Entry # 4 Finding Meaning
I read about string theory which was difficult to understand but the article I read first had so many other concepts I didn’t understand that I had to look for definitions of those concepts too. As I read, there were so many new concepts that I didn’t have any way to make connections to what I already knew. When I had tried all of the strategies I could think of and still couldn’t make meaning of the text, I scaled it back and read an article that explained string theory for the general public. This text had more familiar concepts to explain the theory and I was able to understand the basic idea. The strategies I used at first to make meaning of the text were:
- Attaching the new meaning to background knowledge
- Looking up definitions of unfamiliar vocabulary
- Asking my husband what he knew
- Looking at a diagram
- Chunking sentences into parts to try to make meaning
- Writing down the ideas I thought I understood
These strategies didn’t help with the first reading because there were too many concepts and vocabulary that were new to me. I was able to read the words phonetically but because I didn’t understand the vocabulary there was no meaning for me. When I scaled back the difficulty to an article that was specifically written for the general public then these strategies worked for me.
As a teacher this means that I need to know my students’ stage of language acquisition and who might need a scaled back version of the concept. Also, explicit instruction on strategies will help with comprehension. If students aren’t familiar with most of the vocabulary the strategies won’t help them make meaning. Vocabulary knowledge is imperative to comprehension; without it there is no meaning.
Christy, the detail you provided on how you tried to make language comprehensible was excellent and reflected the complexity of reading content that is unfamiliar to you. Your reflections also gave some insight into how important it is to choose the right materials for students to read.
ReplyDelete