2. Cochran and Hain,
Purpose
This lesson will answer these questions:
– What is text structure and how does it relate to
reading comprehension?
– How do expository and narrative text differ?
– What aspects of text structure should be taught
in order to increase student comprehension of
text?
– How can student understanding of text structure
be facilitated to increase comprehension?
3. Cochran and Hain,
What is text structure and how does it
relate to reading comprehension?
TEXT STRUCTURE refers to the characteristics of
written material and the way ideas in a text are
constructed and organized.
There is a strong connection between reading
comprehension and understanding text structures.
Knowledge of text structure allows the reader to select
and attend to the right details so comprehension can
occur.
Research shows that good readers determine structures
based on their experiences with a variety of texts, and
they apply this knowledge when they read new material.
4. Cochran and Hain,
Text Structure Myths/Facts
MYTHS:
Once a student can
decode the printed
word, comprehension
follows automatically.
There are only two kinds
of text structures –
narrative and expository.
The same reading skills
are used to comprehend
various kinds of text.
FACTS:
Readers who struggle with text
comprehension often do so because
they fail to recognize the
organizational structure of what
they’re reading, and/or they are not
aware of cues that alert them to
particular text structures.
Text structures within narrative and
expository texts vary significantly.
There are several kinds of narrative
and expository text structures.
Each type of text structure requires
the utilization of a unique set of skills
for full comprehension to be realized.
5. Cochran and Hain,
1. Predict what is found inside each “box” below.
2. Did you use the outside of the box to make
your prediction?
6. Cochran and Hain,
By considering the shape, size, location, etc. of the
boxes, you should have no problem determining
which box would most likely contain chocolates,
mail, or tools.
Just as you did with the boxes, you can hypothesize
about what’s in a text by examining the external and
internal structures of text.
You can usually distinguish a story from an
informational selection by simply looking at the text.
Words used such as “Once upon a time…,” the
context of the document (i.e., a technical manual
accompanying a PC), or the form of the document
(i.e., headings, subheadings, bold type) provide
readers with important clues about text type and
structure.
7. Cochran and Hain,
What aspects of text structure
affect comprehension?
There are three important aspects of text structure that
affect reading comprehension:
(1) the organizational pattern of the material itself and the
clarity of its presentation,
(2) students' awareness of that organization, and
(3) students' strategic use of text organization.
(Dickson, Simmons & Kameenui, 1998a)
Each of these aspects will be discussed in the slides that
follow.
8. Cochran and Hain,
Organizational Patterns
“Read” the texts below. Which is a narrative? Which is expository?
How can you tell?
XXXXXXX xx XXXXXX
I. Xxxxx
Initially, xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxx xxx xx xxxx.
Xxxxx xx xxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxx. Xxxx, xxxxx, xxxx xxxxxx.
II. Xxxx Xxxxx
Xxxx, xxxx, xxx, xx:
• Xxxx
• Xxxxxxx xxx
XXXXXXX xx XXXXXX
As she lingered xxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxxx. Xxxx, xxxxx xxxx
xxxx! Xxxx xxxx xxxx. Xxxx! Xxxx! Xxxxxxx xxxx xxxx, xxxx xxxx xxxxx
xxxx xxxx.
Xxxx xxxx, “Xxxxxx xxxxx. Xxxx xxxx xxxxxxx xxx xx xxxxxxx xxxx?”
9. Cochran and Hain,
Text has a recognizable organization that
serves as a frame or pattern to guide readers
Differences in the type of
structure used to organize
textual information
significantly affect the
amount of information
learned and remembered.
Certain types of structures
facilitate recall more than
others –narrative is usually
more easily retained than
expository.
The purpose for reading
also affects how the reader
utilizes the text structure to
facilitate recall.
TEXT STRUCTURE BY GENRE
Narrative: Expository:
Prevalent in oral Prevalent in
stories, novels, magazines, manuals,
movies, drama, encyclopedias,
poetry newspapers, etc.
Based on familiar Unfamiliar or
world knowledge. abstract content.
Follows a structure Uses many organ-
more aligned with izational structures.
oral language.
While narrative and expository are the primary
categories of text genre, they are not the only ones.
Many types of lyric poetry, for example, fit neither
category.
10. Cochran and Hain,
When teaching
ORGANIZATIONAL PATTERNS OF
TEXT,
show students how to analyze the text’s
• genre
• signaling devices
• text cohesion
• sentence level factors
11. Cochran and Hain,
What is Genre?
Genre/Macrostructure/Text Grammar: the top-level organizational
pattern involving the more global aspects of structure
Narrative genres generally follow a standard story grammar that
includes the following components:
– Setting -- Mood -- Characters -- Conflict --Theme -- Plot
(opening, problem, rising action, climax, falling action, solution)
Some expository genres/macrostructures include:
– descriptive texts - tell what something is
– enumerative texts - give a list related to a topic
– sequential/procedural texts - tell what happened or how to do something
– comparison-contrast texts - show how two or more things are the same or
different
– problem-solution texts - state a problem and offer solutions
– persuasive texts - take a position on some issue and justify it
– cause-effect texts give reasons for why something happened
12. Cochran and Hain,
Ideas for teaching the
genre/macrostructure of text
Teach the differences between narrative and
expository text. Most secondary students know this.
Begin teaching text structure analysis with easier
narrative genres, then move to more difficult
narrative and expository and combinations.
Teach the structure directly and indirectly, pointing
out as many patterns, cues, and connections as
possible.
Have students write in the genre(s) they’re learning.
13. Cochran and Hain,
What are SIGNALING DEVICES?
Signaling devices give the reader clues about the
macrostructure and the relationships among specific
ideas
Among the visual signaling devices found in well-written
expository text are the following:
– Introductory statements outlining ideas to be
presented
– Topic statements that are easy to recognize
– Headings and subheadings
– Author’s statement(s) about the importance of ideas
– Signal words (“first,” “then” – sequence; “because,”
“so” – causal, etc.)
14. Cochran and Hain,
What is TEXT COHESION?
Text cohesion refers to linguistic devices
that hold ideas together. Typically, these
devices work to connect paragraphs, verses,
sections, or scenes in a play to each other and
to the main idea or message.
Signal Words
Reiteration – repetition of words/ideas
Proximity – placing words, phrases, clauses near one another
for clarity
Reference – accurate use of pronouns
Substitution – replacement of words with others that mean the
same thing
Ellipsis – omitting one or more presupposed words
15. Cochran and Hain,
What are
SENTENCE LEVEL FACTORS?
Sentence level factors are writing style
characteristics that may increase the complexity
of the individual sentences within text. They
allow authors to make more complex
statements and readers to draw more and
higher-level inferences, generalizations, and
conclusions:
– the number of ideas presented in a sentence
– the syntactic forms used
– the voice used (passive/active)
– the use of negation
– The use of clauses – embedded, various adverbial, etc.
16. Cochran and Hain,
Some ways to facilitate student understanding of
the organizational patterns and clarity of the text:
Activate prior knowledge
Compare to previously read,written texts
Provide lists of words that are cues to text structures
Build background/understanding
Show a graphic representation – organizer
Model development of an organizer that matches text
Scaffold toward independence
Provide note-taking/pre-writing structures
Maintain a text structure bulletin board or notebook
section
Provide/Guide opportunities to write using genres
Monitor independent comprehension strategies that
students develop to understand and use text
structures (e.g., choice of organizer/format for note taking
during reading)
