Proof, Practice, and Promise: Comprehension Strategy Instruction in the Primary Grades

Author(s): Katherine A. Dougherty Stahl

Source: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 57, No. 7 (Apr., 2004), pp. 598-609
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading Association
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 KATHERINE A. DOUGHERTY STAHL

Proof, practice, and promise:

strategy instruction
Comprehension
in the primary grades

This article reviews the research on hension strategy instruction for K-2 students and to
make recommendations for teachers regarding
comprehension strategy instruction in the which instructional can be used with
techniques
primary grades (K-2) and makes confidence may need to be used more
and which
cautiously they lack empirical
because support.
recommendations for teachers. The preliminary literature review involved

computerized searches of Educational Research

Until recently, I believed thatmy job as a InformationCenter (ERIC) and PsychLit databases
or second-grade
first- teacher was to de
for quantitative and qualitative studies of compre
velop fluent readers with the ability to de hension strategy instruction in primary classrooms.
code novel text automatically. This would put them
I also used the reference sections of these articles to
in good stead for comprehension instruction in the
find other studies involving primary students. All of
intermediate grades. This is no longer enough. The
the studies reviewed for this article involved stu
U.S. First grants will
sup
government's Reading dents in grades K-2. Some studies cited in this re
port literacy instructionin kindergarten through view did not have control groups.
third grade that includes systematic and explicit
instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, flu

ency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

The abundance of research in the primary The role of comprehension
to phonological awareness and
grades relating strategies
makes those aspects of a program
phonics fairly Comprehension strategies can be important to
easy to define and substantiate. However, more re a reader because to provide
they have the potential
cently theorists have demonstrated that even the access to knowledge that is removed from person
youngest readers need
opportunities to be "code al experience. The unstated is that children
premise
breakers, meaning makers, text users and text crit who actively in particular strate
engage cognitive
ics" (Muspratt, Luke, & Freebody, 1997). Less re gies (activating prior knowledge,
predicting, organ
search has been conducted on young children and a
izing, questioning, summarizing, creating
using texts to acquire new knowl mental are to understand and recall
comprehending, image) likely
edge, and critiquing texts. more of what they read. Strategies can be tools in
There is a research base to support comprehen the assimilation, refinement, and use of content. It
sion instruction in the
early primary grades, is assumed that as children practice these strate
of the research on reading compre and
although most gies in a group setting, they will habituate them
hension instruction has been conducted with third transfer them to other appropriate settings inde

grade and up (National Institute of Child Health pendently.

and Human 2000). The purpose of The keys to children's acquisition of compre
Development,
this article is to review that research on compre hension strategies are the instructional techniques

? 2004 International Reading Association (pp. 598-609)

598

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used by the teacher. Most models of strategy in hension strategy instruction in the primary grades
struction incorporate teaching of declarative (see Table).
knowledge, procedural knowledge, and condition
1. Strategy instruction that is substantiated by
al knowledge (Duffy, 1993; Paris, Lipson, & research and widely practiced
Wixson, 1983). Declarative knowledge involves
2. Strategy instruction that is substantiated by
teaching the children what the strategy is.
research but less widely practiced
Instruction to use the strategy develops pro
in how
3. Strategy instruction that is not substantiated
cedural knowledge, and instruction in when the
is most useful not consti by research but widely practiced
strategy (or applicable)
4. Strategy instruction that has not been re
tutes conditional knowledge.
searched with novice readers and is not
Effective strategy instruction also uses a grad
widely used but may hold promise based on
ual release of responsibility (Pearson & Gallagher,
other evidence
1983). In this model, teachers begin instruction
with explicit teaching and guided practice. Over
time the responsibility for cognitive decision mak

ing and putting strategies into practice is released Substantiated by research and
to the students.
Research has demonstrated that comprehen
widely practiced
There is a base of research conducted in the
sion strategy instruction can enhance the reading
primary grades that supports
teaching story ele
comprehension of novice readers. I categorized the and
ments, Question-Answer Relationships,
use of strategies by teachers based on the review Substantial evidence indi
Reciprocal Teaching.
of literature, informal interactions with teachers, cates that teacher questioning can play a key role in
classroom and reports by preservice
observations, enhancing student comprehension. Over the years
teachers participating in field experiences. This these practices have gained wide acceptance by
process yielded four general categories of compre classroom teachers.

APROACHESINTHEPRIMARYGRADES
COMPREHENSION

Strong research base in primary grades

Widely used by teachers Guided/instructed retelling

Story maps
Teacher-generated questions
Question-Answer Relationships
Reciprocal Teaching

Limited use by teachers Targeted activation of prior knowledge

Text Talk
Directed Reading-Thinking Activity
Literature webbing
Visual imagery training
Video
Transactional Strategy Instruction

Currently lacking a research base in primary grades

Widely used by teachers Selection of main idea

K-W-L
Picture walk

Limited use by teachers Student-generated questions

Summarization

Proof, practice, and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades 599

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 all retelling scores were generally
Text structure Although low,
the story mapping groups were able to provide
Text structure studies with younger children
retellings that were somewhat more complete and
have typically involved listening comprehension or a
well-formed than the children who had not re
combination of listening and reading narrative texts
ceived story map instruction.
(Baumann & Bergeron, 1993; Mandler & Johnson,
Thus, the evidence about the effectiveness of
1977;Morrow, 1984a, b; Stein & Glenn, 1979).
using story maps in primary grades is positive but
Much of the research dealing with instruction in text
limited. (No studies involving students below third
structure uses visual representations, such as graph
ic organizers or story maps, to form a visual repre grade were included in the 2000 report of the
sentation of the text's organization.
NationalReading Panel.) Even though these meth
ods are included in basal readers and commonly
Researchers have defined and empirically test
used in classrooms in a guided or group format,
ed story grammars (Mandler & Johnson, 1977;
little is known about the capabilities of young chil
Stein & Glenn, 1979). There are differences among
dren to formulate full retellings and independent
story grammars but most share major similarities.
completion of story maps or specific teaching
The well-structured story includes a setting (char
strategies that are likely to foster these abilities.
acters, time, and place), an initiating event, the de
velopment of single or multiple episode systems
(reaction to the initiating event, goals, attempts, Teacher-generated questions
outcomes), and an ending or resolution. In primary Question answering and question-answering

classrooms, are used frequently to visu instruction can lead to an improvement in memory
story maps
for what was read, improvement in finding infor
ally represent the story grammar.
Several treatment studies guided children in in mation in text, and deeper processing of text

creasing their awareness of story structure through (McKeown & Beck, 2003; Menke & Pressley,
retelling,questioning strategies, or story maps. 1994; National Institute of Child Health and
Morrow (1984a) found that the listening compre
Human Development, 2000; Pressley & Forrest
1985; Taylor, Pearson, Walpole, & Clark,
hension of kindergartners improved when they par Pressley,
a a variety of questions, lower level
ticipated in directed reading activity that included 1999). Asking
the teacher asking questions about story structure and higher level, is important in prompting think
elements before and after reading. Morrow ing at all levels of reading development (Pressley &
(1984b)
also determined that comprehension Forrest-Pressley; Taylor et al., 1999). Raphael's
improved
when kindergartners were coached in retelling the (1984) instructional intervention, Question-Answer
elements. This sug (QAR), can support students in
story around story grammar Relationships
gests that guiding retellings and questioning thinking about questions generated by teachers or
around story structure elements is likely to improve others. QAR teaches students to consider and use
the listening comprehension of emergent readers the information in text and their personal knowl
to questions a
and listeners. Low achievers may need more ex edge when responding surrounding
instruction. like the five-finger text they have read. Four question types described
plicit Techniques
a concrete means for fos by Raphael incorporate these information sources
retelling might provide
tering the inclusion of story structure elements with (1986).
young children. In the five-finger retelling each fin Right There answers are found in a single
ger is used as a prompt to tell about a particular sto sentence in the text.
ry element (characters, setting, problem, plot, or Think and Search an
This can be taught with a poster as a Putting It Together
resolution). swers must be found across sections of text.
reminder.
that sto Author and You answers require the reader to
Baumann and Bergeron (1993) found
infer the meaning from the text because the
rymap instruction influenced the ability of first
the most answer to the question is not stated explicitly.
graders to successfully identify important
elements and their to respond to story On My Own answers rely on the reader's ex
story ability
element questions at statistically significant levels. perience and knowledge.

600 The Reading Teacher Vol. 57, No. 7 April 2004

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 A series of studies determined that students in suggest others. The student leader leads the group
grades 2 through 8 could benefit from instruction in in clarifying any impediments to comprehension.
QAR (Ezell, Hunsicker, Quinqu?, & Randolph, Then the leader summarizes the text and predicts
1996; Ezell, Kohler, Jarzynka, & Strain, 1992, what is likely to come next. The process continues

Raphael, 1984). These studies determined that stu for each section of text, followed by discussion led
dents at all ability levels could benefit from in by a different student. Reciprocal Teaching has
struction in QAR. Average and below-average been used effectively with all grade levels, with
readers reap the greatest benefits when required to good and poor readers, and in small-group and
answer Right There, Think and Search, and Author whole-group contexts (Rosenshine & Meister,
and Me questions. QAR instruction was of little 1994).
Palincsar found re
help with On My Own questions that required (1988, 1991) ambiguous
more background about a topic. The sults for Reciprocal Teaching with first graders. In
knowledge
effect was true for high-ability students the earlier study, she found that Reciprocal
opposite
for whom acted as a tool for making Teaching used with teacher read-alouds did not im
QAR impor
tant connections between text and their more ex prove comprehension. However, she found that
tensive base. They made the greatest many of the teachers did not "buy into" the pro
knowledge
gains in correctly answering On My Own ques gram and were not carrying it out as suggested. In

tions. Younger students seem to need more time a second study, with teachers committed to

and practice in becoming familiar with QAR Reciprocal Teaching, she found that it did signifi
cantly improve She concluded that
(Raphael, 1984). Effects of the technique are main comprehension.
Reciprocal Teaching was effective in first grade as
tained over time and are effective with both narra
tive and expository text (Ezell et al., 1996). long as the teachers were committed to the effort
needed to implement the program.
The questions that teachers ask and instruction
Novice readers are likely to require develop
in QAR or other teacher-led questioning can act as
mental accommodations, as described by Sharon
a springboard and amodel for critical thinking and
Craig, a first-grade teacher (Coley, DePinto, Craig,
complex student-generated questions. Teacher-led
& Gardner, 1993; Marks et al., 1993). She spent
questioning can be a powerful vehicle in moving
three months teaching her students the individual
text interactions toward higher levels of thinking
and critical literacy. strategies before introducing the dialogue proce
dure. The children engaged in the dialogue after
reading several pages of text, usually a narrative.
Reciprocal Teaching The teacher assigned a role to each group member.
Reciprocal Teaching (Palincsar & Brown, The children their questions,
prepared summary,
1984) is an instructional activity that takes place or prediction with a partner and the teacher before
during reading with the purpose of gaining mean joining the discussion group. They jotted their
ing from text and self-monitoring. The teacher and ideas on a card to prepare for the discussion. First
students engage in a discussion about a segment were able to successfully in
graders engage
of text structured by four strategies: summarizing, with modifications.
Reciprocal Teaching Craig's
and predicting as suc
questioning, clarifying, (Palincsar, Craig evaluated the children's participation
1991; Palincsar & Brown, 1984; Palincsar, David, cessful on the basis of informal observation, but no
& Brown, 1992). Initially the teacher models each formal or quantitative evidence is pre
qualitative
of these strategies individually for the students. sented et al., 1993; Marks et al., 1993).
(Coley
After the strategies have been modeled, the stu
dents take turns leading the discussion about each
of text. The student leader facilitates a
segment
that focuses on the four
Substantiated by research but less
dialogue strategies.
Typically, the students read a segment of text. Then widely practiced
a student discussion leader asks a question about In this section, I review comprehension strate
the important information in the text, and the other gy instruction that has been conducted and proven
students answer the question and are encouraged to effective in improving comprehension in the

Proof, practice, and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades 601

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primary grades. Due to a number of reasons, these Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DR-TA) or
practices do not show up as regularly in classrooms Directed Listening-Thinking Activity (DL-TA). In
or professional development as the procedures in a DR-TA lesson the teacher and students make a
the previous section. Primary teachers can use the read a section of
prediction, justify the prediction,
comprehension strategy instructional techniques text, verify and discuss the text, and make a new
described in this section with confidence to expand then continue the procedure
prediction, through
their instructional out the text (Stauffer, have con
repertoire. 1969). Studies
firmed the effectiveness of the DR-TA with novice
Targeted discussion of background readers (Baumann & Bergeron, 1993; Baumann,
knowledge Seifert-Kessell, & Jones, 1992; Reutzel &

Currently the evidence indicates that young Hollingsworth, 1991; Stahl, 2003).
children rely heavily on background in Despite the age of DR-TA, the procedure has
knowledge
their interactions with text. young readers several components that recent studies have associ
Helping
activate relevant background information is an im ated with higher levels of achievement (Gaskins,
portant support, but as teachers we must be sensitive Anderson, Pressley, Cunnicelli, & Satlow, 1993;
to dialogue that indicates that a child may be relying McKeown & Beck, 2003; National Institute of
on inaccurate or irrelevant knowledge. We want in Child Health and Human Development, 2000;
struction that will help children learn to use prior Taylor, Pressley, & Pearson, 2002). DR-TA proce
knowledge effectively tomake specific connections dures tend to demand high levels of thinking by
to text, and teaching strategies that will help them and verification of predic
requiring justification
navigate multiple genres of text about which they tions (National Institute of Child Health and
may have limited background knowledge. Human Development; Taylor et al.). Both the stu
Beck and McKeown's (2001; McKeown & dents and the teacher initiate the conversations
Beck, 2003) work with interactive read-alouds in
(Gaskins et al.; Taylor et al.). Tangential informa
kindergarten and first grade
actually limits discus tion rarely enters the conversations, because the
sion of background knowledge to fit tightly around occur immediately
conversations before or after
the topic of the text. In studies leading to develop
reading a section of text (McKeown & Beck). The
ment of Text Talk, the read-aloud procedure, they immediate interaction around the text promotes
found that extensive discussions of the students'
consistent engagement, clarifies confusions, and
prior knowledge often
led the youngsters far from
provides a vehicle for creating an accurate repre
the text and what was recalled was based on shared
sentation of text as well as assimilation with prior
recollections rather than the text. The lesson com
knowledge (Gaskins et al.).
ponents of Text Talk, targeted prereading discus
sion and open-ended questioning during the
increase the students' reliance on the Literature webbing
read-aloud,
text in both understanding and recalling the text Literature webbing is a prediction technique
(McKeown & Beck). Text Talk also emphasizes the that has been demonstrated to be effective with

development of meaning vocabulary. first graders using predictable, narrative texts. The
teacher writes the events of the book on cards (or
Directed Reading-ThinkingActivity uses pictures) and mixes them up. The children

is directly related to read all of the cards and predict the order of events
The strategy of prediction
the activation of prior knowledge and familiarity by placing the cards in clockwise order around the

with narrative or nonnarrative structures. A predic web. The teacher reads the book to the children.
tion activity may take a variety of instructional Afterward, the teacher and children return to the
forms. in a classroom, the teacher en web to confirm or correct their predictions based
Typically,
the children a
in dialogue that promotes the on the reading. The children have an opportunity
gages
of a prediction or series of predictions. to read their own copy of the book with the
generation
Later the children verify the predictions from the teacher. Later, additional information is added to
text reading. Instruction might take the form of a the web through discussion about (a) text-to-text

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connections, (b) responses to the book, and (c) ex incorporated seamlessly with an existing classroom
tensions to other reading-writing activities. program by teachers, while yielding student im
Reutzel and Fawson (1991) found that first provement in reading comprehension.
grade readers using the webbing procedure read the
text with higher percentages of accuracy and were Video
also more successful in answering specific ques The use of video has recently been explored
tions about the text than a control group. Reutzel as a means of skills.
bootstrapping literacy
andHollingsworth (1991) determined that literacy Children with limited literacy backgrounds and
also had a positive influence on the use at
webbing young children may have difficulty sustaining
of story structure elements in the formulation of tention on the type of lengthier, complex that
story
predictions and the completeness of a story is necessary for comprehension instruction. The
retelling. richness of video as a medium and its familiarity
to children has made it an effective tool in the de
Visual imagery velopment of a visual representation, especially for
Visual instruction to help
seems young at-risk readers with limited literacy back
imagery
store Goldman, Varma, and Cognition
young readers and older, poor comprehenders grounds. Sharp,
and retrieve information they have read. Older, and Technology Group atVanderbilt (1999) found
readers may not benefit from this strat that the use of video to tell a lengthy, complex sto
competent
use of more to was more for at
egy due to their independent complex ry kindergartners advantageous
and retrieval risk students than those not at risk. In a retelling,
organizational systems.
instruction in visualization uses those at-risk students who were introduced to the
Typically,
some standard procedures to evoke images (Center, story via video retold nearly twice as many state

Freeman, Robertson, & Outhred, 1999; Gambrell ments as the children who only heard the story and
& Jawitz, 1993; Gambrell & Koskinen, 2002). viewed illustrations. In a measure
question-answer
demonstrated for
Center et al. incorporated visualization training as kindergartners greater memory
a the presented information, as well as
part of listening lesson for second-year students story greater
whose scores on a listening comprehension meas understanding of causal relationships. The use of
ure were in the bottom third of their school video enables students to engage with higher level
group.
On Day 1 of the training, students discussed and thinkingwhile developing competency with print
of sev based skills. Video may be a powerful tool that has
practiced "painting a picture in their minds"
the potential to act as a bridge between the world of
eral common objects that were on display. Then the
teacher used a think-aloud to demonstrate how to experience and the world of formal school learn
make a mental picture of a sentence. Teacher and ing and symbolic language systems. The challenge
in a classroom is to find quality videos or comput
student think-alouds surrounding target sentences
er technology that can be used as a link to texts and
opened the next six lessons. The techniques were
also generalized to the listening to provide instruction that enables young children
comprehension
to make to text comprehension.
passage for the day. The last five lessons simply bridges
consisted of reminders to use visualization tech
niques and the reasons for doing so during the nar Transactional Strategy Instruction
rative listening lesson. Extensive discussion always Transactional Strategy Instruction (TSI) is a
surrounded the students' images and their explicit term used to describe a body of comprehension
links to the text. The children receiving visualiza strategy instruction practices (e.g., Schuder, 1993).
tion training outperformed the control group on Instruction is transactional in three senses: (1)
measures of listening comprehension, reading readers link the text to prior knowledge; (2)mean
comprehension, and a retelling measure. This ing construction reflects the group and differs
demonstrated that children
performing below the from personal interpretations; and (3) the dynam
expected level benefit from visualization training. ics of the group determine the responses of all
The simplicity of the training procedures and members, including the teacher. TSI is long term,
reminders enable visualization training to be and the strategies act as the vehicle for text

Proof, practice, and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades 603

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discussions. The programs also use a gradual improvement (Brown & Coy-Ogan, 1993; Coley
release of
responsibility instructional model et al, 1993; Duffy, 1993; Marks et al., 1993).
(Pearson & Gallagher, 1983) in order to foster in
dependent, self-regulating readers.
Evidence collected on TSI indicates that strat
Not substantiated by research
egy repertoire programs can be successful with
novice readers. The Students Achieving
butwidelypracticed
Independent Learning (SAIL) program used TSI While it is important to incorporate strategy in
with struggling readers in second grade. Listening struction that has been proven effective with young
and reading comprehension strategies were taught children, it is equally important to use caution and
explicitly during reading and content area instruc deliberation when incorporating comprehension in
tional periods. Ten strategies were included in the structional procedures with little or no research
repertoire: (1) setting purposes, (2) activating and base. Isolated identification of main ideas, K-W-L,
using prior knowledge, (3) getting the gist, (4) us and picture walks are popular instructional tech
ing text structure, (5) making and verifying pre niques. These teaching techniques may be effective
dictions, (6) generating questions, (7) creating in addressing particular teaching goals. However,
mental images and graphic representations, (8) at this time there is no research base substantiating
summarizing, (9) using think-alouds, and (10) us their effectiveness for improving the reading com

ing problem-solving (fix-up) strategies (Brown & prehension of novice readers.

Coy-Ogan, 1993; Schuder, 1993). A great deal of the research seems to agree
Brown, Pressley, Van Meter, and Schuder that even preschool-age children recall main ideas
(1995) followed the progress of 60 students who and ignore trivia when retelling stories they have
started second grade reading below grade level. heard (Sulzby, 1985) or stories they have seen on
The students were in five paired SAIL or tradition video (van den Broek, 2001). However, investiga
al classrooms. At the end of the year, the students in tions of the activities in basal reader series re
the SAIL classrooms showed more growth than the vealed that students were most frequently assigned
students in the traditional classrooms on a wide low-level tasks such as identifying a main idea
variety of measures. During a strategy interview, with a simple mark, perhaps underlining or select
SAIL students reported using more comprehension ing one of multiple choices (Baumann, 1984;
and word-level strategies. First-grade standardized Miller & Blumenfeld, 1993). Because of the limi
word skill and comprehension tests were given to tations of main idea activities in basal readers,
both groups. Statistically significant differences teachers are advised to design their own opportu
on word skill tests, comprehension tests, and year nities for observing and discussing the selection or
ly gains favored the SAIL group. generation of the important ideas in a variety of
There do seem to be some issues surrounding texts for a variety of purposes. These activities
comprehension repertoire programs that deserve should be constructed in response to the children's
attention and additional research. The manipulation needs and might range from the simple selection
and flexible use of multiple strategies is cognitive of a stated main idea and the supporting details in
ly demanding of students. The cost of these cogni a picture or paragraph (Baumann, 1984) to discus
tive demands may be too high for younger, sions surrounding more complex views of the main
disfluent readers (Sinatra, Brown, & Reynolds, idea, such as note-taking or studying for a test.
2002). The complexity of the process also makes Social interactions around specific texts could cen
it especially difficult to negotiate in a classroom ter on the lure of seductive
details, variations of im
(Duffy, 1993;El-Dinary & Schuder, 1993;Gaskins portance based on a variety of reading purposes,
et al., 1993). Some evidence indicates that experi background knowledge, or interest.
enced teachers may be better able to balance The K-W-L strategy was originally developed
process-content instruction than novice teachers by Ogle (1986) to enable teachers to access stu
(Gaskins et al.). Teachers report the evolution of dents' prior knowledge and to help them develop
their programs occurring over the course of two to their own purposes for reading expository text. The
three years, with continuous modifications for procedure is popular with teachers and students

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 (Stahl, 2003). However, there is a surprising pauci what, where, when, why, and how) or generic ques
ty of research investigating K-W-L procedures. The tion stems (How are_and_alike? What is
studies involving students in the primary grades the main idea of_? How is_related to
were not able to substantiate the effectiveness of _? is it important that_?) were most
Why
K-W-L on measures of comprehension, metacog successful with the youngest students. Using a sto
or content to develop questions was also
nition, acquisition (McLain, 1990; ry grammar model
Stahl). The absence of evidence supporting the use fairly effective. The least effective prompts were
of K-W-L does not mean it is ineffective, only that question types (QAR) and prompts surrounding the
it has not been proved to be effective. In light of main idea. These studies were conducted with old
its popularity with teachers and students, it seems er students. Itmakes sense that the least complex
important to have research that investigates this would be most effective with novice
procedures
practice both as it was originally conceived and as readers. However, evidence is needed in
empirical
executed in classrooms. this area.
The guided reading book introduction or pic
Currently, there do not seem to be any studies
ture walk is based on the work of Marie Clay and
that focus on teaching summarization skills to
her descriptions of an effective book introduction
novice readers. The current emphasis on informa
for novice readers (Clay, 1991) and has been ex
tional text and the writing process in the primary
tended by Fountas and Pinnell (1996). Picture this an area that beckons
grades make for further
walks are widely used in today's classrooms to ac
investigation. A strategy that has been used suc
tivate prior knowledge and generate predictions.
cessfully with older students and might be useful
In Taylor's (2002) extensive work with effective
with younger students is the Generating Inter
practice and school reform, she found that low
actions Between Schemata and Text (GIST) pro
performance classes more commonly used picture
cedure (Cunningham, 1982). In GIST, students
walks than high-performance classes. A recent
begin creating summaries for sentences using 15
study found that picture walks were effective in
spaces. The teacher gradually increases the amount
promoting fluency, but not comprehension (Stahl,
of text being summarized in the 15 spaces. GIST
2003). More research needs to be done on the use
is conducted as a whole-class procedure first, then
of this common procedure and its variations in
in small groups, and, finally, individually. This con
implementation.
crete, visual procedure may hold potential as a
summarization strategy for younger children.
Brown, Day, and Jones (1983) found that the use of
Promising strategy instruction limited spaces forced students to summarize and
Many comprehension strategies have been to levels of importance that had
display sensitivity
studied with older readers, but not with novices. not been displayed using other formats.
The value of student-generated questions and sum
marization in fostering engagement and aiding re
call has a research base, but the research has not
What does this mean for teachers?
actually been conducted in kindergarten through
second if we want to explicitly The research demonstrates that instruction in
grade. However,
teach from the very beginning, phonological awareness and decoding are not
comprehension
these instructional practices may be useful with enough if we want students to be able to read and
make sense of multiple genres for multiple
younger readers, especially with the developmental purpos
es. Teachers of the youngest readers can enhance
adaptations described here.
The review of 26 interventions comprehension instructionduring teacher read
by Rosenshine,
Meister, and Chapman (1996) revealed that the alouds using techniques like Text Talk. Teaching
most effective procedures for teaching students to students to activate relevant background knowl
generate their own questions seemed to be those edge, to filter irrelevant or inaccurate
background
that were most concrete and easy to use. Strategies knowledge, and then use the text to make meaning
that taught students the use of signal words (who, ful connections and to expand their existing

Proof, practice, and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades 605

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knowledge base can be important steps leading to others. Question-Answer Relationships enable stu

independent reading comprehension. dents to consider and use both the information in
Videos can be used with children to bolster text and their personal knowledge when responding
limited background knowledge. They can also be to questions surrounding a text they have read
used to introduce complex themes or lengthy texts (Raphael, 1984, 1986).
in comprehension strategy programs, because lev reading, some form of retelling should be
After
eled readers and other texts designed for early read required. For the youngest children a five-finger
ers may lack the grist for high-level thinking. The retelling with adult coaching works well. Older
video might be followed by a combination of stu children can do this with a peer, especially if this
dent retelling, teacher questioning, and guided is a school goal that is developed in kindergarten
discussion. and early first grade. However, by the end of first
Teachers of more adept readers in late first grade children should have regular opportunities
grade, second grade, and third grade can feel confi to write their synopses and personal responses to
dent that beginning to work toward a multiple text. A story map, a frame, or some other appro

strategy approach, but starting with a focus on a priately structured graphic organizer can help scaf
few well-taught strategies, will benefit their stu fold this writing. However, research has not yet
dents. The strategies can be taught using the texts resolved many issues around the young child's
that are already in place in the classroom literacy ability to do this independently. So caution, explic
program. However, comprehension strategies it instruction, close monitoring, and a gradual re
should be matched to their usefulness in making lease of responsibility are required during this
and remembering the text. Literature web transition from an oral retelling to any form of
meaning
written I used the GIST suc
bing and story maps should be used with folk tales synopsis. procedure
or other stories that adhere closely to the compo cessfully to help second graders summarize infor
nents of a narrative text structure. The instruction mational text and to synthesize a story plot on a
of ideational prominence (main idea) and levels of story map. However, this instructional technique
importance should be matched with the reading of has not been empirically tested with young
informational texts, such as a unit on nature, that children.

might be found in a basal reader or constructed as a Because effective readers use a variety of
theme unit by the teacher. The strategies can be strategies to deal with troublesome text, teachers
connected to student reading, teacher read-alouds, may want to move toward a repertoire approach as
and student writing. they become more comfortable with strategy in
Teachers can feel confident that the use of the struction and its adaptation to the existing reading
Directed Reading-Thinking Activity to generate curriculum. Reciprocal Teaching and Transactional
and verify the Instruction both have a strong research
predictions, justify those predictions, Strategy
predictions after reading a section of text will result base in the primary grades. However, implementa
a
in close reading of text. Stauffer (1969) designed tion can be challenging and requires teacher com
the procedure for use with narrative and informa mitment that is more likely to occur after teachers
tional text. The teacher should push the children to have laid the groundwork for the instruction of the

higher levels of thinking using thought-provoking preliminary comprehension strategies.

prompts and questions. Recent studies have found Caution also is warranted in the use of K-W-L
that the most effective reading teachers
encourage and picture walks if the instructional objective is
responses and ver comprehension. When they use these techniques
high-level through questioning
bal scaffolding, whether as part of a DR-TA or an teachers must be deliberate in their intentions and
other form of text interaction (Taylor et al., 2002). in the type and amount of verbal scaffolding pro
Teachers should present prompts that force the stu vided. They must also be attentive to student inac
dents to address issues of theme; character devel curacies and misconceptions. The after-reading

opment; character motive; and connections to self, comprehension activities become extremely impor
world, and other texts. Young students benefit from tant in determining whether the student is able to
sources needed or information in
being taught to consider the answer accurately represent the message
to respond to questions generated by teachers or the text.

606 The Reading Teacher Vol. 57, No. 7 April 2004

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 Center, Y., Freeman, L, Robertson, G., & Outhred, L (1999).
Closing comments The effect of visual imagery training on the reading and
The comprehension strategy research conduct listening comprehension of low listening comprehen
ed with novice readers indicates that there are ders in year 2. Journal of Research in Reading, 22,
instructional that can be incor 241-256.
many implications
in primary reading The ideas Clay, M.M. (1991). Introducing a new storybook to young
porated programs.
readers. The Reading Teacher, 45,264-273.
stated in this article enable teachers, literacy spe
Coley, J.D., DePinto, T., Craig, S., & Gardner, R. (1993). From
cialists, and other decision makers to make a good
college to classroom: Three teachers' accounts of their
start. However, there are still many unknown fac
adaptations of reciprocal teaching. The Elementary
tors. The demands of reading acquisition and lack School Journal, 94,255-266.
of automaticity are likely tomake the developmen Cunningham, J.W. (1982). Generating interactions between
tal needs of the novice reader different than those schemata and text. InJ.A. Niles (Ed.), New inquiries in

of the older readers that have been studied more ex reading: Research and instruction (pp. 42-47).
Rochester, NY: National Reading Conference.
tensively. Also, the adaptation of strategy instruc
Duffy, G. (1993). Rethinking strategy instruction: Four teach
tion into an already full primary literacy curriculum ers' development and their lowachievers' understanding.
poses an additional challenge. The motivation pro The Elementary School Journal, 93,231-247.
vided by the Reading First grants may improve El-Dinary, P.B., & Schuder, T. (1993). Seven teachers' ac
both reading instruction and what we know about ceptance of transactional strategies instruction during
us to be deliberate about com their first year using it. The Elementary School Journal,
reading by forcing
instruction from the very beginning. 94,207-219.
prehension
Ezell, H.K., Hunsicker, S.A., Quinqu?, M.M., & Randolph, E.

(1996). Maintenance and generalization of QAR reading

Stahl teaches at the University of Illinois at comprehension strategies. Reading Research and
Urbana-Champaiqn (395 Education Building, Instruction, 36,64-81.
Champaign, IL61820, USA). E-mail Ezell, H.K., Kohler, F.W., Jarzynka, M., & Strain, P.S. (1992).
Use of peer-assisted procedures to teach QAR reading
kaystahl@uiuc.edu.
comprehension strategies to third-grade children.
Education and Treatment of Children, 15,205-227.
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