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Support Materials for Students with Special Education Needs
English K–6
R
eading
Oral comprehension
The teacher uses shared reading to model strategies to support comprehension. The teacher:
• models reading with fluency
• identifies and reflects on language structures and features of the text type (Curriculum
Corporation 2005), for example:
– text organisation
– author’s language, eg ‘I know that this sentence expresses the author’s opinion
as she uses the words
believe
and
feel
’
• provides opportunities for active involvement by asking students to repeat parts of the
text and answer questions based on the text
• leads discussion about meaning/content, helping students to relate content to their own
experiences or other texts with which they are familiar
• re-reads a text a ‘chunk’ at a time, asking questions at different levels of comprehension
about each chunk. The chunks should be based on a sentence, progressing to a paragraph
and then several paragraphs, etc
• supports students to identify the main idea, eg ‘if it tells about the whole passage, it is
the main idea’
• encourages students to ask questions about the text
• models how to use contextual cues to work out the meaning of unknown vocabulary.
IMPLEMENTATION
Levels of comprehension
(Curriculum Corporation 2005)
Literal
An understanding of what is directly stated in a text
Inferential
Going beyond what is directly stated in a text to
draw references or to identify relationships
Evaluative/Applied
Making a judgement or interpretation of a text or
part of a text. This might involve:
• identifying an author’s purpose
• applying information to new contexts
• identifying fact or opinion
• making generalisations
• further exploring information and ideas
• responding emotionally to a text
Vocabulary
Word learning from text using context cues
The teacher models the process of identifying the meaning of a word using context cues
(Beck et al 2002) by:
• reading the passage containing the word
• paraphrasing the passage
• asking students to explain what is happening in the passage (providing tips/hints if required)