VELS Level 4 – Reading Comprehension

Comprehension is the process of deriving meaning from connected text. It involves word knowledge (vocabulary) as well as thinking and reasoning. Therefore, comprehension is not a passive process, but an active one. The reader actively engages with the text to construct meaning. This active engagement includes making use of prior knowledge.

It involves drawing inferences from the words and expressions that a writer uses to communicate information, ideas and viewpoints.

Teaching Reading International Academy of Education 

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Level 4 standard - Reading

The aspects of the Level 4 standard for the Reading dimension of the VELS English domain that focus on comprehension have been identified with bold text.

At Level 4, students read, interpret and respond to a wide range of literary, everyday and media texts in print and in multi-modal formats. They analyse these texts and support interpretations with evidence drawn from the text.

They describe how texts are constructed for particular purposes, and identify how socio-cultural values, attitudes and beliefs are presented in texts. They analyse imagery, characterisation, dialogue, point of view, plot and setting.

They use strategies such as reading on, using contextual cues , and drawing on knowledge of text organisation when interpreting texts containing unfamiliar ideas and information

Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS).

Comprehension theories

Studies suggest that students in the middle years of schooling who demonstrate difficulties in reading comprehension, typically focus more on word accuracy rather than comprehension monitoring, and generally have weak metacognition skills (Cain & Oakhill, 1999; Nation et al., 2004).

‘Poor comprehenders’ also show ‘weaknesses’ in aspects of producing both spoken narrative and written narrative. For example, in their story retelling they produce less story content and less sophisticated story structure (Nation & Norbury, 2005).

It is reported that reading comprehension difficulties are directly affected by ‘weaknesses’ in lexical, syntactic, conceptual, inferential and organisational language processes. Students with ‘poor’ comprehension find it difficult to make inferences and integrate text information (Cain & Oakhill, 1999; Nation et al., 2004).

Consequently, ‘poor comprehenders’ do not strive for coherence and they tend to use less story content and use less sophisticated story structures (Cain & Oakhill, 1999). As a result, they tend to:

• read quite superficially
• are less likely to engage in constructive processes when reading
• fail to use gap filling inferences and
• display uncertainty in knowing when and how to apply their prior knowledge.

There is a considerable body of evidence linking difficulties in reading comprehension with deficiencies in oral language (Bishop & Snowling, 2004; Leach et al., 2003; Nation et al., 2004; Scanlon, 2004). One reason for this is that ‘poor comprehenders’ have substantially less reading and reading-related experience than other students.

They are more likely to read materials at lower grade levels and read less material overall. Consequently, the books they do read contain simpler vocabulary and syntactic constructions with simpler text structures than at their grade level. This leads to added oral language weakness due to lack of reading experience. As a consequence, they may experience slow growth of sight vocabulary affecting their decoding of more complex words (Bishop & Snowling, 2004; Nation & Norbury, 2005; Oakhill & Yuill, 1996; Snyder & Caccamise, 2005).

Students with ongoing reading difficulties become disengaged from literacy. Disengagement as a reader involves a lack of motivation, less social interaction, and a lack of cognitive competence (Guthrie & Davis, 2003).

According to Linnenbrink and Pintrich (2003) after year four there are three aspects of motivational engagement that need to be addressed:

• personal interest
• utility value
• value beliefs.

Personal interest reflects the student’s intrinsic interest in the content, materials or task. Secondly, utility value represents how useful the content or task is to the child. Finally, value beliefs are related to the overall personal goals which children hold. These three aspects are important because they influence their affective engagement during reading.

Reference

Woolley, G. Research on Reading Comprehension Difficulties After Year Four: Actioning Appropriately, University of Canberra, 2001.

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