other cases, such as with a recipe or classified ad, scanning acts as an important pre-reading strategy that is the reader’s first step in engaging with a text. The second step is to read the text in its entirety for more in-depth information. For example, it’s a good idea to scan a recipe before going to the grocery store to shop for ingredients. This level of reading allows the reader sufficient understanding of the recipe to know what to buy at the store. But reading the recipe in its entirety, in order, is essential for following the recipe when making a dish. In both cases, scanning helps the reader understand the text on two levels, for different, but equally important, purposes.

A highlighter is an excellent tool to use when teaching your learner how to scan. You can model scanning a text and highlighting key pieces of information as you read aloud and verbalize your thinking as you select which words to highlight. Then you can ask your learner to scan a text and highlight key pieces of information as he goes. You will get a sense of what information strikes your learner as important, and both of you can see progress over time as the highlighted information becomes more and more focused and relevant.
This image is highlighters
 
DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS
 
Watch a tutor teach a student about scanning. They discuss the difference between skimming and scanning. They demonstrate how to use a form to practice the strategy of scanning (Part 1 of 4 parts).


Scanning - Part 1: Scanning a Form


Click on the first two Resources below to practice using this strategy with your learner.

They demonstrate the strategy of scanning to read rental listings on a computer. The learner evaluates the strategy of scanning as a way to understand a text (Part 2 of 4 parts).

Scanning - Part 2: Scanning Listings on a Computer


Click on the third Resource below to practice using this strategy with your learner.  

They demonstrate scanning using the phone book to find specific information about nearby auto mechanics (Part 3 of 4 parts).

Scanning - Part 3: Scanning the Phone Book

Click on the fourth Resource below to practice using this strategy with your learner.  

They demonstrate scanning a book as pre-reading strategy to identify and learn the meaning of unknown vocabulary words. Learning unknown words in a text increases a learner’s vocabulary and reading comprehension. The learner evaluates the strategy (Part 4 of 4 parts).

Scanning - Part 4: Scanning for Unfamiliar Vocabulary Words before Reading


Click on the fifth Resource below to practice using this strategy with your learner.
 

How can I teach my learner where and how to find answers to comprehension questions in the text he’s reading?

This is an image of two men with glasses sitting and looking at a personal computer Reading comprehension revolves around asking and answering questions. Good readers are actively engaged with what they read. As they read, they ask themselves a variety of questions that range from simple to complex and they look for answers as they go. As a tutor, reading like this is so automatic you may not be aware of it. To help your learner become a more active reader, you can start by making explicit the types of questions you ask inside your own head while reading. You can analyze these questions together so your learner can see where and how to find answers to different types of questions.

One way to do this is with the Question-Answer Relationship approach, also known as QAR. With the QAR approach, you want to provide your learner with explicit practice and instruction in both asking and answering questions.
 
This image is of an older man with glasses and a woman sitting at a library table looking at a paper
To get started with the QAR approach, you first want to analyze different types of questions with your learner so he learns where and how to find a range of questions and answers. Here are three types of questions to begin with:

  • Right There Questions: the answer is directly stated in the text

  • Think and Search Questions: the reader must search and combine information from different parts of the text to learn the answer

  • On My Own Questions: the answer requires the reader to use his prior knowledge combined with text information

 
DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS

Watch a tutor teaching a student how to ask and answer questions as a strategy to improve reading comprehension.



A tutor teaches a student about making predictions as a pre, during and post-reading strategy to improve reading comprehension (Part 1 of 2 parts).



A tutor and student demonstrate the strategy of making predictions before, during and after reading to improve reading comprehension (Part 2 of 2 parts).



Click on the Resource below to see examples of these three types of questions.
 

How can I teach my learner to think like good readers do?

This is an image of an older man and a younger man sitting in a library and looking at a book

Good readers utilize a variety of reading comprehension strategies in order to understand the different kinds of texts they run into throughout the day, from work memos to a shopping list. They constantly and automatically use these strategies to monitor their comprehension. Good readers can figure out what doesn’t make sense to them and find ways to “fix” problems that have caused a breakdown of meaning. Reading this way is so automatic, good readers are often not even aware they’re actively sifting through and utilizing ingrained strategies they’ve learned over the years. Most struggling readers are unaware of these comprehension strategies, so it’s essential to teach and model them.

When you teach a Think Aloud to your learner, you read a text out loud and have a conversation with yourself, again out loud, so your learner can hear what you’re thinking as you read and begin to practice the way you monitor your comprehension. The goal of this practice is to help your learner understand the comprehension strategy you’re working on rather than the meaning of the text you’re reading during the practice.

 
This is an image of an older man with glasses and a woman sitting and looking at a paper Here are some actions you might model for your learner by reading a text aloud and verbalizing your thinking about what you’re reading:
 
  • Stop to reread or restate a difficult section
  • Summarize long sentences or other bits of text and put them in your own words
  • Look back in the text to locate the person or thing that a pronoun refers to
  • Identify important or not-so-important information
  • Determine the meaning of an unknown word by using context clues


It’s important for you to provide a significant amount of modeling and opportunities for your learner to practice doing Think Alouds himself, with your support. With consistent practice, your learner will be able to internalize the thought processes you’ve made explicit in order to think about his own thinking while reading and in doing so, make meaning of the text.
 

 
DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS

Watch a tutor introduce the Think Aloud tutoring strategy as a way to develop metacognition and monitor comprehension while reading independently, and to improve reading comprehension (Part 1 of 4 parts).



A tutor and student demonstrate a comprehension monitoring strategy called a Think Aloud to develop metacognition and improve reading comprehension. To demonstrate the Think Aloud, they show the “I Do” portion of a strategy called, “I Do”, “We Do” and “You Do” (Part 2 of 4 parts).



To demonstrate the Think Aloud, they show the “We Do” portion of a strategy called, “I Do”, “We Do”, and “You Do” (Part 3 of 4 parts).



To demonstrate the Think Aloud, they show the “You Do” portion of a strategy called, “I Do”, “We Do” and “You Do” (Part 4 of 4 parts).



A tutor and student learn, practice and use strategies for learning difficult words to build vocabulary and improve reading comprehension. They demonstrate the strategy of using restatement context clues to discover the meaning of unknown words while reading. The tutor and learner also use a strategy called a Think Aloud to demonstrate the thought processes involved in learning word meanings using context clues (Part 1 of 3 parts).



They demonstrate the strategy of using synonym context clues to discover the meaning of unknown words while reading (Part 2 of 3 parts).



They demonstrate the strategy of using definition context clues and antonym context clues to discover the meaning of unknown words while reading (Part 3 of 3 parts).


 

Click on the Details of the first Resource for a more in-depth description of a video that demonstrates a Think Aloud activity you can use to help your learner improve his skills. Click on the name of the Resource to view the video. You can also click on the second Resource for an example of what a Think Aloud activity might look like.

 
 

How can I help my learner see how stories are organized as a way of helping him improve his comprehension and remember what he reads?

This is an image of someone holding up an open book against a coastal skylineGood readers are familiar with the features of language and structure found in different types of text. Consider the variety of formats and the specialized language you encounter when you read a mystery novel vs. a poem, or a nutritional panel of a cereal box vs. a business letter. Good readers draw on their knowledge and utilize a variety of reading comprehension strategies to read different texts throughout the day.

The Story Structure strategy draws on the fact that most stories are organized in a similar way with a beginning, middle and end. They share common features like characters, setting, a problem and resolution, etc. You make these common elements of a story explicit when you teach the Story Structure strategy to your learner. Becoming aware of these story elements and gaining practice analyzing a story's structure are ways for your learner to improve his reading comprehension and to remember what he reads.

To practice Story Structure, it’s helpful to select stories with words and subject matter familiar to your learner. This strategy lends itself well to stories with characters that have a beginning, middle and end. It doesn’t work as well with poetry or consumer information texts like bills, memos, charts, etc.
 
This is an image of a woman with light hair and a man with gray hair sitting at a table looking at papers The following five questions about story elements are a way to begin teaching Story Structure:
  • Who is/are the main character(s)?
  • Where and when did the story occur?
  • What did the main character(s) do?
  • How did the story end?
  • How did the main character feel?

You can demonstrate this question and answer process for your learner using a story you’ve already read together. Then you can practice going through the process with other stories.
 
It’s important to provide a significant amount of modeling and opportunities for your learner to practice doing Story Structure himself, with your support. The goal is to help your learner understand and gradually internalize the comprehension strategy you’re working on rather than the meaning of the text you’re reading during the practice.
 
To make Story Structure concrete, you can experiment with a graphic organizer called a Story Map. Click on the Resource below to see a Story Map you can download for tutoring.
 

How can I teach my learner how to identify and remember important parts of a text through summarization?

This is an image of a younger dark-haired woman and an older man sitting at a table looking at a book together Summarization requires advanced thinking skills and assumes a significant level of existing reading and writing competence, so it can be more appropriate for higher-level adult literacy students. Getting ready for the GED or being able to understand work-related materials are motivating reasons to learn and practice summarization strategies. You can, however, begin to teach underlying concepts of summarization to beginning readers.

Research suggests that learning summarization strategies is well worth the effort, even though summarization can be difficult to do. When a learner summarizes what he’s read, it means he’s had to take more time reading, paying very close attention to the text. Summarizing is a valuable study skill, too. A person can’t remember everything he’s read, especially in a long text. In summarizing a text, a reader is winnowing through lots of information, distinguishing between important and less important ideas and remembering key facts and ideas.


There are three summarization strategies you can work on with your learner:
  • Summarizing and Restating
  • The GIST Procedure
  • A Rule-based Procedure for Summarization
 
This is an image of two men sitting among library bookshelves reading a book together Summarizing and Restating:

Introduce your learner to the concept of summarization and discuss the reasons for teaching and learning summarizing strategies. Let your learner know that being able to summarize what he’s read can help him understand and remember what he reads.

Beginning readers can start to grasp the concept of summarization through simple strategies like rephrasing or restating phrases or sentences of the text. Being able to restate them in his own words can help a learner better understand and remember what he reads. These are the beginning steps to more complex summarization strategies in which readers analyze information and become aware of underlying meanings the text holds.


This is an image of a light-haired woman and a gray-haired man sitting and smiling at some papers on a table The GIST Procedure - Generating Interactions between Schemata and Texts:

The GIST procedure is for more advanced learners. It requires the reader to identify and retain the most important ideas of a paragraph. Once your learner becomes adept at summarizing sentences using the GIST procedure, he can adapt the procedure to use with longer and longer selections. Instead of summarizing sentences, he can practice summarizing paragraphs of longer selections. Click on the first Resource below to learn how to do the GIST procedure.

A Rule-based Procedure for Summarization:

Another strategy for more advanced learners, the Rule-Based Procedure, lays out six rules to follow in order to successfully summarize a paragraph. Click on the second Resource below to see a detailed example of this procedure.
 
DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS

Watch a tutor teach a student about using a graphic organizer, in this case, a Mind Map (or a Semantic Map) as a pre-reading strategy to improve reading comprehension (Part 1 of 2 parts).



A tutor teaches a student about using a graphic organizer, in this case, a Mind Map (or a Semantic Map) as a reading strategy to improve reading comprehension (Part 2 of 2 parts).



A tutor teaches a student about making predictions as a pre, during and post-reading strategy to improve reading comprehension (Part 1 of 2 parts).



A tutor and student demonstrate the strategy of making predictions before, during and after reading to improve reading comprehension (Part 1 of 2 parts).

 

How can I teach my learner to make inferences, or "read between the lines" so he begins to ask himself questions that demand higher-level thinking?

This is an image of a man and a woman sitting and looking at each other with reading materials in their hands Many adult literacy learners can find a single piece of information in a text or answer literal questions about what they’ve read. Good readers, though, actively construct meaning as they read and bring prior experience and knowledge to bear on the various pieces of information they gather from the text. They can combine information from longer, complex texts and, using their background knowledge, can formulate understanding and draw conclusions that are not directly stated in the text. In other words, they can infer meaning from what they read, or “read between the lines.”

The less background knowledge a reader brings to a text, the more he’ll need to infer meaning from it. As a tutor, reading like this is so automatic you may not be aware of it. To help your learner develop and use these higher-level thinking skills while reading, it’s important that you start by identifying and making explicit what goes on in your own mind while you read. It’s critical to share with your learner the types of questions you ask yourself in order to infer meaning, or “read between the lines.”
 
This is an image of two older men sitting and looking at a computer First, you’ll want to teach your learner what the concept of “reading between the lines” means. The first Resource below gives you an example of how to teach the concept of inferences to your learner.

Then, you can provide your learner with explicit instruction and practice in both strategically answering questions and generating questions about various aspects of the text that require inferential thinking in order to be understood. By making explicit and modeling for your learner the questions you ask yourself while you are trying to "read between the lines", your learner will internalize questions he can ask himself so he can become his own best tutor over time! Click on the second and third Resources below to learn about different ways to help your learner make inferences.
 
DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch a tutor and student demonstrate ways to identify inferences and to practice making inferences as a strategy to improve comprehension.

 

How can I show my learner how texts are organized and structured so he can better understand and remember the main ideas and details of what he reads?

Comprehending a text requires active, strategic thinking. In order to make meaning, strong readers are able to sift through and draw from a wide variety of strategies to use before, during and after reading. A mind map can be used as a pre-reading tool to activate a reader’s prior knowledge of the topic at hand and to record predictions of what a reader might expect to find in a text. During reading, a mind map documents questions and answers that go through a reader’s mind and highlights important concepts and facts. The mind map is also a tool for reviewing and remembering a story after reading. It charts out the progression of a story, showing how a text is organized and structured. A learner can point to main ideas and details and be in a better position to summarize the facts and concepts learned from reading.
This image is a mind map
 
Model exactly how, when and why to use a mind map, practice the strategy with your learner over the course of many meetings and review it often. Over time, using a mind map, and practicing the type of thinking it represents, will become more automatic for your learner as he reads independently.
 
The goal is to help your learner understand and gradually internalize the reading strategies you’re working on rather than focusing on the meaning of any particular text you’re reading.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS
 
A tutor teaches a student about using a Mind Map (or a Semantic Map) as a pre-reading strategy to improve reading comprehension (Part 1 of 2 parts).

Mind Maps - Part 1: Pre-Reading



A tutor and student use a Mind Map (or a Semantic Map) as a reading strategy while reading to improve reading comprehension (Part 2 of 2 parts).

Mind Maps - Part 2: While Reading

 

How can I help my learner improve his reading comprehension by connecting the new ideas and information he reads in a text to what he already knows?

Good readers strive to make meaning of text as they read, shifting through a variety of complex cognitive processes in order to do so. Consciously or not, they set a purpose for reading before they begin. They also activate their own prior knowledge and experiences related to the reading topic. Good readers pose and answer questions about the text and analyze and summarize information as they read. And, they not only keep track of what they learn while reading, they also predict what will happen next in the text. All these activities take place quickly and automatically in the mind of an effective reader. In teaching someone else how to improve his reading comprehension, it’s a challenge for a good reader to make explicit these very thought processes that come easily and automatically.
Using a KWLN Chart, a graphic organizer, is a strategy that can help a learner learn how to make meaning. It charts out the ideas and information in a text and it visually tracks a reader’s thought processes, documenting step-by-step just how meaning is made. Before reading a text, learners can use the KWLN Chart both to develop a purpose for reading and also to retrieve and think about what they already know about a topic. The KWLN Chart keeps a visual record of the learner’s questions, discoveries and predictions throughout the reading process. It’s also a review tool, because it records what the student has learned from a text.
This image is a woman reading
 
The KWLN Chart guides conversation and shapes comprehension as you and your learner read and discuss the text. It has four columns. The first column is labeled “K”, which stands for What I already KNOW about the topic. The second column is labeled “W”, short for What I WANT to learn about the topic. The next column is labeled “L” for What I LEARNED from reading the text, and the last column is “N” for What I think will happen NEXT in the text.
 
If you’re using the KWLN chart with a nonfiction text, you can also use the “N” column to stand for What I will do NEXT to learn more, instead of What I think will happen NEXT in the text. This can be helpful if some of the questions from the “W” column weren’t answered in the text or if your learner came up with new questions while reading.
 
Before jumping into reading the text, you and your learner use the first two columns to talk about the text. Find out what your learner already knows about the topic and what he would like to learn about the topic. Jot down what your learner has to say in the first two columns of the KWLN Chart.
 
Then, while reading the text, stop every so often to find out what your learner has learned about the content of the text, what additional questions he might have, and what he thinks will happen next. Once again, write down what your learner has to say in the appropriate column of the KWLN Chart.
 
Click on the Resources below to see KWLN Charts you can download for tutoring and to watch videos of a tutor and learner using a KWLN Chart.
 
This image is a man thinking
  

Download a KWLN Chart with N representing What I think will happen NEXT in the text.
 
Download a KWLN Chart with N representing What I will do NEXT to learn more.
 
DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS

Watch a tutor introduce a student to a tutoring strategy using a KWLN chart to improve reading comprehension (Part 1 of 3).

KWLN Chart - Part 1: Introduction


They demonstrate how to use a KWLN chart as a pre-reading strategy to improve reading comprehension (Part 2 of 3 parts).

KWLN Chart - Part 2: Before Reading


They demonstrate how to use a KWLN chart, a graphic organizer, during and after reading as a strategy to improve reading comprehension (Part 3 of 3 parts).

KWLN Chart - Part 3: After Reading
 

How can I expand my knowledge?

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  • Read Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults: First Steps for Teachers by Susan McShane, available for free in PDF format by clicking here.

  • Take LINCS' free, self-paced online course called Teaching Adults to Read: Comprehension available from your My Home page here in the LINCS Learner Web site. If you're interested in taking this course, make sure you have answered yes to the question about Teaching Adults to Read in your [Profile].

  • Participate in ongoing, topic-specific discussions with adult education practitioners and leaders by joining the LINCS Community of Practice
    for Reading and Writing. Here, you can join groups of interest, access
    high-quality resources, and learn about upcoming events in the field.