VELS Level 4 – Teaching Reading Using the Four Resources Model: Text Participating

To become effective communicators, all learners need to be proficient in four interrelated and interdependent dimensions of language use. The Four Resources Model describes the resources students need to access in order to be literate. These are:

• code breaking resources
• text participating resources
• text using resources
• text analysing resources.

Students therefore become:

• Code breaker – a practice which has to do with breaking the code of the letters used in texts
• Meaning maker – making literate and inferential meanings of texts
• Text user – the focus of text-user practices is the use of texts in real-life reading situations
• Text analyst – involves readers in the critical analysis of texts in order to understand how texts work.

(Luke and Freebody 2002)

• Text participant – meaning maker
• Possible strategies to support students students as text participants – meaning makers
• Three-level guides
• Reference

Text participant – meaning maker

‘What does this text mean to me?’

The text participant–meaning maker knows the meaning patterns operating in written texts.

(Freebody, P., 2004, Text Next, PETA, NSW)

Possible strategies to support students as text participants – meaning makers

The following strategies are from Literacy and Learning in the Middle Years: Major Report on the Middle Years Literacy Research Project, Deakin University, - Transforming Teaching and Learning p 74.

• literature/reading circles
• concept maps/mind maps
• read and retell
• guided reading
• Three-Level Guides
• four corners
• reciprocal teaching
• co-operative cloze
• information gap.

Three-level guides

Three-Level Guides are a supportive strategy when introducing a unit of work, to help students clarify an issue and articulate their opinions, to motivate and engage students, and to assess their understanding.

Students discuss statements about the text in small groups to reach consensus. The statements are in three levels:

• literal reading from the lines of text (Level 1 statements)
• inferred reading between the lines of text (Level 2 statements)
• applied reading beyond the lines of text (Level 3 statements).

Teacher preparation

• Using a chosen text, construct approximately five statements at each level. The guide should be able to be completed by students in one lesson.
• Begin construction by deciding the main ideas and concepts that you want students to get from the reading. These determine your applied level statements (Level 3 statements). Write these level statements first.
• Literal level statements (Level 1 statements) are constructed next. Decide which sections of the text focus on the main ideas and concepts that you want students to get from the reading.
• The inferred level statements (Level 2 statements) are constructed last. Design these statements to help students make inferences about what the author actually says. If you find this difficult, ask yourself, ‘What does the print say? What does that mean? What doesn’t it say?’
• The guide is presented to students with the statements organised so that the literal level is first, the inferred level next, and the applied level last.
• Students are presented with the text as well as with the Three-Level Guide. The text can be accessed by all students and be read aloud by the teacher.

Once students are familiar with the use of the Three-Level Guide, teachers may choose to include more controversial statements, for example, deliberate misinterpretations of the text, in future Three-Level Guides.

Procedure with students

1. Read the passage with the students.
2. Students read the Level 1 statements individually and decide whether they agree or disagree with them. Students then form into groups of three or four and try to reach group consensus on the statements. They must go back to the text to justify their decisions.
3. When groups have had a fair time for discussion and to reach consensus, move on to Level 2. The procedure for this stage is the same. Students decide on the statements individually first and then move into the same group to reach consensus. This level usually causes more discussion and returning to the text, because more reading between the lines is necessary.
4. Now repeat the procedure for Level 3. This level will take longer still, because the statements at this level ask students to think beyond what is in the text and to draw on other knowledge. It is often valuable after this level to have each group report back to the class on their conclusions and how they reached consensus. This is a good way of initiating and focusing whole class discussion where all students will be fully engaged.

Students could develop Three-Level Guides for other students.

Choosing a text to develop a three-level guide

The following pointers provide a guide to text selection. Select a text which:

• deals with issues which challenge students beyond the literal level
• reflects the main ideas and concepts covered in the unit of work
• uses rich language.

A Three-Level Guide can be used with a variety of text types including multimedia texts such as websites, video, and audio texts.

Qualities of a good three-level guide

An effective Three Level Guide:

• promotes discussion with statements that are open to a variety of interpretations and draw out differing opinions
• leads students to apply their background knowledge to the text and to think through the implications of the text to real life contexts
• has set content objectives which link to the unit of work and give the Three Level Guide direction and purpose
• focuses the reader’s attention on the key elements of the text which illuminate the content objectives.

Reference

Adapted from MyRead Guide – Three-level Guide at MyRead